Thinning hair: New pain-free laser treatment

Hair loss is an issue near and dear to my heart. My hair has been thinning since my early 30s and it got much worse a couple of years ago.

I keep looking for solutions... and now I have something really revolutionary.

Introducing the Illumiwave 180 -- Laser Biostimulation for Hair Rejuvenation!

Let me explain:
The Illumiwave uses low-level laser to stimulate metabolism in the scalp, setting off a chain reaction of cellular events, increasing protein synthesis, cell division, tissue regeneration and micro-circulation to the scalp.

What does this mean for you?

In US studies, 100% of men and women experienced stabilization of hair loss.
A lot of people who are losing their hair say that if only they could stop losing any more, they would be happy.

Hair regrowth occurred in 75 - 96% of individuals studied, depending on gender and the location of hair loss.


The degree of hair regrowth was around 25 - 40%.
If your hair is thinning, how happy would you be to have 40% more hairs growing out of your scalp?

The growing hairs are also thicker, stronger and healthier.
If your hair is breaking easily or has regressed to peach fuzz, wouldn't you like to see it returned to strong, healthy strands?

Advantages of Illumiwave 180 Laser Biostimulation


This is not painful, expensive surgery. The laser treatment is completely pain-free. And some hair transplantation clinics are using laser biostimulation in conjunction with surgery to improve results.

There are no pills to take and no messy lotions to apply to your scalp.

There are no chemical or hormonal imbalances associated with laser treatment. In fact, low-level laser is useful for healing wounds and treating certain medical conditions.


Note: Laser biostimulation does not work if you are completely bald or have certain medical conditions. If you are losing your hair but not bald yet, it is best to start this treatment sooner rather than later.

10 Years Younger in Burlington

What would a transformation mean to you?

When we first consider a 10 years younger type of transformation, a lot of us imagine that it is purely a vanity thing. And a lot of us imagine it would be embarrassing or shameful to exhibit our vanity so blatantly on our faces.

What I have discovered after years of transforming people's faces is that vanity is the smallest fraction of what the 10 years younger transformation is all about. I'd like to share with you in a series of blog posts the comments from our previous 10 Years Younger in Burlington transformees on how the process affected their lives.

Here are the words of Celeste, who was 47 last year when she entered our program:

Words are limiting to describe emotionally what has transpired this past year. Being introduced to Advanced Rejuvenation spa was a spring board BACK to 'living life on purpose' for me. I can say that there isn't an area of my life that hasn't been affected in a positive way!

The procedures I had done, and the knowledge of knowing other ones were available to me - brought 'hope' back to me. The procedures were symbolic to me - showing me that I didn't have to accept the status quo. There were options to 'all or nothing' (meaning surgery or nothing).

The skin procedures rejuvenated my skin - the rejuvenated skin then rejuvenated my spirit. Dr. Jeans and her staff also lifted my spirits every time I walked through their doors. They create a warm, safe and professional environment at the spa, easy to relax and trust. The procedures gave me a glimpse of what I used to be. I didn't have to accept or submit - I could take control - there were options - I had a choice. IT WASN'T TOO LATE. With the additional help of the system (Dr. Jeans' Nutrition and Weight Control System -- ed.) I lost 30 lbs., reclaimed a career for myself and am now living a fulfilled life - everyday! I have not looked back!

This was a new beginning for me. On an emotional and personal level the procedures have given me back who I was and who I thought I had lost. Pretty cool!!!

Come and join us for a great evening

Thursday September 23 7pm: Come and join us when we reveal Gini, Lorraine and Rose after their 10 Years Younger in Burlington transformations.

You will be treated to a Fall Fashion Preview, featuring Mia's Boutique, Livingston Furs, Mirella's, Savvy Couture, The Oyster and What a Heel.

Every attendee will receive a gift bag of goodies and will be entered to win valuable door prizes.

And if all of that weren't enough, by attending this event you are supporting a really worthwhile cause: Danielle's Place, a charitable organization, established in 2004, which provides eating disorder support services to anyone whose life has been affected by an eating disorder.

Please come and share the fun and excitement of 3 women undergoing an amazing transformation. Call 905-340-0401 for tickets.

10 Years Younger in Burlington is back!

Our 2010 10 Years Younger in Burlington program is well underway!

We are transforming 3 amazing women -- Gini, Lorraine and Rose. I can tell you that they are already looking beautiful and that is before seeing the full package with hair, makeup and clothing.

Here they are:

First is Gini -- short for Georgina. Her nickname is the only short thing about her (so says the 5'2" vertically challenged one).

Gini, 56, has always been a high achiever with success as a nurse, a model and a fitness instructor under her belt.

However her sense of herself was shattered by a bitter divorce. As the single mother of 4 children, she is looking to rebuild her self-esteem and improve her chances in the job market.


Lorraine at 48 is the youngest of the group. She feels youthful on the inside but finds that the image staring back at her in the mirror is "overweight, tired and sluggish."

"I notice that I have the "11" indentations between my brow and my eyes are heavy with dark circles and my jowels are starting to sag. So, although I am not in dire despair now I think it is vitally important at my age and stage of aging that I manage aging and all that comes with it NOW."

And Lorraine is really motivated to get her outer appearance matching her internal exuberance.

Rose, 63, also feels younger inside than she feels that she looks on the outside. Rose has the energy of a much younger woman.

As a life-long tanner, Rose has sun damage, wrinkling and tissue sagging adding years to her face.

She wishes the years had been kinder to her appearance and wants to start feeling better about herself. We are very pleased to give her the opportunity to erase years of damage.

These three ladies have already started their transformation journey and already we are seeing the increased confidence that goes along with it.

We have a wonderful evening planned when we will reveal Gini, Lorraine and Rose looking at least 10 years younger and I think they will knock your socks off!


Please come and join us on September 23rd for delicious food, a fall fashion preview, goodie bags stuffed with treats and of course Gini, Lorraine and Rose. Call 905-340-0401 for tickets.

Risky anti-aging treatment: Would you do it?

The other day, Coral* came to see me. A health professional who works in the aesthetic industry, Coral has a youthful, volumized face in keeping with a woman who has access to all of the best anti-aging treatments.

On this visit, I can see that she is healing from a fractionated laser treatment (see our Pixel -- one of my favorite treatments). Coral tells me that she had a very aggressive laser treatment and followed it up with a hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment about 24 hours later.

"I loved the hyperbaric treatment. It made me feel energized and my face healed really quickly."

OK, that sounds interesting to me.

I should share with you here that in my former life working at the hospital, I was a consultant for the HBO service at the Hamilton General Hospital so I have treated a lot of patients with HBO and reviewed a lot of scientific papers on the use of HBO for a variety of conditions.

HBO is the treatment that divers go through when they have the bends. You are placed in a chamber that can be sealed so that the contents (meaning you and the air in the chamber) can be pressurized to 1.5 to 3 times the normal atmospheric pressure. It is like diving down 33 feet (double normal pressure) or more. You will definitely feel the pressure in your ears, and possibly other places.

Then Coral said "I loved the hyperbaric so much that I am planning to have a treatment every month. I think it is a great anti-aging treatment."

Whoa! This healthy, youthful-looking 40 year old is going to have HBO treatments every month?

I asked her if they had fully explained the risks and benefits of the treatment.

"Oh yeah, I filled in a consent form. It mentioned air embolism (a bubble of air in the circulation which can block blood flow) and pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the circulation of the lung)."

I explained to Coral that there are 2 main groups of side effects from HBO treatments -- barotrauma which means damage caused by the increased pressure of the treatment, and oxygen toxicity which is an effect of the high oxygen concentration in the blood achieved by the HBO treatment.

Some of the side effects of the treatment are self-limited: for instance, you may develop seizures from oxygen toxicity and the seizures stop when you return to a normal oxygen level. Others can cause permanent damage such as scarring of the lungs, called pulmonary fibrosis, from exposure to high oxygen levels.

This case really illustrates the importance of informed consent and the principle of risk vs. benefit.

RISK
Every treatment has some risk associated with it. In thinking of risk, we consider how likely it is that the side effect will occur, how serious the side effects are and how difficult it is to treat the side effects.

For something like cosmetic botox, the risk is that the botox will affect a muscle we don't want -- usually the eyelid so that the eyelid droops. This is annoying but not life-threatening or vision-threatening and will wear off naturally in time. There are eye drops that can help minimize the eyelid droop.

Overall, the likelihood of a botox-induced lid droop is very low (but it varies depending on the provider), the severity of a droop is low and it will wear off naturally. Overall, this sort of risk is very acceptable for an elective, cosmetic procedure, right?

In contrast, HBO has some very serious potential side effects, including ruptured ear drums, heart failure, seizures, shortness of breath and changes in vision. I agree that these side effects are less likely in healthy people but they still can occur in them. The treatments range from stopping the HBO treatment (seizures) to prolonged healing times and needing medications, all the way to needing life support.

BENEFIT
HBO therapy increases the oxygen levels in your blood and tissues. For instance, HBO is used to treat conditions associated with oxygen deprivation to the tissues such as carbon monoxide poisoning, cyanide poisoning, compartment syndrome (where traumatized tissues become so swollen that the blood flow to an area is compromised) and radiation necrosis (where radiation treatments for cancer has caused scarring and shrinkage of blood vessels).

In certain conditions where tissues are compromised from insufficient oxygen levels, HBO can make the difference between tissue survival and tissue death. I am not aware of any studies showing that HBO has anti-aging benefits in healthy people. I think that someone has made the leap from HBO's effect in compromised tissue to thinking it will benefit healthy tissue.

I definitely think that HBO is a worthwhile treatment for a serious medical problem like the ones I mentioned above but as an anti-aging treatment, it is another story. We don't know what sort of benefit you can expect from HBO as an anti-aging treatment. Unless you are a Hollywood star whose fortune depends on remaining youthful-looking, I would think that the risks of HBO are unacceptable for an elective anti-aging treatment.

INFORMED CONSENT
Coral had not been informed of all of the risks of HBO therapy. If she had known all of the possible side effects, she would not be considering having a treatment every month.

The moral of the story is to make sure you read the consent form when you are having cosmetic medical treatments (or any other medical treatment, for that matter). If you are having a treatment that is considered new or for a new or unusual indication, do your own research online to find out what the risks are. It helps to ask a doctor to put the risks into perspective for you.

You are the best judge of how much risk you are willing to take for the expected benefit of the treatment. Make sure that you are getting a good sense of the expected benefit of the treatment based on evidence.

And always ask whether there is another safer way to get the same benefits.



*Name changed to preserve anonymity.

Botox is going to destroy society as we know it

How To Lose Friends: Botox

Botox Can Leave You With Broken Relationships

Botox can make you less empathetic

Botox injection 'leads to rejection'

Wow! Who knew that a little botox to relax your frown muscles was going to leave you alone, friendless and a social outcast?

Let's backtrack: where are they getting the idea for these articles?

It all goes back to some research that was presented on January 29th of this year. PhD candidate David Havas wanted to determine whether a botox treatment to the frown muscles would have any effect on how quickly an individual could read angry, sad and happy statements.

"To test how blocking a frown might affect comprehension of language related to emotions, Havas asked the patients to read written statements, before and then two weeks after the Botox treatment...Havas gauged the ability to understand these sentences according to how quickly the subject pressed a button to indicate they had finished reading it...The results showed no change in the time needed to understand the happy sentences. But after Botox treatment, the subjects took more time to read the angry and sad sentences. Although the time difference was small, it was significant, he adds."

The interpretation that the above articles are putting on this research is this: your friends will notice if you are a fraction of a second slow to respond when they are angry or sad. They will immediately interpret this very slight hesitation to mean that you are not as empathetic to them and they will shun you.

Think about this for a second -- your best girlfriend is telling you about the death of her grandmother. You are getting all kinds of cues from her -- what she is saying, her body position, tears, tone of voice and so on -- and you are reacting on so many levels, including remembering what has comforted your friend in the past, hugging her, grabbing the box of tissues. Do you really think that there will be any perceptible hesitation in your response to her? Of course not.

I can tell you from personal experience with botox in myself and in many people around me that we have not been turned into antisocial, unsympathetic loners.

What is even more interesting is a scientific article about this research suggests that botox will make you happier. And that will probably make you more socially successful.

"There is a long-standing idea in psychology, called the facial feedback hypothesis," says Havas. "Essentially, it says, when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you. It's an old song, but it's right. Actually, this study suggests the opposite: When you're not frowning, the world seems less angry and less sad." [Emphasis mine.]

Hmmm. Botox has been around for 20 years and hasn't torn the fabric of society asunder yet. Maybe the writers of these articles should stick to what they know rather than making outrageous postulations.

Carla Bruni: It's a laser treatment

This picture of France's First Lady Carla Bruni is all over the internet this week. Various bloggers and news outlets are scolding her for having plastic surgery.

When I look at this picture, I see evidence that Carla Bruni is recovering from a fractionated laser treatment, such as the Pixel laser we have here at Advanced Rejuvenation. The texture of Carla's skin looks rough. Plastic surgery would not do this. It could possibly be makeup over a microdermabrasion treatment but why would she undergo microdermabrasion when she could have increased smoothing and tightening of her skin for the same amount of downtime with a Pixel laser treatment. Carla's eyes are a little puffy suggesting that her face is dealing with increased inflammation.

What is especially ironic for me is that my face looks very similar this week. I had a Pixel laser treatment two days ago. My eyes are puffy. My skin feels rough to the touch. I can cover it with makeup but if you get close enough to me you can see the fine bumps resulting from the fractionated laser. Overall, my face feels kind of stiff.

In a few days, I will be completely healed and my skin will look bright, smooth and radiant. My pores will be almost invisible. My brows and jawline will be lifted. A Pixel laser treatment makes you look air-brushed.

I use the Pixel laser now to maintain the collagen levels in my skin where they were around 10 or 20 years ago. Our collagen levels decline as we age, leading to skin laxity and wrinkling. Stimulating the skin to make more collagen restores the skin's firmness and means that you don't need plastic surgery.

This photo shows Carla Bruni at a state function at the beginning of March. I am sure that the photos that will be taken of her next week will show her looking flawless and glowing again.

I think Carla Bruni is wise to stay looking youthful and beautiful with non-surgical treatments.

Still tanning? Hollywood stars know it is not worth it

This March Break, are you planning to go somewhere warm and bake your skin?

Maybe you'll even try to justify it by naming all the Hollywood stars that sport a sun-kissed look?

Don't do it! A week of sun tanning really roughens the texture of your skin and increases the number of lines and wrinkles.

I have seen it time and again. We do laser resurfacing with the Pixel and get a woman's face looking smooth, bright and radiant and then she goes on holiday and comes back with rough, wrinkled, tanned skin.

Here's an example of the rough texture that occurs after just one week in the sun:




And what is really ironic is that the stars we are trying to emulate stopped tanning long ago. They are in the business of looking young and they know that having sun exposure would add years to their skin.

Remember '80s supermodel Stephanie Seymour? This is what she looks like on the beach nowadays. Talk about a whiter shade of pale.

Stephanie knows that sun damage will age her quicker than anything.

Still not convinced?

Sharon Stone is one of those stars that often appears sun-kissed.

This picture of her was taken when she was in character for a role in Law & Order: SVU but I think her skin tone here is exactly what I expect for Sharon.

She looks like she has a nice, even tan, right?

But Sharon is another one who wants to look as young as possible. No way is she going to risk prematurely aging her skin or reversing the benefits of all her anti-aging treatments by tanning.

Have a look at what she looked like before she sat in the makeup chair. Another example of very fair skin.

So if you want to keep your face looking as youthful as possible, avoid the sun.

Wear a high quality sunscreen with a minimum SPF of 30 (50 - 60 would be preferred).

Wear a hat when you are outdoors.

And now that I have brought to your attention how fair all the Hollywood stars are these days, you are going to start noticing that very few leading ladies ever look tanned.

Gift Idea for the Stressed Out Person

Does he grind his teeth? Look angry or anxious all the time?

The treatment that relaxes these facial expressions can also reduce the emotion behind them. Imagine giving the gift of relief from stress, depression or irritability.

The theory is that when we no longer look angry or stressed, people respond to us more positively and we feel better. The observations of one of my clients supports this idea. Martha told me that after she had Botox, strangers found her more approachable, and would, for instance, ask her for directions or strike up a conversation.

I think there is also a component of internal feedback. When you no longer have the aching jaws from tooth-grinding or an aching forehead from frowning, you feel more relaxed.

But whatever the exact mechanism for the effect, improved mood has been observed in a number of different studies and settings.

"The Botox patients scored much lower on measures of depression, anxiety and irritability," explains Michael Lewis, a psychology professor at the University of Cardiff and lead author of the study. "Crucially, there was no significant difference in how much their treatment made them feel attractive from those who had other treatments, suggesting that [the mood boost] wasn't just down to a boost in self-confidence."

Reduction of teeth-grinding (bruxism) is particularly beneficial.

"And it's not just relief from jaw pain, tension and headaches, that our patients experience. Some are also noticing a dramatic change in the appearance of their lower face. The square, severe look softened into a more normal and aesthetically pleasing jaw line.

"Some patients have also reported a marked reduction in their general stress level as their grinding gradually comes to a halt. Breaking the habit of Bruxism allows patients to relax and enjoy life."

Maybe you can buy happiness after all.