Monday, March 28, 2011

Virtual Facelift

Watch for tips, enhancements, more information regarding the beneficial aspects of this Hada Cosmetic Medicine Virtual Facelift.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Your Nutrition and Your Skin

Being well nourished is having the right macronutrients and the right micronutrients and making sure they are in balance with each other. Most of us fortunately will not have deficiencies, but in fact we may have excesses that are causing problems with both our health and our skin. Those of us who are under nourished may be so because of avoidance of certain foods because of presumed allergies, and fad dieting and others may have chronic illnesses or malabsortion or medications that interfere with our micronutrients. For instance too much aspirin can interfere with the levels of Vitamin K. Your liver is an important site of storage of nutrients, for instance Vitamin A.Sometimes the key to poor skin health is your nutrition. If you skin is becoming thickened and darkened it may be due to deficiencies of B or C or E or even poor essential fatty acid intake. Actually there are many physical signs of nutritional disease. Too much Vitamin A can cause dry and scaly skin. If you don't have enough Vitamin A your serum carotene levels can fall. In fact many of the essential micronutrients can be measured by blood testing.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Un-Stretch My Stretch Marks!


Early Treatment Results from Palomar Treatment of Stretchmarks
Can we un-stretech the stretchmarks, yes you can!
You can. How did they get there? Genetics mostly, but weight gain is part of it. The number of pregnancies, the amount of fluid, the physical pressures. Did you try creams as you go? Maybe all these factors are contributory, definitely poor nutrition is not good for the skin but whether there's really a very effective skin cream, we're still testing. Stria are essentially stretched skin from collagen shrinking and contracting in the stripped area. To improve the area you need to regrow the collagen and to some extent, remodel it. Using the Palomar StarLux 500™ Laser 1540 this patient was treated three times. The first 6 hours, some pinkness to the skin, there may be some swelling. No situps, no hot tubs, TV and that page turner are about the right activities. Right as skin gets treated there may be a tiny bit of skin blanching, you’ll never see that. Most patients with older stretch marks take 3 to 6 months to see improvement, if they are new and bright red the way these were, they respond right away. Stretch marks of the breast, the back, the thighs, the abdomen can all be treated. We can use the infrared laser head to tighten skin as well, and the IPL laser to get rid of the bright fuchsia of the newer ones

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Skin Melanoma and Endometriosis

A national study of almost 100,000 French women were studied by a group of researchers at the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale and Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France and they have found a positive association between a history of endometriosis and melanoma risk. They also found an association between breast fibromas and melanomas. The association is not completely surprising because there is a small association between skin melanoma and estrogen hormone levels. That having been said it is safe to take birth control pills and/or use hormone therapy in menopause if you have melanoma. It is also safe to become pregnant after a diagnosis of melanoma. But if you have been diagnosed with either of the gynocologic conditions of endometriosis or a breast lump, don't skip your skin check up!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

When Chin Hairs Come

When chin hairs start to form that you have not seen before! What? Why? When! There are several possible solutions, age, the cause of the hair growth, the hair type, the hair color, whether you also have other side effects of male hormones like breakouts, and your goals are strongly considered. No FDA approved treatments other than laser hair removal, but some medications are effective, and often solutions have to be managed with more than one technique.It may be best to see a Gyno plus your aesthetian! One medication that is less frequently used for women is Flutamide (marketed as Eulexin) which blocks the receptors of the male hormone and is actually approved as a chemotherapy treatment for prostate cancer. The dry skin, dry scalp and green pee is usually tolerated pretty well, but it's the potential liver toxicity that has discouraged patients and physicians from using it too often. A therapy that is used as a treatment for prostate enlargement works on another step of the pathway that makes make hormones in your body, it's called finasteride, and it's been used as well, and it has fewer side effects although may not be as effective. All the medications used for those chiny chin chin hairs however can potentially cause feminization of a male fetus and you need to have effective contraception or be past your child bearing years to consider them!