Browlift

Over time, the elastic collagen of the skin degrades causing wrinkles and excess skin laxity. Along with this change in the quality of the skin, gravity pulls the forehead and facial skin downward resulting in an aging face with low set eyebrows. Some men and women have naturally low set eyebrows, which they inherited from their parents. The "correct" position of the eyebrows varies between men and women. In women, the eyebrow should be the shape of an asymmetric arc, with its peak 1 cm (3/8 inch) above the superior bony ridge of the eye socket. The male eyebrow should be a similar arc with its maximal peak at the bony ridge of the eye socket. It is important to maintain these differences in when performing a brow lift and to not feminize male patients. Descended eyebrows on an aging face gives the appearance of a tired face because they crowd the upper. A brow lift can return the eyebrows to their correct position and thereby refreshing the face to seem well rested. To compensate for the pressure and crowding effects of a descended brow, the upper eyelids signal the brain to raise the eyebrow by contracting the frontalis muscle at the forehead. For this reason, almost all patients with low set eyebrows have lines across their forehead corresponding to the constant effort by the frontalis muscle to correct the position of the brows. In such cases, the face becomes fatigued as it constantly attempts to lift the eyebrows, and causes mild headaches in patients. A brow lift returns the eyebrows to their correct position, opening up the eyes and face and alleviates the constant need to contract the frontalis muscle. Many surgeons perform most brow lifts endoscopically through small hidden incisions near the hairline of the scalp. Doctors can also perform an entire facelift through these same incisions. Old style brow lifts are associated with long scars at the hairline or across the top of the head from one ear to the other, often resulting in hair loss and numbness of the scalp. The endoscopic technique preserves the nerves and blood vessels at the scalp, preventing numbness and hair loss. Another advantage of this new technique includes faster recovery. Doctors perform brow lifts by hiding small incisions at the hair-bearing scalp and then introduce the endoscope under the skin. Using special endoscopic instruments, doctors perform the procedure in layers. They then release the deepest portion of the scalp and cut into the next most superficial layer of the forehead scalp to provide greater upward mobility to the eyebrows. At this stage the doctor can weaken the frowning muscles between the eyebrows so that a patient no longer require Botox injections to prevent frown lines. Doctors then release the next layer of the forehead so that it is elevated to its aesthetically correct position. Next, the doctor corrects and sculpts the eyebrow position, taking into account the preference of the patient, his/her particular needs and sex. At the end of the procedure, doctors close incisions with plastic surgery techniques to minimize scarring and then bandage the wounds accordingly.

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Personalized Medicine

Personalized medicine is a medical model emphasizing the systematic use of information about an individual patient to select or optimize that patient's preventative and therapeutic care. Personalized medicine is the products and services that leverage the science of genomics and proteomics and capitalize on the trends toward wellness and consumerism to enable tailored approaches to prevention and care. Over the past century, medical care has centered on standards of care based on epidemiological studies of large cohorts. Personalized medicine seeks to provide an objective basis for consideration of such individual differences. Traditionally, personalized medicine has been limited to the consideration of a patient's family history, social circumstances, environment, and behaviors in tailoring individual care. Personalized medicine uses new methods of molecular analysis to manage a patient’s disease or predisposition toward a disease. It aims to achieve optimal medical outcomes by helping physicians and patients choose the disease management approaches likely to work best in the context of a patient’s genetic and environmental profile. Such approaches may include genetic screening programs that more precisely diagnose diseases and their sub-types, or help physicians select the type and dose of medication best suited to a certain group of patients. Personalized medicine is an extension of traditional approaches to understanding and treating illness. Since the beginning of the study of medicine, physicians have employed evidence found through observation to make a diagnosis or to prescribe treatment. In the modern concept of personalized medicine, the tools provided to the physician are more precise, probing not just the obvious, such as a tumor on a mammogram or cells under a microscope, but the very molecular makeup of each patient. Looking at the patient on this level helps the physician get a profile of the patient’s genetic distinction, or mapping. By investigating this genetic mapping, medical professionals are then able to profile patients, and use the found information to plan a course of treatment that is much more in step with the way their body works. Genomic medicine and personalized medicine use genetic information to prevent or treat disease in adults or their children. Having a genetic map or a profile of a patient’s genetic variation can then guide the selection of drugs or treatment processes. This can minimize side effects or to create a strategy for a more successful outcome from the medical treatment. Helping the physician cover all the bases is imperative. Genetic mapping can also indicate the propensity to contract certain diseases before the patient actually shows recognizable symptoms, allowing the physician and patient to put together a plan for observation and prevention. Personalized medicine, when coupled with personal pharmacogenetics, is a unique approach that may be well suited for the health challenges we face in the new millennium. Although the medical and scientific communities, through research and discovery, got the upper hand over many of the diseases we have encountered since the advent of advanced medicine, many diseases that are more complicated. Diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s are caused by a combination of genetic and other factors. Coupled with the fact that they tend to be chronic, they place a significant burden on not only the patient, but on the healthcare system as a whole. Personalized medicine aims to provide the tools and knowledge to fight chronic diseases and treat them more effectively than ever before. Genetic profiles can help physicians to better discern subgroups of patients with various forms of cancer, in addition to other complex diseases, helping to guide doctors with accurate forms of predictive medicine and preventative medicine. With personalized medicine, the physician is intending to select the best treatment protocol or even, in many cases, avoid passing the expense and risks of unnecessary medical treatments on to the patient altogether. In addition, personalized medicine, when used correctly, aims to guide tests that detect variation in the way individual patients metabolize various pharmaceuticals. Personalized medicine is working to help determine the right dose for a patient, helping to avoid hazards based on familial history, environmental influences, and genetic variation.