Liposuction for Biodiesel ? Fat powers SUV in LA

The Beverly Hills Courier reported that a radiologist, Dr Alan Bittner, who was medical director of Beverly Hills Liposculpture, apparently fled the country after the Medical Board of California raided his office and home, in response to complaints that some of the liposuction procedures had been performed by his office manager and girlfriend, Stephanie Darcy. Bittner had posted in his blog, lipodiesel.com, that he had converted the suctioned fat into deisel to power his SUV. This is technically feasible, but is illegal in this country.

Longer Eyelashes?

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of the prescription medication Bimatoprost, which was originally used as a treatment for glaucoma, to be sold under the name of Latisse, to promote longer, thicker darker eyelashes. The medication will be available by prescription only. Latisse gets applied along the upper eyelashes, while the glaucoma drug, Lumigan, was used as eyedrops. The change in eyelashes was observed as a side effect in patients using Lumigan.

"Keeping Up Appearances in a Downturn"

An article in the December 23 issue of the Wall Street Journal reports that people are continuing to spend money on Botox, fillers and laser treatments, while deferring more expensive cosmetic treatments. They quote Maralyn Burr of Omaha Neb. who lost her job as a district sales manager for Borders Books. She's $140,000 in debt from her daughter's musical education and has cut her spending and stopped eating out. However, she still continues with her Botox and Restylane. "It's like soul food" she says.

Dark Circles Under the Eyes II

Other than fillers and lasers, there are less well established methods for treating dark circles under the eyes.  Chemical peels, in particular TCA and phenol peels, have been used with some success in treating this condition. There are no studies to back this up, and occasionally peels can produce adverse effects, including scarring. Dietary supplements have been claimed to improve dark circles, but the supporting evidence is very sparse. There is a single study in an obscure European journal that reported that people who took a dietary cocktail consisting of soy extract, fish protein polysaccharides, extracts from white tea, grape seeds and tomato, as well as vitamins C& E, zinc and chamomile extract had, after 6 months, significantly greater improvement of skin conditions, including dark circles when compared to those who did not take the mixture.

Dark Circles Under the Eyes

Dark circles under the eyes can be an aggravating problem. In certain ethnic groups, such as Indians, the problem appears to be more prevalent. There is disagreement about the causes of dark circles, and there are probably several causes. Most of the time we are in a situation where light is coming from above. If there is apparent bulging of the lower eyelid skin, this can create a shadow that appears as a dark semicircle. This is one of the most common causes of this problem. Other causes are increased pigmentation of the skin and possibly sluggish blood flow in the area, allowing darker colored blood to become visible. People often blame lack of sleep for this discoloration, but it probably does not play much of a role, if any.