Spa gift certificates are becoming more and more popular and are right at the top of holiday wish lists for both men and women. Spas offer stress-relief, pampering, and results. Spa gift certificates are a wonderful way to show friends, family, employees, or the one you love, how much you care.

When selecting a spa gift certificate, consider the following:

Visiting the web site of a spa can give you an idea of the spa’s environment, their experience, and philosophy. The spa experience begins when a guest enters the door. By taking a virtual tour, you can get an idea of what the experience will be.

Spa gift certificates are available in either dollar amounts or by custom designed treatments and packages. A spa can assist you in selecting the ideal gift package from a foot fantasy to the world’s best day spa experience.

Some of the best gifts are things that one would typically not consider purchasing for themselves. A popular trend today is treatments using more than one therapist. There is nothing quite like a facial (which includes a massage of the face, neck, shoulders, upper back, hands and arms) combined with a second therapist simultaneously massaging the feet with both hands and hot stones. This type of treatment is absolutely decadent and can be surprisingly affordable. At upscale spa, a Foot Fantasy can be combined with almost any treatment. This is a heavenly experience with a skilled therapist providing both a manual and hot stone massage using essential oils and a warm parrafin dip.

When considering a spa service for a man, be sure the environment is comfortable for a gentleman. Overstuffed sofas, needlepoint wall hangings, and especially co-ed waiting areas can be very intimidating to men. Instead, look for an upscale, contemporary environment with privacy.

Ask about gift certificate delivery. For those of us who wait until the last minute, gift certificates that can be purchased over the phone can be a big help. In most cases, gift certificates can even be emailed to ensure “on-time” delivery.

Be sure to ask the spa’s policy on aestheticians (facialists) leaving the room during a treatment. The therapist should be in the room at all times delivering pampering, relaxation, and results. A client who is left alone can feel forgotten and uneasy and certainly they are not getting the best treatment possible.

Adding some products to a gift certificate can enhance the spa experience. Aromatherapy candles, essential oils, soaps, shower gels, and luxurious massage cream can make for a romantic spa experience for a couple to share at home.

Websites such as www.spafinder.com or www.spaindex.com can be helpful in finding the ideal day spa in your area. If the goal is to provide a gift that incorporates the ultimate in relaxation and results, a medical spa might be the ideal choice. Key words such as "medical spa" or "plastic surgery medical spa" and your city entered into a search engine will give you results of medical spas in your region.

Kile Law is president of Blue Water Spa in Raleigh, NC. She has been appointed to the 2005 board of directors for the National Day Spa Association. She is the recipient of the 2005 Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Southern Spa Conference. Kile was the winner of the 2004 ABBIES award for best editorial feature in an industry (spa) publication. Kile is often a featured speaker at medical spa and skin care conferences, and interviews with her can often be seen on television and in consumer beauty publications.

Anti-aging products have permeated the market place in the last several years. As we all age, our goal is to age gracefully and maintain the healthiest skin that we possibly can.

As we work to repair skin damage from years of living, such as wearing moisturizer with SPF 15 to prevent sun damage and achieving a healthy diet, we also want to improve skin nourishment. Skin nourishment is the only way to get and maintain better skin tone and complexion. Healthy skin is easily recognized by the clear, unblemished, rosy glow of the skin.

Skin nourishment needs vary from person to person, skin type to skin type. Although most natural anti-aging products do not contain harsh chemicals, we need to be pro-active and understand what natural ingredients are best for our skin, and choose our products accordingly.

A lot of anti-aging products are botanically based. What this means is that the skin products key ingredients are made from plants and herbal extracts, oils, fragrances and vitamins. Understanding what the individual botanical ingredients are meant to do for our skin is the first step in choosing the best natural skin care products for our age and skin type.

Different botanical extracts meet a variety of skin nutrition needs. Following is a botanical glossary of some commonly used botanical extracts that are found in today’s anti-aging products.

Astringents: Alfalfa, Citrus, Orange peel,Lemon, Ivy, Dandelion, Plantain Antibacterial: Dandelion, Eucalyptus Antioxidant: Grapefruit Anti-microbial: Honeysuckle, Thyme Aromatic: Lavender Anti-inflammatory: Mugwort, Mulberry, Pansy Emollient: Algae, Passionflower Fruit Extract Exfoliate: Apple, Green Tea, Sugar Cane Calms, Reduces Response to Irritation: Chamomile Cleans, Conditions: Rose Petal, Carrot, Ginseng, Lemongrass, Sage, Yarrow Moisturizes: Aloe Vera, Mugwart, Orchid, Passionflower Fruit, Wheat Germ 

Protects Skin: Wheat Germ, Alfalfa, Aloe Vera Reduces Oiliness, Refines Pores: Birch Leaf, Cucumber, Rosehips, Witch Hazel Removes Impurities: Cucumber, Watercress, Witch Hazel Tones, Stimulates, Rejuvenates: Cornflower, Lemongrass, Nettle, Watercress Smoothes, Soothes, Softens: Althaea, Irish Moss, Kelp, Sage, Nettle, Papaya, Rose Petal, Balm Mint, Clover, Kelp, Lavender, Licorice, Marjoram, Green Tea, Plantain, Yarrow

Astringent extracts will tighten up the skin and close up pores. This is done by causing contractions or shrinkages of the skin tissue and drying up pore secretions.

Antibacterial extracts contain ingredients that destroy or inhibit the growth of bacteria, particularly in the case of bacteria that cause blemishes.

Antioxidant extracts reduce the effects of free-radical damage. Free-radical damage can be caused by the presence of oxygen or any compound that contains an oxygen molecule (such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and superoxide), sunlight, and pollution. Theoretically, when free-radical damage originates from natural environmental factors and fails to be cancelled out by antioxidant protection, then wrinkles appear.

Anti-microbial extracts destroying or inhibiting the growth of microorganisms, giving your skin an additional level of cleanliness.

Anti-inflammatory extracts reduces certain signs of inflammation, such as swelling, tenderness, pain, irritation, or redness.

Emollient extracts soothe and soften the skin by slowing the natural evaporation of water from the skin.

Extracts that assist in Exfoliation address many of the systemic causes of blemishes by systematically stripping off dead, scaly skin and exposing the full healthy glow of living, healthy skin cells.

Extracts that calm and soothe the skin contain proteins such as vitamin A, sugar, starch, vitamin B1, iron, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, and calcium. These proteins assist in cleansing pores; giving the skin a healthy glow and reducing response to irritations. Algae extracts are very popular for these types of skin care extracts.

Extracts that reduce oiliness, remove impurities and refine pores are gentle cleansers that remove oils, and impurities from the skin; thus allowing the pores to remain free and clean.

Extracts that rejuvenate and stimulate the skin act as agents to produce a temporary increase of cell activity to help restore the original health and glow.

Extracts that tone, soothe and soften skin contain anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that give us the toning and softening, and provide that wonderful soothing feeling.

As you shop for anti-aging products with a better understanding of what the botanical ingredients are meant to do for your skin, start slow. Some extracts can irritate sensitive skin, especially those that are for exfoliating and anti-oxidants. Too much of a good thing is too much. Test skin care products on your own skin for at least a week to allow time for your skin to respond.

I recommend that you purchase your anti-aging products from one company for consistency. This will help ensure that the ingredients in each product compliment each other, and not counter-act each others affects once they are applied to your skin.

I selected Arbonne as my supplier as they have botanically based anti-aging skin care products that are available for all types of skin care and skin care needs. After much research I specifically selected the Arbonne line of products because of the benefits they provide.

Botanically based, Arbonne anti-aging skin care products are available at http://www.ultimatehealthcare.myarbonne.com These skin care products compliment each other, and are available for all types of skin, all ages of skin, and skin nutrition requirements. And, if you go there right now, I have a free special waiting for you.

For those of you who are do-it-yourself fanatics like I am, our hands are always getting rough treatment. Between gardening, cleaning, painting and puttering around they get exposed to a lot. What can we do to make sure they don’t look like they’ve through a boxing match without gloves? Gentle care is the key. Wear gloves whenever possible so your hands aren’t exposed to cleaning products, dirt and paint. Now that I’ve said that, I’ll admit this is a hard one to do 100% of the time, but do try.

Hand cream is another must have for your hands. Keep it in the bathroom, the bedroom and the kitchen. Use it!

Take care of your nails too. This starts with drinking enough water and eating a healthy diet. But here are a few more tips:

NEVER cut your cuticles. Keep them from drying out by using a good hand cream and hand soaks, then push them gently back with a cuticle/orange stick. Once you do this if you notice any white residue you can gently rub the area to remove this, but no cutting.

When you do cut your nails or hang nails make sure the clippers and other tools are very sharp so they don’t tear as you trim. Always trim neat and clean-not too deep. Once you get them cut, try filing weekly instead of cutting. Use the file in one direction to avoid splitting and use a good quality file. If you maintain your nails this way you may not have cut them. Use gentle hand treatments to soften your skin and your cuticles. Here are a few you can make yourself:

Rosewater Hand Massage

You’ll need:

1 tsp. glycerin
1 tsp. lemon juice
5 drops rose water
Mix together and keep in a small bottle. Use to massage your hands for 15-30 minutes. Don’t forget the cuticles!

Nail Soak

You’ll need:

1 cup bottled water
juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon aloe vera gel
10 drops lemon essential oil
Mix all together and use as a finger soak for about ten minutes on each hand.

Nail Manicure Treatment

You’ll need:

1 Tbsp. distilled water, slightly warmed
1 Tbsp. witch hazel
1 1/2 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. alum powder
Mix above in a glass bowl. Soak nails for 10-15 minutes, occasionally massaging cuticles gently. Rinse with cool water. Use for both hands, then discard.

Some more articles about hand and nail care:
Sexy, Beautiful Hands
Women’s Blog - All Women’s Talk Hand & Nail Care

Three blocks from my house is an old people’s home filled with old folks with nowhere to go but slowly to their graves. Many are aware and cheerful in their plight, others are silently resigned to their fate. The home lies on my bicycle route I take for exercise on Sundays. I like to stop and visit with the seniors as they while away the time in the lobby.

Mary is an eighty-seven year old ex music teacher. She knows a few arias by heart and sings them in a wobbly soft voice. She repeats stories of her long gone husband who taught violin. The stories are quite detailed but are repeated word for word ten minutes later.

Lou used to play piano in a bar. He bangs away at the beat up grand piano donated by a long dead resident. He knows only two or three songs as he keeps time with a stamping foot. The sprinkling of listeners avidly sponge up the sound for little comes their way in the form of entertainment. A lady wheels her chair up to me and asks me to play the piano for her. Some part of this request is to get the old man away from his pounding on the keys for a moment. I ask Lou if he would mind if I took a turn. He gladly gives up the bench and I start to play the old songs. The audience nods their heads in time and memory as I lead from one standard to another. I play some songs I wrote myself, more for my own entertainment than for theirs. They all clap when I’m finished and they drift off to their rooms.

These few minutes of conversation and song mean a lot to these lost souls. It supplies a focus of interest that serves the whole week of gossip at lunch and makes their passage through their daily purgatory a little more bearable.

Retired portrait photographer. Comments welcome.

Today eyelid surgery is quick, easy, and you can now get treatments at lower costs than ever before.

The reason prices have declined dramatically is due to the rise of medical tourism, where you can have the operation performed in another country far cheaper than you can in your country of origin.

Huge Savings and a Free Holiday!

By becoming a medical tourist, you get world-class healthcare, at a huge reduction in price that allows you take the holiday of a lifetime free.

Before we look at the savings in eyelid surgery lets look at the procedure.

Affordable Eyelid Surgery

Adults of all ages have aesthetic eyelid surgery.

Some people have eyelid surgery to correct problems that are a result of aging, while others have inherited traits genetically that cause them to seek treatment much earlier in life.

Eyelid surgery (technically called blepharoplasty) is a procedure to remove fat, as well as excess skin and muscle from the upper and lower eyelids.

Improving Your Appearance with Eyelid Surgery

Any one or combination of the following conditions will mean that you want eyelid surgery:

Excess skin obscuring the natural fold of the upper eyelids

Loose skin hanging down from upper eyelids, which, impairs vision

A puffed appearance to the upper eyelids, making the eyes look tired

Excess skin and fine wrinkles on the lower eyelids

Bags and dark circles under the eyes themselves

Sagging of the lower eyelids, showing white below the iris of the eye

Eyelid Surgery - The Operation

Aesthetic eyelid surgery can usually correct all of the above problems.

Other treatments are available to complement the above, for example:

When the patient has an upper eyelid condition and sagging of the eyebrows, then a forehead lift is also available.

Smoothing of crow’s feet (i.e on the skin on the face around the eye) may require chemical peeling or laser resurfacing procedures.

A bleaching solution or chemical peel used to tread circles under the eyes caused by dark pigmentation.

When a good cosmetic surgeon performs eyelid surgery, complications are rare and minor.

Local anaesthesia applied when performing eyelid surgery numbs the area around your eyes. Oral or intravenous sedatives are also used.

Eyelid surgery (Blepharoplasty) normally only takes about three hours, depending of course, on the extent of the surgery.

Eyelid Surgery with Huge Cost Savings

Consider this; in the USA typical prices are US the cost is $2,500 - 5,500, and in the UK £1,500 – £3,200. In India, the cost is just $650 - $1,700 or just £380 - £1,000. This is a massive cost saving.

India - A World leader in Medical Tourism

Indian corporate hospitals are comparable to hospitals anywhere in the world. In fact, India offers world-class medical facilities that are comparable with the USA or UK.

The high concentration of expatriate Indian medical staff working abroad particularly, in the USA and UK, gives patients confidence in healthcare in India generally. Patients are of course, already used to the expertise and professionalism of Indian medical staff.

Medical tourism in India is set to be a multi billion pound industry and with the quality of healthcare and prices, you can see why.

For more information about medical tours and the cost savings possible please visit our web site: http://www.meddetour.com

In my late teens, I met a lady called Emily who was 50 years old. She was the mother of my sisters boyfriend, at the time. She looked good for her age, a refined 50 year old.. exactly how I would like to look when I am that age. One day when I was at her house, Emily’s sister was there. Her sister looked very similar to Emily, but about 10 years older, so I had her pegged as Emily’s elder sister.

But what I discovered next was set to change my thinking forever:

She was an IDENTICAL TWIN!!!

I was totally shocked! Literally she looked 60 while Emily looked about 45. The difference? Smoking. The older looking twin smoked, the other did not.

At that age it did wake me up to the fact that daily habits such as smoking cannot be seen in the short term, but over a lifetime clearly add up to aged skin, lines and general bad health - and looking older then your years.

BUT the more interesting thing I learnt had nothing to do with smoking!

It always made me wonder, being a scientist myself, how smoking, UV rays from the sun, pollution, stress and excessive exercise can all lead to similar ailments, including of course premature aging. Particularly UV rays and smoking - how do they cause the same effect in the body? Then one day a few years back I met a German scientist who explained everything. The feeling was one of a TOTAL understanding of the body, yet the concept was so simple!

Smoking itself does not age you - I mean don’t get me wrong there are many affects of smoking, but one effect was particularly important. Smoking and UV rays as well as other things, cause a huge increase in molecules in the body called FREE RADICALS. The body produces these normally, however activities such as smoking increase the levels to dangerous amounts. These free radicals in turn INCREASE the normal rate of mutations that occur in the body.

Just to clarify, for a moment: the body is always in a state of renewal. Constantly duplicating its cells and then killing the old ones. It makes exact replicas of itself to do this. BUT over time errors occur (mutations) - and this is the NORMAL AGING PROCESS.

Now these free radical molecules SPEED UP the mutations, and therefore SPEED UP AGING.

I then learnt about anti oxidants. Antioxidants ‘mop up’ free radicals in the body. We get them from fruit and vegetables in the diet and they form our protection.

SO… it is NOT smoking, per say, but the fact that it INCREASES production of free radicals in the body and these go around INCREASING the rate of mutation in our cells which is the main cause of aging. You got it!

and… anti oxidants, the natural nutrients found in fruit and vegetables can mop up these free radicals bringing them back into line.

So… you could say, the more we have things such as pesticides on food, UV rays because of the ozone layer, pollution we cannot avoid, and hectic stressful lifestyles (as well as cultural habits such as smoking or passive smoking) the MORE anti oxidants we need.

But. As we need MORE anti oxidants, the supply is going down. Why? Because of the global market for fruit and vegetables, most are picked when unripe (the full complex of anti oxidants and their required co factors do not get a chance to form) and then shipped in gas storage around the world. All this means the nutritional value decreases. And that is in the fresh, natural produce. Add to that the fact that most of us eat in our diet mostly processed food (nutrients dead) - and there is a real problem.

When I found all this I realised something.

If Emilys sister is the real life example of what a higher level of free radicals does to you over time - increasing the aging process - surely the more anti oxidants we eat from a natural source, the more likely we are to be the REVERSE of Emily’s sister, and look 10 years YOUNGER when we are 50! I’ll drink my fruit and vegetable juices to that!

A scientist by training, I see our body as one big chemical reaction, with everything going in to it counting towards our health and appearance. Working with the best anti aging natural supplements over the last three years has led me to meetings with the worlds leading dieticians and doctors and I have learnt so much from this, which I now share to the world! http://www.envida.info anti aging natural supplements

First off, let me congratulate you that you are trying to do your own healing! So many people go to their MD/DO/physical therapist/chiropractor/massage therapist, etc. and expect that that person is going to be able to heal them completely. I often tell my clients who have chronic conditions (health related issues which last a long time) that even if they come for massage three times a week, they won’t see the kinds of improvements they want until they’re willing to do their own work to improve (be that stretching, doing their own massage, eating right, ice/heat, etc.). So congratulations on your willingness to do your own healing!

While I have never had multiple surgeries on the same area, I had four surgeries in a 6 year time span (including an ACL replacement in my right knee), and I understand the pain that often accompanies scar tissue.

I was fortunate with my ACL injury in that I had a surgeon who believed it was important to keep the knee moving and stretching. When I came to (from surgery), my knee was already moving in a machine called a CPM unit (Continuous Passive Movement – delivered by Colorado Professional Medical), which allowed me to set the speed and degree of the angle which my knee was moved to. It constantly moved my leg up and down, bending the knee each time. When I got home, I automatically started using the CPM unit again, which had been delivered to my house and which the delivery person had taught me how to use prior to surgery. I increased the speed and angle of degree every day and stopped using the CPM unit one week after surgery, because I had gotten back the full range of movement which the CPM unit allowed for (120 degrees). It was about 6 months after my knee surgery when I learned that some orthopedic knee surgeons believe in keeping the knee immobile for up to a month after ACL surgery. I was surprised and disappointed to hear this because keeping the knee immobile for that long of a time is setting the person up for a longer (and often more difficult) recovery.

Scar tissue develops all the time in muscle. When you pull muscles, some amount of scarring can occur. That scar tissue can be gotten rid of through normal stretching and activity. However, when serious scar tissue develops (as is often the case in whiplash and surgery) it can take a lot more to get that tissue to be reabsorbed into the body. If it is not gotten rid of, it can cause numbness of the nerves in an area, decreased flexibility, and ultimately, pain.

Many people think that scar tissue will simply go away after time, but most often, it does not. It is an injury which needs to be worked with in order to re-heal as effectively as possible.

Healing, depending on whom you talk to, is a complex process. Some people believe that prayer alone will heal, while others believe that only pills and western medicine will heal. Some have great success with acupuncture, others with chiropractic, and others with nutrition. I believe that healing is a combination of all of these things.

What I offer here is advice on how to massage scar tissue, with the hope that you will be able to use it and effectively break up your scar tissue. I hope this works for you, and hope as well that you will let me know your results. I hope you’ll incorporate whatever else works for you, as that will help speed up your healing. Also, a point I’ll make is that massage is all hands-on, so describing it using a non hands-on medium like email or the Internet is a bit difficult; I’ll do my best, but if there’s something you don’t understand, please email me.

There are two levels of scar tissue which you can address with massage. One is the skin level, and the other is the muscle level. I will first address the skin level, and then address the muscle level.

When scar tissue develops, the brain/nerve connections, which have to happen to detect touch, never develop or develop very weak. This is because scar tissue develops primarily to heal and protect, and only secondarily to feel sensation. In other words, the tissue naturally develops a weak ability to notice sensation while it is being created. Because most people don’t use or touch a part of the body which had a kind of trauma to it, (like that which comes from surgery or a car accident,) the tissue doesn’t receive any stimulation. This means that in many cases (after surgery or other trauma), the secondary function of scar tissue, sensation, never or barely develops. Over time, this lack of sensation causes an area to be touched less (after all, why would a person touch an area that had no feeling?). It receives less touch, and because of this, it receives less stimulation, which means that the nerve endings and connections develop less, which means that the area has less feeling, so it is touched less; and the process goes on until there is a thick mass of non-sensory tissue, most of it probably scar tissue.

I have larger scars on two of my fingers (from surgery). While sitting in class or somewhere where I only need to listen to what’s going on, I will take a sharpened pencil, paper clip, nail file, or even a needle (something with a small point), to see what kind of feeling I have in a specific spot on the scar. I will really pay attention to what kinds of sensations I’m having in the spot that I’m touching. I don’t pierce the skin, as that would only cause further injury to a healing area, but I do test to see how much sensation I have. I have done this since having surgery over 8 years ago. Over time, the sensations have become stronger and more definite in the scar tissue itself, and as the sensation has come back, the scar tissue has been reduced (not gone away), and become much less painful. It probably also helps that I am a massage therapist, and while working on a client, I use the sensations coming from my hands to understand when a muscle is tight, or when it has knots, etc. I pay a lot of attention to the sensations coming from my fingers.

For the skin level on a knee, you will want to work on the scar itself. Touch it with an object with a small point in several specific spots on and around the scar. Can you feel the sensation? If not, start by going around the edge of the scar. Can you feel that sensation? Notice what it feels like. Does it make a difference if you press hard or light? What about if you move it around a little?

Set an intention that you want to feel sensation in that specific point you are touching. By doing this, and focusing your attention on it, you are forcing your brain and your body to focus in on the sensory information you should be receiving from those nerves. Just like working to develop more flexibility by stretching the same muscles over an extended amount of time, you are working to develop those nerves on a daily basis by using different kinds of touch. Over time, you will redevelop more feeling in the area than you previously had.

Moving on to the deeper layers, it is important to know that just as scar tissue develops on the outside layers of the skin, it develops in the muscle. Muscle can be divided into two groups with regard to scar tissue; areas which can be worked through direct massage, and those which are much more difficult to work with using massage. Most massage therapists have developed an ability to work at a deep level within the muscle that most non massage therapists have not. For the areas which are difficult to get to when doing massage yourself, I would recommend getting into a regular stretching program and getting regular massage. Most recreation/fitness centers now offer Yoga classes. If yours doesn’t offer Yoga or another kind of stretching program, ask them why they don’t, and consider joining one that does.

Also, consider getting regular scar tissue massage for a while. If you don’t know a good massage therapist, ask a friend who gets regular massage, or even look up a CMT in the phone book. You can find criteria for selecting a massage therapist by clicking here. You may have to take some time researching, but it will be worth it when you find a therapist with whom you feel comfortable, and schedule an appointment. Massage can range from $20 to upwards of $300/hour. The cost doesn’t necessarily determine the quality of the massage, so don’t think you have to pay an arm and a leg to get a great massage. Let the therapist know your wants with regard to getting your scar tissue broken up, and they should be able to help you.

Another thing to consider (when getting massage for a trauma area) is that the muscles around the area will be tightening up in protection of the injury. In the case of a knee surgery, this would be the quadriceps, hamstrings muscles, calf muscles, and all the muscles on the anterior (front) side of the lower leg. A therapist should know to work these muscles, and you can rub them yourself as well to help keep them loose.

On to the level of scar tissue in the muscle that you can work yourself, cross-fiber technique can be very effective. If your scar tissue is right over the knee cap you’ll probably have to lift it up off of the knee and squeeze it between your thumbs and forefingers to get to it. However, if it is in a more substantial set of muscle (lower quads), you will be able to work your fingers across the muscle and use a cross-fiber technique on the muscle (or have someone do this for you).

Cross-Fibering

Start by using a cream, lotion, or oil (I personally recommend Lotus Touch cream, available from www.lotustouch.com) and use it on the area you want to work. Skinstore.com also sells a few creams and gels, which have been reported to help considerably to diminish the tightness and the overall thickness of scar tissue. Remember that you are using the massage cream to allow your hands or a tool to more easily move across the skin, so if the skin soaks all of it up, you may need to reapply. You will then want to work across the muscle fibers. In the case of the muscles around the knee: as you are standing, most of the muscle fibers go up and down, so you will want to work across the leg. You can use massage tools and/or implements to get into the muscle deeply and work across the muscle, or you can use your hands. One good hand position is to bend the middle and ring fingers and use the second knuckle (closest knuckle to the hand-but not the knuckle joining the hand) on the middle and ring fingers, to get into the muscle fibers of the quads/calves, while the second and pinky fingers are straight and glide across the leg. Move up and down the muscle, making sure to focus on areas where it feels like there is more binding of the tissues. You can finish by doing a gentle massage on the area to calm it down. This is one possibility for cross-fibering.

Whatever hand position or tool you use with cross-fibering, remember that your goal is to break up the scar tissue by going across the muscle, and remember that this isn’t going to happen overnight. By using cross-fibering, you are actually causing minor traumas to an area which promote the healing in that area. You don’t want to re-injure the area to the point where more scar tissue develops because of your working on it. A generally good way to know how much pressure is enough is that it should be on the level between uncomfortable and painful. So it should be uncomfortable, but not overly painful. As far as the time it takes for healing, a good general guideline is that you should give the scar tissue as long to break up (if you’re working on it daily) as it did for it to be created. In other words, if you had surgery two years ago, and you just started working with the scar tissue yesterday, large improvements could take up to two years from yesterday. Healing doesn’t have to take this long, but this should give you an idea of how patient you should be.

In summary:

Work with the scar as often as you think about it. It is possible to overwork an area, but not likely that you will with the scar tissue.

Use heat to bring blood to an area, cold to take blood away from an area. Generally speaking, you will want to take the blood away from an area before you work with scar tissue so that it will hurt less to work with it (the cold of ice will also numb the nerves so you can work with the scar tissue). You will then want to work with the tissue that is deeper in the muscle, using cross-fibering, while it is cold. When you are done, you will want to heat the area to bring blood in and carry away the toxins which are released as you break up the scar tissue and open up the area. (Too much time with the heat can cause an abundance of blood in an area, which can cause swelling and a different kind of pain. Generally, 20-30 minutes with the heat is a safe bet.) You will want to use moist heat if possible (i.e. a wet washcloth warmed up in the microwave or something comparable), as it will draw more fluids to the area and encourage the muscle to return to its natural state. (Don’t get the heat so hot that it burns you.)

Working with the scar tissue may hurt initially.

Pain should decrease over time, but may not fully go away. Be prepared for this, but don’t psyche yourself out. It does get better.

You can do the work yourself

You can have great results just from working on the scar tissue yourself. You will be most successful if you will work on it yourself because you are the only one who is with you 24 hours a day, so you can be there all the time to work on it. However, just like it feels better to get a massage from someone else than it does to give yourself one, you may experience good results from someone else working on you as well. Just make sure that you communicate with them (and that they are willing to listen) when there is too much pain, or not enough pressure, etc. Also, there may be cases where you can not reach the scar tissue (i.e. back surgery. If this is the case, have someone else work with you, and get into a regular stretching program). Caveat: Make sure you say thank you to the person who is helping take care of you. They’re much more likely to help again.

Nutrition is important.

Eating well can have a huge impact on how quickly the body will heal. With regard to scar tissue, nutrition plays an important role in how quickly the body will be able to develop feeling in an area and breakdown the scar tissue. It needs the vitamins and minerals to build tissue, create chemical connections, and carry away toxins.

Be patient.

The human organism is amazing in what it can do, if given the time and resources it needs to do so. If you re-injure the area by doing more than it can handle (i.e. bungee-jumping two weeks after surgery), don’t expect your body to respond well.

Be patient!

Jonathan Kraft is a Certified Massage Therapist living and working in Colorado. You find out more about massage, healing, and generaly wellness at www.strive4impact.com/massage.html

Linus Pauling—Scientist for the Ages

You can’t copyright a title so I stole the title for this article. This winter I have avoided colds and sore throats and such by taking a bunch of vitamin “C.” I learned this from Dr. Linus Pauling.

Now that we are in the second paragraph, I can give you the URL for the title I stole. It is http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/lpbio/lpbio2.html. If you don’t do anything else today, read that article. You will learn about his two Nobel Prizes and the extent of his scientific research and humanitarian services.

Dr. Pauling was a teacher. I had a chance to hear him lecture on the nature of the chemical bond when I was a sophomore in college. He was fun to listen to, as clear as a bell, and he had a great sense of humor. I went up and chatted with him with a bunch of chemistry students who attended the lecture. What a thrill to meet this great scientist.

In college we used Dr. Pauling’s text book. We felt we knew him before he came to the University of Utah campus. He was fired by Caltech, where he spent a great deal of his career, because of his antiwar activities. Caltech lost their most eminent professor who was quickly grabbed up by the University of California at Berkeley and later by Stanford University. For the activities for which he was fired he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The range of Dr. Pauling’s research was broad as you will see when you read the article. My interest, as I mentioned, is to avoid suffering from colds and sore throats all winter, something my grandkids and their parents here in Idaho can not avoid. I take lots of vitamin “C” on the first onset of a cold. I’m not allergic to the vitamin and it does not give me “the trots” like it does some people.

At the first sign of a cold I take 3000 mgs in the form of six 500-mg pills. I take this with my orange juice. Later in the day, I take another dose of the same size. That makes 6000 mgs which is below the 10,000 mg limit.

I usually don’t have to take anymore after this initial treatment. However, Dr. Pauling showed that Vitamin "C" taken with lysine helps prevent arteriosclerosis of which I have a major case. So I do take some everyday unless I forget. Forgetting is called OMS (Old Man’s Syndrome).

Dr. Pauling wrote a book on this procedure so you may want to read his book by getting a copy at http://tinyurl.com/kpuja where you will find a listing of all of his books. Just look for the one on Vitamin “C” which is entitled Vitamin C and the Common Cold.

Taking my own advice I ordered three of his books in good but used condition. I bought the Vitamin C book, one on living longer, and one on quantum mechanics.

The reason I bought the book on longevity is because Dr. Linus Pauling was still running around airports at age ninty-three.

The End

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself "Taylor Jones, the hack writer."

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.aaaflagpoles.com

Sadly, the world that we live in today is no longer as clean and undefiled as it used to be. Recent technological advancements have done considerable damage to our environment. The air that we breathe in and the water that we drink and bathe in isn’t as pure as it used to be. Out of all our body organs, it is the skin that takes the worst beating from all these unfortunate changes. But thanks to recent medical breakthroughs, we now have treatments available to combat the harsh odds that the elements have dealt us.

The harsh wind and sunlight, coupled with neglect, can cause premature skin aging and leave unsightly lines and blemishes. While topical drugs can address some problems, it is still not enough to keep the face from looking dry and rough. A more aggressive yet gentle form of treatment is needed to prevent the face from further damage.

Chemical peeling is now being regarded as the best option to give the skin a second lease at life. Chemical peels work by removing the epidermis, which is the outermost layer of the skin. Peeling off the epidermis dramatically improves skin texture, smoothing out wrinkles, erasing spots caused by photo-aging and balancing the skin’s color.

The chemical applied to the skin varies, depending on the extent of skin damage. Light to medium chemical peels are advisable for people who have age spots and pigment abnormalities or those suffering from the early stages of photo-aging. Cosmetic surgeons normally use either alpha-hydroxy (glycolic, lactic or fruit acids) or trichloroacetic (TCA) acids for the said procedure. Phenol peels, on the other hand, are recommended for severely damaged skin.

TCA vs. AHA

While both TCA and AHA can be used to treat light to moderately damaged skin, the former proves to be more effective in providing definite results. Dr. Mitchell E. Blum, a recognized cosmetic surgeon who has been practicing for more than 25 years, provides a deeper, more thorough peel, as opposed to AHA, which may require several applications before results can be achieved. He also states that a TCA skin peel mimics the results of a Phenol peel, in that it penetrates the deeper layers of the skin, but provides a shorter recovery period. TCA peel is also quite affordable, and medical grade kits for home use can be found online at http://www.bestskinpeel.com.

However, Dr. Blum advises the use of tretinoin (preferably Retin-A), glycolic acid and other bleaching agents at least four to six weeks prior to undergoing the procedure to prepare the skin for the chemical peel. This is because tretinoin stimulates the skin to heal faster while glycolic acid enhances the effect of the tretinoin.

The Procedure

The procedure is fairly quick, consuming a maximum of one hour. TCA is applied onto the face, focusing specifically on troubled portions of the skin. Because of the burning sensation that the TCA will generate, surgeons normally advise their patients to drink painkillers or sedatives to relieve the discomfort. Ice can also be applied to the skin to relieve the pain.

After The Procedure

Patients are advised to wash their face daily with gentle soap and water, followed by the application of an oil-based or steroid ointment. The skin will appear red for the first few days but will eventually flake within four to seven days. To achieve maximum effect, patients are advised to use sunblock to avoid recurring skin problems.

David Maillie is a chemist with over 12 years experience in biochemical research and clynical analysis. He is an alumni of Cornell University and specializes in biochemical synthesis for public, private, and governmental interests. He can be reached at M.D. Wholesale: http://www.bestskinpeel.com.

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin and it is required daily by our body. Lemon, orange etc are the best sources of Vitamin C. Vitamin C helps your skin glow and look beautiful and it is not just due to the creams and lotions you apply.

Orange is a great source of Vitamin C and it is recommended for daily intake to keep the skin healthy. Vitamin C also protects the skin from ultraviolet rays. Vitamin C also acts as an anti-aging agent and makes the skin wrinkle free. At least 200 mg of Vitamin C is required daily by our body and consuming one orange would help you meet your daily needs of Vitamin C.

It is good to take an orange than have a glass of orange juice. Vitamin C also helps in healing wounds and making the skin look good and beautiful. Dull looking skin requires Vitamin C for nourishment. It also helps if you have bleeding gums. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and helps the skin. Vitamin C also helps in to slowing down the degeneration of skin and organs in our body.

Instead of taking Vitamin C pills, it is advised to take fruits and vegetables containing natural vitamins. Fruits have more natural vitamins and fibers than vitamin pills.

Paul has been providing answers to lots of queries through his website on a wide variety of subjects ranging from satellite phones to acne. To learn more visit http://www.askaquery.com/Answers/qn1649.html

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