Upside Of Aging

Anti Aging Skin Care Is Not a Choice

Thursday I was yelled at by a friend. Actually, he admonished both my husband and me and in so many words said ‘shame on us.’

We play golf with him on Thursdays. Ron wears a wide brimmed hat, long trousers and a long sleeve shirt when he plays golf or whenever he’s out in the sun. His face and arms are marked with scars from skin cancers and age spots from years of sun damage.

I wore a short sleeve shirt and Capri length slacks. My husband also wore a short sleeve shirt. We are both blue eyed and fair skin and have had numerous bouts with skin cancer. Several of my husband’s experience was more serious than any of mine: first stage melanoma on his ear and Mohs surgery on his nose and forehead. I’m strictly basal and squamous cancers easily treated and excised.

Do Your Hands Reveal Your Real Age?

You’re looking good! Your face has just enough color from gardening or golfing, you only gained a couple of pounds over the winter, you’re standing tall, you like what you’re doing and you like who’s looking back at you in the mirror. Not bad for someone……

Then you look at your hands. They’re not keeping up with the image you want.

My dad use to say, if you want to tell a woman’s age, look at her hands first, then elbows and then knees.

Botex Users - What's Next

You probably heard about it or read about it. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that Botox, along with a similar drug called Myobloc, were linked to life-threatening symptoms such as strained breathing and severe difficulty in swallowing, which can lead to a form of pneumonia. Both drugs use botulinum toxin to block nerve impulses which causes them to relax.

Botox is best known for minimizing wrinkles by paralyzing facial muscles. Botulinum toxin is also used for a variety of muscle-spasm conditions.

It’s a headline that screams ‘sensationalism’. The millions using Botox have to be frightened…you would think. And the rest of us who don’t use the wrinkle eliminating drug are either thinking ‘nan nan a nan nan’, feeling a little smug about not using the drug, feeling some concern about their friends using the drug, or a combination of all three reactions.

The agency warned that patients receiving a botulinum toxin injection should be told to seek immediate care if they suffer symptoms of botulism including, difficulty swallowing or breathing, slurred speech, muscle weakness or difficulty holding up their head. Doctors are not advising patients to monitor themselves for the sever reaction and the FDA is deciding whether to strengthen the warnings on the drugs’ label.