If you are interested in laser hair removal, you must first understand howit works and the technology and science behind it. Laser hair removaltechnology is the use of an invisible beam of light combined with a constantsource of heat.  When the heatpenetrates the hair follicle, it destroys its roots disabling its ability togrow hair again, while still preserving the surrounding skin.

Although laser clinics, medical spas and plastic surgeon’s offices may usethe term permanent hair removal loosely, the FDA only endorses the term“permanent hair reduction” rather than permanent hair removal.

Here is my compiled list of facts andfiction on permanent hair reduction, a procedure that has risen to the #1requested aesthetic procedures:

Fiction: Laser hair removal is permanent.  Laser hair removal technology provides a permanent reductionof hair growth up to 80-90% of the targeted area in the ideal patient, that iswhy we cannot say laser hair removal is permanent.

Fact: Laser hair removal requires multiple treatments. Hair grows inthree stages (growth, regression and resting) and hair must be in the growthstage in order to be effected by the lasers light. Since not all hairs areactively growing at the same time, several treatments are needed to target allhair in the active growth stage. Most areas require 4-6 treatments spaced 4-6weeks apart, depending on hair thickness and the area treated.

Fiction: Insurance covers laser hairremoval. Laser hair removal is an out-of-pocket procedure and is notseen as a medical necessity even when hair growth is related to hormonalimbalance.

Fact: Laser hair removal does not work on white, grey or blonde hair. Lasersuse laser light to create heat with the goal of targeting the dark melanin inthe hair follicle and destroying the hair follicle by its absorption of theheat.  Treating white, grey,blonde, light red and even light brown hair with lasers has a low successfulrate due to the lack of melanin in the hair follicle. 

Fiction: Any link between cancer and laser hair removal. Laser hairremoval devices use radiation that produces heat but does not penetrate farinto the skin or cause cell mutation. It is non-ionizing radiation which isdefined by the US Department of Labor as “a series of energy waves composed ofoscillating electric and magnetic fields traveling at the speed of light”.There has been no known connection between laser hair removal and cancer.

Fact: Laser hair removal saves money. Laserhair removal may seem expensive but over time laser hair removal costless.  When the cost is stacked upwith the cost of continuous waxing, electrolysis, razors or other methods ofhair removal, the reduction in cost is mind boggling.

Fiction: All laser devices can be used forlaser hair removal. There are currently several types of lasers thathave been approved by the FDA for laser hair removal.  The Alexandrite, Diode and Nd:YAG lasers offer versatilityin treatment modes with the Nd:YAG being the preferred choice of laser whentreating darker skin types.  AlthoughRuby lasers and Intense Pulse Light (IPL) devices are still in use for laserhair removal, they are not as effective and have become less popular in recentyears.

Fact: Laser hair removal is the most state-of-the art method in removingunwanted hair. Lasers offer hair removal in a controlled and efficientmanner especially for large areas such as the back and full legs. Hair isremoved for longer and indefinite periods of time.

Fiction: Laser hair removal is painful.  The feeling is not that of pain but discomfort. It feelslike rubber bands snapping against your skin and is tolerable to most people.

Simply stated, at the moment, laser hair removal is the most permanentsolution on the market offering patients as close to permanent results as theyare able to get. 

Make your appointment now and be ready for your beach bikini soon.

For more information please visit the Luxxery page:

http://luxxery.com/day-spa-services/Luxxery-Facials.aspx 

http://luxxery.com/before-and-after/laser-hair-removal.aspx

Patients frequently ask if it is better to lose weightbefore having liposuction. The answer to this question is directly linked towhether or not a patient is an appropriate candidate for liposuction. In thepast, patients who did not fall within 10-15% of their ideal body weight wereturned away from the procedure and instructed to lose the weight first.  This is no longer the case when curvesare back in style  and being a fewpounds away from your ideal body weight is in. Liposculpture, the newest trendin liposuction, allows for the coupling of liposuction with lipotransfer. 

You are a candidate for liposculpture if you have pockets ofexcess fat in particular areas, even if you do not fall within 10-15% of yourideal weight.  Keep in mind thatliposuction is not a substitute for weight reduction; it is a method ofremoving localized fat. Liposuction is a technique to remove unwanted fat deposits from specificareas of the body including the chin, neck and cheeks, the upper arms and abovethe breasts, the abdomen, buttocks, hips and thighs and the knees, calves andankles.  It essentially eliminatesthe bulges and brings the areas that are “liposuctioned” into a balance withthe untreated surrounding areas. Lipotransfer on the other hand is a techniquethat allows your surgeon to enhance areas that need enhancement by injectingthe liposuctioned fat into fat deficient areas.  With lipo-sculpture, you may want to lose the weight at somepoint yet it does not matter whether you do it before or after thesurgery.  You should be physicallyhealthy and psychologically stable and have firm elastic skin which will resultin a better final contour. Since lipotransfer in simple terms means taking thefat from areas you don’t need it to be in and delivering it to where you do(your face or your buttocks), you don’t need to be your ideal weight to be acandidate for lipo-scultupre. Lipo-transfer is a way to enhance areas that needenhancement, combining it with liposuction is true lipo-sculpture. Lipo-sculptureis completing liposuction which is essentially a sculpture procedure at apatient’s ideal body weight.

In the hands of a plastic surgeon with artistic skills and adequatelytrained in body contouring, your trouble areas will not only disappear, theycan be useful in adding to your appeal with an improvement in contour that willpersist for some time even if you lose or gain a few pounds later . Actually patients who gain a few pounds(emphasis on few) will have apersistent improvement in the contouring effect of the procedure because thenew pounds will end up getting evenly distributed in your body instead of goingback to the old bulges.  

A board certified plastic surgeon performing liposculpturecan turn patients who are more than10-15% of their ideal body weight intoappropriate candidates for liposculpture. Although liposculpturecan enhance your appearance and your self-confidence regardless of your weight,it will not necessarily change your looks to match your ideal, or cause otherpeople to treat you differently. Before you decide to have surgery, thinkcarefully about your expectations and discuss them with your surgeon.

Look at today's celebrity bodies, and you'll notice thatParis Hilton’s model thin body can no longer compete with Kim Kardashian’scurves.  With liposculpture, yourphysician can shift those pounds to where they can enhance instead of detractfrom your shape. Theconcept is simple, skinny is out and curves are in. Coupling liposuction withlipotransfer is liposculpture. A new way you can look good this summer nomatter how much you weigh.

2010 is all about shape.

FOr more information, visit our site at:

http://www.luxxery.com/body-plastic-surgery/liposuction.aspx 

Acne Scarring Management

How We Do It

The key to management of patients with acne scarring beginswith a thorough analysis and a clinical examination with an emphasis ondetermining the cause of scarring, preventing scarring, and the types of scars.  Once all these factors have beendetermined, we can design the options for treatment of the scars.

A scar, in the simplest terms, forms at the site of injuredtissue.  In the case of acne, theinjury is due to the body’s inflammatory reaction to sebum, the oily substanceproduced by sebaceous glands as well as bacteria and dead cells in the cloggedsebaceous follicles.  The type ofscarring that results in people who are susceptible to scarring ranges fromdepressed scars such as ice-pick scars, to raised scars such as keloids,  to hyperpigmented scars and dark spots.  Facial scars resulting from acneregardless of how they manifest themselves often give the illusion of facialasymmetry or poor skin texture.  Mygoal in the treatment of facial acne scarring is managing by way of removal orlightening of such unsightly areas for my patients regardless of skin color orethnicity.  My objective is to givethe skin a more acceptable physical appearance with the understanding thattotal restoration of the skin to the way it looked before the occurrence ofacne is not possible . Our treatment approach will accomplish a tremendousimprovement of the appearance of the skin.

Old and new methods in treatment of acne scarring are only effectivewhen taking into consideration the patient’s skin type and ethnic background.  Knowing the patient’s susceptibility isimportant in the choice of techniques for management and effective treatment ofacne scars.  A variety of treatmentsare presented to the patient ranging from old methods such as the age oldhydroquinones and peels to new methods such as laser treatments and fattransfer or adipose accentuation of the sub-dermis. Our approach consist of a combinationof old and new techniques integrating medical strength product regimens, peels,microdermabrasions, laser treatments as well as stem cell laden fat transfer.

The scar treatmentscurrently available include:

Peels Only deeppeels such as phenol based peels work on acne scarring yet are not recommendedfor dark or asian skin types.  Worthmentioning is the new Vi-Peel™, a medical grade peel specifically designed fordarker skin types and works on all skin types, it offers significantimprovement to dark spots, hyperpigmentation and acne scarring in AfricanAmerican, Latin and Asian patients.

Microdermabrasions Asurface form of dermabrasion, microdermabrasion using crystals or crystal freepassing through a vacuum tube to remove surface skin requires multipletreatments and may not have an impact on improving acne scarring.  However, a microdermabrasion performedimmediately prior to a Nd-Yag laser treatment such as the Cutera Genesis,contributes to a better laser procedure. A combination microdermabrasion-complexion blending laser treatment canhelp significantly to improve scars.

Laser treatments Laserand light based treatments for acne scarring and hyperpigmentation haveincreasingly become the appropriate approach where other methods have failed oras an integral part of a combination treatment plan that combines traditionalmethods such as topicals, peels and systemic approaches.  For example the results with the Nd-YagCutera Laser Genesis treatments preceded by a microdermabrasion produce anexcellent result for patients with hyperpigmentation and old acne scarring.  The treatment results in smoothing out skintexture and reducing visible scars and blemishes.  Scar tissue can be recontoured and redness around healedscars and acne lesions can be reduced depending on the type of wavelength andintensity of the laser used.

Fat Transfer Whenused to correct deep contour ice-pick scars resulting from cystic acne, fattransfer where fat is taken from another body site and prepared for injectioninto one’s own skin can elevate depressed scars with the longest lasting resultsthan all other methods.  Recentstudies have proved that the newly injected fat contributes to the healing ofthe surrounding tissue where it is placed due the high number of stem cells inthe transferred fat.  The stemcells are involved in the repair of the skin and a remarkable repair of scarsas well as an enhancement of the quality of the skin underlying the transferredfat.  Multiple fat transferprocedures can achieve more of a permanent result.

Products Patientsseeking treatments of acne scars should also commit to a customized home care regimen that combine cleansers instead of traditional soap which can strip the skin ofits natural oils, with topical retinoids(Retin-A)  to reduce blackheads, whiteheads and induce skin cellturnover with the added benefit of reducing wrinkles, a skin lightening creamor hydroquinone to reduce or removehyper pigmented scars, and has an increased bleaching quality when used incombination with the retinoid.  Noregimen is complete without a moisturizerand a sunblock or a combinationmoisturizer sunblock as the final step to any customized home care regimen.

The decision to seek treatment for your acne scars dependson many factors, the most important one being the way you feel psychologicallyand emotionally about your scars and whether or not you are willing to livewith your scars.  Another importantfactor would be whether you have the budget and discipline to seek thetreatment options presented since acne scar treatments is not covered by healthinsurance.  Most physicians offertreatment package options and patient financing to ease the burden of the cost involved.

The uniqueness of our approach is geared towards making ourpatients feel good not just look good. At Luxxery we take care of your acnescars and surround you in beauty.