Lifestyle Choices

Face Lift Scars

You will have a scar right round each ear. The scar behind your ear and its continuation across part of the scalp will be hidden by hair (except in the case of a man who becomes totally bald). The scar in front of the ear will be visible but usually it is faint and doesn’t shriek its presence. However, scars can widen and drop unpredictably and sometimes a hairstyle which covered them at first ceases to cover them later. If an incision is made under your chin to remove neck fat, a small scar will show here. (more…)

Face Lift for who is appropriate

The best results are achieved when a face lift is done earlier rather than later. Although face lifts are usually not sought till the mid-50s or early 60s, a face lift carried out in the 40s may prevent some of the more distressing signs of facial ageing, such as hanging folds of skin around the neck, which develop later and which sometimes can’t be corrected well. Both men and women can have face lifts but the results are usually better in women. (more…)

You will notice at the base of the fingers that it says “ears” and “eyes.” With your right thumb, press on the pad just about where the fingers join your left hand. Use a press-and-roll motion here as you search out tender spots. When you find a sore spot, keep working it for a few seconds to release a flow of electrical life force into the congested area, thus giving nature a helping hand in healing whatever the malfunction might be. (more…)

How to work between the webbing of fingers

The webbing between fingers has many important reflexes, several of which are “assistants” to other reflex areas, such as the neck, sinuses, eyes, ears, and all sensory organs. You will work these reflex areas by placing the first finger and thumb of the opposite hand over and under the webbing. With a pinching, rolling technique, gently work the reflex points next to the small muscles, and up against the bones underneath the skin. Work between all fingers. You will be surprised at the tender spots you find here. (more…)

Giant brown birthmarks may sometimes cover a large area of the body or the face and neck and cause a great deal of distress. Unfortunately simple excision is rarely the answer as the brown pigment usually extends deep into the skin. A skin graft may be necessary.

Removal of Brown Birthmarks

To remove the unsightly pigmented area with the best cosmetic results possible in each individual circumstance. (more…)

Hair Transplant, What needs to be done?

The most commonly and successfully used method for transplanting hair is the punch graft, which can be done under local anaesthetic and takes a couple of hours.

You will receive an injection of anaesthetic in the area of your scalp that the hair is to cover and the area from which the hair is to be taken. The instrument used for the operation is, as might be expected, a small punch. This is used to punch out about 20 to 50 small circular areas of bald skin, in a shape that will provide a relatively natural- looking hair line once hair-bearing skin is implanted in the holes. Then the same amount of hair-bearing skin is punched out, from whatever site has been chosen for their removal (usually the lower back or side of the head where thinner hair growth will be less noticeable). The hair- bearing skin is fitted into the holes that are waiting for them in the bald skin. But there will of course be small areas of bald skin between the holes, where hair still will not grow. (more…)

More than three out of four women shave their underarms, bikini area, and/or legs to remove excess hair, and almost all men shave their beard. The secret of a good shave is closeness with comfort. An understanding of hair growth and a proper shaving technique are important. As a dermatologist, I often see shaving-related problems such as irritation or pseudofolliculitus (pimples). (more…)

Fat suction, known technically as lipolysis or suction assisted lipectomy, is still a relatively new procedure. It was developed in France in the last decade and now is a very common cosmetic surgery procedure in the United States and increasingly common here. It has been the cause of a great deal of excitement and raised hopes for those in a permanent struggle with their weight but, while it is indeed a successful method for removing some excess fat, it is not a procedure that is suitable for those who are most overweight. It is not a surgical alternative to dieting. (more…)

Dermabrasion is an extreme form of exfoliation. For this procedure, the doctor actually uses a rotating wire brush like a sanding instrument to remove the entire outer surface of the skin. The epidermis and the upper portion of the dermis (about one-quarter to one-third of the thickness of your skin) is usually abraded. (more…)

Most of the time we take little notice of our hair and nails. During adolescence there may be times we would wish to have different colored or textured hair or curse that our nails break too easily, but after that we pretty well accept our lot. That is until some change occurs. When hair starts to be lost there is not only an immediate cosmetic problem but the scalp may be damaged by sunlight or low doorways. Equally, when finger nails fail to develop properly this problem is both cosmetic and functional: it may become impossible to pick up small objects.

Too little Hair

Male-pattern baldness

This term is used because it is so much more marked in men than in women. The typical changes of receding hair and thinning on top are well known and often run in families: the process may even start before the age of thirty years. Women are much less severely affected and anyway tend to keep the front hair line. However, with increasing age many women notice some thinning on their scalp. The hair loss, in both sexes, is due to the effect of hormones but not an excess of them. The fault lies in the hair roots which become over-sensitive to existing hormone levels. (more…)

The enormous fuss that is made about cellulite always surprises me. “Does it or doesn’t it exist?” “What are its causes?” “What, if anything, can be done about it?” Such is the way women tend to treat cellulite, as if it were some kind of externally imposed curse to which they fall innocent victim.

Cellulite is the manifestation of the wrong kind of lifestyle for health and beauty: eating wrongly (or too much), living under prolonged stress, being exposed to too many pollutants, and all the other things that we tend to think we can get away with, but never really do. And no number of expensive or painful treatments is going to help the problem for long unless you change the things that brought it on in the first place. (more…)

External treatment is almost as important as internal treatment—breaking down the pockets of cellulite physically so that stored wastes in them are released and can be eliminated from the body. There are several ways of doing it. Which you choose depends on your patience, your preference, and the state of your pocketbook. If the cellulite is hard and long-standing, if there is a lot of it—you will probably need professional help, either a beauty therapist who knows what she is doing (many unfortunately don’t) or a physiotherapist trained in corrective tissue massage or Rolfing. (more…)

The Causes

Although allergies and allergic reactions to particular substances are not inherited, a tendency to them can be. If, for instance, both your mother and your father suffered from allergies, you have a 57 percent chance of them too. Approximately 15 percent of all women are said to be highly prone to allergic reactions, 25-30 percent are less easily sensitized (which means they will react adversely only to some substances, sometimes), and 55-60 percent are relatively allergy-free or only rarely prone to allergic reactions. But, on the whole, allergic complaints are on the increase, and cosmetic dermatitis and skin sensitivities are leading the field. For instance, in one study of skin ailments in the mid-seventies it was found that where, four years before, only 3 percent of the patients in Britain seen by dermatologists were suffering from skin reactions, in the space of a very few years it had risen to 14 percent. (more…)

EYES

This exercise is excellent for the eye area, which usually goes slack faster than any other part of the face. It is particularly designed to prevent or eliminate crow’s-feet. It is in two parts.

Part one Looking into a mirror, lower your chin to your chest and open your eyes looking straight ahead. Then, slowly and in eight definite steps, close your eyes by bringing the lower lids up to the upper, all the while looking into the mirror until the very last moment. Hold this position with your eyes tightly shut for four counts, then release in the same eight definite steps. Repeat four times. Once you can control these movements in definite steps, you are ready to go on to the toughy that really does the work. (more…)

One of the most useful things you can do yourself to prevent your face from aging and to correct sags and bags even after they have occurred is to practice face exercises every day.

The bones you were born with give yaw face its individual shape and structure. Short of plastic surgery or adjustments to your skull through cranial osteopathy, there is nothing you can do to change them. But your muscles are constantly changing either for better or for worse. They are made up of bundles of fibers, each of which works independently to shorten muscle and draw a part of the face into a particular expression. Just like the muscles in the rest of your body, each of these groups of fibers has an antagonistic group. This means that for each muscle that pulls an area of your face into one expression, there is an opposite muscle to pull it the other way. (more…)

Covering the Blemishes

Now is the time to deal with any problems you want to conceal, such as black circles under your eyes or discolorations here and there. Concealer creams and sticks are good here, although some of them are greasy and, particularly under the eyes, tend to sink into tiny lines and make matters worse. If you use a concealer, buy one that is not too light-colored. Many brands are far too pale and, used under the eyes, make you look ghoulish.

Put your concealer on and pat it into the skin with your little finger until it blends perfectly with the surrounding area. If you add a little powder here—particularly under the eyes—even if you don’t wear it on the rest of your face, you will get just the finish you need to make the undesirable area fade into the surrounding skin tones.

The Magic of Light and Shade

The whole secret of successful makeup, no matter what look you are after (the natural, clean face or pure glamour), lies in using light and shade well. The rules are simple. Whatever part of your face you want to bring out or emphasize, you apply a light color to, and whatever part you want to minimize, you cover with a darker shade. In practice it becomes a little more complicated. Shaders and highlighters come in several forms: creams or lotions you put on a naked face or just after applying your foundation, powders you brush on after applying translucent powder, and simple light and dark shades of foundation you put on various areas of the face for effect. (more…)

Hard Skin Softener

Mix a tablespoon of coarse sea salt with a tablespoon of almond oil, and rub vigorously into the hard, horny areas. Then hop into a bath, adding a little more oil to the bathwater, and soak the well-rubbed areas for at least 10 minutes. Then rub the hard skin away with a pumice stone. After your bath soothe the worked area with a good cream or lotion.

Mask for Horny Skin

This is particularly good for roughened hands and heels.

2-4 cups soapwort, flowers, roots and leaves, steeped in 2 litres (8 cups) boiling water

250 ml (1 cup) pawpaw, mashed OR

2-3 slices pineapple, mashed

half an avocado

250-500 ml (1-2 cups) bran

4 scented geranium leaves, minced (more…)