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Do Your Hands Give Away Your Age?
By Staff Writer

The face is frequently the focus of medical cosmetic improvements, while the hands, which present one of the most "tell tale signs" of aging, are often ignored. Features typical to the aging hands are several-fold and may include thinning skin on the back, with characteristic sunspots, loss of plumpness and firmness, revealing tendons and joint protrusions. In addition to looking more skeletal, color changes brought about by the darkness of veins can often give a bruised and battered look to our hands.

Hands often suffer the additional insults of extensive unprotected use and sun exposure. Despite the fact that we spend a lot of time in the "driver's seat" holding the steering wheel, few of us remember to put sunscreen on the hands. While hand creams and sunscreens are a good first line of defense, they are not enough.

Unlike hand creams and sunscreens, rejuvenation treatments produce dramatic results by restoring the hands to a youthful appearance. The key to success in hand rejuvenation is to decide what anatomic features contribute to the aging look, decide which interventions are needed and in what sequence. Some of these interventions address the aging skin, while others restore volume and hide the wasted and skeletal look.

Treatments for the aging hand skin

No matter which of the following cosmetic procedures are chosen, your hands will need to be protected from future sun damage by regular use of sun protection. Consistent use of sunscreens will significantly prolong your improvements.

There are milder treatment approaches, like topical daily application of Retin-A and glycolic acid derivatives or a series of Microdermabrasion treatments that, over time, and with consistent use, lead to shedding of the top layers of skin, resulting in a modest textural improvement and softening of the "age" spots.

More invasive approaches may include Chemical Peels and Laser Skin Resurfacing, whereby, depending on your skin type and the desired results, your physician may use a laser or chemical solution to cause a mild to moderate peeling of the top layers of the damaged skin to reveal smoother, fresher looking hands.

When skin excess is the predominant problem, a non-invasive skin tightening treatment like the Titan ® or Thermage ® could be the treatment of choice.

IPL (Intense pulse Light) or photofacial treatment. When age spots or sun spots are the primary presenting problem, the IPL treatment is often the ideal and most effective corrective procedure. This is a minimally invasive procedure performed with numbing skin cream, whereby a precisely controlled and filtered beam of light is used to cause a very superficial burning off of the colored spots, while minimizing the heating effect on the adjacent normal colored skin. Recovery is much faster (1-2 days) than a laser or chemical peel. The results are often dramatic, whereby the dark spots gently flake off in the next 2 weeks leaving behind fresh looking skin.

Sclerotherapy or Vein Removal involves the injection of specific solutions to shut off prominent veins on the back of the hands. This should seldom be the first line of treatment, as most often these veins fade into the background with proper filling of the skeletonised hand. In addition, hand veins can be extremely useful for any future intravenous access (hospitalization and surgery).

Volume Replenishment

This simple procedure is done with topical anesthesia and involves injecting fillers into the depressions between the tendons and veins. This results in softer, fuller and more youthful hands, with minimized vein prominence. Following the procedure, patients may return back to daily activities. Treatment options most commonly include:

• Fat Grafting. Although fat is considered the most natural filler with potentially long lasting results, it is considered more invasive compared to the use of synthetic fillers. Fat grafting involves the additional trauma of fat harvesting and is performed using thicker injection canulas to inject living fat cells.
• Radiesse®. A mixture of calcium-based microspheres in a gel matrix that, once injected, promotes new elastin and collagen production by skin cells. Radiesse® is considered 100% biocompatible and has enjoyed a long history of safe, non-cosmetic medical use. Results typically last 1-2 years. Touch up treatments may be necessary to maintain the desired correction. Radiesse® hand injections literally transforms older-looking hands to younger looking hands in less than half an hour. Bruising is typically minimal and although some mild swelling may occur, it is considered a "no downtime" procedure.
  

While an effective hand rejuvenation treatment regimen can help a patient regain a more youthful appearance of the hands and boost self confidence, patients must also understand that cosmetic medical enhancements aim at improving one's appearance significantly and not necessarily achieving perfection.

This information is intended to supplement, not replace a personal consultation with a qualified medical doctor.

Raffi Dishakjian M.D. specializes in aesthetic lasers and minimally invasive rejuvenation techniques at Nu Vela Esthetica in Porter Ranch, CA. He is a Board Certified physician and a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery and has extensive experience with needle based fillers for facial rejuvenation.

For more information visit nuvelaesthetica.com or call 818-832-4500 for a complementary consultation with Dr. Dishakjian. Nu Vela Esthetica is located at 11200 Corbin Avenue, Suite 104, Porter Ranch CA 91326

Lose Weight with Mirafit FBCx®
By Staff Writer

Drs. K-L Catherine Jen and Joseph Artiss discovered Mirafit FBCx® technology as faculty at Wayne State University. They formed ArtJen and acquired the rights to the technology so they could patent and distribute the product.

Mirafit FBCx is currently manufactured and distributed in the US, Canada, Asia, and the Middle East. The US Food and Drug Administration has allowed the sale of the active ingredient in all US markets and the US Federal Trade Commission has issued a Certificate of Free Sale.

• Mirafit FBCx® (Fat Binding Complexer) has demonstrated a remarkable ability to bind and eliminate nine times its own weight in dietary fat (triglyceride), thus preventing absorption of a significant portion of your daily diet.
• Use of this naturally occurring food supplement has been shown in clinical studies to support weight management and maintain already healthy blood cholesterol levels.
• This food supplement is an all-natural, soluble fiber derived from domestically grown corn.
• Mirafit FBCx produces no adverse side effects.
• The active ingredient in Mirafit FBCx (alpha-cyclodextrin) has received Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status by the FDA.
• Mirafit FBCx is effective at reducing and/or maintaining body weight in patients with type 2 diabetes.
• This dietary supplement significantly increases the blood levels of adiponectin, indicating an increase in insulin sensitivity and therefore a possible delay in the need to either institute or intensify insulin therapy in type 2 diabetic patients.
• Mirafit FBCx lowered both triglyceride and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.
• Mirafit FBCx appears to preferentially bind saturated and trans fats over unsaturated dietary fats.
• Nutritional counseling may enhance the benefits of Mirafit FBCx.
• The World Health Organization has given it an allowable daily intake of "not specified," suggesting that there is no unsafe level.
• It has Natural Product status in Japan; is Food Approved in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela; has Novel Food status in New Zealand and Australia; approved as a dietary supplement in South Korea; is Food Approved in the Philippines; is approved as a dietary food supplement in Jordan and Hong Kong and is approved as a Dietary Supplement in Taiwan. 75 pre-market notification for FBCx has been accepted by the FDA.
  

Dr. Joseph Artiss Bio

Dr. Joseph Artiss, Ph.D., FACB is an Associate Professor of Pathology at Wayne State University. Dr. Artiss serves on the Academic Senate Facilities and Support Services Committee and the Academic Senate Elections Committee at Wayne State University. He received a B.Sc, Biology and Chemistry, a M.Sc., Clinical Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Clinical Chemistry at the University of Windsor.

Dr. Cathy Jen Bio

Dr. K-L Catherine Jen, Ph.D., was born in Taipei, Taiwan and is fluent in Mandarin and English. She is a professor and chairwoman at Wayne State University. Dr. Jen's research is in the area of induced obesity and diabetes, as well as maternal and infant nutrition. She has used a high-fat diet induced obesity animal model to investigate the effects of weight-cycling on body composition and diabetes risks. More recently she has been involved in studies examining the efficacy of treatment regimens in obese population.

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