TRANSMEGA HEALTH

Laser Skin Resurfacing Treatment: What is it and Does it Work?

Doc Health Plan -Laser skin treatment technology. Seems a little high-tech and baffling, doesn't it?

Yet, even though it's hard to imagine how a laser can help improve skin quality, this treatment has been growing in popularity for years. (Not least because it involves no botox needles, knives or plastic surgery.)

So, what exactly is it and how does it work?

Resurfacing your skin

As we age, our skin changes. Elastin and collagen fibres within the skin lose their “snap” - leading to the onset of wrinkles. Cells regenerate slower and some areas develop darker pigmentation.

Resurfacing literally means altering (or removing) the surface of the skin to reveal a fresher layer below.

How does it work?

Laser technology allows you to target very specific parts of the face and neck. The laser delivers highly concentrated light energy to pinpointed parts of the skin. This light can eradicate dead or ageing cells, as well as stimulate other cells to heal and repair.

Are all laser treatments the same?

There are many different types of laser skin treatment – but really they all come under one of two areas: ablative or non-ablative.

Ablative treatments (such as the popular ProFractional procedure) remove a layer of skin, whereas non-ablative treatments tend to stimulate collagen cells below the epidermis and leave the outer layer intact. Skin resurfacing usually refers to ablative treatments.

One of the most effective procedures is the Sciton Profile Contour system. Combining two lasers, this approach both removes the dull surface layer and stimulates the cells beneath.

What are the down sides of laser treatment?

As with any skin treatment, side-effects are somewhat dependent on your skin's sensitivity – as well as the type of procedure you opt for.

In most cases you will experience some redness for at least a few days after. For more extensive treatments, or if you have more sensitive skin, this may last a week or more. If you experience any discomfort in this time, then over-the-counter painkillers are usually enough to reduce this.

It's also important to inform your doctor if you are taking any other skin medications (for example, Accutane acne treatment) or have recently undergone radiation.

Avoid direct sunlight soon after treatment and use high factor sunblock when going outdoors for several weeks after. Oh, and try not to wear make-up until the redness subsides!

What about results?

Once healed, the positive effects of laser treatment can last for several months. You may notice:

• Tighter skin

• Less wrinkles

• Smoother skin

• Less discolouration

• Reduced light scarring

Does it matter where you go for treatment?

Laser skin treatment is safe and effective – provided you use experienced, qualified medical professionals.

Most treatments will not be available for free on the NHS. Instead, look for practices that are registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they meet the high standards set for offering medical treatment in the UK.

Well-established, friendly clinics should make the entire process as swift and comfortable as possible. They'll also discuss all of your options and fully assess your skin type and expectations. That way you can be sure of getting the best possible results from your laser treatment.

4 Skin Care Sins That You Should Avoid When You Can!

Doc Health Plan -The condition of your skin today is a mere reflection of how you treated it yesterday! Skincare plays an integral role in defining the health of our skin. In fact, women who suffer from premature aging are just paying a price for their skin care negligence in the past.

Therefore, it is always better to prevent skin concerns rather than trying to treat them when they appear. Here are some serious skin care sins that you should better start avoiding as early as you can:

No Consideration for Skin Type

Often, women start using general skin care products without any heed for their skin type. In fact, some of them have no idea about their skin type and buy the most popular products of the season to include in their skin care regimen. As a result, not only is there no visible result, there are also chances that they develop skin issues like acne because of the incompatibility of the skin and the products.

So, before you start using any skin care product, make sure you determine your particular skin type. This will help you to understand the key requirements of your skin and thus, use products that cater to them effectively.

Using the Wrong Cleanser

The worst sin anyone can commit is using a regular soap bar in place of a cleanser. It is important to know that bath soaps contain extremely harsh ingredients that tend to strip off the natural moisture oils from the tender skin of your face and make it dry and irritated.

Therefore, use a cleanser that suits your skin types and contains ingredients that help relieve your skin concerns. Women with oily skin should use rich foaming cleansers Obagi Nu-Derm Foaming Gel while those with dry skin should use creamier cleansers like Skin Care Heaven Purifying Gentle Cleanser.

Not Removing Make-Up

Even though everyone knows it, this one is one of the oft-repeated skin care sins. A tiring evening is a perfect excuse to hit the sack without removing make-up from your face. However, cosmetic ingredients on your skin can seep into your skin pores and cause intrinsic damage leading to acne and blemishes.

So, make sure you use a cleanser or a make-up remover to remove all traces of make-up from your face every night before you go to sleep. Try Obagi C-Cleansing Gel. It gently conditions the skin with Vitamin C and removes all signs of make-up, oil residues and accumulated impurities leaving your skin fresh and clean.

Under Moisturizing your Skin

One of the common misconceptions among women is that oily skin doesn't require moisturization. This is not true! Oily skin is a result of excessive sebum production and the skin still requires moisture. In the absence of moisture, the skin produces excessive sebum to compensate the lack of moisture thus making the skin even oilier. Therefore, women with oily skin should use a mild moisturizer to hydrate their skin subtly without adding to the oiliness. Try the Kinerase Clear Skin Moisture Light. It is a oil free moisturizer for blemish-prone skin. This product helps to reduce and control sebum in the skin. Kinerase Clear Skin Moisture Light re-hydrates while soothing and calming the skin significantly and leaves skin with a matte finish.

Importance of Hand Sanitizer in our Everyday Life

Doc Health Plan - One of the greatest advances in the history of Medicine was the discovery of microorganisms and their connection to disease. Less than 150 years ago, surgeons were performing surgery without even washing their hands. The death rate from infection was very high. Major communicable diseases were spread from person to person without any check at all. Once the connection between these little unseen killers and the havoc they create in the human body was realized, we entered a whole new era of health and longer life.

Today, a lot of viruses were being reported to have infected humans. One is SARS, and now, the H1N1 Swine flu virus that is currently being considered as pandemic. The threat of a pandemic is sweeping the world, through a new strain of swine flu. Many deaths have been recorded in Mexico. Several other countries also have suspect cases reported, from as far apart as France, Hong Kong, Canada, Israel and New Zealand.

Swine influenza (also called swine flu, hog flu, and pig flu) is an infection by any one of several types of swine influenza virus. Swine influenza virus (SIV) is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As of 2009, the known SIV strains include influenza C and the subtypes of influenza A known as H1N1, H1N2, H3N1, H3N2, and H2N3.

Swine influenza virus is common throughout pig populations worldwide. Transmission of the virus from pigs to humans is not common and does not always lead to human influenza, often resulting only in the production of antibodies in the blood. If transmission does cause human influenza, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People with regular exposure to pigs are at increased risk of swine flu infection. The meat of an infected animal poses no risk of infection when properly cooked.

Here are simple precautions you need to use to provide self-protection against the threatened pandemic:

Make sure you cover your nose and mouth if you sneeze or cough. Ensure you get rid of the tissue in the rubbish can after you use it. Keep a mask handy in case anyone sneezes or coughs around you.

Just one sneeze thrusts 100,000 droplets into the air at around 90 mph, landing on everything around you. British researchers have found that in a subway train during rush hour, as many as 10% of all commuters can come in contact with the spray and residue from just one sneeze. 150 commuters may become ill from one uncovered sneeze, or cough. The rush of air from a cough travels at speeds of nearly 600 mph.

Always wash your hands frequently, for up to 20 seconds, with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Always wash your hands thoroughly prior to eating and whenever possible do not eat with your hands.

It is estimated over 80% of all infections are spread by hands. If you are not able to wash your hands, resort to using hand-sanitizers with 60% alcohol content. These are available in handy pocket size containers.

Attempt to avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth and definitely avoid kissing on the cheeks.

Germs are passed more quickly that way than any other method of transmission.

Try to stay away from sick people. Isolation and keeping your distance are your most efficient protective measures.

If you get sick, stay home from work or school and limit contact with other people, to keep them from becoming infected.

Keep aware and recognize any abnormal symptoms. If you are in doubt, go and seek professional advice.

Make sure you eat well, be careful of your sleep habits and take regular exercise. Increase your daily dose of vitamin C and practice good hygiene.

It has long been recommended that hands be washed with soap and hot water in a number of situations. Surgeons scrub their hands with antibacterial soap and hot water for a long time before donning gloves. This shows the importance of hand cleaning since unless the gloves are punctured, the hands are protected. Laws require food handlers and medical personnel to wash their hands with soap and hot water before beginning work and after visiting the bathroom.

Hand sanitizers are products that are intended for use when hand washing is impossible or impractical. Most hand sanitizers are made from an alcohol based gel that can be applied directly to the hand and rubbed in and dried without the use of water. Do hand sanitizers prevent disease and illness? Since a substance containing at least 65% alcohol by volume, and most hand sanitizers do, kills almost 99% percent of all bacterial and virus that it comes into contact with, the answer would have to be a resounding yes.

US House to vote health care repeal

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new Republican-controlled House of Representatives is certain to vote Wednesday to repeal President Barack Obama's health care reform. The Democratic-controlled Senate is just as certain to let the measure die.

Republicans and Democrats adopted a more civil tone without angry shouts as they debated the repeal legislation on the House floor Tuesday just 10 days after the shooting rampage in Arizona that left a Democratic congresswoman wounded and lawmakers of both parties stunned.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking Democrat, said he expected that "members will heed their own advice and will address the issues in a way that will deal with them on the merits.'' In the past, he added, too much of the public debate was "about incitement rather than informing, about making people angry, disrespecting the ... point of view of the other side.''

The House vote had been slated for last week as the Republicans' first order of business — a campaign promise that helped them regain the majority in the lower chamber. But action was put off after the attack on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot through the head. She is hospitalized in serious condition but six others who attended her meeting with constituents in Tucson, Arizona, were killed. They include a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl.

Now, the House vote is back on after more than a week of national soul-searching and questions about whether the brutal tone of the political dialogue helped fuel the deadly attack in Arizona. While most politicians agree that the heated rhetoric had gotten out of hand, little has changed in narrowing the deep partisan divide on such key issues as the health care reform legislation.

The measure that Obama signed into law last March extended health care coverage over a period of four years to 32 million Americans who now lack it, and reshaped the way most Americans receive and pay for medical treatment. The signing followed a year of intense political battles and marked a victory that eluded presidents stretching back almost half a century.

Obama said Tuesday that he is willing to work with Democrats and Republicans to improve the health care law but warned that lawmakers shouldn't ``go backward'' and repeal the measure. In a statement, Obama said Americans deserve the freedom and security of knowing insurance companies can't deny, cap or drop their health.

Greens get teeth into dental care

A government review is expected by December to hand down a report on options to revamp the run-down public dental health sector Photo: iStock

THE Greens are stepping up the pressure for the cash-strapped Gillard government to fund the first phase of a substantial upgrade in public dental services in next year's federal budget.

A government review is expected by December to hand down a report on options to revamp the run-down public dental health sector, which has been left in limbo because of a Senate deadlock over the future of a Medicare-funded dental scheme.

Greens' health spokesman Richard Di Natale said his party expected the government to starting putting in place from next year a significant expansion of dental services to help more than 500,000 Australians who could not afford dental care.

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''Poor dental health is one of the biggest causes of preventable presentations to the emergency room,'' Senator Di Natale said.

''We need to have a more universal scheme. In the long term we need to look at providing much broader access to dental care,'' he told The Age.

He said there was clear evidence of the gaps in dental care. While fewer than 1 per cent of well-off Australians had no teeth left, more than 17 per cent of those on the lowest incomes had no teeth.

The public system treated about 800,000 people a year, but these represented only about 11 per cent of people eligible for such services.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard promised a big boost to dental care as part of her agreement with Greens to win their support in Parliament.

Senator Di Natale said the Greens had reluctantly accepted the government's failure to deliver the promise in this year's budget but would be ''very disappointed'' if there were no evidence of a credible upgrade in dental care next year.

He would not be drawn as to whether failure to deliver would be grounds for the Greens to withdraw their support.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon this week announced the establishment of the National Advisory Council on Dental Health, headed by former senior Health Department official Mary Murnane.

''The council will look at how to improve services to ensure that Australians have access to high-quality, cost-effective dental services,'' Ms Roxon said

The Greens are also adamant that the government should transfer into any reform program the full extent of spending on the Medicare dental scheme, which the government has been trying to dump since 2008.

The scheme, which provides up to $4200 in dental work for people with a chronic illness, has been the subject of rorting claims and has blown out to about $1.8 billion over four years.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott established the scheme when he was health minister. The opposition in the Senate has blocked government demands to dump it.

About Tooth Whitening Systems And White Light Refills

Most of the stains and problems in teeth may be caused by tobacco, coffee, tea or age. But sometimes such type of stains can be caused by some antibiotics as well such as tetracycline or too much fluoride.

At this condition you can consult your dentist about tooth-whitening options. It includes a number of whitening systems. But now a days Teeth whitening systems like Bleaching kits, Bonding, Porcelain veneers, Whitening Toothpastes used by dentists can be purchased. The ingredients in the tooth whitening systems can be used carefully at home. These home tooth whitening systems do not require extensive treatment sessions; you have to spend only fifteen to thirty minutes in a day. How many days the tooth whitening system can be used depend on the amount of whitening the customer prefers to have on his/her teeth?

To use the tooth whitening systems, customer must put on thin thermoforming trays over the top and bottom teeth for only 15 -30 minutes a day. This formula has much whitening power than other tooth whitening systems, white light refills and therefore requires less application, less time and less effort. It improves higher percentage of active tooth whitening ingredients and is ph optimized to maximize the tooth whitening process.

Some teeth whiting systems:

Bleaching kits—it is mostly accepted whitening tool for tooth bleaching.

Bonding—a complex resin that is molded onto the teeth to change their shade and to reform them.

Porcelain veneers— it is used to reshape and/or lengthen teeth as well as to whiten.

Whitening Toothpastes— whitening toothpastes effectively keep the teeth cleaner and looking whiter. The stronger toothpastes rely on scratch to remove external stains as opposed to actually changing the color of teeth.

It is very important to isolates your gums and lips with a protective material in order to avoid burning of your soft tissue. It is for this reason that home whitening kits usually have a low concentration of peroxide so that there is less change of any damage at home. The tooth whitening system does not contain any fluoride and its quality formula actually reduces tooth sensitivity. We unconditionally guarantee your total satisfaction with the results of our product or your money back - no matter how many you order.

Things to Do to Maintain Your Dental Hygiene

Inadequate dental hygiene can cause numerous problems not only to your mouth but throughout your body. Most people consider regular dental checkups to be something you do when youâ€™re younger.

However, as you age your body tends to breakdown and this also includes your teeth so keeping consistent with your dental hygienist is important at any age. Of course this doesnâ€™t mean you can slack on your regular practice of caring for your teeth. In fact, Iâ€™ve read quite often that you should brush and floss daily.

Quite honestly, that leads me to believe once a day is enough. Quite frankly, it isnâ€™t. You are required to eat three meals on a daily basis. Generally, itâ€™s taught that people should brush after meals. Therefore, brushing three times a day would be more appropriate. Flossing is important because most often, brushing doesnâ€™t get all the particles from between your teeth.

Food left behind turns into bacteria quickly. This bacterium sets the stage for a majority of problems with your teeth. Flossing will prevent this from happening. Rinsing also helps in killing bacteria not to mention, makes your breath smell fresh and clean. For those who are generally found within groups, the company you keep will be grateful.

Regular routine cleanings by your hygienist are also crucial because no matter how hard you try there is likely to be little microscopic nuisances lying around in your mouth. It is also important for us to understand the effect our nutritional habits has on our teeth. Poor diet can lead to significant dental problems especially in adolescents because of their tendency to indulge in foods with high sugar content. Soda, is especially damaging.

Eating foods which are high in vitamin and mineral content will help your defense against potential dental difficulties. Keeping your dentist informed is also very important. People tend to overlook telling their dentist about clicking, locking, or grinding in relation to their teeth or jaw. Grinding your teeth can be very damaging and possible cause them to crack or break. The problem is, some people tend to do this in their sleep and donâ€™t realize it.

So discussing with your dentist symptoms such as soreness and pain can be significant in diagnosing the problem and getting treatment. Maintaining your dental hygiene does take effort but itâ€™s far more difficult to restrict your smile.