January 6, 2007
1. Botox injections - 3.2 million injections - used to smooth out wrinkles on the forehead and around the eyes by relaxing the muscles underneath.
2. Laser Hair Removal - 1.5 million procedures performed - permanently reduces excess and unwanted hair. This is a great procedure to consider at this time of year so that you can be ready for summer. Laser Hair Removal takes several treatments to be most effective and those treatments must be a certain amount of weeks apart because of the hair growth cycles.
3. Hyaluronic Acids (like Hylaform and Restylane) - 1.1 million - these injectables are dermal fillers for smoothing out wrinkles and fine lines. Hyaluronic acid is a natural sugar that holds onto water in the skin making the skin “plump”.
4. Microdermabrasion - Just over 1 million procedures performed - crystals gently polish the skins creating smoother and brighter skin. Stimulates skin cell and collagen growth and is good for fine lines and “crow’s feet”.
5. Chemical peels - 556,000 - interestingly, even though this type of procedure makes the top five list, the number performed is down more than 50% from the previous year’s statistics.
ePen Permanent Hair Removal System from Verseo.com
Source: Tara Pingle - 24-7 Press Release
September 20, 2006
Laser hair removal technology is evolving. No matter what skin type you have, newer lasers can safely and effectively remove unwanted hair from your face and body.
If you’re tired of shaving, waxing or plucking body hair only to have it return days later, you may be interested in laser hair removal. Laser hair removal systems use laser light — an intense, pulsating beam of light — to remove unwanted hair. Whether it’s on your face, arms, legs or other areas, laser hair removal may be an option if you seek long-term results.
Who is a candidate for laser hair removal?
Laser hair removal is used for people who want to remove unwanted body hair. Common treatment locations include legs, armpits, upper lip, chin and bikini line. Although laser hair removal doesn’t guarantee permanent hair removal, it does extend the “hair-free” period, which can vary from several months to several years. With multiple treatments, long-term hair removal is possible.
Hair color and skin type are the key factors that influence the success of laser hair removal. It’s most successful on people with dark hair (brown or black) and light skin. However, it can also be used on people with darker skin types.
How do you prepare for laser hair removal?
Before scheduling laser hair removal, you meet with your doctor to discuss the factors that determine whether the procedure is likely to work well for you. This meeting generally includes:
Your medical history. Your doctor asks questions about conditions you have or have had, as well as any medications you’re taking.
Photographs. Photographs are taken from different angles of the area to be treated. Your doctor uses these photos for before-and-after assessments and long-term reviews.
A discussion of risks, benefits and expectations. You and your doctor talk about risks and benefits. He or she explains what laser hair removal can and can’t do for you and what your results might be.
If you have a tan from sun exposure or sunless tanning products, you must wait until the tan fades completely before undergoing laser hair removal. A tan increases your risk of side effects such as blistering and discoloration. Avoid sun exposure four to six weeks before treatment.
Laser hair removal is effective only on short, visible hair. Two to three days before the procedure, you shave the area to be treated, and allow it to grow to a stubble. Avoid waxing or plucking the hair and electrolysis three weeks before treatment.
How does laser hair removal work?
During the procedure, your doctor presses a hand-held laser instrument to your skin. Depending on the type of laser, a cooling device on the tip or a cool gel is used to protect the skin.
When the doctor activates the laser, the laser light passes through your skin’s surface to tiny sacs (hair follicles) where hair growth originates. The intense heat damages the hair follicle, which inhibits hair growth. It takes several treatments to provide an extended hair-free period.
What can you expect during laser hair removal?
During the procedure, you wear goggles to prevent accidental exposure of your eyes to laser light. When the laser is activated, you feel a stinging sensation. Oftentimes a topical local anesthetic is applied before the procedure to reduce discomfort. The procedure causes a slight charring of stubble. You may notice a strong odor of singed hair, which is normal.
How long the procedure takes depends on the area of the body involved. A small area such as the upper lip may take several minutes. A larger area such as the back may require several hours.
What can you expect after laser hair removal?
After the laser hair removal, no medications or bandages are necessary. You may notice some redness and swelling for the first few hours. Also, stinging may occur for the first 24 to 48 hours. Some people experience a slight crusting of the skin. If crusting occurs, keep the area moist with petroleum jelly (Vaseline).
After treatment:
Avoid exercise and exertion for the first 24 hours. Perspiration from exertion may increase irritation caused by the laser.
Avoid exposure to the sun for several weeks after treatment. After this period, make sure you apply sunscreen whenever you’re in the sun. Avoid tanning booths — the ultraviolet light damages the skin.
Don’t wax or pluck hairs between treatments.
Don’t pick at or manipulate the skin in treated areas.
Don’t rub or scrub the treated area. You may gently wash the area with soap and water.
What are the results of laser hair removal?
Studies show that for suitable candidates, hair removal lasers can reduce hair counts by 40 percent to 80 percent. Results vary from person to person, however, and some people respond better to treatment than others.
Multiple treatments can prolong the duration of hair loss, but hair regrowth is possible. Also as you age, unwanted hair growth inevitably continues, and you may need repeat treatments in the future.
What are the risks of laser hair removal?
Complications from laser hair removal are rare. Bleeding during the laser treatment is extremely rare, as is the possibility of infection resulting from treatment.
Side effects from laser hair removal include, but are not limited to:
Darkening of the skin (hyperpigmentation). This is usually a temporary condition, but in rare instances, is long lasting or permanent.
Lightening of the skin (hypopigmentation). This is of special concern with people who have darker skin. Laser hair treatment is more successful on fair skin, but darker skin can also be treated.
Blistering and scarring. These rarely occur.
Changes in the skin texture. These rarely occur.
Crusting or scabbing. If this occurs, it’s temporary.
Hair changes. New hair growth may be finer and lighter in color. In some cases, new hair may grow in areas adjacent to the treated areas. This can be successfully treated with additional laser treatments.
Talk to your doctor about how these risks apply to you. Understanding what’s involved in laser hair removal and weighing the benefits and risks can help you decide if this procedure is your best option for long-term hair removal.
Source: MayoClinic
May 24, 2006
Did you know that you can perform your own laser hair removal at home. The laser hair removal system is a self contain laser unit that is applied to areas where you want the hair to be removed. By following the instruction you apply the correct setting on the unit and place the laser head to the areas of your skin where you want hair to be removed. The laser will be absorbed by the hair and is destroyed. No more regrowth, no more hair. This is much easier than the stinging electrolysis, hot wax and especially those hazardous creams.
If you’re like me and visit those laser hair removal centers, you’ll realize the unit will pay itself off in just one visit. It’s absolutely worth it. 
April 11, 2006
Laser hair removal has become one of the most popular techniques for removing unwanted body hair.
Laser hair removal has become one of the most popular techniques for removing unwanted body hair. Much of the reason this technique has become popular is that it has the capability to permanently remove unwanted hair, without causing a lot of pain.
However laser hair removal procedure is fairly expensive, and you may have to visit a clinic multiple times to get the results you desire.
Also, laser hair removal will not work for everyone as its effectiveness is highly dependant on skin pigmentation.
Laser hair removal works by shining a laser onto the skin where it gets absorbed by the melanin pigment in the hair follicles. Ironically, nobody is exactly certain what causes this hair removal process to work. But it is believed that the heat generated at the hair follicle by the laser breaks down that follicle so that it will no longer grow hair.
In some cases it is possible that the follicle may be damaged but not permanently destroyed. Since hair grows in cycles in some cases people have had hair come back after undergoing laser hair removal. The laser can be modulated so that it goes through the skin and directly to the hair follicle without causing significant pain or discomfort.
Laser hair removal does not work for everyone. Results will depend on your skin type. Generally speaking, the results are best with people who have fair skin. However if your skin is too light colored it still might not work. For people with lighter hair, or people with little melanin in their hair it might not be as effective. Be sure to fully understand the benefits to your skin type before paying the money to try laser hair removal.
The laser hair removal procedure is quite simple. A practitioner will guide the laser over the body areas to be treated. Typically this will take about one hour for an entire set of legs.
In order to prevent the skin from getting burned various gels and cooling sprays are rubbed onto the area to be treated prior to the laser beam directed towards the hair follicles. When you have the procedure done you’ll wear protective goggles to prevent any possibility of the laser impacting your eyes. This removes one of the potential dangers that could exist by having a laser used on your body in this fashion.
Laser hair removal is effective at removing hair all wide range of body parts. Effective areas that are treated include the legs, chest, back, under arms, and facial hair. The chin and the upper lip are the most commonly treated areas.
Laser hair removal can be quite expensive, especially if you have a large area to be treated. In many cases it will take four or five treatments to get the results you are looking for. However, laser hair removal offers a superior alternative to other more painful or less permanent techniques of removing unwanted body hair.
If you are considering trying laser hair removal procedure to remove unwanted body hair, be sure to research practitioners in your area and ask for references.
Laser hair removal might be the right solution for people with light skin and dark hair. But for others laser hair removal will not be as effective. For those who are not good candidates for laser hair removal, or anyone else who is concerned that the procedure might not yield permanent results, electrolysis might be a better alternative.
Source: Rex Ryan - Toronto Fashion Monitor
Hair removal products at Folica.com, the web’s most popular beauty store
March 27, 2006
It’s not yet bikini season in most of the country.
But bikini line season is in full swing in thousands of doctor’s offices, “med spas” and clinics that heavily — and successfully — promote laser hair removal.
A technology launched a decade ago is now used at least 1.57 million times a year to remove unwanted hair (mostly from the upper lips, chins, legs and bikini lines of women and the backs and chests of men), says the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (www.surgery.org).
That makes laser hair removal second only to Botox injections among non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
Actual numbers are no doubt higher, because the group only surveys plastic surgeons and certain other specialists. And not all laser hair removal facilities are run by such doctors.
That puts the procedure in the middle of a growing debate: Just who is qualified to oversee and perform services that straddle the line between medicine and beauty treatment?
In some states, laser clinics must have doctors or other medical professionals on site; in others, virtually anyone can operate a laser without medical supervision.
The procedure is usually very safe, but it occasionally causes burns, scarring and other injuries. In one widely reported case, a woman in North Carolina died after an allergic reaction to a numbing cream.
Plastic surgeons and dermatologists say patients should stick with medical specialists, both for safety and results.
“It has to be someone who understands skin and healing,” says Barry DiBernardo, a Montclair, N.J., aesthetic plastic surgeon. “The more training, the better.”
Rhonda Narins, a New York dermatologist and past president of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (www.asds.net), says: “A doctor knows what to do if something goes wrong” and may have a wider variety of lasers for various skin and hair types.
People with dark skin need to be especially careful, she says. They are most likely to get burned because dark pigment absorbs more laser heat (a fact that also makes dark hair on pale skin the easiest to destroy and very light hair the most difficult to remove).
But competitors say that while training, experience and good lasers are crucial, medical degrees are not.
A well-trained “licensed aesthetician” (a beauty technician) who zaps hair all day, every day, is a better bet than a physician who rents a laser once a week, says Kurt Schusterman, chief marketing officer for Sona MedSpa. The company has 35 locations.
Company rules do require a nurse practitioner or registered nurse to be on site at all times, he says.
Consumers may be tempted to choose by price alone. But that can be tricky, says Andrea James, a consumer advocate (also well known as a spokeswoman transsexual issues) whose hairfacts.com website offers extensive hair-removal advice.
Some clinics lure consumers with a low one-time price, but then make their money on package deals for more visits than may be needed, she says.
Even with the best equipment and techniques, Narins says, most people require at least three initial treatments to adequately reduce hair; later touch-ups often are needed as well, she says.
Always ask these questions
Providers disagree about what to look for in a laser hair removal facility, especially about whether a doctor must be on site. Before choosing, always ask:
How the person performing the treatment was trained and how manyclients he or she has treated with the laser to be used on you.
What results to expect and how many treatments will be needed, at what price.
Whether the facility has a laser appropriate for your skin and hair type.
Common rates
Upper lips: $50-150
Lower legs: $200-400
Bikini line: $100-300
Back: $200-500
Chest: $100-300
Source: by Kim Painter - USA Today
February 6, 2006
As hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop staring at the long, black hair growing out of the chin of the female clerk scanning my groceries. One lone hair growing on her otherwise hair-free face.
I was certain she wasn’t growing it on purpose. In fact, I was certain she didn’t know it was there. Her eyebrows were perfectly plucked, her makeup impeccably applied, and the space between her upper lip and nose had nary a hint of peach fuzz. This was a woman who obviously took time to coif. She either missed it or that little bugger grew on her way to work.
This, as most females will tell you, is a horror women share: a rogue hair that sprouts between your last glance in the mirror and your office. Unfortunately, hair doesn’t surface just on our chins. It can surprise us on our cheeks, our foreheads and sometimes on our necks. It grows like gangbusters above our lip.
I know there’s probably a very good medical reason why this happens to women and why when the rest of our hair is thinning, hair grows so thick and quickly in places where it isn’t welcome.
As if aging isn’t hard enough. None of us after, oh, the age of 18 is immune. What the heck is a woman to do? Elizabeth and Cindy keep tweezers in their cars.
“Sometimes I can’t see it until I get in the car,” Cindy says. It’s amazing how the light reflects on those defiant strands. My very blond sister-in-law, Linda, was tweezerless in her car when she noticed her first black chin hair. Trying to tug it out with her fingernails only made it curl. That made her panic and pull out a bottle of hair spray, squirt some on her finger and slick the hair down until she could get home to pluck it.
And yes, gentlemen, this is something women talk about.
Like the women in my book club. At one of our meetings, Maggie shared that while her feet were securely fastened in stirrups and her gynecologist was busy conducting her annual exam, he said to her, “I can get rid of that mustache for you.” Too stunned to ask which mustache he might be referring to, Maggie finally croaked out, “Oh?” He told her he was now doing laser hair removal and that she was a perfect candidate. She didn’t ask how he would know that about her sitting where he was, but she did make an appointment. She walked around the room showing off her hairless lip as the rest of us oohed and ahhed and began to tell our own horror hair stories.
One member, who asked to remain nameless, had an old boyfriend point out a chin hair to her. She was so embarrassed she ended the relationship. Peg thinks she wandered around for days with a long hair popping out right above her left eyebrow before she finally caught it in her rearview mirror.
“I went through every friend I had seen the past couple of days and wondered why no one had told me,” Peg said. Through the grocery store, the dentist’s office, a party at one of her daughter’s school. Dozens of people had seen her. She compared the humiliation of that to getting the back of her dress caught in her underpants on the way out of the restroom. At that point, someone admitted she had noticed it.
Most of us wouldn’t hesitate to point out spinach in a stranger’s teeth or a tag sticking out of a friend’s shirt. Why are we so bashful about hair?
After that, we promised each other, no matter what, we’d point out visible, stray hair. We also paired up and vowed we’d pluck one another’s chins if one of us was ever in a vegetative state. We decided lying in a bed, hooked to machines wouldn’t be half as bad as being caught with hair on our chins.
My friend Sue has a theory. Since hairs usually pop up in the same place, we get used to checking that place every morning and again, when we get in our cars. What throws us, says Sue, is when hair decides to emerge in a new place. Sue, of course, has light hair and says she can go a few days without checking.
We dark-haired girls hate her.
But light-haired, dark-haired and no-haired girls need to stick together. We need a universal signal. Here’s a suggestion: When you spot someone with a rogue hair, silently point to your own chin with your index finger. That way they’ll know.
I’d suggest men could take part in this, but when I asked my husband if he’d be willing to do this for me when the time came, he cringed, as if to say, “Please, please, please don’t make me do that.” So much for better or for worse.
Jesse referred to his second wife’s lone hair as “Bertha.” (No wonder it didn’t work out.)
When I queried one of my male friends what he’d call a single hair growing out of his wife’s chin, he replied, “Gross?”
I think this better remain a chick thing.
Source: Diana Keough - Plain Dealer Reporter
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