doctors Archives - MyMedicPlus

General, ENT and Eye Surgeries Can Now be Performed by Ayurveda Doctors

mymedicplus — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 05:53:08 +0000

Source – https://www.guwahatiplus.com/

Ayurveda doctors can now perform general surgery like their allopathic counterparts.

In a recent notification issued by the government of India, Ayurvedic doctors will now be trained to perform surgery alongside ENT, ophthalmology, ortho, and dental procedures.

The notification amended the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016.

As such, now post-graduate Ayurveda students will be taught Shalya tantra (general surgery) and Shalakya tantra that is the surgeries of the ear, nose, throat, head and eye practically.

They will now be taught procedures including amputation of gangrene, skin grafting, laparotomy (opening of the abdomen) and other gastro-intestinal surgeries, and advanced ophthalmic surgeries such as iris prolapse surgery, squint surgery, cataract surgeries.

However, the president of the Central Council of Indian Medicine said that such surgeries have been going on in Ayurveda for over 25 years and the notification is merely to clarify that it is legal.

The post General, ENT and Eye Surgeries Can Now be Performed by Ayurveda Doctors appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

UAE doctors see rise in hearing issues due to headphone use in Covid-19 era

mymedicplus — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 09:10:15 +0000

Source – https://www.khaleejtimes.com/

Medics urged parents to keep kids’ headphone volumes in check during online classes.

Doctors in the UAE have recently observed a rise in the number of students complaining about hearing problems, and they believe this could be attributed it to long hours of headphone use in the time of Covid-19.

The medics have urged parents to keep their kids’ hearing protected as they sit for online classes for hours, with their head sets on. Video chats with friends and relatives, as well as games and entertainment, are other factors that increase children’s reliance on earphones.

An ENT specialist in Dubai warned that listening to headphone audio that is too loud and for too long may result in permanent hearing damage.

“Although there is no obvious statistic report commenting on this, we see that approximately five to 10 per cent of kids are experiencing difficulties due to excessive usage of headphones or ear buds,” said Dr Prashant Sharma, an ENT specialist at Prime Hospital, Dubai.

“Prolonged use of headphones definitely has a detrimental effect on the ears across all ages, especially with kids. They may not be aware that phones also emit electromagnetic radiations with prolonged usage on high volumes and can damage hair cells and lead to sensorineural deafness.”

Dr Sharma added that headset use may also lead to “ear wax and debris entrapment and, because of this, the normal migratory pattern of ear canal skin gets hampered further adding to hearing deficit”.

Dr Shyam Anil Pai, an ENT surgeon specialist at Aster Clinic, Al Nahda, Dubai, said this meant earphone usage could also lead to an increase in ear infections.

“Use of ear phones increases one’s chances of getting ear infections (mainly fungal) as they are placed directly into the ear canals. They block the passage of air and with sweat formation, increases the chances of ear infections and hence affect hearing,” Dr Pai explained.

“If earphones are used at high volumes for prolonged periods and over several days, it can cause tinnitus (ringing sound in ear). There is also the possibility of noise-induced deafness, where the affected person would not be able to hear properly at certain frequencies.”

The post UAE doctors see rise in hearing issues due to headphone use in Covid-19 era appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Doctors preserve fertility while treating ovarian cancer; does coronavirus affect fertility?

mymedicplus — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:59:49 +0000

Source – https://www.local10.com/

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – While ovarian cancer is rare in women of childbearing age, when it happens, it can create fears about a woman’s future fertility.

In an effort to preserve the ability to conceive, more doctors are performing fertility sparing procedures in cases of borderline ovarian tumors, one-third of which affect women under the age of 40.

“In instances where these are diagnosed, there’s a possibility to remove only one ovary while leaving in the other ovary and fallopian tube, as well as the uterus to maintain fertility in these patients,” said Dr. Jonathan Black, with The Center of Gynecologic Oncology in Pembroke Pines.

Black said studies have shown a 99% chance of survival, even with a cancer recurrence in the remaining ovary for women who undergo fertility sparing surgery.

Also in today’s health news, a University of Miami study found that the coronavirus may affect male fertility.

Researchers found the virus present in both living men previously infected with COVID-19, as well as six men who died from the virus.

“What was most surprising about our study was that we found the virus in the testes of a man who was previously infected and now recovered and was asymptomatic,” said Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, the study lead author with the UHealth-Miller School of Medicine.

Investigators said it makes sense that the testes are a target for infection because the virus is drawn to receptors in many of the body’s organs, including the lungs, heart, intestines, kidneys and testicles.

Questions still remain about whether the virus can be sexually transmitted and the exact impact on fertility.

The post Doctors preserve fertility while treating ovarian cancer; does coronavirus affect fertility? appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Vitamin D could help protect against the most severe symptoms of COVID-19

mymedicplus — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 06:59:52 +0000

Source – https://rejerusalem.com/

TAMPA, Fla. — More and more doctors are getting behind the idea of taking a simple over-the-counter supplement to help protect you from the most severe symptoms of COVID-19.

Not only that but the flu and colds as well.

Tampa Bay chiropractor Dr. Scott Paton has been recommending vitamin D3 to his patients since early in the pandemic and he believes it helped protect his own family.

On April 13, after doing quite a bit of research, Dr. Scott Paton posted a video on his Facebook page talking about the importance of vitamin D.

Dr. Paton said he made the video because he wanted to talk about the research behind how vitamin D helps with acute upper respiratory infections.

“It’s been helping a lot of my patients, I hope it helps you,” Paton said.

Dr. John Sinnott from Tampa General Hospital and USF Health agrees.

When the coronavirus hit the U.S., he tested his own vitamin D level and found it was low.

“I right away went on 4,000 units of vitamin D a day and within a week my levels were normal.”

Dr. Paton’s family takes their vitamin D every day.

When his college-age son tested positive the first week of school, they all got tested.

“Apparently we had it, and we didn’t know we had it,” Paton said.

Paton said they had no symptoms whatsoever. He believes that’s because of the vitamin D. He posted this update on his Facebook page in early September.

“This isn’t me just saying take your vitamin D based on anecdotal evidence. This is researched evidence,” Paton said.

Dr. Sinnott agrees. He said when people ask him what they can do to prevent COVID-19 he tells them this: “you wear a mask, you socially distance, you wash your hands, you take vitamin D.”

Dr. Sinnott added people should not take Vitamin D if they have kidney stones.

As far as thinking you are getting enough from the sun, you likely aren’t. Sunscreen and clothing block the absorption of it and you would have to spend a significant amount of time in direct sunlight to get enough, which could be risky for other reasons.

It’s estimated more than half of adults in this country are vitamin D deficient. Doctors know this is an important building block of the immune system and it’s a simple fix, just take a supplement.

Finally, always talk with your doctor before starting any supplements.

The post Vitamin D could help protect against the most severe symptoms of COVID-19 appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Doctors look to HIV and Ebola drugs for coronavirus cure

mymedicplus — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 07:14:50 +0000

Source: theguardian.com

Doctors are likely to know within two to three weeks whether drugs being used to treat patients infected with the new coronavirus are working, according to the World Health Organization.

The timetable for early results from two trials taking place in China is short but feasible because of the large concentration of sick people at the centre of the outbreak in Hubei province. That allows a significant number of people of similar ages, fitness and stage of illness to be compared.

The drugs have been approved for other conditions, which means they do not have to undergo safety tests in animals and then humans.

Two trials were expedited on the recommendation of the WHO’s experts. Patients in one are being given Kaletra, taken by people with HIV. The drug is a combination of two antiretrovirals, lopinavir and ritonavir. Scientists are awaiting the results from the first 200 people to be treated with it.

The other drug in trials is remdesivir, made by Gilead. It was tested during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2018 but it was not sufficiently effective against that virus.

The new trial of remdesivir will be “gold standard” and investigate how well it works in moderately and severely ill patients compared with others given a placebo.

The WHO’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a briefing on Thursday there would be preliminary results within three weeks. The drugs chosen have been prioritised by the organisation’s research and development experts.

A third drug, the antimalarial chloroquine, which was being used in China, was not in trials, the WHO said.

Tedros said the international team led by the WHO, now in China, was discussing with frontline workers the efficacy of various treatments. It was important to test and diagnose people promptly, he said, because “the earlier patients are tested and treated, the better they do”.

The team includes experts from several countries, including the US – despite tense Washington-Beijing relations over trade. Others are from Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea and Singapore.

There are no proven therapeutics for Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, just as there were none for Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome). Kaletra is being trialled in Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome) but the cases are too few to get results quickly.

Tedros said the team was pushing ahead with a vaccine for the long term but it could take about 18 months.

There are 74,675 cases of Covid-19 in China and there have been 2,121 deaths. “The data from China continues to show a decline in new confirmed cases. We are encouraged by this trend but this is no time for complacency,” the WHO’s director general said. Outside China there had been 176 cases in 26 countries and seven deaths, he said.

He urged the international community to help fund the fight against the disease.

“Because of the serious measures that China is taking, the number of cases in the rest of the world is small. But it doesn’t mean that the small number of cases in the rest of the world will stay the same for long.”

The WHO issued an appeal to raise $675m (£524m) because “the finance is still low”, Tedros said.

The post Doctors look to HIV and Ebola drugs for coronavirus cure appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Finding News Ways to Treat Childhood Obesity

mymedicplus — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 06:37:58 +0000

Source: usnews.com

IT’S A CRIPPLING, hereditary disease that afflicts 1 in 3 adolescents and teens in the U.S., exponentially outnumbering pediatric cancer cases. It’s the entry point for a range of related, potentially irreversible diseases that get worse over time, from depression to diabetes and kidney failure.

Yet when Dr. Claudia Fox, a pediatrician and specialist in the aliment, says she can help treat the disease — childhood obesity — with medication, people are stunned.

“Most people when they hear this are kind of confused. The most common reaction I get is, ‘Are you kidding me?'” They’re alarmed, she said, that a doctor would prescribe weight-control pills for a child, let alone an obese one, and aren’t shy about telling her what they think..

“They say, ‘Why do we even need medication for obesity? Wouldn’t it be better if the kid learned to stop eating Doritos, get off the couch and play?'” said Fox, who was part of a panel addressing childhood obesity at the U.S. News & World Report Healthcare of Tomorrow conference in Washington on Tuesday. “I wish it were that simple.”

Declared an epidemic in the U.S., epidemic, childhood obesity has become so prevalent and is spreading so quickly overseas the World Health Organization considers it among “the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century.”

Speaking at a breakout session on the topic (“A Population Health Imperative: Tackling Childhood Obesity”), Fox and the panelists of pediatricians who specialize in obesity — Dr. Evan Nadler, Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, Dr. Ihuoma Eneli and moderator Dr. Sarah E. Barlow — agreed that obesity is prevalent in the U.S. and becoming more of a problem overseas. Yet as an illness, they concluded, it’s largely misunderstood and widely stigmatized, which only increases the problem.

Nadler, director of the Child and Adolescent Weight Loss Surgery Program at Children’s National Health System, called childhood obesity “the biggest problem in pediatric health care in America,” yet there isn’t a national drive or much urgency to solve it, even within the health care system.

“What can be more compelling than trying to tackle the most prevalent disease in children and the most expensive disease in children?” he asked. “It’s embarrassing, frankly, that our health care system hasn’t taken a more active interest.”

Kicking off the panel, Barlow, who is the director of the Children’s Health Integrated Program in Childhood Obesity at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Austin, laid out the sobering facts: Obesity in the U.S. ranges between 13% for adolescents up to just over 20% in teenagers 17 to 19 years old. Juvenile obesity hits hardest among African Americans (22%) and Latinos (25%) and the number of young people with a body mass index of 30 or higher has skyrocketed since the 1980s.

And the nation is paying a hidden price, she said, including $142 billion in medical costs and $66 billion in lost workplace productivity. Moreover, she said, obesity doesn’t go away with age: 1 of 3 young adults can’t serve in the U.S. military because they weigh too much.

“It’s not new,” she says. “We’ve been facing this problem for the last 15 to 20 years.”

Cody Stanford, a pediatrics professor at Harvard University and an obesity medicine physician scientist, said the problem has gone unchecked largely because of stigma associated with obesity. Contrary to what many assume — that children would lose weight if they ate properly and exercised — obesity is a “multifactorial” disease that involves genetic and environmental factors, including childhood trauma and psychological issues.

“What we do know is weight is more heritable than height,” she said. “The likelihood that parents with obesity will have a child who is lean is very low. That’s important for us to recognize. We don’t think about heritability when we think about treatment.”

Fox said it’s one reason why lay people are taken aback when she tells them medications can help control childhood obesity. While drugs alone aren’t the answer — some children need more drastic interventions, including combinations of bariatric surgery, psychological counseling and lifestyle changes — they could be an important tool in combating the issue, she said.

Yet there are aren’t many government-approved weight-loss drugs on the market for young patients, and drug companies aren’t competing to create new ones, says Fox, who teaches pediatric medicine at the University of Minnesota and is co-director of the university’s Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine.

That “is a sad commentary,” she said. “If this were childhood cancer, parents and practitioners and the entire community would be up in arms.”

Nadler and Eneli, a pediatrics professor at Ohio State University and director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, agreed that multi-faceted approaches are needed to tackle the disease. But both also said there are significant barriers to treatment, including medical insurers and longstanding stigma surrounding obesity and children.

Nadler said the prejudice and judgment against obese children even lives within the hospital walls; he’s overheard surgical colleagues bad-mouthing the concept of gastric-bypass surgery for pre-teens. The doctor also noted that only a handful of U.S. pediatric hospitals offer the procedure, and institutional support for it is hard to find.

Eneli said obesity “happens to be the last condition where people think it’s still OK to make fat jokes,” even among people whose loved ones have the disease. . Indeed, she said, “the worst kind of bias and stigma is what happens in the home, not at school.”

Then she suggested a PR campaign similar to those that raise awareness of breast cancer and support for research.

“Obesity needs a ribbon,” she said.

The post Finding News Ways to Treat Childhood Obesity appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Nearly 900 children test positive for HIV in Pakistan after doctor ‘reuses syringes’

mymedicplus — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 07:04:03 +0000

Source: independent.co.uk

Nearly 900 children in a Pakistani city have tested positive for HIV after a rogue paediatrician allegedly reused infected syringes.

About 200 adults have also tested positive for the virus since the epidemic in Ratodero was confirmed in April.

But health officials fear the true number affected could be far higher, with less a quarter of city’s 200,000 residents tested so far.

The outbreak was initially blamed on Dr Muzaffar Ghanghro, a paediatrician who at 16p a visit was one of the cheapest in the small central city.

He was arrested and charged with negligence and manslaughter after his patients accused him of frequently reusing syringes on their children.

Imtiaz Jalbani, whose six children were treated by the paediatrician, told The New York Times Dr Ganghro searched through his bin for an old needle to use on his six-year-old son, later diagnosed as HIV-positive. When Mr Jalbani protested, the doctor said the father was too poor to pay for a new needle.

Four of Mr Jalbani’s children have since tested positive for the virus and the two youngest have died.

Another parent whose three children contracted the disease after being treated by Dr Ganghro told Reuters the paediatrician “applied the same drip on 50 children without changing the needle”.

Dr Ganghro has not yet been convicted, and despite laws to deny bail to those accused of reusing syringes, is now working as a GP at a public hospital on the city’s outskirts after renewing his medical certificate.

He has denied all accusations and insists he is innocent.

Despite an initial investigation by police and health officials concluding Dr Ganghro’s “negligence and carelessness” as the “prime” reason for the outbreak, officials believe he is unlikely to be the sole cause.

Visiting health workers often see doctors in Ratodero reusing syringes, while dentists use unsterilised tools in roadside surgeries and barbers use the same razor on various customers, The New York Times reported.

There is still a widespread lack of awareness about the realities of the virus among locals, with many fearing it can be contracted via touch.

This has reportedly led to some of the nearly 900 known HIV-positive children being shunned by their peers and forced to sit away from others at school. Some relatives also reportedly fear contracting the virus via physical contact with their children.

A lack of literacy on the subject is not uncommon among poorer communities across much of Pakistan, where cases of HIV have nearly doubled since 2010 to 160,000, according to the United Nations’ taskforce on HIV and Aids.

About 600,000 unqualified doctors are thought to be unlawfully operating in the country, 270,000 of them in Sindh province where Ratodero is located, according to the United Nations joint programme on HIV and Aids

The Pakistani government responded to the crisis by shutting down clinics with unregistered doctors and illegal blood banks. It emerged many had been reusing syringes.

But as international and media attention waned, some clinics began to reopen.

Imran Akbar Arbani, the doctor who first identified the wave of sick children as an outbreak of HIV, told The New York Times: “Unless these quack doctors, barbers and dentists are not checked, the number of incidents of HIV infection will continue going up.”

The post Nearly 900 children test positive for HIV in Pakistan after doctor ‘reuses syringes’ appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

The growing HIV epidemic among young men in the Philippines

mymedicplus — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 07:16:07 +0000

Source: axios.com

The Philippines faces the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Why it matters: According to the UNAIDS agency, the estimated number of new infections in the country has more than doubled in the last 5 years. Doctors and epidemiologists in the country have suggested that dating apps are a major factor.

By the number: Doctors have diagnosed 67,395 Filipinos with HIV since 1984 when the first infection surfaced in the country. Three-quarters of patients were diagnosed in the past 5 years, according to the Philippine government.

96% of those diagnosed in the last 5 years contracted the virus from a sexual encounter, the government said.
A large majority of people with newly documented HIV cases were gay and bisexual men aged between 15 and 34.

How it works: The government does not have data on how people met their partners, but the rise in infections coincides with the growing popularity of dating apps.

Access to the internet has empowered the LGBTQ community in the conservative Catholic country, but this new freedom has collided with a lack of sex education, HIV screenings and preemptive drugs.
Health advocates also said that “traditional social norms have kept people from using contraception and learning about responsible sexual practice,” per WSJ.

The government passed legislation that promotes sex education in schools and lowers the age for HIV screening to 15 from 18.

With help from nonprofits, the country’s health ministry is offering finger-prick HIV tests outside gay clubs and at popular social events.
Those who test positive are eligible for antiretrovirals to slow the virus, the government says, but government data shows that “less than half of those tested positive are currently on treatment,” per WSJ.

Go deeper: CRISPR gene editing used to treat patient with cancer and HIV

The post The growing HIV epidemic among young men in the Philippines appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Health Watch – SLUCare MedSpa Services Include Doctor Supervision

mymedicplus — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 10:44:10 +0000

Source: fox2now.com

Aging is going to happen no matter what we do. However, focusing on good skin care can make a difference in how well we age. At SLUCare Medical Spa, we work with patients – young and older – to understand their skin care concerns and needs and recommend the best treatments (in-office and at-home) to help reverse any skin damage and prevent further damage.

SLUCare clinical esthetician Paige Gardner offers the same services you expect to find at most MedSpas, but she performs services under a doctor’s supervision. “If there was ever a question by skin type, skin concern, we can always take that to the doctor together with the patient. They always feel more comfortable when the doctor has addressed it as well.”

Together, they recommend the best treatment options and explain the procedure to manage expectations.

For anyone looking to improve their skin and slow down the aging process without undergoing the more invasive, surgical treatments, there are a number of options available, including:

Injectables and Fillers such as Botox, Restylane and Juvaderm, which are used to smooth facial creases and wrinkles, minimize the appearance of scars, enhance facial contours, plump lips, and improve under-eye appearance. While these treatments can help combat signs of aging, they are not a permanent solution and will require ongoing treatments to maintain results.

Cosmetic Laser Treatments such as the:

1) MicroLaser Peel, which decreases fine lines and wrinkles in the face, neck and chest. Nicknamed the “weekend peel,” the procedure allows patients treated on Thursday to return to work on Monday;

2) Broad Band Light (BBL) treats brown pigment, red pigment, rosacea, acne, secondary hair removal and can rejuvenate the skin overall. This non-invasive, gentle procedure requires virtually no downtime. I

3) HALO is the first hybrid laser to deliver ablative and non-ablative results with minimal to no downtime. It dramatically boosts skin’s collagen and elastin production, smooths fine lines and improves texture and skin discoloration.

Chemical Peels help to exfoliate the dead skin cells both on the surface of the skin as well as within the cell layers. There are a variety of peels that can improve concerns such as hyperpigmentation, acne, rosacea, sun damage, texture, and aging. Chemical peels are a great add-on to most facials. There are light, medium and deep chemical peels as well as pigment balancing peels and medical microdermabrasion.

Non-Laser Skin Rejuvenation and Facials including dermabrasion, microdermabrasion, microneedling, facials, and dermaplaning. These all are non-invasive, exfoliating treatments that improve fine lines, wrinkles, acne scars, skin discoloration and/or other aging conditions. Regular facials are often recommended to keep your skin healthy and beautiful.

No matter what your skincare goals are, our SLUCare clinical estheticians can help you achieve long term results that will keep your skin healthier and looking more youthful. To learn more, click here.

The post Health Watch – SLUCare MedSpa Services Include Doctor Supervision appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

LASIK Surgery In King Of Prussia Performed By Award-Winning Doctors

mymedicplus — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 12:02:02 +0000

Source: digitaljournal.com

Kremer Eye Center King of Prussia, based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, wants people to know that an important advantage they can offer is that award-winning doctors will be performing the LASIK surgery procedures at the eye center The King of Prussia location is one of the surgical centers of Kremer Eye Center that offer surgical procedures like LASIK surgery for correcting refractive errors like astigmatism and nearsightedness.

Amy Stoller from Kremer Eye Center King of Prussia, says, “It fills us with great pride that five of our top surgeons have been consistently receiving the Top Docs awards from Castle Connolly and Philadelphia Magazine. They were named among the 2019 Top Docs of Philadelphia Magazine and Castle Connolly, and this was their fourth consecutive year of receiving the award.”

The five surgeons of Kremer Eye Center King of Prussia who received the 2019 Top Docs award were Michael A. Aronsky, MD; Carol J. Hoffman, MD; Debra Malley, MD; George R. Pronesti, MD; and Anthony C. Zacchei, MD. Amy Stoller continues, “Kremer Eye Center’s team of award-winning doctors are all dedicated to ensuring excellent patient care, long-lasting vision correction, and eye care results. To learn more about our top docs, contact us to schedule a consultation with our professionals.”

Every year, Philadelphia Magazine and Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. collaborate to publish their Top Doctors list with the goal of giving recognition to the best doctors in the region. For this award, doctors nominate their peers and every nominee is assessed based on their professional and educational experience.

Dr. Michael A. Aronsky is a board-certified ophthalmologist specializing in advanced vision correction solutions. He has already completed tens of thousands of refractive surgeries. He also specializes in treatments for cataracts and the cornea with the goal of helping restore eyesight. He was the first in the region to used conductive keratoplasty, bladeless LASIK, INTACS® corneal implants, IntraLase enabled keratoplasty, and sutureless endothelial corneal transplants.

Dr. Carol J. Hoffman is also a board-certified ophthalmologist who has committed herself towards helping her patients get the customized eye care and vision correction solutions that they need. She has already completed thousands of LASIK surgeries and is a member of the Delaware Academy of Ophthalmology, American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the Delaware Medical Society.

Dr. Debra Malley is a board-certified ophthalmic surgeon who is focused on laser vision correction. She has obtained certification for using advanced bladeless LASIK technologies in treating nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astimatism. She is also capable of performing medical aesthetic facial procedures. She was involved in research on the use of the excimer laser for refractive surgeries.

Dr. George R. Pronesti is also a board-certified ophthalmologist who is practicing as a LASIK and cataract surgeon after having served as the Vice Chairman of Maryland General Hospital’s Department of Ophthalmology. By applying innovative techniques, he has been able to help thousands of patients see more clearly. He has also written articles for various publications and he has invented the golf bifocal.

Dr. Anthony C. Zacchei is another board-certified ophthalmologist and he serves as the Director of Glaucoma for Kremer Eye Center in which he was able to help patients from all over the Greater Philadelphia area get the cataract, glaucoma and LASIK treatments that they need. He has already completed over 35,000 successful cataract surgeries during the past 20 years. He also specializes in several innovative cataract and glaucoma treatments, including SLT, trabeculectomies, and ECP.

Aside from LASIK surgery, they also offer cataract surgery; glaucoma treatment; transplants and treatments for the cornea; eyelid surgery and oculoplastics; and dry eye treatment.

Those who are interested in knowing more about the eye surgery procedures or would like to schedule an appointment with a King of Prussia LASIK surgeon can visit the eye center’s website or contact them via email. They are open on Mondays, from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm; Tuesdays to Fridays, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm; and Saturdays, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.

The post LASIK Surgery In King Of Prussia Performed By Award-Winning Doctors appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

DOCTORS ARE RESEARCHING A NEW TREATMENT FOR ENDOMETRIOSIS PAIN: BOTOX

mymedicplus — Sat, 13 Jul 2019 11:38:42 +0000

Source: wellandgood.com

Endometriosis is a painful condition that affects 176 million people worldwide, according to the Journal of Endometriosis. It happens when tissue similar to that which forms the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterine cavity.In a very small pilot study, scientists at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) may have found a surprising way to offer relief for chronic pelvic discomfort: Botox injections.

Pain associated with endometriosis often persists even after the growths have been treated with hormonal surgery and therapy. In the placebo-controlled clinical trial, researchers looked at women who’d undergone surgery and were taking hormones to suppress menses (the blood discharged from the uterus during menstruation). Those whose pain persisted after treatment were given either an injection of botulinum toxin (aka Botox) or saline.

A month later, the 13 participants chose to receive the injection of botulinum toxin on a monthly basis for at least four months—and the results were pretty remarkable. For all subjects, fewer to no muscle spasms occurred during their follow up treatment, and 11 out of the 13 said their pain was mild or gone entirely. Plus, more than half of the participants reduced their use of pain medication.

Botox works by blocking the nerve signals so that the muscles in the injected area cannot contract. While past research on the toxin has indicated that it could help women experiencing chronic pelvic pain, this is the first time Botox has been tested specifically to ease the pain of endometriosis. “These findings suggest that pelvic floor muscle spasm may be experienced by women with endometriosis and contribute to pain persisting after standard treatment,” writes Kate Anderton, BSc, a biomedical sciences graduate from Lancaster University.

Barbara Karp, MD, a neurologist and program director at NINDS, points out that more research will need to be conducted before best patient practices can be standardized in the medical space. “We know that many doctors are using botulinum toxin to help their patients, but everyone uses slightly different techniques and methods, including different brands of toxin and various doses,” she says. “This study will begin to provide rigor to help ensure standardized protocols and treatment in pelvic pain.”

The post DOCTORS ARE RESEARCHING A NEW TREATMENT FOR ENDOMETRIOSIS PAIN: BOTOX appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Plastic surgery clients are getting younger—and doctors say selfies are to blame

mymedicplus — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 09:36:03 +0000

Souirce: qz.com

Plastic surgery clients are trending younger globally, and doctors and psychologists are pointing to the rise of social media as playing a role.

According to a report in the South China Morning Post, not only is the number of aesthetic plastic surgery cases—including cosmetic procedures like rhinoplasty, facelifts, and lip augmentations—on the rise globally, but the average age of clients is also dropping. Of the 22 million Chinese who underwent cosmetic procedures in 2018, clients under age 28 accounted for 54% (nearly 12 million) of patients. Teenagers, meanwhile, accounted for 8% of total procedures. Comparatively, in western European nations, the average age dropped from 42 to 37 in 2018; in the US, over 200,000 teens aged 13 to 19 had aesthetic plastic surgery in 2017, but only made up 1% of total US procedures.

Doctors, surgeons, and psychiatrists are pointing to selfie-led social media culture as driving the rise of aesthetic surgery among young people. That’s a departure from what surgeons say marked plastic surgery trends of the early aughts, when people brought in pictures of celebrities and models and asked for features to better match them.

Julian De Silva, a plastic surgeon based in London’s Harley Street, confirmed to SCMP that social media “is heavily influencing plastic surgery trends and cosmetic treatments.” In the last five years, he’s noticed that “patients are taking more photos of themselves than ever, and as a result they are far more self-conscious about their appearance. Flaws they would previously have ignored have, since the advent of social media, plagued them.”

“Snapchat dysmorphia,” a phenomenon coined in a 2018 paper published in a JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery Viewpoint by Boston University researchers, refers to a trend in which people are bringing plastic surgeons their own heavily doctored or filtered selfies, and requesting to look more like their photos. The report noted that 55% of plastic surgeons cite seeing patients who want to improve their appearance in selfies, a request that comes more often from teens, who are more frequent social media users than older adults.

Although Snapchat dysmorphia is not an official mental disorder listed in the DSM, the report highlighted its similarities to body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a disorder classified on the obsessive-compulsive spectrum characterized by people going to great, often harmful lengths, to hide perceived imperfections and affects roughly 2% of Americans.

Indeed, the negative effects social media can have on mental health and wellbeing are well documented. A 2017 survey by Britain’s Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), a health education charity, ranked Instagram as the #1 worst social media network for its associations with anxiety and depression, with Snapchat following closely behind. Following the RSPH survey, research from Carmen Papaluca of Notre Dame revealed a connection between Instagram and mental health, particularly in young, female Instagram users. Specifically, findings from the study reported that women in their late teens and early 20s found that the app negatively impacted body image.

And the rise of selfie culture has coincided with a greater access to cosmetic beauty procedures. In the US, wrinkle-reducer Botox and dermal filler Juvéderm are being marketed to 20-somethings over its core clientele, women over 40. Meanwhile, a wave of Instagram-friendly clinics like Alchemy 43, Kate Somerville, and Skin Laundry have popularized medical beauty treatments, including services like Botox, fillers, lip injections, and laser treatments, for the under-30 crowd.

The SCMP notes that a 2018 report released by Chinese cosmetic procedure platform Gengmei found that the number of cosmetic surgery clinics opening last year increased by 10% compared with 2017. And according to the Chinese online magazine Sixth Tone, Gengmei and its competitor, the cosmetic-surgery social app SoYoung, saw their communities skyrocket, with the former noting that 36 million users and 20,000 certified surgeons joined the app in the past few years. Sixth Tone also notes that Chinese clients are likely influenced by neighboring South Korea, where European and K-pop beauty standards—big eyes, slim noses, etc.—are pervasive, and about one-third of women under 30 have had plastic surgery. Indeed, double-eyelid surgery, a procedure that seeks to produce bigger, Western-looking eyes, has become a common 18th birthday present.

The post Plastic surgery clients are getting younger—and doctors say selfies are to blame appeared first on MyMedicPlus.