Arms: Your Greatest Beauty Asset?

Put those uncomfortable stilettos back in the closet. According to StyleList.com, a recent study has found that men are more attracted to a woman’s arms than her legs.

The study, which was administered by the University of New South Whales in Sydney, was recently published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. The study involved Chinese and Australian women and men. The men were asked to watch videos of 96 women from the ages of 20 to 49 and then to rate their appearance.

The researchers found that the length of a woman’s legs had no significant impact on how attractive she was perceived. On the contrary, women who had long arms were ranked continuously as the most attractive. Although the study pointed to a strong appeal to long arms, lead researcher Professor Robert Brooks attributes attraction to a combination of good traits.

"The dimensions can tell observers if that person is suitable as a potential mate, a long-term partner, or perhaps the threat they pose as a sexual competitor,” Professor Brooks told the Daily Mail.

Waist-to-hip ratio, age and weight are also common factors that play into our judgment of appearance.  Next time you go to the gym, you might want to consider trading in squats and opting for push-ups instead.

Drink Those Wrinkles Away

According to the Deccan Herald, a new study has found that drinking water can help reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Not only that, certain waters can reduce wrinkle depth more than others.

Any medical professional will tell you that drinking eight glasses of water a day is good for your health. For years, we have been told that staying hydrated adds to clear skin and a youthful complexion.  Now there is solid evidence to back up these claims.

During the double-blind, placebo-controlled study, female volunteers has their skin analyzed with the VISIA complexion imaging system.  Following their initial analysis, the women were asked to drink 1.5 liters of water daily for 8 weeks. In addition, the women were not advised not to change their diet or exercise routines.

A number of the participants drank only tap water over the course of 8 weeks, while others were given mineral-rich Willow Water from England.  Willow Water contains willow bark extract that is high in salicin, an anti-inflammatory agent that metabolizes into salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is commonly found in many skincare and acne products.

At the end of the 8 weeks, the women had their skin analyzed once more with the VISIA complexion imaging system. Researchers found that the participants who drank tap water saw an overall 19% reduction of wrinkles, while the Willow Water-drinkers saw a 24% reduction.

The great news is you can now drink your way to better skin. The bad news? Willow Water is only available in the UK—for now.

The Line Between Cosmetics and Cosmeceuticals is Getting Thinner

A recent article by Plastic Surgery Practice reports that the gray area between the skin care and cosmetics industry is growing. Global Industry Analysts, Inc., revealed that the color cosmetics market will reach $41.4 billion by 2015. This is due in part to the inclusion of UV protection, moisturizing components, and natural and organic ingredients in cosmetics.  Makeup is now available in a multitude of formats, textures and pigments.

Not only that, consumers are now benefiting from an array of different treatment options available in the cosmetics, including anti-aging effects. There is a cosmetic product made for virtually every skin type and condition.

Going green is another trend that has been affecting the cosmetics industry. Product manufacturers are now beginning to include ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ ingredients such as vitamin E and plant extracts to attract consumers.

Once upon a time, makeup contained heavy pigments that clogged pores and caused skin irritation. Now, mineral blends and light-capturing crystals, like topaz and mother-of-pearl, are being used to give skin a natural, flawless appearance. To produce an intense color and limit smudging, lipsticks are beginning to incorporate vitamins A, C and E.

Referred to as cosmeceuticals, products with skincare benefits were once only made by high-end makeup lines such as Jane Iredale. Nowadays, one can walk into a drug store and nearly every makeup brand offers SPF-enriched or mineral products. With this growing gray area, it will be interesting to see how the boundaries of the FDA will adjust.

The Future of the Body Contouring Market

Let’s face it, North America, particularly the U.S., is getting fatter. With rising obesity rates comes an increased demand in the body contouring market. Patients are seeking at latest ways to get their body in shape, and doctors are increasingly adapting to advancements in body contouring technology.

A recent article from BusinessWire.com predicts how the introduction of new devices, as well as the recession, will have an effect on the body contouring market over the next few years. There have been numerous devices approved since 2008 in the way of laser-assisted liposuction(LAL) and cryolipolysis that have recently become more available to consumers.

Despite the rising frequency of body contouring devices, the price of treatment may deter patients during the recession. Doctors have to earn back their investment on said devices, which cost upwards of $100,000, and do so through the cost of the treatment to patients. The cosmetic surgery industry is currently facing many obstacles; however, as patients postpone or even forego these elective procedures in order to conserve funds.

Despite the decline in device sales from 2008 to 2009, Millennium Research Group predicts an economic revival of the body contouring market to be reported for 2010.

SmartLipo MPX, the first dual-wavelength LAL device available in the market, was launched in Canada and the U.S. in 2008. Other big launches to take place in 2009 included CoolLipo by CoolTouch, SlimLipo by Palomar Medical Technologies, Syneron’s LipoLite, Sciton’s ProLipo PLUS and SmoothLipo by Elem Medical.

The first transdermal ultrasound device to be available in Canada was UltraShape’s Contour 1. In 2009, Medicis’ LipoSonix, which has had difficulty getting FDA approval, received Health Canada approval. To date, there are no transdermal ultrasound devices available in the U.S. In the way of cryolipolysis, Coolsculpting by Zeltiq has been available for off-label fat removal since last summer.

Even with the threats of the recession affecting the body contouring market, the obesity problem in North America guarantees a growing number of prospective patients available.  Furthermore, as body contouring technology advances there will be a growing consumer demand and market growth.

Cosmetic Surgery is No Cure for Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) has been getting a lot of attention in the media recently.  The condition, which drives people to constantly alter their appearance in a desire to be perfect, is oftentimes linked to plastic surgery. But do BDD sufferers actually benefit emotionally by undergoing plastic surgery? A new study’s says ‘no’. Despite these findings, there are surgeons who still provide requested surgeries to BDD sufferers.

The study, which was recently published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery, was spearheaded by Katharine A. Phillips, MD, is the director of the body image program at Rhode Island Hospital. Phillips defines BDD as “a psychiatric disorder characterized by preoccupation with an imagined or slight defect in appearance which causes clinically significant distress or functional impairment. A majority of these individuals believe they have an actual deformity that can be corrected by cosmetic treatments to fix these perceived defects rather than seeking psychiatric intervention."

Phillips co-authored the study with Canice Crerand, PhD, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The researchers reported that previous studies showed BDD to be relatively common among individuals who underwent plastic surgery, accounting for roughly 7-8% American plastic surgery patients. The duo retrospectively studied 200 individuals with BDD. Of the group, 31% sought and 21% received surgical or minimally invasive treatments to remedy their BDD symptoms.

The study found that almost all of the individuals still experienced BDD symptoms, while some even developed new appearance fixations. The researchers also surveyed 265 cosmetic surgeons, of which 65% reported treating patients with BDD symptoms. Only one percent of the reported cases that were treated resulted in symptom improvement.

The most common surgical procedures among the patients were rhinoplasty and breast augmentation, while the most popular non-invasive treatments were dermal fillers and microdermabrasion. Three-quarters of all the desired procedures involved the face, and more than a third of the patients studied underwent numerous different treatments.

In the long-term, only 25% of patients with BDD showed a more positive appraisal of their treated body parts. Not only that, only two percent of treated patients saw a lasting improvement of their overall BDD symptoms.   

Of the patients who sough treatment, 20% did not receive a procedure. Surprisingly, patients with BDD were turned down more often due inability to pay for a procedure than they were for their symptoms. Thirty percent of patients could not undergo their procedure due to financing, while 26% were refused treatment by a doctor. The researchers also found that surgeons were significantly less likely to refuse a cosmetic treatment than other procedures, such as dermatological, dental or otherwise.

"This suggests that many surgeons were not aware of the patient's BDD or do not consider BDD a contraindication to treatment,” says Phillips.  “In a survey of 265 cosmetic surgeons, only 30 percent believed that BDD was always a contraindication to surgery."

While some cases of body dysmorphic disorder are easy to recognize, other cases are not so clear-cut. This study is an indicator that there should be more training and sensitivity in the aesthetic plastic surgery industry to the symptoms of BDD.  While most patients have a healthy desire to simply enhance their features, the crippling symptoms of BDD could be the motive for patients to undergo cosmetic surgery.

Japan Makes Sizable Advances in the Use of Stem Cells During Fat Grafting

Fat grafting is an alternative used during soft tissue augmentation that has grown in popularity over the past few years. Although this technique has been around for over a decade, recent international advancements and the use of stem cells have dramatically increased the presence of fat grafting in the plastic surgery industry.

Fat grafting is beneficial in that it only leaves incisional scars and often has less complication then injecting dermal fillers and other foreign substances into the body. Although doctors around the world have been working hard to improve the final result of fat grafting, physicians in Japan have recently made the most important headway

Kotaro Yoshimura, M.D., associate professor of plastic surgery at the University of Tokyo, is leading the investigation into the use of stem cells of aesthetic applications. The doctor and his team recently developed a strategy called cell-assisted lipotransfer (CAL) to overcome some common issues with traditional fat grafting such as unpredictable results and low fat cell survival rates due to necrosis.

How CAL Works:
Stem cells found within adipose (fat) tissue are combined with traditionally lipoinjection. The fat removed after liposuction is split in half and stem cells from one half of the fat are removed and added to the other part of the fat. This process creates stem cell-enriched fat. Dr. Yoshimura and his colleagues found that after grafting fat, some of the cells die off and are replaced by new fat generated by the stem cells. The amount of stem cells contained in the graft is crucial in determining the final results following lipoinjection.

Dr. Yoshimura has tested the CAL process on more than 450 breast augmentation and restoration patients since 2003. The results demonstrated CAL as a safe and effective alternative for soft tissue augmentation.

How Stem Cells Are Isolated:
There are three basic steps executed during CAL: fat and stem cells are extracted from a donor site, the soft tissue is purified, and then the tissue is injected elsewhere into the body. The most difficult step in the process is isolating the stem cells from the rest of the fat cells. This can be done manually using a cell-processing room or automatically using Tissue Genesis technology.

According to Dr. Yoshimura, using stem cell-enriched fat during grafting may boost the safety and effectiveness of the traditional methods. The fat stem cells may even have a therapeutic effect, similar to bone marrow-derived stem cells, which can aid in the healing process following lipoinjection.

These advances in stem cell technology are certainly promising, however, Dr. Yoshimura stresses that the long term safety and efficacy of CAL still needs to be studied. Patients with a low BMI may also be poor candidates for fat grafting as issues may arise in harvesting enough fat and stem cells to make the procedure successful.

Adding a Boost to Your Booty

Not everyone is blessed with curves like Kim Kardashian or Scarlett Johansson. Cameron Diaz was even quoted in Marie Claire saying: “I’d love a bigger butt, more meat on my bones. I’d love to be more voluptuous…” Curvaceous celebrities like Kim and Scarlett have ignited the latest trend in plastic surgery: buttock augmentation.

There are numerous methods to naturally boosting ones backside, including everything from gluteus exercises to padded jeans. Although these methods may provide a temporary improvement, the more permanent method is through buttock augmentation via fat grafting (a.k.a. Brazilian Butt Lift). Using fat grafting, patients have fat removed via liposuction from another part of their body and injected into the buttock. The patient benefits from having two cosmetic procedures in one.

Fat transfer is in no way a new technique in plastic surgery. Fat grafting has been used for years to restore fullness to aging faces.  Recent research has found that fat also has a high level of stem cells that can be transferred through grafting. This allows the patient to have minimal volume loss after some of the fat dies off or regenerates following the procedure. Even though regeneration is possible, patients should expect to retain about 50% of the volume from their augmentation.

For slender women with low BMI, such as Cameron Diaz, you may be out of luck. The “Brazilian Butt Lift” is usually performed with the patient’s own fat, and therefore the patient must have enough fat in other parts of the body to harvest. For Delaware residents considering buttock augmentation, you should seek out a board-certified plastic surgeon with experience in fat transfer and liposuction to perform your procedure.