The American Academy of Dermatology’s annual meeting is an incredible source of “what’s new and exciting” in dermatology. I am always amazed at the size of the exhibit hall. I was wandering through with my “must do” list and noticed a huge gathering of women dermatologists at this one bright and cheery booth. In the center was Michael McCarthy, the nationally known make-up artist for the Colorescience Pro product line. He was helping these busy working women find quick and effective products to protect and enhance their individual beauty needs. He is coming TO OUR OFFICE, December 19th, to spend 30 minutes with 12 lucky patients to design a quick and effective beauty regime just for them.
My staff and I love Colorescience products because of their quality and focus on the bottom line, beauty and sun protection. There is no easier way to comply with the “reapply every two hours” sun protection rule than with the dust on Sunforgettable products. I have men who carry it in their golf bags to re-apply after 9 holes. Generally, they aren’t concerned about beauty but want to keep me from treating so many of their pre-cancers.
This is a great “guy” or gal Christmas stocking gift!
Dr. Ann
P.S. If Michael is willing, we will try to lure him back another time. We have to “borrow” him from his responsibilities with the Seattle Opera Company.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Lasers and Lipo
More from the ASDS meeting:
So what’s the story?
The new “hot” laser technique is the ablative (fractional) CO2. It takes our old CO2 resurfacing lasers and “breaks” the 6 mm pulse into 49 pinpoint wounds leaving the adjacent skin untouched to help heal the damage. This technology may replace the “non-ablative” lasers due to the improved results in fewer treatments with similar to only slightly longer downtime. It is being used off the face but we are being advised to be much more respectful of these areas that have fewer follicles to help repopulate the wounded areas. Those of us who have experienced the improvement with the original CO2 resurfacing were consistently underwhelmed by most all of the subsequent non-ablative lasers. Finally, we are seeing results that are similar to that of the older technique, particularly if a series of 2-3 treatments are done. The “checking” of the skin that happens with age and accumulated collagen breakdown from solar radiation is nicely smoothed with these treatments. We are also seeing response to the “hill and valley” acne scars and the toughest, ice pick acne scars.
Right now, the non-invasive lipo devices are still in the learning curve phase. When listening to the lectures, several referrals were made to “manage the patient’s expectations”. These comments take me back to my experiences with endermologie for cellulite. The phase means not “there” yet.
Dr. Jeffrey Klein, the father of tumescent liposuction surgery, still seems to be underwhelmed with the value of adding any laser to tumescent liposuction surgery. My fellow lipo doc friend, who owns the lipo laser, confided that it slows the surgery down and hasn’t significantly improved the result to justify the $90,000 cost. It is, however, popular and glamorous.
One of the big issues with lipo surgery is the fact that it should be mainly preformed in diet and exercise resistant areas referred to as “the family curse area”. If you are eating too many calories for your activity, they will have to be stored somewhere and it isn’t good if that happens to be the omental fat pad (intra-abdominal) which is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks. Liposuction is not a weight reduction technique but your workout clothes will fit better.
NEXT, I’ll talk about our Colorescience products.
Dr. Ann
So what’s the story?
The new “hot” laser technique is the ablative (fractional) CO2. It takes our old CO2 resurfacing lasers and “breaks” the 6 mm pulse into 49 pinpoint wounds leaving the adjacent skin untouched to help heal the damage. This technology may replace the “non-ablative” lasers due to the improved results in fewer treatments with similar to only slightly longer downtime. It is being used off the face but we are being advised to be much more respectful of these areas that have fewer follicles to help repopulate the wounded areas. Those of us who have experienced the improvement with the original CO2 resurfacing were consistently underwhelmed by most all of the subsequent non-ablative lasers. Finally, we are seeing results that are similar to that of the older technique, particularly if a series of 2-3 treatments are done. The “checking” of the skin that happens with age and accumulated collagen breakdown from solar radiation is nicely smoothed with these treatments. We are also seeing response to the “hill and valley” acne scars and the toughest, ice pick acne scars.
Right now, the non-invasive lipo devices are still in the learning curve phase. When listening to the lectures, several referrals were made to “manage the patient’s expectations”. These comments take me back to my experiences with endermologie for cellulite. The phase means not “there” yet.
Dr. Jeffrey Klein, the father of tumescent liposuction surgery, still seems to be underwhelmed with the value of adding any laser to tumescent liposuction surgery. My fellow lipo doc friend, who owns the lipo laser, confided that it slows the surgery down and hasn’t significantly improved the result to justify the $90,000 cost. It is, however, popular and glamorous.
One of the big issues with lipo surgery is the fact that it should be mainly preformed in diet and exercise resistant areas referred to as “the family curse area”. If you are eating too many calories for your activity, they will have to be stored somewhere and it isn’t good if that happens to be the omental fat pad (intra-abdominal) which is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks. Liposuction is not a weight reduction technique but your workout clothes will fit better.
NEXT, I’ll talk about our Colorescience products.
Dr. Ann
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Annual Meeting Thoughts
Wow, I am finally jumping into the world of blogging. Considering how much I like to talk and how excited I am when I discover new dermatologic information, this should be a lot of fun! The challenge will be to keep it brief.
I have many thoughts to share after the recent American Society for Dermatologic Surgery’s annual meeting. I felt like I was attending a class reunion. Most of the presentations and conversations were with the derm docs that have experienced the evolution of cosmetic dermatology with me. Sclerotherapy and chemical peeling started the interest for me, and then lasers, lumescent liposuction, botox, laser resurfacing, skin tightening and now fillers. There has certainly been considerable refinements in technique and equipment in all of these areas.
There was a huge and expensive learning curve where technology was early and sounded a lot better than it delivered. I think the message of this meeting to all of us was to renew our pledge as physicians to evidence based medicine and not to the newest promise for easy rejuvenation and return on investment.
We had considerable discussion on split face study, blinded observation, statistical significance, safety and risk, both short and long term. There was an “eye opening” demonstration on the existence of camera based improvement in before and after photos caused by the tilt of the head, the shadows, the lightening, make up etc.
Conclusion: photos are very hard to repeat exactly, so buyers beware.
Bottom line? It is our responsibility as the specialist of the skin, to interpret the large amount of information and protect our patients from unsafe, poorly studied sham products and procedures.
More later,
Dr. Ann
I have many thoughts to share after the recent American Society for Dermatologic Surgery’s annual meeting. I felt like I was attending a class reunion. Most of the presentations and conversations were with the derm docs that have experienced the evolution of cosmetic dermatology with me. Sclerotherapy and chemical peeling started the interest for me, and then lasers, lumescent liposuction, botox, laser resurfacing, skin tightening and now fillers. There has certainly been considerable refinements in technique and equipment in all of these areas.
There was a huge and expensive learning curve where technology was early and sounded a lot better than it delivered. I think the message of this meeting to all of us was to renew our pledge as physicians to evidence based medicine and not to the newest promise for easy rejuvenation and return on investment.
We had considerable discussion on split face study, blinded observation, statistical significance, safety and risk, both short and long term. There was an “eye opening” demonstration on the existence of camera based improvement in before and after photos caused by the tilt of the head, the shadows, the lightening, make up etc.
Conclusion: photos are very hard to repeat exactly, so buyers beware.
Bottom line? It is our responsibility as the specialist of the skin, to interpret the large amount of information and protect our patients from unsafe, poorly studied sham products and procedures.
More later,
Dr. Ann
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