The next day she woke up and the pimples had sort of grown together, and her daughter had a pimple, too. She bought some acne cream and used it for a few days, when she and her daughter realized that this was no ordinary pimple they were dealing with – but rather something they should pursue with their physician.  They called their family doctor and scheduled an appointment. During their visit, their doctor left the room to put on gloves and a mask, and upon re-entering, had them tested, immediately.  It turns out that they had contracted MRSA, which stands for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus – a very deadly form of staph infection that can travel very quickly through large communities, and can be fatal if it reaches major organs, like the heart.

MRSA: Highly infectious, Contagious and Dangerous

Debbie is a school teacher. She most likely picked up the bacterium that causes MRSA from one of her students or even another teacher. She was not allowed to return to the school at all for several weeks. The doctor immediately notified the State and County Boards of Health and school was dismissed, because it turned out that Debbie was not the only one who had mysterious pimples. What she contracted was actually part of an outbreak.

This happens with sports teams and athletes, when team-mates share showers, towels and other items. It can also be common in the tattoo industry, when needles are not properly sanitized. MRSA is a dangerous infection, and persistent skin infections should ALWAYS be screened by a physician or dermatologist to catch it in its earliest stages, to treat and avoid spreading to family members and others in the community.

Tune in next week… where we will discuss more about how MRSA is contracted. In the meantime, if you have a pimple that is suspicious, please have it checked by a professional.  It may not be as harmless as it looks.

But free Botox, liposuction, and laser hair removal?

Since 2003, teachers in Buffalo, N.Y. have received those and various other elective cosmetic procedures paid for at tax payer expense. The benefit has evolved since the 1970s, which was included in the city’s teacher contract to cover reconstructive surgery. For nearly a decade, however, teachers have used the rider in the contract to pay for cosmetic surgery.

In 2004, the school districts paid approximately $1 million, according to The Atlantic, which broke the story in its most recent edition. Since 2009, that amount jumped to $9 million. Since 2003, the annual tax-payer cost averaged $5.4 million, The Atlantic reported.

The most popular procedures, all of which were elective, were skin treatments such has Botox, according to a report by The Buffalo News.

Apparently summers off aren’t the only benefits for Buffalo teachers.

The benefit was nearly cut from the teacher contract in 1996, but was saved after the daughter of a district employee needed major reconstructive skin surgery following a near-fatal car accident, according to The Business Insider. Cosmetic surgery was necessary to repair scarring on her face and body.

It wasn’t until 2003 that cosmetic surgeons began promoting the benefit to district employees. According to The Atlantic, nearly 500 employees in 2009 used the benefit for elective procedures. Physicians used the teacher union newsletters to advertise the benefit.

Buffalo teachers have been working without a contract since 2004, but because of New York state law, public employees can continue to work under the terms of the most recent contract. District contract negotiations with the state have been stalled for years, thus allowing the benefit to persist.

Besides the cosmetic surgery benefit, teachers receive a 2.5 percent raise annually, The Atlantic reported.
Strangely, the Buffalo School District laid off 117 staff members due to budget cut backs. According to The Buffalo News, the $5.4 million average spent on elective cosmetic surgery would have saved at least 100 jobs. The district encompasses 65 facilities and approximately 37,000 students, according to the Buffalo School District Website.

Although the public and members of the state’s Board of Education have called the benefit inappropriate, the teachers’ union and the district have tabled the topic until they agree on a new contract.

“The urgency of negotiating a new contract isn’t really there,” Amber Dixon, interim-superintendent for Buffalo’s schools, told The Atlantic. “You get to keep your benefits. You get to keep your cosmetic rider. You get to keep your 2.5 percent step increase. It makes getting back to the table difficult.”

But while most insurers will cover bariatric surgeries such as gastric bypass and even gastric banding, few ¬– if any – cover the necessary cosmetic surgeries that follow procedures. For patients with limited incomes, this leaves them with few options. They are left in a healthier situation, but aesthetically, with a new problem.

Bariatric surgery is usually considered a “final step” by insurance companies. All of the 43 companies surveyed for this story cover various bariatric surgeries, but only after previously documented weight-loss attempts. Following bariatric surgery, most patients are left with large amounts of abdominal, neck, and arm skin. While the body quickly cannibalizes the stored sugars in the fatty layer, the outlining skin remains the same, which is why many patients seek to have body lift procedures.

To remove this skin around the abdomen, the most common area of need, patients must have one of two procedures: a panniculectomy or an abdominoplasty. Neither is covered by most insurance companies unless a medical need is determined. Those include impediment to walking and persistent rashes caused by the rubbing of overlapping skin.

A panniculectomy is the simplest of the two procedures. A surgeon essentially removes excess skin and sutures it back together. An abdominoplasty, commonly known as a tummy tuck, includes skin removal as well as tightening of abdominal muscles. Regardless of the surgery, nearly all health insurance companies consider them to be cosmetic and do not cover them.

The average cost of a tummy tuck, according to the most recent results from the
American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the average cost of a tummy tuck is $5,300. Although the ASAPS did not have average costs for a panniculectomy, an Internet search provided a range of $5,000 to $10,000, depending on the amount of skin to be removed.

Patients looking to increase their health through surgery should expect their health insurers to ask for plenty of documentation before a procedure. But convincing them to cover cosmetic procedures following a bariatric surgery will more than likely prove fruitless. Patients can expect to be lighter in the end, but to be healthier AND look good, they should expect their bank accounts to be lighter as well.

Is that a cat or a woman? It's the real Cat Woman!

Jocelyn Wildenstein, Jackie Stallone, Pete Burns, Heidi Montag, etc… are ‘poster children’ for their lack of ability to judge when ‘enough is enough’ – how do those in the industry handle this, amongst themselves, without additional regulation?

I think we all agree that additional regulation, from a legal standpoint, is not the best way to handle this. Especially while considering the ‘overkill stance’ that Europe is threatening to adopt, in the wake of the PIP (Poly Implant Prosthese) Implant situation. The government is not the answer to everything – medical judgment cannot, and should not, be regulated. We all understand that this needs to be addressed, so how will we meet the challenge, as a community – without handing over our right to make judgment calls, is a game plan that we need to be working on…before regulatory agencies step in, and make the decision for us.

The 6 percent tax was implemented in 2004 and brings in approximately $10 million annually. The tax is slated to end in July 2013, gradually decreasing each year. Starting next quarter, plastic surgeons will be taxed 4 percent, then 2 percent the next fiscal year.

“Since the gross receipts tax was imposed 1 in 2004, the tax has increased overall costs for recipients of cosmetic medical procedures, and imposed an administrative burden on the medical offices billing the procedures and the State agencies charged with the administration and enforcement of the tax,” the bill states.

The decision was unexpected because Christie was responsible for cutting $7.5 million earmarked for women’s family planning centers. Many expected him to uphold the cosmetic surgery tax. When created, the tax was expected to bring in $23 million annually. Those projects proved to be far-fetched, as the taxation only brought in $6.8 million.

Other states have shown interest in creating a similar tax, including Arkansas, Illinois, New York and Tennessee. On the national level, Nevada Senator Harry Reid proposed a tax on elective surgeries at a 5.5 percent clip. The proposal, nicknamed “BoTax,” met great opposition from the American Medical Association, cosmetic surgery lobbyists, and many of Reid’s fellow Democrats.

Eventually, the tax was limited to indoor tanning services and signed into law in the 2009 healthcare bill. The tanning bed tax is expected to bring in approximately $2.7 billion in the next decade.

All products can be identified by the name Perfect Image Solutions on the package. Depending on the product, the topical lotions are packaged in glass-dropper containers or bottles.

The following products, which are still available from some online stores, have been recalled:

• Men’s Minoxidil 15% Azelaic 5% Hair regrowth topical, 60mL. (UPC # 736211275813)
• Men’s Minoxidil 10% Azelaic 5% Hair regrowth topical, 60mL. (UPC # 736211276018)
• Men’s Minoxidil 5% Azelaic 5% Hair regrowth topical, 60mL. (UPC #736211276117)
• Women’s Minoxidil 3% Azelaic 5% Hair regrowth topical, 60mL. (UPC #736211274519)
• Hair regrowth shampoo enhanced with Ketoconazole and salicylic acid, 180mL. (UPC #736211276414)

According to the FDA, products with 15 percent and 10 percent Minoxidil have not been proven safe and could pose a risk of “systemic absorption,” which could be further exasperated by those with psoriasis or sunburns. These products could also cause low blood pressure, heart palpitations and other heart-related issues.

Products with Azelaic acid could make users more susceptible to sunburn.

Products with Ketoconazole could lead users to have hair discoloration, abnormal hair texture, itching, rash, and other skin irritations. Products with salicylic acid can also lead to mild burning, itching and dry skin.

A message on the Perfect Image Solutions website stated the company is “no longer open for business” and that it has discontinued its product line.

According to the FDA, the company has not received reports of serious injuries due to use of the products. The line of lotions and shampoos were distributed worldwide via Internet sellers and direct sales to distributors, all of whom have been notified of the recall by Perfect Image Solutions. Customers with the products are advised to discard them immediately.

Customers can contact the company Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, by calling (916) 791-3230. The company is also accepting emails at dave@perfectimagesolutions.com.

Beck-Smith Celebrity Wedding Photo

Now, before we discuss the bride’s makeover – let’s just discuss the fact that men also want to look their best for their prospective wife, and attendees.  He is just as ‘on display’ as she is … well almo. We have personal knowledge of men who have undergone dental work, dermabrasion, rhinoplasty and other procedures in preparation for their wedding.

For the bride, of course, a spa treatment and professional hair and makeup are the minimum that people consider essential, but, we are talking about going the extra distance and having pre-wedding plastic surgery.

Many brides are reported to have dermal fillers, designer liposuction, breast implants, in addition to other cosmetic procedures. If it is a second wedding, and depending on age and former marital status, many women many have a tummy tuck or mommy makeover taking their vows another time.

If you are thinking of doing this, there are certain procedures that you will want to do well in advance of (4-6 months before the wedding), and others that can be done up to two weeks before. The work that one has done is personal, and varied. A bride can choose to have Botox and dermal fillers, peels and dermabrasion, spider vein removal, liposuction…all of the way up to chin implants, an eye lift, nose job and breast augmentation. Each bride knows how she wants to look on ‘her day’ – and the options that she wishes to consider. If you (or someone you know) are considering a bridal makeover, it is best to start your research early – and map out a plan with a board-certified plastic surgeon well in advance, so that you will be set for your amazing wedding day.

New Jersey, the only state with such a tax, brings in more than $10 million each year, according to a report by the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services. Elective cosmetic procedures like liposuction, breast enhancement and Botox treatments, are currently taxed at a 6 percent clip.

Repeal supporters claim the tax has elevated costs for physicians who must collect and account for the taxes, while state money is spent on enforcing it. The legislative bill was sent to Christie late Monday evening.

Christie, however, is expected to veto the bill, experts said, based on his previous history. Last year, he vetoed a much smaller item, cutting $7.6 million out of the state budget earmarked for women’s clinics. Christie said the reduction was in response to the state’s economic woes.

Considering the current economy, few expect Christie to reverse course on elective surgical taxation. If he decides to sign the bill into law, the New Jersey tax will decrease to 4 percent in the next quarter, then to 2 percent in the next fiscal year. After July 1, 2013, the entire tax would no longer exist.

Other states lawmakers have shown interest in a similar tax plan, including those from Arkansas, Illinois, New York, Tennessee, and Washington. The original projections for the tax were approximately $23 million a year. In its first year, the tax brought in approximately $6.8 million, although those funds were not officially collected by the state until well into the second year.

According to New Jersey Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D), who helped bring the tax into existence, the bill served as a “creative” way to find additional revenue streams. He and other supporters thought they were targeting the wealthy citizens of the state.

It turned out, as Cryan has lamented numerous times, the demographic most affected are middle-class working women. Additional bureaucratic red tape and patients fleeing to physicians in other states further doomed the original potential of the tax.

“Creatively taxing the public to raise revenue for other health care expenses does not work,” said Cryan.

Alina Lohan, the 17-year-old model and sister of actress Lindsay Lohan, has become the subject of rumors that she has had plastic surgery after she was spotted at New York Fashion Week in September. She disputes this adamantly in Page Six Magazine’s next issue, according to iVillage.com.

“It’s stupid,” she told Page Six. “I was cracking up. Because, like, when would I do that? I’m 17 years old.”

The issue has become a family affair as well. Dina Lohan, Ali’s mother, told talk show host Wendy Williams that her daughter had “absolutely not” had plastic surgery. Older sister Lindsay also defended her sister on Twitter, writing “I love how haters pick on my sister yet every runway model is just as thin! My sister is gorgeous and I’m so proud of her and her career!!!!”
Ali Lohan recently signed on as a model for Next Model Management. She told Page Six that her recent weight loss was due to a growth spurt. She has also been rumored to have had work done on her face, which she denied.
“That’s not legal! I would need my mother’s signature, and do you think my mom would ever sign off on that? No,” she told Page Six.

Cosmetic physicians – and their patients — have a new, relatively inexpensive skin treatment in their arsenals as Led Technologies announced their latest product, the dpl Nüve. The handheld product is the second of the company’s deep penetrating light (DPL) devices and has received FDA approval. It is designed to treat pain, wrinkles and acne.

The device uses photons to penetrate into damaged tissue, increasing circulation to combat issues such as muscle spasms, minor muscle and joint aches and pains, and arthritis-related pain and stiffness. The device is non-invasive and has no side effects, according to the company.

In the company-led clinical studies, 13 subjects were given treatments during a 10-week period. All subjects reported visible improvements to skin, reducing fine lines and wrinkles while improving skin tone. Of those studied, 66 percent rated the procedure between a three and five on a scale of five when reducing periorbital wrinkles (crow’s feet).

According to the company Web site, the dpl Nüve will reduce the need for skin creams, spa treatments, pain remedies and possibly Botox. The device, which plugs into a wall outlet, uses 56 880 nanometer infrared and four 660 red light emitting diodes (LEDs). The device retails for $180, although the company is offering it for $160 for a limited time.

“The majority of the population has never been even introduced to light therapy, and we are expecting that to dramatically change in 2011,” said Brent Safer, Led Technologies LLC director of operations, following the FDA approval of the dpl Nüve in September 2010.