A Link Between Normal Aging and Progeria

Keeping fine lines, wrinkles, and skin spots to a minimum is very easy at my East Coast plastic surgery practice. Botox, Restylane, and other dermal fillers are usually the first choices of patients. For those who would rather steer clear of injections, some patients may choose a chemical peel or dermabrasion to resurface the skin. Of course, other patients would rather get the best results possible, usually leading them to opt for a facelift or a brow lift. This is the beauty of plastic surgery: so many options to suit your comfort level.

But why do we age?

It was previously thought that aging was caused by our cells wearing out. However, recent studies point to a different reason. These new studies have found a link between aging and the aging disease known as Progeria.

If you aren’t familiar with the disease, Progeria causes children to age seven times faster than normal human beings. Why? A toxic protein called progerin is produced in these children’s bodies in very high amounts. However, once thought as the reason why children suffer from this disease, new studies show that progerin is also produced in healthy human beings. The amounts are just much lower, causing us to age at a slower rate.

What does this mean?

This means that aging could be an active biological mechanism that is actually programmed into our bodies. If this is the case, this means that this program is tinkered with when it comes to children with Progeria, causing progerin to be produced in high amounts instead of the standard lower amounts.  With these things in mind, we are only getting closer to gaining an understanding of the aging process.

To your health and beauty,

Dr. Joe Danyo

The Skinny on Subcutaneous and Visceral Fats

If I were to ask you what exactly fat does, would you be able to answer correctly?

The correct answer is “E,” meaning fat is actually healthy for you to have on your body. However, this doesn’t mean that you should overindulge in ice cream, french fries, and mountains of chocolate. In fact, once your body has too much, some serious health risks can arise.

Many of my East Coast plastic surgery patients come in thinking liposuction will solve all their fat problems. But this is not the case. In fact, only one type of fat out of the two we store is affected by liposuction. It is only our subcutaneous fat, the fat right beneath our skin, that can be sucked out. As a bonus the sucked out fat from your thighs, hips and more can be transferred into other parts of your body such as a your cheeks or lips for a fuller and plumper appearance. Who ever said your flab is useless?

The eviler fat of the two is known as visceral fat. This is the belly fat that settles in your abdominal cavity. Settling around your organs, such as the liver, it can be deadly in high amounts. High amounts of visceral fat are also associated with diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiac disease, and hypertension.

The cause of visceral fat is due to a mixture of heredity and our own unhealthy habits. Those few extra beers can quickly cause visceral fat to run wild, forming a beer belly. It’s why high quantities of this fat have even been found in people at normal weights. Everyone is prone to visceral fat, not just the obese.

So how exactly can we rid our bodies of this particular fat?

If you suffer from obesity, Barriatric surgery is an option. There are also several medications on the market that can curb appetite or decrease fat absorption. But the real way to nix this problematic fat is through age old diet and exercise. Therefore, it is all up to you to get yourself healthy. Though at some point in the future there will most likely be a way to surgically remove visceral fat, until then it is entirely in your hands.

To your health and beauty,

Dr. Joe Danyo

Traffic And Your Skin

We all know that aging is a natural part of life, and that we can indeed age gracefully. That’s where my job as an East Coast plastic surgeon comes in. Botox, facelifts, blepharoplasties, and even skin resurfacing are just are few procedures and treatments that will make your skin appear youthful. But have you ever wondered if it’s not just life that is causing your skin to wrinkle and discolor?

Recent studies suggest a correlation between living near a busy highway and increased skin wrinkling and pigmented spots. In fact, airborne particles that are traffic related has now taken the top third spot as a cause of early skin aging. It falls right beneath ultraviolet radiation and tobacco smoke. Meaning, if you live in an heavily populated and busy area where a lot of traffic occurs, such as the city, your skin is more likely to age faster than someone’s skin that isn’t exposed to such things. Of course, UV rays and smoke must be factored in as well. But perhaps this is the reason why plastic surgery is more popular in city areas. 

This study only backs up previous data on the harmful effects of traffic related particles. Besides being terrible for your lungs, these airborne particles have been linked to cognitive failure in the elderly, and have also been linked to type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Though it’s not easy to avoid all traffic-related airborne particles, especially if you live in a big city where traffic never stops, it may be a good idea to take extra care of your skin. Of course when all else fails, my East Coast plastic surgery practice can help keep your skin beautiful, rejuvenated and young.

To your health and beauty,

Dr. Joe Danyo

Less Botox But Same Great Results

Botox is one of the most popular procedures in plastic surgeon offices, including my East Coast plastic surgery one. This procedure is mainly popular due to it being minimally invasive, time efficient, usually taking only fifteen minutes, and simple. However, Botox injections are not a onetime thing, usually consisting of injections every three months.

This can be a slight turn off to some potential patients that may not want to shell out money four times a year. And it’s no surprise that Botox injections indefinitely with visit every three months can become costly, especially if a patient starts young as suggested by plastic surgeons.

But patients afraid of costs may soon find Botox more accessible due to a new study conducted at the Oregon Health and Science University’s Casey Eye Institute. The study found that patients receiving Botox treatments every four months for two years can then cut their Botox injections to every six months. Though best results are still more likely to be seen in treatment every three months, this new time line will get similar results in the least amount of time.

With these new results, Botox is more than likely to become even more popular. More people are prone to undergo Botox if visits of four a year can now be cut to three or two a year with great wrinkle reducing results. It’s never been easier.

Will you consider Botox now that visits don’t have to be as often? If you already get Botox, will you cut your visits down?

To your health and beauty,

Dr. Joseph Danyo

Change Your Implants In A Timely Manner

Gel-filled implants are fast becoming a favorite among breast enhancement patients, including the patients in my East Coast plastic surgery office. Due to their consistency, a gel-filled implant gives a more life-like feeling to the breasts compared to other implants. But before you choose an implant simply for its life-like feeling, you may want to know what comes with getting this gel-filled kind.

First, gel implants are entirely safe and effective. They wouldn’t be FDA approved if they weren’t. However, it is important to know that gel implants are not the forever kind. The FDA recently released a report saying that gel implants could have the need to be replaced, or even removed, within a ten year period under certain circumstances.

As the years progress, women with gel-filled implants, especially those who have suffered from breast cancer and have undergone breast reconstruction, could develop some problems. Most specifically, gel implants can rupture, but scarring, asymmetry and infection have been known to occur as well. A rupture especially will lead to surgery.

So how do you combat this potential problem if you still want gel implants? MRIs are one the best ways of detecting a problem with your implant. Going once every two years is a must if you have gel-filled implants.  If you haven’t detected any problems, but have had the implants in for a while, or close to ten years, your best option may be to simply replace them.

Like any type of surgery, there is always a risk, but by knowing the risks you’re already ahead.

Would you still consider gel-filled implants even though they eventually have to be replaced? To my readers that have them: Do you have an MRI every two years to detect problems?

To your health & beauty,

Dr. Joe Danyo

Could Freezing Be The New Botox?

My East Coast Plastic Surgery office has an abundance of patients seeking minimal invasive procedures such as Botox injections. But patients looking to get rid of pesky wrinkles on their faces may have another injectable option sometime in the near future.

Both Botox and Dysport are very easy and very quick procedures with a high patient satisfaction rate. However, some people are not entirely comfortable with the idea of injecting a toxin into their body, and unless they are willing to undergo a more invasive surgery they are out of luck.

So what is this new injectable that could be a Botox and Dysport competitor one of these days?

A new technique, not yet approved by the FDA, called cryoneuromodulation uses small needles to deliver cold to the nerves running through the forehead. The cold freezes the nerve, which interrupts the nerve signal and relaxes the muscle that causes vertical and horizontal forehead lines. Though the nerve returns to normal body temperature, the cold temporarily “injures” the nerve, not permanently, and allows the signal to remain interrupted for a period of time that is comparable to Botox’s and Dysport’s three to four month period.

This new possible treatment is just as quick, taking about 15 minutes, and has relatively the same discomfort level as Botox and Dysport. After performing the technique on 31 people in a clinical trial, this procedure seemed to work faster than what is on the market already; all patients having fewer wrinkles after two to eight injections, instead of waiting the standard few days to see results.

The downside is this technique was only limited to the forehead and has yet to be studied elsewhere on the face. Botox is more than just the forehead so it currently beats out this freezing process. However, if these results are a hint at what this new procedure can do, this could potentially be injectables’ newest breakthrough.

If this procedure does eventually pass FDA approval, I feel this will only increase the popularity of injectables. They will be more readily available to those people that were once afraid to put anything foreign into their bodies. More people will most likely jump at the chance to make their wrinkles fade away.

If this becomes an FDA approved procedure, would you consider freezing your nerves for a smoother face?

To your health and beauty,

Dr. Joe Danyo

Teenaged Cosmetic Surgery is NOT on the rise!

The media enjoys telling us that teen plastic surgery is on the rise and, as a surgeon, I admit seeing my fair share of teenagers at my East Coast Plastic Surgery office here in Delaware. However, contrary to this popular belief, surveys conducted by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery report otherwise. 

The surveys actually show that the number of cosmetic procedures on patients 18 and younger has declined from nearly 300,000 a decade ago to125,000 last year.

Even with the massive decline, parents may be wondering what procedures teenagers are actually having. The ASAPS also reported that the most common procedures are:

• ·      Laser hair removal (51,000 procedures last year)
• ·      Skin treatments (including 16,200 chemical peels and 10,400 microdermabrasion treatments)
• ·      Ear surgery (10,700 procedures)
• ·      Nose jobs (9,100 procedures)

These top procedures, at least in my opinion, seem to coincide with more than just cosmetic reasons. Plenty of teens suffer from excess amounts of hair, acne, and deviated septums, which seems to show in which cosmetic procedures they are undergoing. It seems that perhaps teens aren’t as worried about their looks as we think they are.

To your health & beauty,

Dr. Joe Danyo