22.11.12

Fillers Can Potentially Reverse The Process Of Aging


Theories proven by a few dermatological studies have shown us that it may be possible to slow down the skin’s aging process by boosting support of the dermal extracellular matrix.

As the skin ages, the extracellular matrix, which acts as a scaffold for skin cells, becomes fragmented, according to researchers with the University Of Michigan Medical School. Fibroblasts shrink and less collagen is produced causing the support structure to decline. In a new study conducted at the UM Medical School the researchers found that injecting the space between the skin cells with a filler enhances the structural support of the extracellular matrix.

Investigators injected a dermal filler into the facial skin of 21 volunteers aged 70 yr.s or above during a three month study. Data indicated that the filler stimulated fibroblasts to begin producing more collagen and boosted the support structure of the extracellular matrix. The researchers noted, that this increased support, appeared to further stimulate the proliferation of fibroblasts and increase epidermal thickness, as they published it in their abstract. The entire layer of skin grew thicker with more blood vessels, which nourished the cells.

By altering the matrix using an external filler and increasing the internal pressure, they’ve shown that we can essentially trigger a signal for cells to wake up. This shows that skin cells in elderly people have the capacity to respond robustly in a very positive way to alterations in the mechanical property of their environment. We still need to know more about how these cells sense their environment, but in general it appears we have made a real difference in the structural integrity of skin.  The detailed findings of the study were published in the October issue of the Journal Of Investigative Dermatology.

15.11.12

Looking For Quick-fix Weight Loss: Here’s Another Lazy Option From Our Doctor-Bag Of Medical-Tricks

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We eat too much, but don't want to diet. Instead, we're adopting increasingly radical measures to shed the pounds. Today I'll share with you a new weight-loss fad recently gaining popularity among the ever-growing list of medical short cuts........ I present to you The KEN!!! (Ketogenic Enteral Nutrition diet). It involves eating absolutely nothing at all. 
Not possible…Possible!!

Let me share with you verbatim the Ginevra Tamberi story as she talked to The Guardian Newspaper: Ginevra Tamberi, a 21-year-old film studies student from Rome, born to very tall, very skinny parents. Her brother is blessed with a super metabolism who can eat 4,000 calories a day and remains one of nature's giraffes. But Ginevra is not so lucky. She eats one slice of bread and it goes down her throat and directly on to her neither regions.

Ginevra tried every diet introduced by modern science: the Aktins diet, the Dukan diet, the Scarsdale diet, the Zone diet, the cabbage diet, the onion diet. She saw a private nutritionist and a personal trainer. All to no avail!

Out of desperation she visited the plastic surgeon Marco Gasparotti. According to Ginevra, "Everybody in Rome knows Gasparotti." And everybody does, too: you cannot throw a brick in Italy and not hit Dr Gasparotti demonstrating his innovative techniques on some TV chat show. For Gasparotti is no slouch; he has a liposuction cannula to his name and has patented an elastocompressive cellulite-busting girdle called the Lipo Contour Elite Capri. He has also garnered countless international awards, and is at the very forefront of innovative ways of redraping skin and sucking out and resculpting fat that cannot be described to readers without causing barf attacks. In short he is a all things cosmetic genius!

Ginevra went to Gasparotti for liposuction. She wanted, as it were, to be vacuumed down a couple of dress sizes. But Gasparotti was not encouraging – liposuction. He promoted concept of improving shape and contour, discouraging comprehensive fat removal. Gasparotti had a new and better trick up his sleeve: the Diet Tube. A week later, after some medical tests, Ginevra returned to Gasparotti's clinic and she came out with a piece of plastic tubing sticking out of her nose. One end of the tube went down into her stomach the other was attached to a small electric pump.

For 10 days Ginevra wore the nasogastric tube. She ate nothing and the pump, working day and night, sending tiny amounts of a protein-filled liquid into her stomach to stave off hunger. The tube, the brave wearer says, didn't restrict her lifestyle. When she went out, she just popped the pump into her Prada bag and nobody in the street seemed to notice she had a tube up her nose. Do you find this surprising? I do! Normally you notice when people have tubes up their noses, just as you also notice when they are wearing gas masks. But then Rome is Rome.

On Diet Tube Ginevra experienced occasional moments of lassitude, but mostly she felt great. She says, "It was purifying everything. My skin was, like, unbelievable. It was so clean, so pure, like a baby's. Amazing!" Ginevra grew used to the faint buzzing of the pump, and didn't feel nauseous or hungry. But she did miss chewing. "So I was just having tea – green tea – all the time."
Didn't she get sick of the tea?
Her response, "If I see green tea now, I am going to die."
And what did her friends think?
"They're used to my strange stuff, my weird things." And anything was better than the onion diet…(she got a point there).

By the end of the 10 days, Ginevra had lost 7kg. She gave Diet Tube a break. Six months later, she had another go and lost a further 5kg. She is now a size 14, not a size 16–18. Her friends and family have also tried it. Ginevra's aunt, another of the family's non-giraffes, has lost 30kg. "My aunt is so happy, she could live on Diet Tube. I saw her with it and she was feeling so powerful. She was really putting herself into her cooking, making lasagne and parmigiana and polpettone and Mont Blanc." (Good for the folks around her!)

Last year, 1,500 patients underwent Diet Tube. Numbers are escalating – there are now eight Diet Tube clinics in Italy, centers in Barcelona, Athens and Madrid, and franchise negotiations underway for a dozen other countries, including the UK. The fact that such an outlandish procedure can flourish is hardly surprising. The diet has no significant side effects, and main side effects are just bad breath and some constipation because there is no fiber in the food solution.  However, patients with kidney disorders should not try the nose tube diet.

As a species we are getting fatter and fatter. We are also watching too many makeover TV programs and becoming increasingly susceptible to the idea of the quick fixes. Ten Years Younger, Bridalplasty, I Want A Famous Face, and Extreme Makeover have a lot to answer for. Invasive beauty procedures have been normalized and there are so very many to chose from: tummy tucks, liposuction, laser liposuction, gastric band, gastric balloon, gastric bypass and the gastric sleeve. If, for whatever reason, you are not up to dieting or spending time in the gym, there are so many short cuts. You can experiment with hypnotherapy or with algae or with Peter Foster's spooky remedies. Or you can resort to non-foods: egg white omelets, zero calorie jelly, oat bran, the abominable Dukan pancake. Or, you can take a very big breath, brace yourself and go for weight loss (or "bariatric") surgery.

The question now is where to stop?..... And while we have our thinking caps on why not ponder on  .....Why run from the good old-fashioned combos of healthy diet and exercise? 

.............But, if diet and exercise options fail us and nothing seems to work, now you know about another trick from the doctors bag that could help you.

Over weight is a manifestation of Excess in our lives, in our grocery lists! 
Time to stop, analyze & reflect!

9.11.12

Lead Red - Killer Pout Report From The Lipstick Jungle


When human race decided to embark on the journey of modern lifestyle we knew we will be dealing with a modern set of new risks as we move forward. I guess coz of that we're all pretty much accustomed to the feeling of being surrounded by health risks on daily basis and the lists are growing long and fast everyday. Some risks we ignore and live with and some we take seriously and go on rallies to fight. In the spirit of raising awareness today I'd introduce you to yet another free-to-pass-around poison in our quotidian lives. You decide if its worth living with quietly or should we be rallying-out boycotting-the-hell-out of this poison off-of-our-consumer-shelves.........Girls clutch your beauty bags and purse your red lips ----from the glamorous depths of your vanity pouches I call out --"Your Red Lipstick"!

There you have it!! Lips can kill!  The ur­ban legend can be true literally ….. especially if the kissers are enhanced with lethal red lipstick……containing Lead! The poisonous red earth color pigment which comes in the enticing shades of Rouge Volupte, Fire Splurge, Scarlet, and the Lover Red is capable of more than turning heads and sweeping the opposite sex off of their feet under the spell of your alluring pout……It can also slow poison you to stupor even maybe death!

According to a new FDA report 400 lipsticks (Yes a big whopping number 400 of them!) from leading brands such as YSL, Dior, L'Oreal, Maybelline, NARS, and Cover Girl, and many, many, many others contain Lead; .........a potential poison!

Lead Lipstick Ratings (Lethal Or Nawt):

Here’s a list of my favorite brands of lipsticks with FDA reported Lead levels.
(The higher the number of lead the higher is the danger and chance of side effects.)
  • YSL 5
  • Christian Dior 4
  • Estee Lauder 3
  • LancĂ´me 2
  • Clinique 2
  • Shiseido 2
  • Chanel 2

Holy Heidi Salamane!! YSL is at the top of the list with whopping levels of Lead. Proof is in the pudding the higher the Lead level the more smudge-proof is the lipstick! Ladies adive no. 1: loose the long lasting ones if you know what I mean.

Lead Lipstick Controversies:

The FDA acknowledges the presence of Lead and yet still allows the sale of these products coz it believes that the level of Lead found in these lipsticks poses no safety risks.

But yet another consumer group, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, claiming to fight the just fight warns that …. Any Lead Is Too Much Lead! 

Where does that leave us gals? Every woman for herself I guess! Personally I prefer nude!

Lead Common Sense Argument:

Research has shown that Lead builds up in the body over time and Lead containing lipsticks applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels. You don’t need a degree in math to calculate that regular use = bad.

Markets are still lined with products with low levels of Lead. Regulatory bodies are admitting Lead as a harmful poison but are not prohibiting its distribution to the public. The latest studies are confusing us by showing that there is no safe level of lead exposure. And as no data is available on harmful levels of Lead our red is becoming all gray.

Hmmmn I guess its time for us to take the big girl pill and learn to identify the symptoms of Lead poisoning. The list of side effects might shed some defining light on our Lead poisoning conundrum.

According to the Mayo Clinic initially, lead poisoning can be hard to detect — ahem!— even people who seem healthy can have high blood levels of lead. Signs and symptoms usually don't appear until dangerous amounts have accumulated.

Hammered on Lead: - You'll have Symptoms like
  • High blood pressure
  • Declines in mental functioning
  • Pain, numbness or tingling of the extremities
  • Muscular weakness
  • Headache
  • Abdominal pain
  • Memory loss
  • Mood disorders
  • Reduced sperm count, abnormal sperm
  • Miscarriage or premature birth in pregnant women 

Lead Lessons To Be Learned:

Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” might have looked fantastic in red lips but modern day fashionista’s think hard and think clear…… Red stands for danger for a reason!

Flaunting old Hollywood glam-factor red lips on regular basis can certainly raise your image ratings in certain (iffy) social circles over time reciprocating to the lethal Lead levels in your body ……if that’s what you’re aiming for you’re blame free.

In my prudent books from here on wards I am assigning red lips with only one vibe that reads: mature woman, good with her mouth careless with her life!

When worn by chronic magnets like Camilla Belle, Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie and Penelope Cruz my argument–that red lipstick may in fact serve as a wood cutter–comes to a quick close.

Now, the case is in your court gals: judge wisely!

Finally A Fun Exercise
Lead Test Your Precious Lipstick Collection:
  1. Put some lipstick on your hand
  2. Use a 24-14 K Gold ring to scratch lipstick
  3. If the lipstick smudge color changes to black you know your lipstick contains lead

For The Deep Case Divers: Here's some official FDA gathered data.....knock your self out researching!!
Lipstick and Lead: Questions and Answers