Your Skin and the Sun: Part Two

The sun is an interesting 2 edged sword, as we spoke in this article. We obviously cannot live without it, but it has many effects on us, including the appearance of our skin. In actuality our skin doesn’t really age as much as it becomes sun damaged. To see this look at the tops of your hands and the tops of your feet or even better the cheeks of your face and the cheeks of your buttocks. They are all the same age, but they don’t look the same.

Taking Care of your Skin

Look at the carpet in your house by the window and the carpet away from the window. The sun does the same thing to your skin. It is interesting to notice that people who drive on the right side of the road like in the US have older appearing left sides of the face than right and those in UK have older appearing right sides of the face. UVA, which is one of the main components of energy emitted by the sun, penetrates window glass.

Sun-damaged skin appears sallow, has a lot of play on texture and a lot of play on color. Fine lines and wrinkles also appear on the surface. To treat the manifestations of sun damage the most important thing to do is to use sunscreen every morning as part of your daily routine.

Skincare Advice

SPF 15-30 is certainly sufficient and you will not only help prevent further damage as well as skin cancer, but the appearance of the sun-damaged skin will actually begin to reverse. At night the use of a retinol cream has been shown to improve the appearance of sun-damaged skin as well. It is best to use the retinol at night as the molecule is sensitive to sun and will not be as effective if used during the day.

Standard office treatment consists of chemical peels to reverse the appearance and laser resurfacing can also be of benefit.

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Hair Loss: Treatments, Prevention and Causes

One of the most disconcerting things that occurs regarding our appearance is that we begin to notice our hair is thinning—both men and women. As a matter of fact, although everyone is familiar with male pattern baldness, female pattern baldness is actually much more common and is not really manifested as a slick scalp but a thinning of the hair.

Hair Loss Causes

To begin to understand what can be done, it must be understood that hair is not alive; it is a product of the skin manufactured just underneath the surface.

There are many causes of thinning hair or baldness from wearing hair in a tight hair-do like a pony tail to hormonal changes. In men, as male hormone levels decrease the scalp hair stops growing in the front and on the vertex and if it is not treated the hair actually dies. To treat male pattern baldness, the ultimate is a hair transplant and hair transplants now have come to the point they look completely natural, not like corn sticking in a field.

But before that approach is taken, there are a number of things that are available. Rogaine® is available without a prescription and is effective especially in early stages of loss. It works better if used in conjunction with a retinol product, which can also be obtained over the counter. There is also a drug (Finasteride) that can be taken by mouth if prescribed by a physician. This drug does work and is used mainly for prostate enlargement and does have some side-effects.

What about Female Hair Loss?

The most common cause of hair loss in women is pregnancy. Hair grows in phases and in some areas the resting phase is long and the growing short (e.g. eyelashes), but in some the growing phase is longer and on the scalp at any time about 70% is growing and 30% resting.

During pregnancy the percentage growing is above 90% and then when the pregnancy ends it reverts back and there is a noticeable loss of hair. It is important to understand that this is temporary and is normal and the hair almost always comes back. This may also occur with the discontinuation of birth control pills.

Women also begin to have thinning hair as they age due to changes in hormones of various types and Rogaine actually works better for them than it does for men. Hair transplants are also done for women when necessary and desirable and work very well.

The main thing to remember is that if you are experiencing thinning hair, there is treatment available!

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Winter Excercise: Best Practices and Advices

It certainly is true that winter is here and it is difficult to continue your exercise routine, but you really don’t have to give up running or walking outside. Just use a few tips to be able to be comfortable and still get in the exercise you need. You can maintain your level of fitness and your weight until Spring will eventually get here and then things will be even more enjoyable.

How to Keep Excercising on Winter?

First and really this is probably the most important. If you are on a road or even a sidewalk exercise going toward the traffic so you can be seen by the driver and you can see the driver and anticipate any movements. It is best if there is any traffic on the road your rout is taking you, not to use an iphone, etc.

If possible run into the wind going out and have the wind at your back coming back so that if you are perspiring the wind won’t blow on wet skin. You must protect your skin from the elements because temperatures even just below freezing can produce frostbite if you are out any length of time.

Be wary of your Skin!

Be sure to wear gloves—and even better are mittens, since the fingers will keep one another warm. Cover your head to prevent heat loss from the area. To prevent chaffing apply Vaseline to the most vulnerable areas—in between the thighs, the nipples and if your face is exposed and it is very cold, you can even apply a thin film of Vaseline for protection.

Always dress in layers, so that air is trapped in between each layer to increase the degree of warmth. It is possible, even in the winter, to become overheated and if so you can remove a layer or 2.

If the roads are icy or slick simply stay off them that day. There is no way to remain safe if you are sliding or if a car is sliding toward you. If you begin to feel sleepy or sluggish, stop and get to a safe place as soon as you can.

Winter running can be invigorating and just as much fun as it is in the summer, but use not only your legs, use your head!

More on Winter best practices for a healthy skin

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Does Botox Help Coping with Migraine Headaches?

Although there are a variety of types of Migraine headaches, they all have one thing in common. They are very painful. There have been many treatments tried from pain medications to hypnosis to positive feedback and they all fall short of relieving the problem.

Using Botox for Migraines

Recently, the FDA has approved the use of Botox® for the treatment of migraine headaches and I have used it a number of times for patients and they have all obtained great relief. One patient had a migraine every morning when she woke up for years and nothing really worked. I injected her with Botox and she awoke the next morning headache free for the first time in a long time.

I have had great success in treating migraine headaches as well as tension and other types of headaches. It is, however, very important to see a doctor who is experienced in this technique, because if injected too far down on the neck, it can lead to difficulty holding up the head.

How Much Does it Cost?

Cost will vary depending on how much toxin is necessary to obtain relief but generally a few hundred dollars is adequate. Although, it is effective in virtually everyone, there is a significant variety in how long the relief will last—generally a few months, but some patients have gotten relief for over a year.

There is no longer any reason to continue to suffer with this painful problem, as the treatment does work!

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Botox Injections to Avoid Excesive Sweating

Excessive perspiration can be a terribly frustrating problem, both socially and emotionally. In addition, it can become very expensive as it can ruin clothing when the main problem is underarm sweating. It can ruin clothes in addition to being very embarrassing when in social situations.

What is the best solution for Excesive sweating?

Over the years, dermatologists have tried many things in an attempt to control this problem from prescription compounded anti-perspirants to tranquilizers to medicine by mouth to attempt to block sweating.

Since there are certain areas of the body where sweating is control by a different chemical than the rest—palms, soles, a circle on the forehead and under the arms, the best treatment that has been developed for this problem is the injection of botulinum toxin.

Using Botox

First a test is done by applying iodine to the underarm and then tincture of iodine. The areas that are producing excess sweat turn black as coal. This test is not only important to determine how severe the problem is, but also is used in the future to observe the results and determine how much more needs to be done.

The Botox is then injected into the areas of the sweating throughout the underarm. It is not painful and has minimal side-effects. It is effective in a day or so and can last up to a year.

This is one of the most gratifying of all procedures performed with Botox as it is 100% effective and these patients are extremely grateful. The same procedure can be used on the palms and soles with just as good result to stop the problem of shaking hands with a soaking wet hand or feet that ruin shoes.

It is done in the dermatologist’s office and only takes a short period of time. There is no down time.

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The Vampire Face-Lift: What is it and How it Works? – By Dr. Melvin Elson

One of the items getting a lot of attention lately (probably because of its weird name) is the so called Vampire Face-lift. The reason it is called such is that the first step is drawing blood (about 2 tablespoons). The blood is put into a tube and spun in a centrifuge to separate the layers of substances in the blood.

How is a Vampire Face Lift performed?

One of the layers on the top consists of a cell-like material called platelets. This is separated from the rest and saved to inject into the areas to be treated. Platelets are very rich in growth factors of various sorts and it is thought that this will stimulate growth of fresh collagen and repair the damages that the sun and various other factors have produced, when it is injected into the skin.

Unfortunately, although there is a great deal of press in the lay literature about it, there is not much true clinical trials that show its benefit. Sometimes it is mixed with known injectables such as hyaluronic acid and it is claimed that the platelets will make the injections last longer, but there is no proof that that is the case.

Despite the hype about this procedure and its weird name, I would not recommend this procedure until more data are accumulated as to both its efficacy and safety.

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