Swobidu Health

Posts Tagged ‘pigment’

I’m a hairy girl and usually have to shave once a day, but I hate hate the mess of waxing and the nicks and cuts that you can get from shaving so I’ve began considering using laser hair removal for my legs. Although it can be quite expensive if you go to a professional, if you stop to consider the amount of time and energy that you waste shaving every week it could be worth it.

Costs of Laser Hair Removal

Depending on how thick your hair is and the pigment of your skin you may pay anywhere between $300-500 a session, and expect to go for 3-4 sessions. if you go to a professional make sure that you get a referral from someone who has gone and that the operator is experienced as these lasers can damage the skin.

Home Laser Kits

If the professional route sounds like it’s too expensive today there are home laser machines that you can buy for a fraction of the price. however again you need to be careful with these and make sure to read and follow the directions explicitly as you can damage the skin. the home laser hair removal machines work the in the same way that the professional models do. Essentially what happens is lasers send heat down to the hair follicle which retards growth. the outer skin and the surrounding tissue is cooled to prevent damage. when the hair growth is disabled you will eventually get long term hair removal. Although it will take several treatments before you see the results that you want.

There are of course cheaper and less permanent ways to remove hair such as using body creams, which are fast and painless.

There can now be greater heat penetrated to the hair follicles since there are longer wavelengths cooling systems that are available in the market. Today, the lasers that are used to remove hair are equipped with longer wavelengths and extended pulse durations. all these additions make hair removal treatments safer for people with darker skin. a new long pulse with a wavelength of 1064 nm was approved by the Food and Drug Administration recently. the millisecond mark is still existent when it comes to the new pulse ranges.

You need not worry about having too much heat released quickly as the longer pulse duration allows the epidermis to cool off. it is for this reason that those longer pulse durations are now safer for darker skins. Heat is still able to enter the hair follicle.

Prior to having these improvements those with darker skin were at risk of pigment discoloration. Having a tan should not be a hindrance when it comes to laser treatments. there are times when lasers do not work as well for suntanned people.

Actually, cooling devices are used in many laser applications apart from hair removal treatment. Apparently cooling devices balance out the energy from lasers as stated by this doctor. usually, blood vessels are easily penetrated by thermal energy. in this case, thermal energy is at its strongest. the patient will experience lesser pain with the help of cooling devices.

Depending on the procedure, there are several cooling devices that are present in the market. You have contact cooling in this case. what you need here is ice not to mention a cryogen spray.

Laser treatments are best performed by an expert in order to prevent any side effects from manifesting. Actually, there is an art in doing this procedure. there is more to laser treatment than meets the eye. Experience matters when it comes to this.

In this case, experience is really important. a procedure will be performed better by a doctor if he or she is confident in his or her knowledge when it comes to this. it is important for a doctor to tackle one laser at a time. from tattoos to hair removal, lasers are useful.

More resources on laser hair removal can be found here at laser hair removal melbourne. thanks for reading about laser hair removal, further tips and resources are found on ipl melbourne.

If you’re serious about laser hair removal, then it’s important that you choose a good facility. Experience is what counts, and should be a bigger factor in your decision than costs or guarantees. In fact, if you see a laser hair removal facility that boasts about achieving complete hair removal, you may be better off giving them a miss. Results vary from person to person, and it’s just not possible to guarantee complete hair removal for everyone.

If your state has laws that govern the qualifications a person must have if they’re performing laser hair removal, then check and make sure that your practitioner complies. Discounts and special offers might sound tempting, but it’s better to have peace of mind that a competent professional will be operating the laser.

Once you’ve determined that your hair and skin coloring makes you a suitable candidate for laser hair removal, there are a number of pre-treatment recommendations to follow. Firstly, avoid tanning prior to your treatment sessions. if you’ve recently tanned, it may be wise to delay your treatment. Secondly, avoid foods high in beta-carotene. these are mostly found in vitamin supplements and in brightly colored fruits and vegetables. Beta-carotene is a type of pigment that can tint your skin and so interfere with the flow of laser energy into the hair follicle. Finally, shave the area to be treated a few days prior to the laser hair removal session, because the process works best on short hair.

Because lasers are involved, you’ll be given a pair of special goggles to wear during the laser hair removal session. these will reduce the risk of laser light penetrating your eyes. the actual hair removal process is really very simple. a laser is pressed to the area of skin being treated, and then the practitioner activates the laser for a fraction of a second. In that time the laser energy passes into the hair follicle and damages it. this usually means that the follicle won’t be able to grow any new hair in the future.

Laser hair removal is no different to any medical procedure, in that there is always the risk of side effects. Although these are minor, one occasional result is that the treated area may suffer some discoloration or scarring. you may even experience other skin discomforts, such as redness, swelling or even a burning sensation. these are generally only temporary, however.

Still, there are lots of advantages in using laser hair removal. It’s non-invasive, and is much simpler than messing about with razors, creams, creams or depilatories. a single treatment can remove hair from quite a large such, as the legs or back. while some people find that the hair removal is permanent, others do experience a regrowth, but it’s usually a much lighter color and of a finer texture.

There are also disadvantages, the most obvious one being that laser hair removal doesn’t work for everyone. if you have light-colored hair combined with dark skin, you might find the treatment is ineffective. also, one laser treatment usually won’t have a permanent effect. Hair growth occurs in stages, and the laser treatment is most effective on hairs that are actively growing. So it may be necessary to have a second or even third treatment, to make sure all hair follicles are treated.

Laser hair removal may not be for everyone, but hopefully this article has given you enough information to decide whether it’s right for you.

Dr Martin Scurr has been treating patients for morethan 30 years and is one of the country’s leading GPs. here he answers your questions…

Felix de Havilland, Ongar, Essex.

Uphill struggle: Dr Scurr says you should not listen to people who claim they can get rid of gallstones with natural remedies

Yi Dan is a form of herbal medicine and, as regular readers will know, I am no fan of alternative therapies. but before I explain why, first to the gallstones.

About 20 per cent of people over the age of 65 have them, and in most cases they’re not a problem. however, in some cases they cause pain, infection in the gallbladder (cholecystitis) or bile-duct system (cholangitis), or even an inflamed pancreas (pancreatitis), a common and potentially very serious complication.

There are different types of gallstones. The most common are formed of cholesterol; there are also black or brown ‘pigment’ stones, made up of waste products excreted by the liver. Stones grow about 1mm to 2mm each year, taking some years to become big enough to cause problems.

Why do gallstones form? The process starts with bile, which is made by the liver and carries away unwanted waste such as cholesterol. Bile travels from the liver via the common bile duct. some is then diverted up a short tube, the cystic duct, into the gallbladder, which acts as a storage reservoir.

The wall of the gallbladder absorbs 90 per cent of the water from the bile, concentrating it. When you eat, the gallbladder empties the stored bile back into the common bile duct.

But if the gallbladder is diseased — common risk factors include obesity, genetics and a rich, fatty, over-calorific diet — waste products such as the pigments formed by the breakdown of old blood cells collect into small stones.

Gallstones can be dissolved by taking bile acids orally for many months, though this is only effective for cholesterol stones. And the success rate with large stones is poor; even in the best cases, less than half are dissolved after two years of treatment.

The stones can also recur — around 50 per cent of patients suffer again within five years.

A bigger worry is that stones made smaller by dissolution can become small enough to be squeezed down the cystic duct into the common bile duct and cause a blockage — a considerable problem. in more than 30 years as a GP, I’ve never had a patient deal successfully with gallstones in this way.

Alternative treatments: Dr Scurr has never met anyone who cured their gallstones with olive oil or lemon juice

The gold-standard treatment is cholecystectomy — removal of the gallbladder. this is offered once symptoms occur and is usually a keyhole procedure. It does not affect digestion, although some patients develop chronic diarrhoea.

My patients often mention the alternative method you describe and always seem to know somebody who knows somebody for whom it worked. but I’ve never managed to speak to an actual patient who’s had it, and frankly I think it’s a fairy story, perpetuated by the internet.

In any case, it’s difficult to imagine how Yi Dan would help flush your 2cm stone down the common bile duct, which is just 5mm in diameter.

I receive many readers’ letters seeking advice on alternative treatments. I do sympathise, as I think it’s essentially a quest for being listened to with patience, kindness and understanding: these can be in short supply in the hard-pressed world of high-tech medical care.

However, don’t confuse this with efficacy: alternative treatments are ‘backed’ only by anecdote.

But it works, people say. well, that’s the magic of the placebo effect.

Nowhere is this more true than with homeopathy, which James Delingpole recently wrote about in these pages.

Homeopathy is based on the joke principle that like treats like — giving minute doses of a poison which, in larger amounts, apparently produces the symptoms from which the patient suffers.

This is not the same as herbal medicine (heroin, from the opium poppy, is a herbal medicine and really works for pain). in homeopathy, the substance used is so diluted there’s none left.

Put a sugar lump in the sea at Portsmouth and take a spoonful of seawater at Penzance and you’ll understand the sort of dilutions being employed. sure, homeopathy is well meaning, but it’s based on wishful thinking and, as such, is dishonest.

Just like the loony Yi Dan treatment proposed for your gallstones. Disappointing I know, but please don’t waste your time. as for the olive oil and lemon juice, I’m afraid that won’t help either.

G Pattenden,  Eastbourne, East Sussex.

The phrase ‘hardening of the arteries’ refers to the process of atherosclerosis, when deposits of fatty cholesterol material build up inan artery. Risk factors include high cholesterol, raised blood pressure, smoking, diabetes and obesity. Any artery in the body can be affected: in your case, it was the carotid artery.

CONTACT DR SCURR

To contact Dr Scurr with a health query, write to him at good Health, DailyMail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email drmartin@dailymail.co.uk -including contact details.

Dr Scurr cannot enter into personal correspondence.

His replies cannot apply to individual cases and should be taken in a general context.

Always consult your own GP with any health worries.

The two carotid arteries, one on each side of the neck, are the most important arteries supplying blood to your brain.

The risk is that a clot forms on a section narrowed by a fatty build-up. The clot then detaches and is carried up into the brain, whereit eventually blocks a smaller artery, reducing blood supply and damaging the area of brain cells the vessel was supplying — causing an ischaemic stroke.

In patients with at least 50 per cent narrowing of the artery, surgery is used to remove the fatty build-up. however, studies suggest there’s no benefit in operating on those with 30 to 49 per cent narrowing; and surgery is actually harmful in those with less than 30 per cent.

That’s why you’ll have been advised to take a small daily dose of aspirin, as this makes the blood less sticky and reduces the chances of aclot. It’s also advisable to control blood pressure meticulously; buy your own machine and use it once a week.

Most important, taking a statin is essential, preventing further cholesterol build-up and even shrinking the blockage.

In your letter, you also mention suffering neck pains with small amounts of alcohol. this, I suspect, is unrelated to your arteries and may be due to a creaky old neck, which blights many of us.

Save your pennies: Private health insurance doesn’t cover primary care

Just at the moment financial cutbacks and a major re-organisation put the NHS under huge strain, up pop those seductive ads for private healthcare. They imply any illness will be paid for, and you can bypass the NHS. Ah, such peace of mind.

But there’s not one policy anywhere that covers primary care (GP care), and yet 90 per cent of anything that might happen to you is treated in general practice. your attention is craftily distracted by the promise of cover for osteopathy, physiotherapy and other more peripheral treatments — but before anything can be treated, you need a diagnosis!

My other concern is insurers will attempt to hijack your medical care by ‘helping you find a consultant’. Since when have clerks at the big insurance providers had the training in medical care to select specialists?

Furthermore, and even more insidious, is that insurers tell the specialists what fee they may charge: anyone who doesn’t sign up to this is not registered by the insurer. not only does this improperly suggest to the layman that ‘unregistered’ consultants have not passed muster in some way, but patients see specialists chosen on the basis of cost, not excellence.

Meanwhile, the specialists themselves have to do more work in less time; the only way to cover their overheads is to squeeze in more consultations. Why go privately if you don’t then get to spend time with the specialist and receive a detailed opinion?

Note: insurance companies are commercial organisations dedicated to making money for their investors.

My approach is to opt for in-patient cover only. this means the insurer re-imburses the fees when the problem is so serious you must be in hospital, but keeps the premiums down. otherwise it’s just a rip off.