Chinese Medicine + Modern Skin Care

A good friend of mine just introduced me to Rodan + Fields – the two amazing women behind Proactiv, a product that has helped countless men & women achieve clearer skin, not to mention increased self-confidence!  Now they’ve started a new company (Rodan + Fields) and one of the things that makes them unique is that they are using Chinese Medicine in their modern skin care treatments!  Talk about Integrating Beauty!

Rodan + Fields has started using a special roller as part of their ANTI-AGE AMP MD System.  Here is a video detailing the way their AMP MD Roller works:

The AMP MD Roller is “constructed of surgical-grade stainless steel acupuncture needles to safely and comfortably create precise micro channels in the upper-most layer of the skin.”

In Traditional Chinese Medicine this type of a roller was part of a practice known as “skin needling.”  Today these rollers are often called Derma Rollers.

Derma rollers, designed with a hard spiked surface, are used to vigorously roll across the skin to promote the circulation of qi and blood. They are useful in the treatment of qi and blood stagnation and deficiency including muscle spasms, scar therapy, cosmetic acupuncture, hair loss treatment, stretch mark removal and dermatological conditions. (Courtesy of The Journal of Chinese Medicine)

This is a more traditional looking Chinese derma roller:

 

 

Lead Dermatologists are using Chinese Medicine in modern skin care!!

It IS happening!!

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Fillers: Quick Fix vs. Long Term Results

Via Total Beauty:

“All of us are looking for a quick fix that’ll make us look and feel better,” says board-certified cosmetic surgeon Dr. Fardad Forouzanpour of Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgical Group. “But quick fixes often come with risks.”

Fillers like Juvederm and Restylane help plump up your lips, get rid of your laugh lines, and fill in your cheekbones. “These are quick fixes,” says Forouzanpour. However, you have to make sure that the doctor you’re going to is respectable and can guarantee the quality of the injections.

Forouzanpour says that when people try to get fillers on the cheap, there’s a good chance of things going wrong. He points to one case where doctors in Florida were injecting animal products from China because they were cheaper, and injected too much — so much that the client ended up in the hospital. He notes another horror story, where a woman who went to Mexico to get Juvederm fillers “got injected with who knows what and she ended up with scars, lumps, and bumps,” he says. “And you can’t correct something like that, because we don’t know what the injection was.”

The better option: Exilis
Forouzanpour recommends a nonsurgical procedure like Exilis, an FDA-approved radio frequency treatment that helps tighten the skin through heat. The collagen in the skin becomes tighter, thereby reducing fine lines and wrinkles. “It’s nothing like surgery,” he says. “While it doesn’t give you the same result, it does give a nice, refreshing look to the skin. And there aren’t side effects.”

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The even better option:  Acupuncture

Facial Acupuncture uses tiny intra-dermal needles to create micro traumas that can facilitate the production of collagen and elastin.  The needles are inserted inside the wrinkle or crease to bring increased nutrients, via the blood and energy, to that specific area.

Collagen is a protein produced by our bodies that is responsible for our skin’s durability and resilience. Elastin is responsible for the elasticity of our skin. Sun exposure and aging degrade and decrease the production of our collagen and elastin. Acupuncture helps to stimulate the body’s natural processes of cell reproduction and growth. Needles are also placed in the muscle motor points to re-educate the muscles back to their original placement, thus the face looks more sculpted, more youthful and lifted.

How long does Facial Acupuncture last?  It’s kind of like a snowball, the more you do it the better it looks – this is particularly true in the beginning.  This is why most Facial Acupuncturists usually require a patient to commit to 10-12 sessions in order to see results.  The side effects of Facial Acupuncture?  Many patients report decreased stress, better sleep, improved digestion, decreased depression and/or anxiety, reduced hot flashes, and increased energy.

For more information email:  integrating beauty@gmail.com

Courtesy Marisa Belger

Sugar and Aging: How to Fight Glycation (from Elle magazine)

I’ve been reading a lot about how sugar affects the aging process lately.  A lot of people say to avoid sugar, but this article from Elle Magazine does the best job of explaining the science behind the way sugar affects our cells.

“The science is this: When you have sugar molecules in your system, they bombard the body’s cells like a meteor ­shower—glomming onto fats and proteins in a process known as glycation. This forms advanced glycation end products (commonly shortened, appropriately, to AGEs), which cause protein fibers to become stiff and malformed. Much of what is known about glycation’s ill effects comes from diabetes research: The connective-tissue damage and chronic inflammation resulting from diabetics’ sustained high blood sugar can lead to debilitating conditions, such as cataracts, Alzheimer’s, vascular tightening, and diseases of the pancreas and liver.  The proteins in skin most prone to glycation are the same ones that make a youthful complexion so plump and springy—collagen and elastin. ”

Read the whole article here:  Sugar and Aging via Elle.com

What can you do?  

Drink Green Tea:  stimulates collagen synthesis.  Awesome excuse to switch from coffee!

Stop smoking – or better yet, don’t start!

Have an Emergen-C:  everyone loves the fizzy drink, and Vitamin C is important for reducing the damage from sun exposure, smoking (or secondhand smoke), and pollution.  Red peppers, oranges, and papayas rank highest among Vitamin C rich foods.  Check out this chart!

Take some Vitamin E:  together with Vitamin C, these two superstars protect your skin from sun damage according to the American Academy of Dermatology.   (But stick with less than 400 IUs per day to avoid toxicity).

Get Acupuncture!  Acupuncture stimulates the body’s ability to regenerate, accelerating the anti-inflammatory process, and helping the body remove accumulated toxins from the skin and tissues of the face.  Cosmetic Acupuncture stimulates blood flow, collagen and elastin production through the microtrauma from the tiny needles inserted into the face.                                       O Magazine’s Beauty Editors check it out here!

According to NYC Dermatologist Fredric Brandt, MD, “Anything that stimulates the fibroblasts to build new collagen is going to help eradicate damage.”

And of course getting enough sleep and having good stress management solutions are a no brainer!

Facebook Finally!

Integrating Beauty finally has a Facebook page!  Please “like” us!  Click here:  Integrating Beauty

There are loads of great articles there too!

Enjoy!