Archive for the ‘Hair removal guide’ Category

Exceed your expectations after plastic surgery with massage therapy

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Whether plastic surgery is utilized for health purposes or cosmetic reasons, the after effects are the same for everyone that is pain, swelling, scarring, heightened anxiety and, at times, depression. In some cases, medication may be prescribed for the pain and anxiety. But there are also other options that can help reduce the dosage or length of time of drugs are used, as well as aid in the healing process. Regular massage therapy treatments offer countless health benefits on their own, but are now becoming an effective post-surgical treatment for improving skin tone to boosting circulation. Massage is an effective way to help you manage the pain and stress that you suffer after cosmetic surgery or plastic surgery procedures.

To enhancing general health and wellness, massage therapy can help patients prepare for surgery, as well as ease pain and discomfort during recovery. Some of the massage therapy is performed by licensed massage therapists in our spa-like setting.

  • Swedish Massage
  • Therapeutic massage
  • Manual Lymphatic Drainage
  • Reflexology

Massage therapy reduces anxiety and stress

One of the primary benefits of massage is a reduction of stress. Numerous studies over the years have shown that massage therapy increases the levels of endorphins and serotonin in the body, thus reducing anxiety and promoting relaxation. It also reduces certain hormone levels such as cortisol, which is responsible for increased stress.

Massage Therapy for Pain Relief

The use of massage therapy can ease the pain caused by swelling and the muscle tightness caused by the surgery instead of turning to pain medication. Health experts suggest that massage treatments are an incredibly effective way to handle pain, anxiety, and distress following major surgery.

Other benefits of massage therapy after surgery include:

  • Improved blood flow
  • Improved skin tone
  • Deeper sleep
  • Reduced symptoms of depression

Male pattern Baldness - The Shifting Shape Of Your Hair

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Going bald is a fact of life for millions of men. Male pattern baldness is the common type of hair loss that develops in most men at some stage. It usually takes 15-25 years to go bald, however some men go bald in less than 5 years. Adults lose about 10,000 scalp hairs each and every day and the hair usually becomes thin on the top of the head. With male pattern baldness these hairs do not always get replaced and gradually bald areas appear, however this process can take a long time.

There are a number of reasons why men start to go bald. Nearly all men have some baldness by the time they are in their 60s. Hair loss can start in different areas but is usually at the temples and/or on the crown of the head. But if you are a man between the ages of about 20 to 45 and you start to lose scalp hair, then the chances are 95 per cent certain that you are experiencing male pattern baldness.

What causes male pattern baldness?

Most men are genetically predisposed to male pattern baldness. It is the effect of hormones on the hair follicle that produces male pattern baldness. A hair normally grows from each follicle for about 3 years. It is then shed, and a new hair grows from the follicle. This cycle of hair growth, shedding, and new growth goes on throughout life. As follicles shrinks, each hair gets thinner than the previous one. Male hormones are involved in causing these changes.

Testosterone, a hormone that is present in high levels in males, is converted to another hormone dihydrotestosterone, which has an adverse affect on the hair follicles. For this reason, affected hair follicles become more sensitive, weak, shorter hair and sometimes it stops hair growth from the follicle completely. This process gradually depletes your stock of hair and is normal hair loss.

Treatment options

  • Finasteride: The enzyme 5-alpha-reductase helps in the breakdown of testosterone to DHT. Use of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors such as finasteride can stop or slow the progression of hair loss, its effects are noticeable only after about 4 months.
  • Minoxidil: It is an effective treatment for those who do not respond favorably to finasteride. Though topical application of minoxidil can slow progression of hair loss and help regrow some hair, hair loss returns after its use is stopped.
  • Hair transplantation: Tiny plugs of natural hair are removed from areas where the hair is continuing to grow and placed in balding areas. This requires multiple transplantation sessions and may be expensive. However, the results are excellent and permanent.

Go ahead with surgery to reverse or reduce presbyopia

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

People usually develop a condition called presbyopia typically beginning between the ages of 40 and 50. Presbyopia is the inability of the eye to focus at all distances, usually noticed when fine print starts to blur. It sometimes even results in blindness, as a result of muscular degeneration.

Presbyopia is the primary reason that nearly everyone after their mid-40’s uses bifocals, reading glasses, or removes their distance glasses in order to read at a comfortable distance. With age, the power of the eye begins to deteriorate, and focusing objects up close becomes more of a strain. Some people embrace it as a sign of wisdom and maturity, and others try to disguise it, grasping desperately to what they perceive to be their fading youth. Presbyopia is caused either by stiffening of the eye’s lens, continued growth of the lens or atrophy of the muscles controlling the lens, but other theories exist as well.

In the past, the usual remedy was to wear reading glasses for presbyopia. But now in modern times, surgical remedies for presbyopia also are available for qualified candidates. One of the first effective surgical options for presbyopia correction involved producing what is known as monovision during LASIK. Other surgical procedures such as conductive CK, also exist and they which give eye surgeons additional options for correcting this common vision problem.

Monovision and LASIK:

Monovision is the term for the surgical correction of one eye to achieve enhanced vision up close. Normally, both your eyes work together equally when you look at an object, to produce what’s called binocular vision. However, you probably have a dominant eye that your brain tends to favor for “sighting”. Therefore, in monovision, one eye does more work (sighting) than the other. If one of your eyes is set for distance vision and the other is set for near vision, the distance eye will do most of the work when looking at objects in the distance, and the near vision eye will do most of the work when looking at objects close by. To perform this surgical enhancement, doctors typically use procedure: LASIK, the famous name in eye surgery.

Some LASIK surgeons will produce monovision in their presbyopic patients by purposely leaving the non-dominant eye slightly nearsighted so that these patients can see up close without glasses. It’s better to try monovision with contact lenses or trial lenses in the doctor’s office first to be sure you can adapt. With the advancements in customized technology, eligible patients can receive better corrected vision with a slighter chance of side effects. As with all surgical procedures, there is a learning curve for surgeons.

Scleral expansion bands

The surgeon inserts four plastic segments made out of PMMA just below the surface of the scleral, which increases the distance between the muscles that focus the lens and the lens itself. Researchers think the extra distance augments the tension of the muscle, thus allowing it to do a better job of focusing the lens. Resulting from early phase clinical trials involved five patients, all of whom were able to read newspaper print after scleral expansion bands were inserted. Overall, some eyes that have received the implants show improvement, and some do not.

Belt lipectomy surgery - to cut draping or loose skin

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

You feel wonderful after losing significant weight on your own or after surgery. However, when you look in the mirror, you may not feel that you have achieved all of your goals because loose, baggy skin remains on your lower body. This is a common experience among those individuals who have lost a great deal of weight. So to deal with the amount of loose skin that is very large, especially excess weight around belly, hips, back, buttocks, and outer thighs, more extensive plastic surgery is needed, so the procedure chosen by the plastic surgeon is belt lipectomy, which is also known as a lower body lift. It can remove excess body fat and completely reshape the middle and lower body to create a streamlined silhouette.

How belt lipectomy surgery is performed:

Belt lipectomy is a comprehensive surgery for completely transforming your lower body to the best shape possible. This procedure is referred to as a lower body lift, circumferential body lift, total body lift, or abdominoplasty and buttock lift. The belt lipectomy is typically performed under sedation or general anesthesia, and can take several hours depending on the initial size of the patient. he recovery time differs from person to person. Most people need about two to three weeks before they can return to light activity. Usually, people will need about two months before they feel completely recovered.

Key benefits of the Belt lipectomy

The belt lipectomy is most effective for individuals who have lost a significant amount of weight and now have excess skin, or those who want to get rid of excess weight without undergoing bariatric surgery. Any loose skin around the hips, the lower abdomen and rolls of skin and fat around the back can be eliminated with the belt lipectomy. Other benefits of this body reshaping procedure include:

  • Complete reshaping of the buttocks and thighs
  • Tighter and toned midsection
  • Permanent removal of excess skin around the midsection
  • Transfer of fat if needed
  • Removal of excess fat around the abdominals

Belt lipectomy is indicated in several types of patients, but the largest group comprises patients who have had a significant loss of weight due to gastric-banding or stomach bypass surgery or as a result of successful dieting and exercise.

Zyoptix - Laser refractive platform for eye surgery

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

For today’s advances in laser eye surgery and emerging technologies, having sharp, near-perfect vision for life is a clear choice for many. When considering laser vision correction surgery, you want the best for your eyes you need the best surgeon, the best care before and after treatment, and the best treatment system available is Zyoptix laser eye surgery. It was the first system in Europe and Asia that applied Wavefront technology in laser eye treatment to provide Personalized Vision treatments.

The Zyoptix system is designed by Bausch & Lomb, and the company claims that this system is more precise than the standard Lasik treatment. Zyoptix surgeries report that 91.5% of patients had unaided vision without glasses or contacts and 70.3% of patients had unaided better. This procedure may be more beneficial to you when you want to minimize the risk of complications and common side effects associated with the Lasik surgery.

Zyoptix ideally treats patients who have night vision problem, with naturally large pupils, pre-existing higher order aberrations and nearsightedness and/or astigmatism. Zyoptix offers several benefits for the average, and some of them are:

1. The Zyoptix is an advanced eye surgery procedure that delivers a treatment unique to every individual, taking laser vision correction to a new frontier and more than improving your vision, it can enhance your life.

2. The Zyoptix system can measure aberrations in the eye that are causing vision problems, and generate a three-dimensional map which can then be used as part of the laser correction process to target specific areas.

3. The Zyoptix uses the latest most advanced technology to detect and treat very small vision errors. A recent FDA study, significantly more patients had better quality of night driving vision than patients treated with standard LASIK eye surgery. Zyoptix is like standard LASIK eye treatment, but is fast and virtually painless.

4. The Zyoptix lasers can smooth out the cornea with an innovative ‘dancing light’ laser. This scans the eyes and makes it easier to target the laser in exactly the right area.

5. The Zyoptix laser offers a 30% greater chance vision than standard lasers. This means you can undergo laser eye surgery just once to correct vision problems.

Top Cosmetic Surgery for male

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

While women account for the majority of plastic and cosmetic procedures each year, men seem to be changing their attitude about a number of issues that seemed previously to be the preserve of women. Feeling the need to look youthful and appear dynamic well into your 40s, 50s and 60s has led to men re-thinking their attitudes to pills, diet, exercise, face-care products and cosmetic surgery.

Over 1 million surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures for men were performed, and the most sought-after procedures included eyelid surgery, male breast reduction and microdermabrasion amongst others. So if men are looking for ways to get rid of excess fat, remove fine lines and wrinkles or just enhance the texture and tone of your skin, consider the following cosmetic treatments for that makeover.

-Skin tightening treatments for men is an essential component of healthy, youthful-looking skin. The procedures, such as thermage and titan can help manage sagging skin and increase collagen production. A series of skin tightening treatments can help rejuvenate the skin, and can be combined with injectable fillers for a sculpted look and creating improved facial contours.

-Body improvement for men surgery to create pectoral implants, bulging pecs and buttock enhancements are becoming more and more popular. Cosmetic surgery appeals to our quick-fix, no hassle approach to life. The down side is cost and the dangers associated with elective surgery.

-Hair transplants for men- most hair comes out of the scalp in groups of two or three hairs, 15% in groups of four or five hairs and some 15% comes out as a single strand. The surgeon transplants groups of these various follicle groupings of hair to mimic a natural looking hair pattern as it emerges from the scalp. These procedure are typically less expensive than conventional hair loss treatments.

-Eyelid Surgery for Men can reshape the upper eye area and tighten and tone the skin to draw more attention to the eyes. This can be a valuable treatment at any age, and can be combined with other skin tightening and facial rejuvenation procedures for a complete makeover.

Get rid of sun spots with Fraxel laser

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Sun spots are those spots that appear on your skin when you start aging. When sunbathing is part of your warm-weather routine, you are putting yourself at risk for developing sun spots, also known as livers spots. In fact they are the product of excessive sun exposure from some time ago. The sun spots appear after age 40 in people who have light skin but they are more likely to appear in the general population after age 50. These spots are usually found on the forearms, neck, chest and the back of the hands – anywhere that receives an extra dose of sunshine. To get rid of these sun spots with a fresh looks, the most effective treatment is Fraxel laser.

The Fraxel laser treatment is a new procedure that can rejuvenate the skin and erase both old and new scars and that can help remove sun spots and improve the texture and tone of the skin. Fraxel appeals to those who want the power of traditional resurfacing methods and those who are looking for a more effective result than might forgotten with non-ablative techniques. Fraxel is an ideal treatment for today’s busy individuals seeking to improve their appearance without the long healing process normally associated with other invasive procedures.

Fraxel laser works by penetrating the skin at its deepest layers and breaking down the damaged skin cells and tissue. After creating trauma in the treatment area, the skin begins to repair itself and heal, this generates fresh new cells and eliminates the appearance of sun spots and other patches of skin pigmentation for a fresher appearance. Some of the other laser skin resurfacing technologies include:

-Erbium Laser – this intensive laser helps remove the top layer of skin completely to reveal a fresher layer underneath, which can also reduce fine lines, wrinkles and acne scars to leave you with fresher, more radiant skin.

-CO2 Laser – a high intensity laser treatment that can also be used to treat skin cancer and dark pigmentation.

Titan lasers - The new breed of skin laser

Monday, May 11th, 2009

The Titan laser is a non-invasive solution for treating loose skin and offers several benefits. Titan utilizes a safe, infrared spectrum of light that is delivered to the dermis well below the outer skin’s surface. There is no down time and no external injury to the skin. There are no external wounds to care for. A person can return to work right after the cosmetic procedure. It helps stimulate collagen production and can increase the firmness of the skin a few months after treatment. If you’re looking for a simple way to improve skin tone and texture, here’s what you can expect from your Titan treatment.

The procedure can be utilized on a variety of areas including the face, neck and body. The most frequent areas receiving Titan Laser treatment is the facial area, the forehead, neck, cheeks and jowl are the most popular areas. In addition other regions such as the stomach, thighs, and arms can also be effectively treated. The procedure is especially effective in treating the more difficult regions of the body such as the knee and elbows regions.

How the Titan Procedure Works?

The Titan laser can firm up loose skin that is a result of weight loss, aging or pregnancy; Since the laser works by stimulating the formation of new collagen, ideal results will take approximately three to eight months to materialize. While this laser procedure is very effective it does have limitations. Individuals with advanced skin aging coupled with sun damage and excessive wrinkles may not be the best candidates for the Titan laser procedure. Titan laser therapy can be combined with other facial rejuvenation treatments for a complete body or facial makeover. The results of Titan Skin tightening technology may be seen within a few weeks of the treatment, however the full benefits are usually not observed for three to six months. This is probably the most difficult part of this procedure as the effects of the treatment are not seen immediately.

Key Benefits of the Titan Skin Tightening Procedure

  • Look years younger
  • Treats lax and sagging skin
  • Versatile procedure
  • Reduce risk of injured fat
  • Stimulates long-term collagen growth
  • Visible results within weeks
  • Is safe, comfortable and non-surgical
  • Alternative to liposuction
  • No downtime

Enjoy the pleasures of motherhood without worrying

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

Becoming a mother doesn’t mean you can’t look as good or better than before pregnancy.  Most women enjoy their pregnancy and are happy to become mothers. But for some, the physical changes caused by pregnancy can take away some of the joy. Pregnancy causes drastic changes in the body, but few women are able to restore their bodies to its pre-pregnancy status with diet and exercise alone. Today, there are exciting options in plastic surgery to help you regain your pre–pregnancy form. Many procedures offer a solution for women going through the post-pregnancy stages, helping to remove excess fatty tissue, improve the contours of the body, and even reducing breast size.

Sometimes this is called mommy makeover. Even a limited operation can have benefits for your self esteem. Knowing your options can help give you peace of mind so you can relax and enjoy your pregnancy or the new found pleasures of motherhood without worrying you’ll never look as good as before. So here are some of the procedures:

Breast Reduction Surgery

Some women experience extensive swelling in their breasts during pregnancy, and causes several hormonal changes and often leads to an increase in breast size; however, no amount of exercise will re-tighten this skin, the post-pregnancy period results in either a continued increase or steady decrease in breast volume, and this can cause discomfort.  An outpatient procedure called “mastopexy” can remove excess skin and reduce sagging. Your plastic surgeon can use local or general anesthetic to tighten skin on the lower half of the breasts, which lifts and firms them.

Stretch Mark Removal

Ugly stretch marks along the abdomen, underarms, inner thighs and buttocks are the most common problem areas for women post-pregnancy, and these can be corrected  by laser treatment. The top layer of the skin can be removed that encourages fresh cells to grow for smooth appearance through stretch marks treatment, such as blue light therapy.

Liposuction After Pregnancy

Nowhere else is pregnancy more evident than a woman’s abdomen. It was the nine-month home to your infant. An average weight woman can expect to gain 25 – 35 pounds during pregnancy, which gives birth to belly fat and extra fat around the abdomen and thighs. Liposuction is an outpatient procedure, and for small areas, can be done under local anesthetic. It is not appropriate for large fat deposits or for women who are generally overweight. It can re-sculpt the body, removing fat deposits that contribute to flabby underarms or bulges. Today’s innovative technologies are making liposuction a safe, effective and affordable treatment for many.

IPL - The ultimate solution to unwanted hair

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

For many men and women, unwanted hair can be a nightmare. Until now the only options for removing unwanted hair were smelly hair removal creams, sharp razors, stinging wax or painful electrolysis needles and time-consuming, but there is a permanent and painless hair removing option available that is IPL, an advanced approach to beautiful skin, provides the ultimate solution. The IPL process uses intense pulsed light to gently remove unwanted hair, putting an end to routine shaving and waxing and the treatments leave your skin feeling smoother and silkier.

Intense pulsed light therapy treats larger areas such as the back, shoulders, arms, legs and face rather than treating one hair at a time. This treatment is a safe, fast, gentle and effective alternative method for hair removal. The treatment works on most skin types and the total cost of treatment may be far lower than standard hair removal methods. Here’s what you need to know about the IPL laser hair removal procedure:

IPL works equally well on most skin pigmentations without removing any of the pigment for both men and women. IPL hair removal can also safely and effectively eliminate hair of all colors: blond, red, brown, black and even white. With the process, your doctor can gently treat hair in sensitive areas such as the bikini line, stomach, underarms and upper lip, at the same time maintaining a healthy, normal appearance of the surrounding tissue. The IPL laser hair removal device works by emitting a spectrum of light and heat energy directly into the hair follicle, effectively breaking down the hair and slowing down hair growth, as the hair follicle becomes weaker, the hair grows back at a very slow rate and eventually, does not grow back at all.

The benefits of IPL laser hair removal:

  • Little or no downtime.
  • It works equally well with light or dark hair and skin.
  • There is less chance for scarring and pigmentation change.
  • Less pain and discomfort compared to other hair removal treatments.
  • Combines the speed of shaving with the lasting results by electrolysis.