Despite its association with passion, love, and vibrancy the color red is not what most people want to see on their faces when they look in the mirror. Redness on your face develops from inflammation and from dilated tiny blood vessels right at the surface of your skin. Sometimes the redness can be sudden, whereas other times it can develop slowly over many years. Here are five things your should know about facial redness and what to do about it. Read more…
Did you know that laser hair removal can take months to complete? That you cannot get laser hair removal if you have a tan? That laser hair removal can actually cause more hair growth? Here are 10 things you should know before getting your unwanted hair lasered off. Read more…
Summertime is nearly here and the lines are forming for last minute laser hair removal. Lasers are an effective way to permanently remove hair from underarms, legs, back, arms, chest, bikini area, and even faces. But how do they work? Read more…
Hair removal is big business with sales in the billions of dollars. Now there is a new laser (currently undergoing FDA scrutiny) that will provide a safe way for women to do laser hair removal at home. Dr. Tina Alster conducted a study of 20 women who underwent treatment of underarm, forearm, bikini, and leg hair removal. The women had hair reduction of 40-75% after 3-4 treatments performed at 2-week intervals. The results were apparently better on the legs as compared to the underarms and bikini area.
The Silk’n hair removal device made by HomeSkinovations, Ltd. is expected to cost about $800 – similar to a laser hair treatment in a dermatologist’s office.
The latest trend in the quest for youthful skin is acupuncture face-lifts. Devotees tout its holistic approach to solve the problem of aging skin. There are several theories purported to explain the effects. One expert claims that the tiny needles induce new collagen growth, another states simply that the procedure “heals from the inside out,” and a third actually uses tiny electric currents to stimulate muscle growth, thereby increasing muscle volume. However, not all “experts” agree that this will improve your wrinkles:
Not likely, said Dr. Richard D’Amico, the president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
‘First of all, increasing tone does not increase muscle volume,’ said Dr. D’Amico, an assistant clinical professor of plastic surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. [Moreover] ‘… anything that stimulates muscles will cause skin to fold even more and the wrinkles will get worse.’
Think about it. If simply contracting your muscles increased muscle size, then I would have massive fingers from all the typing I do and huge jaws from talking all day long. It doesn’t make sense.
As for the stimulation of new collagen, there are technologies such as Fraxel® lasers that blast microscopic holes in the skin which do induce new collagen growth. You would need literally thousands of acupuncture needles to equal one treatment of Fraxel, and it takes multiple Fraxel treatments to produce subtle results.
I believe in acupuncture; controlled studies have shown it can effectively treat conditions like chronic pain and high blood pressure. I believe that many medical or laser treatments are no better than acupuncture at treating wrinkles.
I want you to be an educated consumer. Before plunking down thousands of dollars ask:
- What is the evidence for this procedure?
- Has it been published in respected journals, such as the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology or Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery?
- Do you have photos from your office to demonstrate minimal, modest, and excellent results?
Photo by Natasha Calzatti for The New York Times.
