Entries Tagged as 'Botox'

The Physicians Coalition - Botox And Restylane Not A Destination Or Spa Treatment

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Botox And Restylane Not A Destination Or Spa Treatment

The Physicians Coalition for Injectable Safety warns patients worldwide of the dangers of accepting Botox, Restylane or any other cosmetic injection or procedure from unfamiliar physicians during vacation, cruise or spa encounters.

“Cosmetic injections are highly satisfying, popular procedures when consumers elect to accept these treatments from a qualified, board-certified physician with whom the patient has a trusted and consistent relationship,” says Coalition leader Mark Jewell, MD, of Eugene, OR. “Patient confidence in the physician is a critical factor for any medical treatment, whether cosmetic or medically necessary. Confidence is largely based on trust, relationship and previous experiences with a physician or his or her practice. A one-time encounter in a vacation setting deprives the patient not only of a relationship but also the opportunity to follow-up when complications or questions present potentially weeks or months after initial treatment.”

“You must know your doctor. Whether on vacation or at home, patients must inquire specifically about a physician’s board certification and license status, and his or her experience specifically with the treatment recommended for you,” says Coalition leader Joao Carlos Sampaio Goes, MD of Sao Paolo, Brazil. “Board-certification, licensing and standards for safety in medical offices and reporting adverse events are unique to every destination. It is vital to know the country whose jurisdiction the procedure is performed under, and what standards are required and are practiced.”

“Whether on land or at sea you must inquire about the approval status of the injected agent, as well as your doctor’s qualifications,” says Coalition leader Ira D. Papel, MD of Baltimore, MD. “Each country has its own regulatory agency that approves pharmacological agents and devices. Ask specifically the approval status in the governing jurisdiction and in your own home country, and accept only genuine, branded and approved injectables.” Consumers must be cautioned that in international waters there may be no governing regulation, and therefore no agency where adverse, potentially permanent events are to be reported.

The Coalition offers consumers these very simple questions to ask before considering any cosmetic injectable procedure:

– Doctor: Is the injectable recommended by a qualified doctor who regularly treats similar conditions, in an appropriately licensed and equipped medical facility? Has the doctor examined the prospective patient before recommending treatment?

– Brand: Is the injectable recommended approved by the U.S. FDA, in the U.S. and by equivalent agencies in the country of origin for cosmetic indications and is it appropriately labeled and packaged to reflect its authenticity and approval?

– Safety: Is the setting a proper medically-equipped office, with safety and sterilization procedures? Has the physician evaluated conditions, recommended treatment, offered alternatives and clearly defined the potential outcomes including any complications?

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Medical Spas - Day Spa Procedures - Safety First

 

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Stay spa safe from Day Spa Dangers

“You know you don’t want things done to your face that you don’t know anything about, so I tried to do my homework.”

Linda Hampton made that decision before undergoing laser hair removal. She knew there were risks involved and wanted to be safe.

“I was a little apprehensive because I was afraid to tell you the truth but after I had it the first time I had no problem.”

 

Dr. Jim McNatt with Georgia’s Medical Board says among things like Botox injections, and chemical peels, laser hair removal is the number one cosmetic procedure being offered at day spas and salons, but there’s concern.

 

“The use of lasers in day spas has been a problem and seems to be growing. There are a number of practitioners out there who are not authorized to use lasers in Georgia who are in fact using lasers to perform cosmetic procedures on patients.”

 

He says regulating the unlicensed practice of medicine isn’t easy.

 

“That’s difficult because we’re a small agency with a small budget. We have seven investigators for the entire state.”

 

With so few investigators, there’s a risk of people getting injured in unlicensed facilities. McNatt says, those injuries many times are not reported by patients.

 

“The complaints are not always from the patients having problems, it could be from a doctor in the town that knows this is going on and believes it is wrong,” said McNatt.

 

Dr. Anika Bradley is a plastic surgeon who runs a medical day spa in Georgia.

 

“Many of the procedures aren’t necessarily difficult to perform but they do have potential complications. Non-surgical does not mean not brought without complications,” said Bradley.

 

She says protecting yourself means knowing the difference between a day spa and a medical day spa.

 

Medical spas always have a physician involved and thus they get that distinction. Day spas are places that tend to offer less aggressive treatment and many of them do not have physicians who are on staff. They are in things such as salons and free standing buildings that may have people trained in cosmetology.”

 

Dr. Kevin Baggett and Dr. Becky Campbell agree. They run a medical day spa of their own in Warner Robins.

 

“Some spas will have a medical professional that might be associated with it but they might not be on site. They might be in another city, said Baggett.”

 

According to the Georgia Medical Board, if it learns of an unlicensed person or business practicing medical procedures like laser hair removal or botox injections, they send out a cease and desist letter.

 

McNatt says they have limited authority in enforcing the law. There are no fines and for the most part he says, investigators don’t follow up.

 

“That was part of the reason that the board has been attempting for a number of years to pass rules and regulations that would make what was allowed and what was not allowed more clearer,” said McNatt.

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Safe Spas - What you need to know about spa sanitation

Aquamedica - Long Branch New Jersey Best Day Spa - Pre Mother’s Day Extravaganza

SAVE THE DATE
THURSDAY MAY 8TH

 

Aquamedica
  16 Laird St
  Long Branch, NJ 07740

 

 

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Aquamedica Salon and Day Spa invites all New Jersey Moms to a day of relaxation at our

 

Annual “Moms’ Extravaganza”

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On this special day Moms will receive their choice of very special offers including 30% off spa and salon services, Botox® treatment for $9 per unit and cosmetic facial filler for $425 per syringeLearn about the latest salon and spa trends. Live demonstrations!

Event Agenda

 

10am-4pm:

Enjoy spa and salon services - 30% off
(Must be prepaid and booked in advance)

4pm-5pm:

Attend an Anti-Aging Seminar by Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, Rudolf C. Thompson MD, FACS and see live Botox® & facial filler demonstrations

5pm-6pm:

Receive specially priced cosmetic medical treatments including Botox and facial fillers
  (Space is limited so please reserve your appointment in advance)

Enjoy live demonstrations of the latest spa and salon trends, wine, cheese, meditation in our “Dream Room” and complimentary body fat analysis


 
 

6pm-7pm:

Internationally-trained skincare specialist and head Aesthetician, Valentina Chistova, will demonstrate a micro-dermabrasion treatment and share information about the incredible benefits of this popular procedure

7pm-8pm:

Raffles! Receive a special gift… just for you. You could win a free spa treatment!
(Winners must be present)

RSVP by May 1st 732-222-8611 Spa / 732-571-3330 Medispa

  Looking for the perfect gift? Receive 10% off Gift Cards through
  5/31/08

good for all Spa and Salon Services

Botox and the Brain… New Study

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Botox can reach the brain, researchers say.

Botox injection Botox injected into face muscles can travel into the brain, according to a study of laboratory rats and mice published today in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Once it reaches the central nervous system, the diluted form of the botulinum toxin can disrupt nerve cell activity, said researcher Matteo Caleo of Italy’s National Research Council, who led the project.

The study is the latest of several raising questions about the safety of the wrinkle-fighter Botox, which is made by Irvine-based Allergan.

In February, the Food and Drug Administration launched a review of Botox, citing 16 cases of deaths of patients who had received injections of the toxin.

All but one of the deaths were related to strong therapeutic doses of botulinum toxin. Even the one death that followed six weeks after an injection of weaker cosmetic-strength Botox was not caused by that treatment, Allergan said.

Allergan notes that Botox has been used safely by millions of patients over the past two decades.

Local cosmetic physicians say they have seen no problems worse than an occasional headache among Botox users, and no evidence that patients are wary of the injections. Several said that the fact that the injected toxin travels within the body has long been known, and is a reason why skilled physicians calculate safe dosages and use appropriate injection methods.

The Journal of Neuroscience gave the article the label, “Could botulinum toxin be bad for you?”

In a press release on March 26, the Society for Neuroscience, which publishes the journal, said,

Botulinum neurotoxin disrupts cell communication by destroying a protein essential to signaling between nerve cells. Matteo Caleo, PhD, of Italy’s National Research Council, and colleagues confirmed the movement of botulinum neurotoxin A by detecting the remnants of proteins it had fragmented. This evidence helped show that nerve cells at the injection site absorbed some of the botulinum neurotoxin, which was then transported across the cell and released to connected cells, where the proteins also were destroyed. The direction it traveled was opposite to that of the nerve cell’s electrical signals. These findings contradict previous research, which suggested that botulinum neurotoxin was completely degraded at the injection site and not transported beyond it.

Caleo’s team traced the movement of botulinum neurotoxins in mice and rats. The team made injections into the whisker muscles, the hippocampus, and the superior colliculus, a brain region that receives input from the eye. Using protein analysis and microscopic examination of the rodents’ brain tissue, the researchers found that, within three days, active forms of botulinum neurotoxin had migrated from the whisker muscles to the brain stem, from one hippocampus to the hippocampus on the opposite side of the brain, and from the superior colliculus back to the eye.

Brain cell activity was disrupted both where botulinum neurotoxin was injected and in some of these distant but connected sites. Caleo and his colleagues noted in particular that the effects of the botulinum neurotoxin injection on the hippocampus were still present six months later.

In March, researchers in Canada found that injected Botox migrates to nearby muscles.(This post was updated at 5:45 p.m. to add links and expand the discussion of past studies and the new Italian research.)

 

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Botox clients bailing on tabs - Spas Pay First then relax and enjoy

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The woman, who looked to be in her 30s, wanted the same thing most of the Phoenix medical spa’s customers wanted: no more wrinkles.

There was Botox, Juvéderm, Restylane. The wrinkles were smoothed. She even sprang for an eyebrow tattoo.

The bill was $2,644, common for such procedures.

But when the spa manager questioned her credit card, the woman screamed at him.

She said she was going to call police. Instead, the manager did. The woman ran outside and vanished.

Call her a “Botox Bandit,” part of a small but remarkable crime wave.

These bandits order thousands of dollars of face-firming injections, then bolt without paying their sizable bills.

Across the country, spas report similar stories.

In the Valley: The $2,644 theft was in January, at Radiance MedSpa on Camelback Road in Phoenix. Another Radiance location had already been hit - by the Valley’s top Botox Bandit.

Sandra Foster, 43, hit five medical spas and a doctor’s office from 2003 to 2006, according to a court record. In a 2006 plea deal, she was placed on two years’ probation, sentenced to three days in a Maricopa County jail and ordered to pay $7,335 in restitution, the cost of the stolen services.

In each case, she used a fake name. After the treatments, she left her purse and jacket inside the spa, saying she was going outside to get her wallet. When she didn’t return, spa employees found her purse stuffed with paper.

After the media published her spa photographs, Foster was arrested on March 31, 2006, two weeks after receiving $1,400 worth of Botox and Restylane treatments at CosMediSpa at Scottsdale Fashion Square.

In Tampa: Photos taken at a medical spa also led to the arrest earlier this year of a 30-year-old woman. She reportedly left a medical spa after receiving $850 in Botox treatments. She told spa staff she was going out to her car and left without paying, according to news reports.

In Houston: An unidentified woman walked out of a medical spa without paying $2,600 for Botox injections and skin products on Feb. 20, according to news reports. The woman said she was going outside to get her American Express card. She never returned. Her spa photos were turned over to police. Argentina Vasquez, a receptionist at the Institute of Anti-Aging Medicine and Skin Spa in Houston, said Monday that the woman hadn’t been arrested.

Wrinkles in investigations

It is difficult to say how many medical spas have been hit by Botox Bandits. Some may not be reported by spa owners.

Detective Stacie Derge, a Phoenix police spokeswoman, said such thefts are categorized as thefts by fraud.

Medical spas may open themselves to theft because they don’t ask for payment up-front. The cost isn’t settled until clients choose from a menu of services including hair removal, face peels or newly plumped lips.

“Clients come in for a consultation,” said David Hiers, manager of the Radiance MedSpa on Camelback Road.

“We talk about what they want and then start the procedures.”

Dr. Richard Johnson, owner and medical director of the Camelback Road Radiance spa, said clients used to go to doctors offices for lip-plumping, face peels and other treatments that don’t require surgery.

But as more and more people began yearning for a younger look, treatments were moved out of doctors offices into spalike settings, Johnson said.

Bonni Bostian, 43, of Scottsdale, said she began going to a doctor’s office for face peels about eight years ago. On her 40th birthday, she treated herself to Botox injections at the Radiance spa.

‘The ambience’

“It seemed as if I was getting a lot more for my money,” she said, adding that she likes “the ambience.”

“You can get a massage, book a peel, Botox and reflexology all at the same time,” Bostian said.

Meanwhile, Foster, who stole services from six anti-aging operations, admits she was seduced by the youth craze, court records say.

The self-employed jeweler at first paid for her injections. But when her money ran out, she ran out on the bill.

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Scottsdale AZ Day Spas / Phoenix AZ Day Spas / Arizona Spas