Reflections on Beauty

If you’ve been thinking about getting body art (aka tattoos) but are afraid you might regret it later, you aren’t alone. The American Society of Dermatological Surgery estimates that about 40 million Americans have at least one tattoo, and at any given time a number of those folks are calling around to see how to get a tattoo removed.

Tattoo ink is pretty permanent stuff, however. The most reliable method for getting rid of unwanted ink is laser tattoo removal, but even that can take several sessions, depending on the type of ink used, its color, the depth it was injected and the amount used by the artist.

Now there’s a new ink on the market called Inifitink, a tattoo ink that’s as permanent as others, but is designed to be much easier to remove using lasers.   Infinitink was created right here in New Jersey by a company called Freedom2.

It looks like Infinitink might be a good option for the body art commitment-phobes out there. Consider it a little insurance just in case that person’s name you’re dying to have tattooed on your hip falls out of your good graces.

Of course, if you currently have body art that you wish to remove, call us to learn the latest tattoo removal technologies. We’ve got you covered–er, uncovered that is!

Summer is here, and some of our patients are discovering little spider veins on their legs that, during the winter season, they didn’t notice. Now that your body is being exposed to the warm air and popped into swimwear, you might be stressing about those little tiny veins that suddenly have appeared during the winter!

What are spider veins:
Spider veins are little spindly lines that can begin to appear as early as your late 20’s in about 25% of women.

What causes spider veins?
The veins in your calf and foot push oxygen-depleted blood back up to the heart and lungs once it’s circulated through the legs. One-way valves in the veins actually prevent blood from becoming “stuck” and remaining in the area. However, as we grow older, these valves become weaker and the pooled blood enlarges the veins. Some of them become varicose veins, but many become broken capillaries. Broken capillaries just below your skin’s surface can appear due to aging, lack of exercise, prolonged standing, particularly on concrete flooring, and hormonal changes of aging and/or pregnancy.

Can you prevent spider veins?
Since some spider veins are caused by hormones, you cannot always prevent them. However, doing leg strengthening exercises during your gym sessions can help, as can elevating your legs for 20 minutes each evening if you stand a great deal during the work day. Enjoy that leg massage when your nail tech offers one during a pedicure. Avoid skin-tight clothing that restricts circulation—yes, those tight jeans might look good, but they might be squeezing your gams just a bit too tightly!

What treatments are available for spider veins?
Spider veins are unattractive, but not dangerous. They are often treated with the injection of a chemical into the area to cause the vein to collapse. This procedure is called sclerotherapy.

Another effective treatment for spider veins is laser therapy. This can be done alone or following sclerotherapy treatment to treat any veins that remain after the sclerotherapy series is completed. The laser delivers intense pulses of laser light into the veins, causing them to disappear over time. There are no needles used as in sclerotherapy and it requires only about 20 minutes per treatment.  In our practice, we favor the GentleYag Nd and Vbeam Pulsed dye lasers as the most advanced lasers for leg veins. It generally requires 3-4 treatments, and the discomfort is short-lived and mild.
With summer just around the corner, swimsuit season beckons. Don’t hide behind your towel—come in and see us about those pesky little spider veins so we can get them off your legs and out of your thoughts to help you feel confident and beautiful all summer long!

A recent study at the University of Michigan has found that age is a better predictor of satisfaction with plastic surgery than outlook. In other words, whether you tend to be positive or negative, optimistic or pessimistic, if you’re older, you’re happier with your results (sorry, Heidi Montag!).

The short study involved 51 patients who had plastic surgery procedures between 2007 and 2008. Those older than 53 years of age were more satisfied with their procedures’ results than those who are younger. Further, patients who were being treated for depression were happier than those who were not depressed (or at least weren’t being treated for depression).

Why? Perhaps those older among us have more realistic expectations.

According to the researchers, “…it will be interesting to design larger scale studies to examine the potential associations between perceived surgical outcomes and sex, education, marital status, depression and/or inclination toward optimism/pessimism.”

Also according to the researchers, “The ability to preoperatively identify patient characteristics (psychological, social or demographic) that might impact the subjective perception of surgical outcome and predict dissatisfaction with facial plastic surgery could be highly useful to surgeons.”

We all knew there was something in the body that would regulate fat (although some of us cannot seem to find that something no matter how hard we try!) but scientists now tell us that RHAMM (receptor for hyaluronan mediated motility) is the protein that regulates fat cells! Who knew?

It appears that by either blocking or deleting RHAMM, we can replace fat cells (yes, sometimes you want to keep the fat…stay tuned) where Father Time has depleted it—like in the face, right? Instead of fillers that need replaced on a regular schedule, fat stays around longer and would never be rejected since it’s “from you.”  Cell biologist Dr. Mina Bissell states that by manipulating the RHAMM, we can decrease visceral fat (the fat around your organs, in the tummy area) and increase fat in other places, like the face. The result could be “a means of providing a non-surgical approach for normalizing skin appearance after reconstructive surgery, for wrinkle reduction, and for face lifts and figure enhancement,”
according to Dr. Bissell.

Not only that, but face it (no pun intended) if you could get rid of visceral fat by flipping some kind of inner protein switch, wouldn’t you?

According to oncologist, Dr. Eva Turley, one of the best purposes for RHAMM might actually be as a replacement for facial muscle paralyzing agents like Dysport or Botox. “Unlike neurotoxin agents, which have to be injected periodically, a localized injection of a RHAMM inhibitor should produce long-lasting skin-volumizing effects and would not involve muscle paralysis,” said Dr. Turley, “which means there would be no loss of expression if it were to be injected into the face.”

Obviously, there’s more to do in terms of research here, but we live in exciting times, don’t we? In the meantime, there are a lot of terrific options to restore fullness to the face, diminish the appearance of wrinkles and to even out skin tone while tightening the skin. Call us, we’ll show you how it’s done!

The New England Journal of Medicine recently released results of a University of London study that shows people with vitiligo may have a natural protection against skin cancer.

According to the BBC report, 4300 people were identified as having a common gene mutation that increases the potential to develop vitiligo while simultaneously decreased their risk of skin cancer. In the study, 2813 individuals without vitiligo and 1514 with vitiligo underwent genetic testing. Researchers were able to identify 7 genes linked to vitiligo.

Approximately 70% of people have the specific gene combination that increases the chance of developing vitiligo and concurrently reducing their risk of skin cancer known as malignant melanoma. Conversely, 30% have a gene combination that increases the risk of melanoma while lessening the risk of developing vitiligo.

According to the researchers, everybody has one of the two variations, though there is no guarantee based on the variants that people will or will not develop vitiligo or skin cancer.  Since there is no way for any of us to be certain, we repeat our mantra: “Never go out without sunscreen’s protection!”

A tear trough deformity is actually caused by a groove that lies beneath the lower eyelid. When light hits this area of the face, the groove creates a shadow, hence, the dark circles. If the area under the eyes is puffy or baggy, this exacerbates the problem. While the puffiness under the eyes cannot be eliminated without surgery, the tear trough groove can be treated with fillers to eliminate the look of dark circles.

In our practice, we use Restylane to correct a tear trough deformity. Restylane, hyaluronic acid filler, is much like the hyaluronic acid in your own body—it attracts water to the surrounding collagen fibers, plumping them up. It’s this plumping that eliminates the hollow.

The effect lasts from 6 months to a year before it needs to be repeated. Our patients with tear trough deformity swear by this solution as the way to maintain a youthful, bright-eyed appearance.