Science Behind The Beauty Mud Masks

Man was made from clay and every time the desire to feel youthful and rejuvenated stirs the human mind the logic of slathering our skin with layers of healing and soothing mineral infused mud makes a perfect case. The use of medicinal clay in folk medicine goes back to prehistoric times. Indigenous peoples around the world still use clay widely, which is related to geophagy or the story of human origins from the clay — who knows? The first recorded use of medicinal clay goes back to ancient Mesopotamia, and in the recent years our drugstore counters lined with skin beautifying mud treatments reiterate the fact that the myth of — beauty from the marl of the earth still holds strong.

Popular at spas and dermatologist offices, skin masks promise rejuvenation and younger, healthier looking skin. Their over-the-counter versions can offer an easier, more affordable solution at home, read up and reap rewards.

Exfoliating Dead Skin Cells — The first noticeable benefit, following facial care with a mud mask is that the skin radiates with vitality, a healthy tone and is silky soft to the touch. The natural silica found in the mud from dead seas hardens on the skin once applied on the skin. This allows the mask to extract toxins and impurities located deep in the skin layers, and also to slough off the redundant layer of dead skin cells on the surface. After washing it all off the result is visibly clear looking skin, with clean pores and even skin tone.

Taming Acne Prone Skin — Thanks to the sulfur infused therapeutic effects of mud mask, this mask can be a real life saver if you suffer from acne, black heads and breakouts. Mud masks contains natural minerals like magnesium, calcium, sulphur, bromide, iodine, sodium, zinc and potassium, which are known to treat, detoxify, and cleanse the skin. Before you buy a clay mask to tame acne prone skin, it’s important to know how to read labels and understand how the ingredients contained in each may help get rid of acne. For example, a mask containing Fuller’s clay on the label of a clay mask kit, is a highly-absorbent clay that is believed to help purify the skin and draw away oils, toxins and dirt that clog pores and cause acne. French green clay is also highly absorbent and has been said to strip away excess sebum.

Stimulate Circulation — When blood and lymphatic circulation to the skin is poor it leads to an uneven skin tone, toxin retention, and wear and tear in the skin leading to tired looking skin and wrinkles. By applying a weekly facial mud pack you can dramatically help the blood flow to your skin cells and achieve a healthier and plumper looking skin. If you are aiming for skin rejuvenation look for red clay, which contains iron oxide, an ingredient that boosts cell production to help skin rejuvenate faster.

Mud From The Dead Sea — The first chemical analysis of Dead Sea water was done in 1772, revealing its high magnesium and calcium content. While mineral-rich Dead Sea mud often appears in skin care products and cosmetics, people seeking relief from their inflammatory skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis can benefit from using masks or baths diluted with Dead Sea salts and mud. Dead Sea minerals, particularly magnesium boosts moisture levels and helps smooth dry skin conditions.

Don’t Neglect To Hydrate Skin Properly After Using Such Masks

Mud masks are definitely worthwhile for pampering and detoxifying the skin, though it is important to note here that mud and clay masks help to draw out the natural oil from the skin, we need to pay special attention to nourishing and rehydrating the skin immediately afterwards to avoid skin dehydration or irritation.

Tight pores, glowing exfoliated and deeply hydrated happy skin, and you can do it anytime you want, no appointment or big cash outlay necessary. Enjoy!

Move Over Laser & Vaser NanoLipo Is Here To Level The Playing Field

To maintain a svelte & sculptured body, healthy diet and regular exercise are a constant given. But there are times when a mere mortal needs some extra help for that Demi Moore Charlie’s Angels moment — a vision of perfection rocking a skimpy little bathing suit. Reality of human body is no matter how disciplined and healthy lifestyle you follow unless you are genetically blessed there are always stubborn embarrassing bulges ready to frame you as “the fat chick” — running for cover in impromptu photo shoots on that day on the beach with friends or leave you green with envy when your gal pals can fit flawlessly in designer duds at sample sales and your muffin top ends up being a deal breaker — you are left with no choice but to intervene. Keeping up with the Kardasians and our cumulative desire to look slender and sylphlike body contouring technologies are constantly evolving. From freeze zapping fat to Laser or Vaser melting and sucking the fat away there are multiple choices that can help us on our journey from flab to fab in a short span of time.

Liposuction is one of the popular choices, when it comes to permanent fat reduction and contouring of the body, it is not a very healthy choice as it come with some down time and of course you have to live with bruising, swelling, and discomfort after the procedure. With tradition lipo connective tissues and nerves also get damaged or removed in the process of scrapping for fat, making the recovery that much harder. In inexperienced hands there’s always a chance of successive corrective operations to smooth out lumps or bumps left behind later. Traditional liposuction has been tweaked and tuned over time and now we have Laserlipo and Vaserlipo technologies, but there’s still room for more innovative interventions which can cut down the recovery and procedure time and deliver more smoother and faster results with more safety. Hence the scientific circles are busy looking for the next break through. 

The New Concept - NanoLipo

A brand new technique devised by nano-medicine expert Adah Almutairi from university of California and her plastic and reconstructive surgeon brother Dr. Khalid Almutairi has been the talk of the cosmetic town for few months now. Their methodology makes use of gold nanoparticles to meltdown fat before removing it. In a way it is similar to Laser or Vaser liposuction as melting down the fat prior to suction makes the fat removal easier with much less trauma to nerves and connective tissue — a potential improvement upon the traditional Liposuction approach.

The inspiration came to Adah from her research that was performed earlier in order to target and eliminate cancer cells where gold nano-particles were employed to target cancer cells and then by making use of near-infrared light, were heated up that resulted in cooking of cancer cells while all other cells were kept out of harm’s way. The success of this research led Adah Almutairi to apply similar approach to target fat cells. Currently this methodology is undergoing testing for clinical approval in USA and soon you will be able to request it at your cosmetic doctor’s office.

The Mechanics Of NanoLipo

First the gold nano-particles are injected into fat deposits of the patient’s body. These particular areas are then exposed to near-infrared light and owing to the fact that fat has a lower melting temperature than any surrounding structures, it melts before any other cells can be harmed. Later a liposuction needle is employed to suck out the melted fat along with the gold nano-particles. This way we can bypass the traumatic process of traditional liposuction where the needle is scraped back and forth in order to break the solid fat.

Currently the trial phase for NanoLipo has begun with animals undergoing tests and human testing will begin later this year. The technology is being developed by a start-up firm eLux Medical and is being branded as NanoLipo. This could potentially improve the liposuction technique by many folds — Fingers crossed.

Eagle Eyeing The Periorbital Aesthetics

They say when it comes to gauging the attraction factor or wear-n-tear on any face, eyes are the first to speak. Under an experienced gaze eyes can give away the mysteries of our existence, the experiences we live through and genetic directives we carry. Medically speaking as we age our body goes through a myriad of changes and the delicate area around the eye is the first to shows these signs. Some people start showing these signs real early and some don’t, and most of us are left to wonder what factors are responsible for the wrinkling and sagging of eyelids and what we can do to join the league of the fresh eyed forever youthful.

Un-riddling The Enigma Of Aging Eyes

Blepharochalasis, apart from being an oddball mouthful, is also the most commonly used medical term to define extra skin around eyes or heavy eyelids. It is a very common condition precipitated with normal aging, fatigue/being tired, allergies, sluggish lymphatic drainage, obesity, and certain medical conditions. Frequently found in conjunction with skin excess, orbital fat pseudo-herniation contributes significantly to the “tired look” of age-related periorbital changes. Here’s a birds eye view of the factors that lead to periorbital decrepitude and what treatment options modern medicine has to offer.

Genetic Sagging

Recently researchers from Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands conducted a study to pinpoint the risk factors associated with sagging eyelids, focusing mainly on genetic factors. They evaluated two groups of people, the first group of 5,578 was comprised of unrelated participants with North European ancestry, in this group 17.8 percent had moderate to severe sagging eyelids. In the second group 2,186 twin participants were evaluated, and within the pairs, 61 percent had inherited their sagging eyelids. These findings published in JAMA Dermatology positively support the fact that the most common cause for sagging eyelids is genetics.

Gender, Ethnicity & BMI

In addition to genetics, the study also highlighted that age, being a male, having lighter skin color, and a higher body mass index (BMI) were all risk factors for sagging under-eye skin. Scientific common sense dictates that person with a higher BMI, typically has more fat accumulated than does a normal-weight person, which means their under-eye fat pads have a greater chance of being larger and more protuberant.

Aging

Skin around the eyes is usually thinner and hence ages faster than any other area on the face. The delicate periorbital skin while stretched and weighed down by the fat pads leads to accentuated and droopy-eyed bags. The protrusion of intra-orbital fat, appears as swelling of lower eyelid fat, and is generally accepted as a part of the aging process. Age and other factors can also let the muscles to become lax that can lead to further worsening of under eye bags.

Lifestyle

Puffy or swollen eyes, is another common occurrence that may plague eyes regardless of age or gender and are mostly caused by a high-salt diet, oversleeping, smoking or alcohol use. Unhealthy lifestyle also leads to dark circles and early wrinkles.

Conduct Your Own half An Eye Test

If you are curious to know how you’ll age, take a quick look at your parents and you’ll get a fairly good idea on whether or not you’ll develop large fat pads later during your course of life.

You can turn a blind eye to what you see in your folk’s faces or get proactive and try to change the course of genetics and aging with a little help from aesthetic medicine.

Feast Your Eyes On Available Treatment Options

Wrinkles, bags, dark circles, and hooded eyelids are not only unflattering cosmetically, but they can also cause vision obstruction and headaches from straining to keep the eyes open. Fortunately, there are a variety of nonsurgical and surgical treatments for patients with tired, sagging and aging eyelids. Treatment choices to rejuvenate the eye area depend on the type of damage we need to address for e.g. aging upper eyelids often need tightening of loose saggy skin and muscles. Lower eyelids usually need treatment for puffiness and crepe-like skin along with trimming of bags of fat. In addition, dark circles around the eyes might need to be addressed too.

Volume & Hydration

Injectable fillers are one of the easier and most effective ways to smooth the skin around the eyes and provide subtle, natural looking volume to correct hollow eyes. They also help to improve dark circles around the eyes by 15-20%, however, they offer very little help with protruding fat pads. Anteis Esthetis Soft, Juvederm Volbella and Teoxane Redesnsity II are specially designed hyaluronic acid based gels used to diminish both fine lines around the eyes by providing volume while simultaneously hydrating the skin.

Laser Skin Rejuvenation

Laser surgery is a non-invasive way to tighten the skin around the eyes. The fractional CO2 or Fraxel can be used to gently resurface and rejuvenate eyelids gradually and can be used in conjunction with filler or surgical treatments. The lasers causes microscopic thermal damage and the skin responds by rapidly healing and peeling off old damaged cells, replacing old with newer tighter skin underneath the eyes. The C02 laser can also improve the skin’s elasticity, texture, fine lines and deep wrinkles, acne scars, and sunspots. 

Surgical Options - Blepharoplasty

When non-surgical treatments do not provide the patient with the results they desire, blepharoplasty or eyelid reduction surgery can prove to be an effective route to achieve cosmetic goals. The procedure entails making tiny incisions in the eyelid and under the eye area, any excess fat is removed, the skin is then tightened and sutures are secured. Removal of the under-eye fat pad significantly decreases any puffiness around the eye. Eyelid surgery can correct droopy upper eyelids, also known as hooded eyes, but does not remove dark circles or lift sagging eyebrows, each of which have be treated separately. 

Blepharoplasty is actually the only way to remove protruding fat pads, especially for those who are overweight and have an increased fat accumulation under eye. But for skin tightening, wrinkles and filling in the hollows under the eyes, the variety of nonsurgical treatments work very well.