Sun Damage: A Cumulative Kick To The Face

This guy hates your face. Nothing personal. 

We’ve all heard of the damaging effects of sun exposure, but in case you haven’t noticed, it’s kind of hard to avoid sun exposure. I mean, it’s a giant ball of fire in the sky – you can’t miss it.

However, the damaging effects of cumulative exposure to the sun are serious, sometimes resulting in skin cancer, age spots, and things with scary names like melasma, labial lentigo, and poikiloderma. What many people don’t realize though, is that most signs of aging are directly due to sun exposure. So let’s talk about the problem, prevention, and the prescription to heal damaged skin.
 
The Problem
Sun damage is caused by frequent exposure to damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays. UV is an undetectable form of radiation emitted by the sun. There are two types of UV rays, UVA and UVB. UVA rays penetrate deep into the skin and are the major source of early aging and skin cancer. UVB rays primarily access the surface of the skin and are the key source of sunburns.

Whether you are walking to your car, driving to work, or simply sitting near a window, you are exposed to harmful UV rays. This type of daily contact is known as secondary UV exposure.

Secondary exposure occurs where you least expect it. It can occur in the shade, on cloudy days, even while you are indoors. It is likely that the usual individual is exposed to more than 10 hours of indoor UV rays every week. Add to that over 7 hours of outdoor UV rays a week and without a suitable shield, your weekly UV-radiation exposure might total nearly 20 hours. That's like spending the weekend at the beach without wearing sunscreen!

The primary cosmetic complaint? Solar elastosis. Ultraviolet radiation breaks down the skin's connective tissue — collagen and elastin fibers — which lie in the deeper layer of skin (dermis). Without the supportive connective tissue, the skin loses its strength and flexibility. This condition, known as solar elastosis, is characterized by vertical creases, deep wrinkles, and loose or sagging skin.

Prevention
The easiest way to prevent over-exposure is avoiding the sun altogether. Yes, it’s a giant ball of fire in the sky, but here are a few tips:

• Avoid the sun between the hours of 10:00am and 4:00pm. UV rays are the strongest during that time.
• Seek out shade when outdoors
• Wear a wide-brimmed hat
• Consider a parasol. They’re sexy!
• OMG, do not try to tan!!! When UV rays penetrate and damage your skin, your skin reacts be creating more melanin – the pigment that makes you look tan. In other words, a tan is direct evidence of skin damage.

Of course, one can’t always avoid the sun, so when outdoors, be sure to use sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher. Moisturize daily with SPF-enhanced moisturizer for continue protection. Remember: sun damage is cumulative. There is a reason a baby’s skin is so smooth and why we sag as we age.

Prescription
At Pareo & Wolf, we specialize in the various treatments of skin damage. Healing the underline damage requires good nutrition and hydration, but even after healing, the cosmetic damage can be disastrous. To rejuvenate and refresh your look, here are the two primary options available to you:

• Microdermabrasion – During microdermabrasion, we lightly scrape away minute surface skin particles. This stimulates the creation and structure of new skin cells, which reduces the look of fine wrinkles and skin discoloration, improving skin texture, and ever-increasing skin sparkle. Multiple treatments are typically needed.
• Chemical Peels – A chemical peel removes the top layer of dead and damaged skin, allowing a new layer of skin to regrow. It is noticeably stronger, smoother, more elastic and less wrinkled.

Of course, there are many different types of treatments, peels, lasers, etc, which can be found on our website www.pareoandwolf.com. Stay hydrated, prevent exposure, and heal your skin – the 3-pronged approach to tackling sun damage!




Cheers!
Shannyn Pareo
Shanae Ruddell
www.pareoandwolf.com

P&W SPECIALS: July

SPECIAL #1:

HCG: 
$140 off!
One of Pareo & Wolf's most treasured services is high-quality HCG products and support! If you haven't heard of HCG, you can check out www.LivingThinNow.com, but here's the bottom line: you can lose over 1 pound a day!

Call Shannyn or Shanae at our Studio City office for details: 818.763.3270




 

SPECIAL #2:

Diamond Tip Microdermabrasion: 
Normally $145, now only $95
Diamond microdermabrasion machine uses diamond tips to perform skin exfoliation. During the treatment, the microdermabrasion tip, covered with tiny diamonds is placed on the skin surface to clean the pores and at the same time loosening the dead skin cells before suctioning them off as in the traditional microdermabrasion procedure.

The diamond-tip method is a new, safer, and more effective method of microdermabrasion, and we're proud to offer it at a discount!

Digestion: Good For Your Skin

There's an old medical saying that your digestive system is the seat of health, and that's never more true than when discussing the health of your skin. Here are 4 quick tips to improving your skin through your belly.

Drink Water - On a cellular level, water removes toxins and plumps up the cell walls. Many people are concerned about bloating when drinking too much water, but research has proven that bloating is increased only when there's not enough water. When your body is low in water, it retains everything it's got i.e. bloating. When there is plenty of water, the body only holds on to the optimum level that you need, and your skin remains hydrated and strong.


Decrease Sugar Intake - Did you know that excess sugar is considered one of the main causes of premature aging? When sugar enters our bloodstream, it can create a cumulative effect. Over time, this can result in a process known as glycation, which is when a glucose (sugar) molecule damages a protein molecule by sticking to it. The new molecules formed are called advanced glycation end-products, or AGEs. AGEs damage collagen in skin, cartilage, and ligaments and promote a loss of elasticity. Wrinkles form and skin begins to sag.

Fiber - Imagine fiber as your internal cleaning system and magical health supplement. Fiber scours your body of toxins and waste and has been show to positively affect everything from heart disease to acne. Men should have anywhere from 31-38 grams a day, and women should get 21-25. The best part is, it's easy add some fiber. Here's a delicious recommendation for you to get a quick 10+ grams of fiber: VitaTops. Remember that Seinfeld episode about delicious muffin tops? Well, now a company called Vitalicious makes delicious muffin tops with a ton of fiber in them. Trust me, go to Target, buy a box, and then leave your comment of thanks below. :-)


Get Fatty - Doing some research, we picked up the following from About.com:

Essential fatty acids are simply fats your body cannot live without. They are needed to make cell membranes, hormones, and other body chemicals. Essential fats are thought to keep your heart healthy, fight inflammation, and possibly prevent cancer. They are also particularly important to people with inflammatory conditions such as eczema and acne, and also for people with dry skin. People with essential fat deficiency sometimes notice bumps on the backs of their arms. Here are my suggestions on getting more essential fats:

• Flaxseed and walnut oil - Use flaxseed oil or walnut oil with balsamic vinegar as a salad dressing. Be sure to keep these oils refrigerated. They should not be heated or used for cooking.
  
• Cold water fish - Sardines are a good source of essential fats. Salmon is another good source, however these salmon accumulate toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (otherwise known as PCBs) in their body fat during the 95 percent of their lives they spend at sea.
  
• Supplements - Consider fish oil supplements. 

Just remember: adjustments in what comes into your body, is going to affect what comes out of your body in terms of skin health. 

Ok, enjoy your muffin tops, salmon, and new skin!!



Shannyn Pareo
Shanae Ruddell
www.pareoandwolf.com

Living Thin is featured in Marie Claire!!

We are so excited! In the February 2011 issue of Marie Claire, the writer relays an experience with the HCG diet. Living Thin - a division of beauty clinic Pareo and Wolf - is where all the weight loss took place!!

Here is the article!
_____

LAST YEAR I TRIED a controversial diet that involves extreme calorie restriction and needles. And you know what? It wasn’t that hard to pull off. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

As the creative director of a fashion magazine in London, my life was frantic. While I tried to balance family and a stressful job that demanded heavy travel, my health had become last on my list of priorities. I was exhausted. The final straw came after a long flight from London to L.A. After landing, I experienced chest pains and was rushed to the hospital. Would I die for fashion? It turned out not to be a heart attack, but pleurisy [a type of lung inflammation—I’d had a history of asthma]. Still, I felt my unforgiving lifestyle was to blame. I was commuting to California quite a bit, and I yearned for the relatively slower pace I found to be part of life there. A year later, my family and I decided to move across the Atlantic and settle in a new life on the West Coast.

Once we got here, I had some room to self-evaluate. Am I alone in having tried and failed to eat healthy while working insanely long hours and then coming home to tuck the kids into bed? My reliance on Coca-Cola — about three cans a day — was growing. My weight gain began to bother me.

Soon after I arrived in L.A., a hairdresser friend turned up at a shoot I was working on looking slim and incredible. Naturally, the women on the set pounced. “What’s your secret?” we demanded. She revealed that she’d tried the HCG Diet, which entailed eating no more than 500 calories per day and giving herself shots of human chorionic Gonadotropin hormone once a day. We gasped. “It changed the way I eat forever!” she enthused, and raved about how the pounds rolled off. She was still curvy in all the right places and lacked that gaunt look some dieters get. Most noticeably, her waist looked tiny, like mine did before I had kids. She handed me a phone number.

I began to do my research. As it turns out, HCG levels are highest in pregnant women and can be extracted from their urine or created synthetically. The central idea behind the diet seems to be that the hormone forces the body to mobilize fat and use it for energy, as it would during pregnancy in order to nourish the fetus. This “trick” makes you feel sustained, even if you’re not eating much. Even better, the HCG combined with caloric restriction apparently “resets” your metabolism.

The HCG diet was published in book form in 2007 by Kevin Trudeau as The Weight Loss Cure They Don’t Want You to Know About, a reference to its lack of FDA approval. But Trudeau’s past – he spent two years in prison for fraud and has been fined numerous times as a result of complaints made by the Federal Trade Commission – has detracted from his credibility, to say the least. I also read negative press from dietitians, who claim that by eating so few calories, you’d lose weight regardless of HCG, I also heard that some men experienced side effects like altered testosterone levels. But to be honest, I didn’t care. I just wanted to lose the weight, and I was willing to take my chances. On Line, the positive testaments to HCG were endless. I was in.

The clinic was tucked inside a plain, women-only gym in Studio City. It had no-frills spa atmosphere were you could get a massage, facial, or, in my case, a month’s supply of hormone injections. The beauty consultant I met with was currently undergoing medical training, though she wasn’t yet a registered nurse. Still, she seemed very knowledgeable and totally put me at ease.

She explained that I could do the diet for 21 days and, if I wanted to continue losing weight, up to 45 days. [After that, she said, the body becomes HCG immune.] Yes, I was apprehensive about the daily injections. But then she shocked me by handing me a needle and saying bluntly, “You have to do this yourself.” She taught me to wipe down my skin with alcohol and coached me on inserting the needle into my thigh. It was scary and it hurt, but it wasn’t unbearable. I would also need to inject vitamin B12 into my waistline three times a week in order to boost my energy. We reviewed the diet plan, and I paid $750. Apart from the weekly checkups, I was on my own.

When it came to eating, the rules sounded strict. No dairy, carbs, alcohol, or sugar. Yes to organic meats, vegetables, and fish – small portions. Cutting out sugar was my biggest challenge. No more Coke. Instead, I became addicted to pints of hot water with lemon, first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I was peeing more often, and for a week, I was hungry and tired. After that, something shifted: My energy levels soared, my skin was clearer, and the whites of my eyes were whiter. I felt fantastic.

Once a week I returned to the clinic, where they weighted me, took photo documentation, and, most importantly, refreshed my HCG supply. I was losing about a pound per day, with plateaus here and there. By B12 injections were starting to hurt a bit more as there was less fat to cushion the needle. The diet was working so well that by day 21, I signed up to run the whole 45-day course. I handed over another $500.

In the end, I lost a total of 25 pounds, ending up at a weight I hadn’t been in 10 years and even losing my post-pregnancy stomach. Suddenly, my wardrobe opened up to me. Long-forgotten pants fit perfectly. Most importantly, a year later, I haven’t regained any of the weight. Was it crazy to try this weird diet without more formal medical supervision? Maybe, I would suggest that anyone with health issues or concerns about potential side effects consult a doctor first.

When I tell people how I lost the weight, initially they’re shocked. Honestly, lots of people in L.A. are doing this diet, but it’s not out in the open because it tends to get a wild reaction from people. I’ll say this: I’m very sensible, certainly no fad dieter, and not someone who usually does impulsive things. But in this case I took a chance, and I’m glad I did.

Don't look scary for Halloween!

ONLY your costume should be scary for Halloween - but NEVER your face!

BLOG SPECIAL: October and November 2010

 DNA Cryostem Facial for 1/2 OFF

Everyone has been waiting for us to do this special again, make sure you book before November 30th to take advantage of this special offer!

The DNA CryoStem Skin Therapy System is a revolutionary breakthrough in skin science. The innovative technology of Stem Cell Skin Therapy is synergistically blended with organic vitamins, minerals, essential fats, enzymes, and natural antioxidants to repair free-radical damage, create a moisture-rich environment, promote collagen synthesis, and encourage the production of elastin. Through topical application of this unique cryogenic and bio-active skin stem cell serum, communication of biologically flawless information is introduced to aged and damaged skin. Because existing skin will replicate the condition of the applied new cells, it will also be just as flawless. This biological reprogramming creates the perfect environment for future generations of fresh, younger skin. The skin looks younger because, technically, it is younger. The CryoStem Skin Therapy System consists of 100% organic, chemical and preservative free ingredients and formulations. DNA CryoStem technology is approved and registered by the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This skin renewal system is administered and available only through licensed professionals.

The DNA CryoStem™ Skin Therapy System Benefits a Broad Range of Skin Conditions of the Face and Body:
• Lines, Wrinkles, Skin and Facial Stress.
• Fine Lines Around Lips and Mouth.
• All Types of Scars, Keloids (new and old), Abrasions.
• Stretch Marks.
• Acne and Acne Scars (pitted and ice-pick)
• Skin Laxity of the Face and Neck
• Redness / Blotching
• Rosacea, Oily and Dry
• Aged Décolleté
• Skin of the Hands, Arms, Back and Feet
• Photodamage and Aging Due to Cumulative Sun Exposure
• Other Visible Signs of Aging Due to Environmental Factors
• Treatment for the Entire Delicate Eye Area, Including Eye Bags
• Skin Discoloration Hyperpigmentation and Hypopigmentation

 Includes microdermabrasion and chemical peel or dermaplane. 

This is by far our favorite facial.  Don't miss out.  When booking, be sure to mention our blog to get 50% off!

818-763-3270   http://www.pareoandwolf.com/

Welcome to our blog!!

We at Pareo & Wolf are excited to announce many changes to our web presence. The two biggest? A brand-new website and a blog!!

From our website you can view our menu of services as well as take a look at the different resources we provide to our clients. Whether it's clearing out acne, rejuvenating your face, or helping you lose weight, our website is the place to be!

Our blog is designed to give you access to some of the techniques and tips we utilize in our private practice. Our clients benefit from our experience and knowledge, now you can too!

Visit www.PareoandWolf.com to get plugged in to all the new changes happening within our company!