Pressure Device Treats Ear Keloids

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Mannheim, Germany — Results of a small study suggest that there is significant potential for a pressure device used to supplement other treatments for auricular keloids, Medical News Today reports. 

Between December 2007 and March 2009, a research team headed by Gregor M. Bran, M.D., of the University Hospital of Mannheim, investigated the auricular pressure device in seven patients being treated for auricular keloids. Patients underwent surgical removal of the keloids and injection of corticosteroids, after which they were told to wear the pressure device overnight for a minimum of five nights a week until either the scar level matched the level of surrounding healthy skin, or after two consecutive adjustments in the device produced no improvement. Custom-designed for each patient, the two-piece device was held in position by magnets along the ear’s rim. 

No problems were reported during the prescribed time in which patients wore the device, and no patients interrupted or stopped the treatment. After an average follow-up of 24 months, no recurrence of keloids was seen in any patient. All patients reported satisfaction with the results and no patient reported itch, pain or abnormal sensations. 

Researchers wrote that while the use of pressure devices in the treatment of keloids of the ear is not new, the device they tested more adequately meets the requirements of an ideal auricular pressure device. They concluded that larger, center-based trials with long-term follow-up will allow better understanding of the role the device could play in improving scar management. 

The study was reported in Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.

By Bill Gillette
Dermatology Times E-News

Chimp Attack Victim Reveals New Face

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Boston — The woman who received a full face transplant after being attacked by a chimpanzee in 2009 has publicly revealed her new face while recovering at Brigham and Children’s Hospital, Boston, Medical News Today reports.

Charla Nash, 57, received the face transplant in May. The procedure, led by Bohdan Pomahac, M.D., included a team of 30 doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists. The transplant provided Ms. Nash with facial skin, a nose and lips, according to the report. Ms. Nash lost her upper jaw, nose, lips and most of the soft tissue on her face in the chimp attack, CNN.com reports. She was also left blind and lost her hands.

Surgeons had also performed a double hand transplant, but circulation problems forced doctors to later remove them. Ms. Nash may eventually be a candidate to receive another hand transplant, Medical News Today reports.

The full face transplant involved removing some tissue and attaching skin to underlying muscle in an effort to provide motor and sensory functions. The surgical team also transplanted the entire hard palate and teeth. Surgeons expect that the full face transplant will eventually allow Ms. Nash to express herself facially.

By: Staff Reports
Cosmetic Surgery Times E-News

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Biomarkers Can Predict Sensitizers

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Lund, Sweden — Laboratory-grown human cells can now be used to classify chemicals as sensitizing or nonsensitizing and can predict the strength of allergic response, thus providing an alternative to animal testing, ScienceDaily reports.

Researchers from Lund University in Sweden used genome-wide profiling to measure the response of a human myeloid leukemia cell line to known chemicals. From this they defined a biomarker signature of 200 genes that could accurately discriminate between sensitizing and nonsensitizing chemicals. By comparing this signature with the known action of these chemicals, they also were able to predict sensitizing potency.


European legislation restricts animal testing within the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. The new research provides a potential alternative testing method to ensure that new drugs are hypoallergenic, investigators note.

By: Bill Gillette
Cosmetic Surgery Times E-News

Read full article at http://bit.ly/pls8U7

Rare Skin Infection, Tattoos Linked

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Atlanta — Two cases of otherwise healthy men acquiring a rare bacterial skin infection apparently after receiving tattoos at a Seattle parlor have prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to recommend that tattoo artists use sterilized water in their procedures, Medical News Today reports.

In the one confirmed case, a healthy 44-year-old man who received a tattoo in August 2009 has tested positive for Mycobacterium haemophilum, a bacterium that rarely affects people with a healthy immune system and is difficult to treat with antibiotics.

The yet-to-be-confirmed case is of a healthy 35-year-old man who received a tattoo at the same parlor two months later. His tests were inconclusive, and the CDC is treating his case as a “suspected” infection, according to a report in the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The authors also write that although they are rare, difficult-to-treat bacterial infections have been reported even in healthy people who receive tattoos. 

The authors note that local authorities investigated the parlor in December 2009 and found it in compliance with Washington state safety and sanitation standards. Authorities instructed the owner to use sterilized rather than tap water for rinse solutions and diluting tattoo dyes, even though no traces of M. haemophilum were found in the parlor’s tap water. 

The authors further note that water has been suspected as a reservoir for M. haemophilum, and speculate that the four-month interval between the man’s visit and testing of the parlor’s tap water may have reduced the chance of recovering any M. haemophilum. The report notes that Washington state does not specifically require tattoo artists to use steam-distilled or sterile water in their procedures. 

The CDC concludes and recommends that despite the fact infections due to water appear uncommon, operators should not use tap water for tattoo procedures.

by: Bill Gillette, Staff Correspondent

Read full article at: http://bit.ly/n5PigX

Bank Your Fat to Look Younger!

 Should You Store your Fat Cells? 

Wendy Schmid investigates the latest cosmetic phenomenon, which may be the final answer to maintaining a youthful face.

Banking your valuables just makes sense. Your Cartier jewels. Your eggs. And now, it seems, your fat. There's renewed excitement about fat as a cosmetic filler thanks to the skin-rejuvenating stem cells it contains, and some doctors are advising liposuction patients to put their removed fat on ice. The idea: Bank it now so you can inject it into your face later to fill wrinkles, replace lost volume, and potentially regenerate skin. It may sound like weird science, but at BioLife Cell Bank in Dallas (the first fat bank in the U.S.), the number of patients banking their fat has doubled every three months since late last year.

ANTIAGING INSURANCE Doctors aren't yet suggesting fat removal solely for storage, but that may be the advice in the near future. "Removing fat when you're younger — in your 20s, 30s, or 40s — is better because stem cells aren't as potent by your 50s and 60s," says Dallas craniofacial surgeon David Genecov, who cofounded BioLife last year and serves as its medical director. How long can you bank it? "At least 20 years," he states. So if you're 25, you could ostensibly freeze your fat as an antiaging safety net and then inject it when you're 45.

How it works: For a successful stem-cell fat transfer at a future date, the key is to freeze and bank living, undamaged fat cells. "Traditional liposuction damages the fat too much, which is one reason fat injections were unreliable in the past," says Scottsdale, Arizona, cosmetic surgeon Todd Malan. Newer, more advanced liposuction techniques, such as Vaser and Body-Jet, use gentler methods to break the fat into tiny particles before suctioning it out with a low-pressure vacuum. And what if you want to store fat but don't want — or need — full-scale lipo? "We can easily remove 10 to 12 ounces, about the size of a soda can, from your buttocks or thighs, and you'll have enough face filler stored for the rest of your life," says Malan. In an hour-long, virtually pain-free procedure, the area is numbed, then the skin is punctured with an IV-size needle and a microcannula is inserted to suck out the fat. (Cost: from $2,500.)

Once the fat is removed, it's shipped to the bank, assigned a barcode-like identifier, and preserved in liquid-nitrogen vapor. (The cost is comparable to that of egg, umbilical-cord-blood, or sperm storage: $1,700 for the first year and $200 a year afterward.) When you're ready to reinject the stored fat, your doctor notifies the bank and requests the appropriate amount. A portion of your fat and stem cells is separated and recombined with a high-tech centrifuge, placed in syringes, and FedExed back to your doctor for your appointment. (Cost: $2,500.) (The rest remains banked for future use as new signs of aging arise.) Sound pricey? If you reinject your fat in five years, the cost of microlipo, storage, and reinjection is roughly what you'd pay for twice-yearly hyaluronic-acid fillers (like Restylane and Juvéderm) over the same period of time.

FUTURE PERFECT Melissa M., 32, from Scottsdale, sees banking her fat as a bonus after her recent Body-Jet liposuction. "It's fantastic because I don't want to put temporary synthetic fillers in my face as I age. I'd much rather use my own tissue." And with good reason: When injected into the skin layers, fat provides an instant — often permanent — fill, smoothing cheeks, undereye hollows, and nasolabial folds, while stem cells are believed to enhance blood flow and spur collagen growth. The result? Over many weeks, skin becomes thicker and more youthful in tone, texture, and vibrancy. "It's an exciting advance because when the body is dealing with its own tissue, there's less of an inflammatory response and more potential for results that last," says Malan. In other words, you've got much to gain and not much to lose but a few ounces.

Read more: Bank Your Fat to Look Younger – Store Fat Cells to Look Younger - Harper's BAZAAR

Candida Creates Two Distinct Biofilms

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Iowa City, Iowa — Researchers say they uncovered information about pathogenic biofilms that could lead to the development of new drugs to combat their potential threat to health, Medical News Today reports. 

Biofilms are complex communities of microbial pathogens that are resistant to the human immune system and antibiotics. It had been believed that each pathogen formed one kind of biofilm, but this study, led by University of Iowa biologist David Soll, Ph.D., found that the pernicious fungal pathogen Candida albicans makes two kinds of biofilms: a traditional pathogenic one and a second, sexual one. 

Dr. Soll and colleagues showed for the first time that about 90 percent of cells colonizing humans make a pathogenic biofilm that cannot be penetrated by antifungal agents, antibodies or white blood cells. But the remaining 10 percent of cells, which are sexually competent, form highly permeable and penetrable biofilms that act as a supportive environment for mating. This discovery shows that though the pathogenic and sexual biofilms appear macroscopically similar, they are regulated by entirely different signaling pathways. 

Medical News Today quotes Dr. Soll as saying, “Having two outwardly similar, but functionally different, biofilms provides us with one means of finding out what makes the pathogenic biofilm resistant to all challenges and the sexual biofilm nonresistant. Whatever that difference is will represent a major target for future drug discovery.”

By: Bill Gillette
Dermatology Times E-News

View full article at http://bit.ly/mQ8ZoE

Hair Drug, Male Breast Cancer Linked

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Ottawa, Ontario — Government regulatory agency Health Canada has issued a consumer alert that finasteride, a drug used to treat male pattern hair loss and enlarged prostate, can increase the risk of breast cancer, Toronto’s Globe and Mail reports. 

The drug is marketed by Merck as Propecia, a 1 mg formulation to treat baldness, and Proscar, a 5 mg formulation to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia. Generic products also are available. 

Previous studies have identified adverse reactions to the 5 mg format, including an increased risk of prostate cancer. 

According to Health Canada, a small number of breast cancer cases have been reported worldwide among patients who took the drug in either dose.

Aug 10, 2011
By: Bill Gillette
Dermatology Times E-News

View full article at: http://bit.ly/plaR1o

For Women with Breast Implants, Breast MRI Serves Important Role

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In 2010, more than 300,000 women had breast augmentation surgery to alter the size of their breasts with either silicone implants or saline breast implants. Of those surgeries, 93,000 were breast reconstruction procedures following a mastectomy. For women with breast implants, it is important to make dedicated breast MRI part of their overall plan of health and wellness.

“What women need to know is that following the breast implant surgery, whether it is for aesthetic or therapeutic reasons, mammograms will be difficult,” says Dr. Jui-Lien “Lillian” Chou, Breast Care Specialist and founder of Wellness Lubbock and Aurora Breast Center San Antonio. Dr. Chou also is a breast cancer survivor. “Not only can the pressure of the mammogram cause harm to the implant, the implant itself and the scars from the surgery will reduce the effectiveness of breast cancer screening by mammogram. In fact, the implant can make it much harder to detect cancer, delaying diagnosis.”

For women with breast implants, dedicated breast MRI offers the best option for breast cancer screening. Dedicated breast MRI provides the highest quality images of breast anatomy to diagnose and assist in treatment planning for breast cancer. Breast MRI has more than 95 percent sensitivity for breast cancer, and because the dedicated breast MRI is designed for breast anatomy, there is no squeezing or pressure on the breast to cause harm to breast implants.

“Silicon breast implants are radiation dense, meaning that the implant can obstruct the image of any possible lesions in a mammogram,” explains Dr. Chou. “Some women with implants will avoid a mammogram because the procedure itself can put the implant at risk of bursting. With dedicated breast MRI, there are none of those concerns. The Aurora dedicated breast MRI we have at our centers is specifically designed for breast anatomy so it is comfortable for the patient, and the MRI provides very clear diagnostic images.”

Any woman with implants who is at the recommended age for annual breast cancer screening should opt for dedicated breast MRI, particularly if she is at high risk for breast cancer. And for breast cancer survivors, regular cancer screenings using dedicated breast MRI is vitally important, says Dr. Chou. Mastectomy patients may assume it is unlikely cancer could occur in the breast that had been removed and reconstructed.

“Breast cancer survivors benefit from having annual screening breast MRI. Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of breast cancer survivors are offered MRI,” explains Dr. Chou. “Based on my experience, I’m adamant in recommending that survivors get a breast MRI every year, unless MRI is medically contra-indicated. Breast MRI can detect a possible cancer recurrence two, three, four, five years earlier. It can also differentiate between scars from surgery and cancerous lesions. This sensitivity can eliminate inconclusive findings or prevent unnecessary biopsies.

Women with breast implants should also keep in mind that the implants aren’t guaranteed to last a lifetime, and both saline and silicone implants can rupture. If a saline breast implant ruptures, the implant will deflate and the leaking saline solution will be absorbed by the body. The problem associated with ruptured silicone breast implants is the formation of scar tissue in the breast. If the rupture isn’t addressed, the scar tissue can lead to pain and changes in the contour or shape of the breast.

“If a silicone implant ruptures, the woman may not know right away. Most women have no signs or symptoms when a silicone implant ruptures, but may eventually experience breast pain or changes in the shape of her breast,” says Dr. Chou. “Ruptures can be confirmed by breast MRI. The FDA recommends monitoring silicone breast implants with MRI scans every two years, starting three years after the initial implant surgery.”

See complete article at http://tinyurl.com/442qw89

New Aging Treatment Doesn't Involve Fillers

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Baltimore Doctor Helped Develop La Viv

BALTIMORE -- A new treatment developed in part by a Baltimore doctor can make people look years younger without using injection fillers such as Restalyne or Juvederm.

 

La Viv uses the body's own cells to fill in the lines that come with aging.

 

Seven years ago, Janet David was in her 50s and wanted to look her best for her daughters' weddings.

 

"I'm very allergic, so I'm a bit leery of fillers and Botox and all these other treatments," she said.

 

To get rid of her smile lines, Hunt Valley dermatologist Dr. Robert Weiss suggested a clinical trial for what's now known as La Viv.

 

"The indication is that it actually works. We did clinical trials on acne scars, on fine lines around the eyes. It's kind of like a rejuvenation therapy," Weiss explained.The difference with La Viv is that it uses the patient's own cells to complete the transformation. Doctors take skin from behind the patient's ear and send it to a lab where it grows over weeks or months.

 

"What happens is they get revved-up, and then you inject them back into the skin. Here, you have these revved up cells that now remodel your own skin and create your own collagen," Weiss said. He said there's no recovery time and patients in clinical trials saw visible results, on average, in about two months.

 

The one drawback could be the cost. One round, which consists of three separate treatments, could cost more than $4,000, Weiss said. Also, it doesn't work as well for people who smoke or are over 65 because their collagen doesn't regenerate well.

 

But for David, it was well worth the investment."Everybody wants to look better," she said. "There are certainly all kinds of problems when you go under the knife. If this can make us look a little bit younger, I think it's great."

 

She said she's still pleased with the results seven years later.

View entire article with video at http://tinyurl.com/3z5ryn8

MIT Technology Review

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Biomaterial Could Let Doctors 'Sculpt' Delicate Facial Features

The new material, which can be injected, molded, and set in place by exposure to light, could benefit people disfigured by disease or injury.

A new biomaterial may help surgeons rebuild the delicate soft structures of the human face, like the cheeks, after a disease or injury has caused disfigurement. The material, which is half synthetic and half biological, can be injected under the skin as a liquid, massaged into shape, and then permanently "locked" by exposure to light.

Soft tissues are hard to replace, especially in the face. "We have metals and plastics for your bone," says Jennifer Elisseeff, a TR35 winner in 2002 and one of the researchers on a paper published in Science Translational Medicine that describes the work. But surgeons lack good replacements for things like cheeks and lips—and even slight deformities can lead to severe social and emotional problems for patients. Existing implants are often insufficient for reconstructing larger defects, such as those left behind by tumor excisions or extreme trauma.

Alexander Hillel and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University have created a new type of transplant material that addresses these problems. It's a blend of hyaluronic acid—a biological material already used as a soft-tissue implant—and polyethylene glycol, a synthetic material. The blend is a liquid polymer that can be injected—thus avoiding the need for surgery. Once injected, the material can be sculpted into the necessary shape. When exposed to light of specific wavelengths, the messy tangle of polymer chains in the liquid implant rearrange into a stable, crosshatched form, stiffening the implant.

The fact that the LED uses visible light to set the implant is important, says Farshid Guilak, a professor of orthopedic surgery and biomedical engineering at Duke University: "Visible light is much safer than UV light, which can have a number of adverse effects, primarily DNA damage and cell death."

Ali Khademhosseini, an associate professor at Harvard-MIT's Division of Health Sciences and Technology, says the new material shows great promise. "To my knowledge, this is the furthest that such an approach has been taken, as the paper has extensive animal studies as well as pilot human studies," he says. 

To set the implants, the researchers devised a green-light LED array that can penetrate up to four millimeters of skin. It only takes two minutes of exposure before the implant fully sets, and there were no painful side effects.

By Kenrick Vezina on July 27, 2011

See entire article at http://tinyurl.com/4xg9969