Do you want a bright and radiant complexion?

IPL is the first medical cosmetic treatment I ever had. It did wonders for my complexion, toning down my pink cheeks, shrinking my broken capillaries and erasing my sun damage.

I remember doing a clinic with dermatologist Dr. Rosenthal when I was an intern. He pointed out to the patient all of the telangiectasias (broken capillaries) that I had on my cheeks.

How glad I am that I don’t have those any more.

Before IPL treatment

BEFORE

This isn’t me but it gives you a good idea of the kind of results you can get with an IPL photofacial.

After IPL treatment

AFTER

See how much brighter her skin looks? The sun damage on her upper lip was creating such a shadow that it almost looked like a mustache. After the treatment, her skin looks clear and radiant.

This article is reprinted from Advanced Rejuvenation’s newsletter of January 21, 2009. If you would like to subscribe, click here.

Dr. Rose Jeans
Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa

What makes a beautiful portrait or nude?

To me, photography is not about equipment or technical skill, nor is it purely about aesthetics or composition. I love human beings, and as an artist and explorer, my goal is to connect with people and capture their strengths, their vulnerabilities, their relationships with one another, and their interactions with me. My images are born of real moments – they are expressions of both emotional and physical human experience. Whether I am photographing a mother and child, or a couple making love – this is the common thread.

For me, it is about trust and relationships.

Because of this, I feel it is important to remain aware of what it is to be the subject… to be naked, either literally or emotionally, to relax, to be directed and recorded by someone else. In keeping with this, I enjoy posing for other photographers, and last weekend I did a shoot with R. Ward Shipman. Here is one of the many beautiful images we made together…

Nude portrait

Photo by R. Ward Shipman at The Melanie Gillis Studio

This image captures trust and relationship as I have described. As subjects, we felt safe and comfortable and were able to express this as Ward both directed us and also worked with our natural body language. His sensitivity as an image maker is key here, and for anyone who photographs people, this is just as important as knowing which buttons to push on the camera. Often though, this is somewhat overlooked by people who are trying to achieve this type of image.

For those of you who are aspiring photographic artists, have you ever wondered how to create a comfortable shooting situation where you can capture this sort of intimacy and emotional presence? In just a few weeks, I will be hosting a seminar to address this topic. It will include a lecture, slide show, and Q&A period…

Warmth and Beauty in Bareness: demystifying the nude

Thursday April 16th, 7 – 8:30pm
at The Melanie Gillis Studio Gallery
126 James Street North, 3rd floor
$20 admission
Signing up early via phone or email is recommended as seating is limited.

905 297 7050
info AT melaniegillis DOT com

Posted by: Melanie Gillis, The Melanie Gillis Studio

One of the heroes of the Chilly Half Marathon

I’d like to share with you a great story about my friend Joan. The story came out from Joan (after some prying by me) when I tried to find out why Joan’s time wasn’t showing in the results.

The attached picture shows what is possible when a cause becomes greater than the task. One of the reasons Joan Jory entered the Chili 1/2 was that it was a fundraiser for the new breast-cancer MRI at the Hamilton General Hospital. She had received pledges for the race from friends, but why barefoot? Here is my friend Joan’s story in her own words,

Joan running barefoot

“I ran in to problems with my feet at 7 km, and took the insoles out of the shoes. It took me 1hr03 to finish the first 10 km because of the foot problems. At 12 km, I took off my shoes, ripped off the timing chip (don’t ask me how I know to do this – that’s another story related to Waterfront last fall), and threw the shoes on the side of the road at about 12.5 km. I ran the second 11 km in under 50 minutes, of which 9 kms were barefoot. The Masai would be proud of me .

I had the timing chip in my hand as I crossed the finish line but my friend told me it won’t read if the chip is above knee level (now he tells me!). So, no results. But I came in at 1 hr 53 odd, and we left 1.5 minutes after the race started according to my group who keep track of these things. I believe my final ‘chip’ time was 1 hr 51 or 52 odd.”

So Joan finished the race barefoot knowing that her pledges for the MRI breast coil equipment would now count. There is another reason too that she told me about. Joan promised someone close to her, whose health is impaired, that she would finish this race on her behalf.

An exceptional effort by an exceptional woman. This is why runners are the best, and running races are so important for the community at large.

Dan Little

[Ed.: I'd just like to remind everyone that it was a frigid -8C on March 1st. Most of us couldn't tolerate bare hands for any length of time, let alone running on bare feet.]

An important product for looking 10 years younger

If you wanted to look 10 years younger today and didn’t have much money, here’s what I would recommend:

TNS Line Refine

This is a very cool product.

It has immediate effects (within 5 minutes) of relaxing the small facial muscles that cause wrinkles and filling the wrinkles with hyaluronic acid filling spheres.

Hyaluronic acid is a sugar that we make in our bodies whose function is to hold moisture where we want it. It is the major component of a number of injectable dermal fillers like Restylane, Juvederm and Teosyal. In TNS Line Refine, it comes as lotion that you apply to your skin.

These photos show the before image and 5 minutes after the first application of TNS Line Refine to a 50 year old woman.

Before applying TNS Line Refine

5 minutes after applying TNS Line Refine

As you use this product every day over time, you get some very nice long-term effects. TNS Line Refine contains CoEnzyme Q10 which helps to prevent free radical damage. It also contains certain peptides that help to stimulate the body’s repair mechanisms at the cellular level and promote collagen, elastin and new skin cell formation.

We have been very impressed with the product ourselves. And we’ve had good feedback from everyone who bought it.

Dr. Rose Jeans
Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa

A Sculptra story

This is a set of Before and After photos for Sculptra from UK website.

I went to school with girls who look like this woman so I think that is why I find her photos so striking. I have seen many women age the same way as her: in some ways, her face still looked youthful but the way she was losing volume was sucking all of the life out of her face.

In her after photo, her face is so soft and gently rounded that, in one way, she has subtracted 20 years from her appearance, and yet she still has the confident look of a mature woman. She certainly doesn’t look “done”.

I found this article in the Coventry Telegraph online. It may or may not be the same person but her story and her experience with Sculptra are really illuminating.

“I’m really pleased with it. I makes me feel better about myself because I know I look better.

“I think it has affected other areas of my life too. I’ve got more confidence and probably wear more colourful, fashionable clothes now.”

And she understands it might be viewed as an expensive remedy.

“It is expensive, but it does last a long time. When you think about how much you might spend on these miracle anti-wrinkle creams which don’t work you may as well pay extra for something which actually makes a difference.

“Every time a new cream came out I’d buy it so I had a bathroom full of these potions which were useless, now I just use a basic moisturiser.

This woman had 3 sets of Sculptra injections in 2005 and a top-up in December 2007. This photo was taken in November 2008.

You can expect to do maintenance of one set of Sculptra injections (1 – 2 vials) approximately every year after the initial series.

Dr. Rose Jeans
Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa

Hillary Clinton’s Rejuvenation

This article is reprinted from our newsletter of January 2, 2009. To subscribe to our newsletter, please click here.

The last US presidential election focused a lot of attention on what the various political women had done to improve their appearance.
I heard rumors that Hillary had had some work done but I hadn’t seen any images that were close enough that I could really see a difference.

(Source of Before Image here; After picture was taken at the Glamour Magazine Women of the Year 2008 event.)

I did some searching and came up with these images. The one on the left dates from December 2007. I was shocked at how crepey her skin was. And look at the loss of volume in her cheeks! Her forehead is furrowed and her eyelids are very crepey.

The photo on the right was taken in November 2008. The volume is miraculously restored to her face. This can be achieved with Sculptra or fat grafting. It would depend on how much downtime Hillary could afford — Sculptra would be more gradual but has minimal downtime.

This effect could also be achieved with dermal fillers but it would take a lot of syringes to get these results. However, the results are instantaneous so Hillary might have gone for it.

The texture of her skin is much improved but still lined. This suggests to me that she has undergone fractional laser resurfacing, which would be a Pixel treatment here.

I also suspect she has had her upper lids lifted (blepharoplasty).

I can’t tell whether or not she had some filler in her lips, given the difference in facial expression. If she did, it was done with a very light and subtle hand.

To me, this is the epitome of looking great without looking “done.” Hillary Clinton is such a vibrant woman. Her “after” appearance reflects the inner woman.

Dr. Rose Jeans
Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa

Here’s why you need a reputable medical spa

When I saw this article, I was pretty shocked.

 

This reporter went to a clinic in England that didn’t have a doctor or nurse. She had an IPL treatment to get rid of brown sun damage. The red marks are burns.

What happened to her is this: her treatment was done at too high a setting for her skin tone. She mentions that she was tanned when she went for the treatment. The tan means she has more melanin in her skin, which means that her skin will absorb more energy from the pulses of light — that’s why it hurt so much and why she got burned.

She would also have been at increased risk of burns if the spa she went to had older equipment — places like this sometimes buy used medical spa equipment that is several years old. Newer IPL technology controls the pulse of energy delivered in each shot of light so that even darker skin tones are very unlikely to be burned.

 

Lesson #1: Make sure your treatments are done by properly trained people.

 

The reporter (as the patient) was reporting severe enough pain that she was asking the operator to pause frequently. The operator should have recognized that the treatment was much more painful than normal and turned down the energy level. The operator also should have recognized that the patient was tanned and so would need lower energy levels.

 

Lesson #2: Don’t persist with a treatment that is much more painful than you expected it to be.

 

The treatment was very painful. The reporter knew to expect the sensation of an elastic band snapping, which is how we all describe it, but this was much worse. She thought she would “tough it out” to get the results she wanted. Severe pain with a pulsed light treatment is a warning sign that the skin is absorbing a lot of energy. And that means burns could occur.

 

The good news for this woman was that she saw a dermatologist the next day and got treatment that healed her burns without scarring.

 

She went on to have IPL treatments in the dermatologist’s clinic that didn’t hurt and achieved a beautiful complexion.

Please make sure you are dealing with experienced, well-trained people when you seek out medical cosmetic treatments. If things don’t feel right, go somewhere else.

(This blogpost is reprinted from our newsletter of December 5, 2008. To subscribe to the newsletter, contact us at info@RestoringNaturalBeauty.com.)

Dr. Rose Jeans
Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa

Here’s why you don’t want a facelift

The old understanding of facial aging was that the skin and muscles of face become stretched and lax so the treatment of choice was to tighten them up. The ideal way to tighten the skin and muscles was to cut out the excess and pull the remainder tighter, in other words, to do a facelift.

We have a much better understanding of facial aging now. We know that the support structures of the face, the bone, muscle and deep fat layers, are shrinking as we age. If you pull the skin tighter over a shrinking framework, you get a smaller and more gaunt-looking face. I always get a picture in my mind of Helen Gurley Brown, the iconic editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, whose face got smaller as she aged.

This article from the Style blog of The Plain Dealer does a really good job of explaining how restoring volume to face does a much better job of making look younger but still look like yourself.

“You don’t want to change your looks,” says Dr. Anthony Griffin, director of the Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgery Institute. “And actresses and celebrities really don’t want to do that, though some inadvertently have.

“Face-lifts make the face tighter, and when you pull on the skin, it gets flatter. You don’t look like yourself anymore. Some actresses we’ve seen pictures of have had disastrous results.” …

“Face-lifts change the whole ratio and proportions of the facial features, which is why some actresses are hardly recognizable,” Griffin says, who predicts that in 10 or 15 years, face-lifts will be passe and rarely done. 

Using dermal fillers, like Teosyal and Juvederm, and volumizers, like Sculptra, creates a very natural look. My clients tell me they look in the mirror and remember when they used to look like this.

Here is an example of how Sculptra builds up volume around the mouth:

These photos show how restoring volume in the midface (the cheeks below the eyes and above the base of the nose) really restores a younger appearance to the face:

You can look like a more youthful version of yourself without resorting to the knife. Each treatment has advantages and disadvantages but they are both a lot less risky than having surgery.

Neither Teosyal nor Sculptra is permanent but a facelift isn’t permanent either. You generally need to have another facelift about every 10 years.

I’m really excited about the natural results I can achieve with Teosyal and Sculptra, and the longevity of these products. The injection techniques that I use can last for several years.

Dr. Rose Jeans
Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa

If your hair is short, you can go to Great Lengths in one day!

Becky wanted long hair but she didn’t want to wait the 18 months it would take to grow her hair out. The challenge with Becky’s hair was that it was very short and wispy so the extensions had to be applied very carefully to be sure that the bonds wouldn’t be visible. I applied Great Lengths 100% natural human hair extensions.
Here’s what she looked like later the same day:
Becky looks great, doesn’t she? In this picture, Becky’s hair was styled to be straight using the blow-dryer. The next 2 images show Becky about 8 months later when the extensions were reapplied. By this time, her hair has grown out enough that it is much easier to hide the bonds.
Here she has sexy waves created by curling with a curling iron.
Here Becky has natural wave in her hair created using the diffuser.

I’m really pleased with the results I can achieve with Great Lengths natural human hair extensions. Great Lengths can also be used to thicken thin hair or create a color change. If you would like to find out whether Great Lengths would be right for you, please call me at 905-637-2325 to arrange a consultation.

Amy Beaulieu
Art in Hair

Dr. Bekesch’s report: Catherine’s dental work

This lady’s mouth was already in immaculate condition so only cosmetic treatment was considered.

The upper front teeth were already very well restored and in excellent condition so no treatment was elected there.

The left upper posterior teeth were out of alignment and were darker than the anterior. The color was masked, new colors were layered into the composite veneers which were built out to match the front teeth.

The lower front teeth were crowded and darker than the upper teeth. The original color was masked out and the new colors were layered into the veneers, which effectively straightened out her teeth.

The whole treatment was accomplished in one appointment.

Dr. Nicholas Bekesch, Family and Cosmetic Dentistry

[Ed. note: WOW!]