Madonna’s Aging Hands

There’s been a lot of press going around about Madonna’s aging hands over the past few years. Blogs have been written, photos have been posted, and assumptions have been made. Some doctors have said her “vigorous exercise routine” is partially to blame, mainly because strenuous exercise does cause increased blood flow, which in turn, causes veins to appear more prominent. But hang aging is a natural thing. The question turns now to, ‘what can be done about it?’

Working out is essential to our overall health. I would never advise anyone to not work out because it could cause hand aging. Madonna has taken her fitness level to the extreme, and she’s always been on stage. There is pressure for entertainers to be fit.

Another thing to consider is that the skin on our hands is just as sensitive as the skin on our face. It’s very thin, and some of the first signs of sun damage can be seen in these areas. Sunscreen is just as important on your hands as it is on every other part of the body. Also, genes are genes, and can’t be changed – some people will be more prone to hand and neck aging than others. We all have to work with what we’ve got.

The good news is, if you’re self-conscious about the way your hands look, you can change that. We’ve been using fillers in to rejuvenate hands for years and have seen great results. My favorite hand filler is Artefill because it lasts longer than any of the other fillers, though it’s more of an investment up front. The patients who have had this procedure done have loved it. Radiesse is a great alternative, less expensive and less durable.

Hand rejuvenation is an in-office procedure that takes a short amount of time. A small wheal of numbing medicine is raised on the back of the hand with a little needle, and the filler is injected painlessly into the area. It is then massaged into position, and voila! Done in 5 minutes. You can drive off and go back to what you were doing before you came in. There is numbness on the back of the hands and sometimes the fingers for a few hours.

A great combination for those with sun damage is to get laser treatments for those brown spots and freckles. I have a combo package going with my laser expert, Marian Urban. If you have any questions about this, always feel free to call my office in Santa Fe, at 505-988-8886.

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Exercise vs. Plastic Surgery

We’ve had some questions come up recently regarding exercise and plastic surgery. Although I’ve written on it before, I’d like to talk about it in a bit more depth . . . mainly because even though they both change the body, they’re not the same.

Here are a few scattered thoughts:

• Burning more calories than one consumes has always been the safest way to stay in a healthy weight range.

• Today, consumers have many “healthy”, “diet” food choices available to them that are not ideal for how our bodies were made. Low-calorie foods with artificial sweeteners are not recognized by our biochemical food processing system, and so we end up starving our bodies of nutrients.

• As technology has improved, laziness has increased. We do not walk anywhere any more.

• Most people are not dumb, they are simply not properly educated because their parents weren’t properly educated and their peers are not. There are many confusing nutritional authorities in the media.

• There is currently an obesity epidemic, especially among teens. Having said that, there are millions of people consumed with body image and how their bodies look. It is easy for them to be swayed by the success of a few people they know or a few photographs in an advertisement.

• Exercise is such a crucial part to maintaining a healthy BMI (Body Mass Index). Not only does it keep us in shape, it also has major physical and psychological benefits such as lowering depression and anxiety, and strengthening the heart, lungs, and immune system. Exercise can give us peace of mind.

• Every person is born with different genetics. Some are small by nature, others are bigger boned, causing them to naturally be bigger. There is no “normal”. We’re all so very different. Take pregnancy for example: I’ve known women that have had children and have bounced back within weeks of birth. It’s not that easy for others. For some, no matter how hard and often they work out, that extra belly fat or skin just won’t go away.

Here is where the psychological effects of plastic surgery play a role: body image is very real to those that have it . . . good, bad, or indifferent. When someone’s body image affects him or her negatively and it controls a big part of his or her day, something should be done. With our Whole Being Plan, we’re able to address the physical, the psychological, and the spiritual. Exercise is a key component. Plastic surgery is often not the “quick fix,” that many believe that it is. I want to help people be the best they can be and feel their best. Sometimes, it takes a little more than what we can do on our own.

Thoughts?

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Kendra Wilkinson – Post Baby

She was our favorite Girl Next Door, one of Hugh Hefner’s former girlfriends, Kendra Wilkinson. Most of you know that Kendra left the Playboy mansion and married Hank Baskett, wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles (and an ex-Lobo), last year. Despite the latest celebrity gossip with Wilkinson, we’re here to talk post-baby body. But just in case you were wondering, the latest news over the alleged split is not true. According to this interview and video, Baskett is standing beside his wife since the sex-tape controversy.

Anyway, Kendra has naturally had an amazing body. She’s pretty much known for it. But even women with the best of bodies’ pre-baby, can have that extra, post-belly “belly jelly” as my wife calls it, after child birth. Good diet and exercise is a given if you want to get rid of the extra baby weight, but that extra post-baby belly fat is a little tougher to get rid of. Most of this has to do with heredity, collagen and elasticity in the belly area.

In Wilkinson’s case and many cases where women have stretch marks, the best way to go about that ridding of them is with a skin excision, which is actually removing the skin and pulling the remaining skin down. For women who don’t have really noticeable stretch marks, liposuction can be very effective in shrinking down the post-baby belly. Check out this episode of the Humanity Behind the Vanity as we talk about these things in a bit more detail.

I recently wrote a post on the liposuction and the different methods of the procedure, so feel free to check it out if you want to know more. In the meantime, if you’re one of the millions of women that struggle with post-baby weight/belly, or are really unhappy with the way you look right now, give us a call. It’s worth a consultation. If we can help you get on the right track to reaching your goal and in turn, help you feel better about yourself everyday, I know we’ve done our job.

Have you experienced any post-baby weight issues? What are some the things that worked for you?

Also, if you’re in the area and want FREE tickets to the 107.5 Outlaw Country’s, Country Fest, swing by. We have them for you.

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Understanding Liposuction

I think everyone has heard of the term, Liposuction, but I’m not sure that everyone really understands what it entails, the different types of liposuction, and the results that can ensue. I feel like this is always a great topic to cover and feel it flows well with our ongoing conversation about getting to the root of making changes.

Okay, so you’re at the point where you’re exhausted. You’ve been making small changes, getting a little healthier every day, and perhaps even working out a bit, but even through all the hard work you’ve been putting in, you’re ready to just have that excess fat sucked right out. (This is what patients have said to me, literally.)

So, my wife and I were going through New Beauty Magazine and they just happened to also be talking about liposuction in their issue. Here are some of the different lipo procedures they mentioned along with my take on them.

1. Power-Assisted Liposuction – Okay, this is still basically traditional lipo. What it means, though, is rather than the doctor using his/her own physical endurance to handle the canula, the doctor guides it along, and a machine does the movement instead of the doctor.  This type of liposuction is great when the doctor is working on the entire body.  I did a case last week where I removed fat from a woman’s abdomen, hips, inner thighs, arms, and flanks.  That’s a lot of work!

2. Water Jet Liposuction – This type of procedure is still in the experimental stages. It uses high frequency, tiny water jets to break up fat cells.  Not ready for Prime Time.

3. Laser Assisted Liposuction (also called Smart Lipo, Cool Lipo, Laser Lipo, and several other somewhat gimmicky names) – This is currently best for smaller parts of the body and the face. The laser energy breaks up the fat cells, which are sucked out, and the energy also causes the skin to tighten.   I think this is the most exciting concept in liposuction, but we cannot tell you exactly what the long-term effects are because it’s so new.  I’m not sure that laser energy is the best form of energy – there is now radiofrequency energy and that may be safer.

4. Ultrasound Assisted Lipouction, aka Vaser – This type of lipo treatment is not as new. It has been around for a while. Although it can cause burns if not done properly, it is very effective, and we know how to use it. I’ve found it actually works very well on men, and I explain why in the video.

As usual, I like to send my patients to a nutritional counselor and/or an exercise counselor to make they’re on the right track for making long-term changes. Since liposuction can be such an intensive surgery, I typically have patients enrolled in the Whole Being Plan, integrating alternative forms of therapy. Patients who participate in the Whole Being Plan typically see a faster recovery, have less bruising and soreness, have reduced pre/post surgery anxiety, and have a better understanding of their physical and spiritual selves.

Okay, let’s look a little deeper into these as well as talk about the traditional procedure.

If you would like to learn more about our alternative therapies and Whole Being Plan, click here to read my white paper on alternative practices.

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Body Changes For Life

Obesity and childhood obesity has been a center of conversation in the US for years. Short-term diet fads and pills to lose weight quickly have become highly overrated. Quick fixes do not “fix” the underlying problem. Using plastic surgery procedures such as tummy tucks and liposuction are also not THE solution to losing body fat, though it does help in getting fat off the body.

However, if you are looking for lasting results, proper nutrition and exercise need to be high on the priority list. Plastic surgery does not build muscle, and muscle is a major factor in how one’s body metabolizes what is put into it at work and at rest.

We had the opportunity to have Alana Bader, Personal Trainer extraordinaire, come into our studio and talk about the importance of long-term, positive changes. Alana owns Chiseled Fitness in Santa Fe and has been helping change bodies and lives since 2002.

Investing in changing your body through surgery is a big step. There are so many emotional factors that change when you truly feel good about the way you look. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Once you make that decision, I feel it’s my obligation (and privilege) to help you look and feel your best for the long-term – and that may mean a recommendation to put off the surgery until you lose weight, or get your emotional state under control, or establish a more supportive home environment, etc.

If you’d like to understand more about our Whole Being Plan, plastic surgery, or Alana, please contact us. Living your life and loving yourself is well worth a conversation.

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