Hair Transplant, Sir?

There are many reasons for hair loss but 95% of all cases in men are due to a condition called "androgenetic alopecia." This is commonly referred to as "male pattern baldness."

Most cases of hair loss in women are due to inherited female pattern balding, but medical conditions such as low thyroid levels, hormonal imbalances (elevated testosterone), binge dieting, and pregnancy can contribute to the condition. Women tend to experience a subtle thinning all over the scalp and loss of volume at the top.

You may loose 10 to 200 strands of hair per day. But this hair is not dead as all the hair that falls gets replaced with new growing hair. The hair goes through a generation, growth and fall cycle which continues again with generation of new hair. You do not become bald because you are loosing more hair, you will become bald when the lost hair is not replaced with new hair.

CANDIDATES FOR HAIR RESTORATION:

Hair transplantation involves transferring hairs from the back and side of the head (the "donor area") to those areas undergoing hair loss or thinning. The hairs from the donor area are genetically programmed to be permanent. Once transplanted, these hairs will continue to grow for a lifetime, they can be groomed, shampooed and require haircuts like normal hair.


The only permanent remedy for hair loss is surgical hair restoration, or hair transplantation.

Most men in good general health are candidates for hair transplantation. if:

* You've lost hair due to an inherited trait
* You've lost hair due to trauma or burns
* You have healthy hair growth at the back and side of your head

CONSULTATION & PREPARATION:

You should arrange to have a private consultation with us. During your consultation, to develop a plan for your hair restoration ,we will determine:

* Grade of hair loss (Grade I - VII)
* Density of donor hair
* Color of hair
* Texture of hair
* Future hair loss projections
* Scalp laxity
* Number of grafts required to meet your expectations.

We recommend the pre-treatment/pre-conditioning of hair with our medicinal treatment protocol which stops hair fall, induces new hair growth and strengthens the hair roots in the recipient area prior to the transplant.
This protocol of medication uses medicines once in 3 days, reduces cost of medication and guarantees no side effects. It stops hair loss in 2 months, and thinning of hair in men and women will get corrected by 60 – 70% with cyclical medicines within 4 months. Moreover, pre conditioning the hair roots ensures a predictable and guaranteed result following the hair transplant.

Who needs a hair transplant?
Anybody below age of 23 years or not having hair loss beyond Grade III is not considered for hair transplant surgery. Patients with grade 3 hair loss respond with medicines alone; unless the patient desires to change the hairline or bring forward the temporal receding on either sides. Patients with grade 4 hair loss and more require medicines and surgery to achieve a desirable result. (HT packages)

HOSPITAL STAY/OUT-PATIENT:

Hair transplant is done as a day care procedure, and you will be discharged on the same day.

ANAESTHESIA:

It, is performed using local anaesthesia along with sedation (if required) to make you relaxed and comfortable.

FOLLICULAR UNIT MICROGRAFTING (FUT):

Today, the state of the art procedure is Follicular Unit Grafting. A follicular unit is the naturally occurring grouping of hairs containing from 1 - 3, occasionally 4 hairs. As many as 2500 grafts can be transplanted in a single procedure lasting 6 - 10 hours.




The grafts can be inserted into tiny needle- sized sites in the recipient area. A combination of these different sized grafts is used in the hair restoration, with the one-hair grafts in an irregular pattern along the hairline, and the two-, three- and four-hair grafts placed further behind to create more density. By transplanting
follicular units, the way hair grows naturally, the results of the hair transplantation are virtually undetectable.

The front and top of your head will receive transplanted hair first, because these are the areas that frame your face & make the most impact on your appearance. The crown is usually the last area to receive hair (in later procedures), unless it’s your only balding area.

THE RECOVERY PERIOD:

Antibiotics & mild pain pills to reduce the chance of pain & swelling are taken the first three days after the procedure. You can shampoo your hair with a mild shampoo on day 3 following surgery and can return to work and most regular activities. You will have to return to the clinic on Day 10 to remove the sutures from the donor area at the back of your head. If you are from out of town you can get it removed from a qualified practitioner close to your place.

Weight-lifting, heavy exercise, and swimming can be resumed after one week, once the stitches used to close the donor site have been removed.

Patients find that their “new” hair falls out within 3-6 weeks after surgery. This condition is normal and almost always temporary. After hair falls out, it will take another 5-6 weeks before hair growth resumes. To help accelerate the growth of the transplants, we recommend the patient to start the medicinal treatment protocol again following the removal of the sutures as it reverses or halts the miniaturization process in many individuals and is thus the logical way to decrease the risk of shedding following a transplant. You can expect about a 2-3cm of growth per month after 3 months of the operation.

FOLLOW-UP PROCEDURES:

You may need a "touch-up" procedure to create more natural-looking results or to increase the density if required, after your incisions have healed. This is carried out approx. 4-6 months following the first surgery.
The results of hair replacement surgery can enhance your appearance, self-confidence and change your persona.

Mexican medicine

Dorthea, 72, a retired bank teller, lives in Harlingen, Texas, a city of about 67,000 in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley. Like a lot of Texans, she's crossed the border to Mexico a few times to buy cheap medication. But she'd never considered undergoing complicated medical procedures there—at least, not until she was quoted the prohibitive price of $30,000 for a gastric-band procedure, a treatment for obesity in which a band is placed around the stomach to limit food intake. It wasn't covered by her insurance, so Dorthea, who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy reasons, opted to drive south and pay less than $10,000 for the outpatient operation at an American-owned hospital in Reynosa, Mexico, 10 minutes over the border and about an hour from her home. The outpatient surgery was a success, and she's planning on returning for follow-up care. "It was very good treatment," she says.

Medical tourism, which used to be mainly for elective surgery, and aimed at people who could afford weeklong trips to Brazil, is becoming an increasingly viable source of more basic health care for some of those sidelined by the insurance system in America, where 47 million people are uninsured and many millions are underinsured. Now, Americans like Dorthea who live along the Mexican border are driving and even walking south in search of treatment that can cost half or less of what it does in the United States. In response, American hospital chains are starting to buy into Mexico; Dallas-based CHRISTUS Health has built six hospitals in Mexico, including the Reynosa facility Dorthea visited, through its partnership with a Mexican chain. Most of its doctors are Mexican with Mexican medical degrees.


Comment: Just remember the saying (which holds true here) "You get what you pay for."
Maybe you should talk to those individuals, who have developed complications and unable to get the necessary follow-up care in Mexico. Just ask this same group how much money they had to pay out of pocket (100% that is) to correct the complication.
Maybe you should talk to those individuals horrified to find out the "nurse," who really was NOT a nurse, took "care" of them.

Sleepwalk? Try Sleepsex!

It's Called 'Sexsomnia'

People with this rare disorder engage in sexual activity while asleep, but don't remember it later. Yes some actually snored while the sex act was steaming full ahead.

When Jan Luedecke of Toronto was arrested and tried for sexual assault, he had an unusual defense—he did it in his sleep. Ha-ha.
Really.
It may sound farfetched, but Luedecke, who was 33 at his 2005 trial, had a history of sleepwalking. On the night in question, he'd been drinking at a party and found himself sacked out on the couch with a woman he'd met there. Hours later, she jolted him awake and demanded to know what he was doing. Luedecke claimed he was unaware he was having sex with her. "Under the law, if there's no intent to commit a crime, you haven't committed a crime," says Dr. Colin Shapiro, director of the Youthdale Child and Adolescent Sleep Center in Toronto, who testified for the defense. Luedecke was acquitted (to the outrage of women's organizations in Canada), and the case is now on appeal.

Add sex to the roster of unlikely sleep behaviors known as parasomnias, which range from sleep driving to sleep eating. Psychiatrist Carlos Schenck and neurologist Mark Mahowald of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center published a review article in the journal Sleep on what they call "sleepsex," or "sexsomnia." Think of it as a more advanced form of sleepwalking. It covers the full gamut of sexual activity, from fondling to intercourse, with one crucial difference. The patients apparently have no conscious awareness of what they're doing and, when wakened, have no recollection of it.

Is this for real?
Reported cases are still rare—Schenck and Mahowald found only 31 in the medical literature. But they say that's partly because of the embarrassing nature of the problem and partly because there's so little public awareness of it. Sexsomnia was not even recognized by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine until 2005. Psychologist Michael Mangan at the University of New Hampshire, author of the 2001 book "Sleepsex: Uncovered," believes there are far more cases than the literature would indicate. He maintains a Web site on sleepsex that has registered comments from more than 1,000 sufferers.

Sleepsex is far different from your average sexual dream. Dreams occur during REM sleep, when the body is largely paralyzed. Sleepsex takes place during partial arousal from deep sleep, when one is free to move. Dreams can be remembered later, under the right circumstances. But sleepsex appears to belong to a mental netherworld in which brain regions devoted to higher thought, judgment and reasoning are shut down, while areas governing more primitive functions (such as locomotion, eating and sex) are still active. Put them together, and it can be a bad combination for someone who is already predisposed to sleepwalking or other parasomnias. For such a person, anything that induces more deep sleep—such as excessive alcohol consumption or persistent sleep deprivation—only increases the risk.

Granted, sleepsex sounds amusing—and some of the cases have their comical aspects. "One man had been initiating intercourse on almost a nightly basis," says Mangan. That was apparently fine with his wife, until "one night he started snoring." In another case, a female sexsomniac routinely groped her husband. Whenever he responded, says Schenck, "she would wake up and accuse him of forcing sex on her while she slept."

But doctors emphasize that sleepsex can lead to both physical and psychological damage. Bed partners have been known to suffer lacerations. (It's not uncommon, Schenck explains, for male sexsomniacs to display much rougher behavior during sleepsex than waking sex.) One man masturbated in his sleep with such energy that he suffered "repeated bruising of the penis" and avoided sexual intercourse for more than eight years. A man in Singapore masturbated in his sleep every night, leaving his wife feeling "cheated." "People experience real problems in relationships because of it," says Mangan.

Schenck and Mahowald hope that publicizing the existence of sexsomnia will cause more people to seek help. The condition is highly treatable with the generic anti-anxiety drug clonazepam. Seeking help can only work to a sufferer's advantage. After all, if you're going to have sex, you might as well enjoy it.

Cost of medical procedures: not the only consideration

Cost is very important to payors, but when you are talking about patients and medical procedures, that is not the only consideration. Travelling a great distance, what the evidence shows in terms of outcomes, and the “overall” patient experience, all play into the decision. This gives a qualitatively unique analysis, which will help patients make the right decision for their healthcare. It will give them the opportunity to adopt a locus of responsibility for determining good value for money. Where they or their employers must freight the cost of travel, now the patients and payors will know what value is being offered on the other end, and at what price relative to newly proposed standards.

A coalition of aggregated data is clearly one step to solving the “which hospital is best” guessing game. Analysing that data in a meaningful way that combines hospital and patient-reported outcomes is the hard part. We deal with the case-mix problem every day in the pharmaceutical world. We solve this problem the same way when we compare hospitals based on objective measures of cost and quality.
The end-user is the patient and it is really patient satisfaction that needs to be compared accurately across procedures, hospitals, languages and international borders. If a hospital is willing to stack up against others with long-standing reputations for excellence, that hospital must collect reliable outcome measures and report them in a manner that can be trusted. Even if procedures are different, patient satisfaction can be measured and compared across settings. We do this already in the pharmaceutical world and it is an easy step for us to measure treatment satisfaction in this world.

Why are American companies willing to send their personnel abroad for healthcare? One reason would be if the quality of care is really better than we would otherwise see at home. Another would be if the care given is better value for money. A third but essential reason would be if our personnel report high satisfaction with medical tourism. Ultimately, resources are going to flow into procedures and regions where patients report the highest satisfaction. Those hospitals which are not on that short-list may struggle.

Healthcare, and more specifically, hospital costs in the US are rising at double-digit rates. Payors have hit a wall in terms of their ability to increase premiums. Insurers have become very motivated to look at ways of reducing costs, yet maintaining excellence. Additionally, self-insured employer groups are searching for ways to control costs. These pressures point to an increased opportunity for travel outside of the US for certain procedures. Ultimately, we live in a global world market, markets are efficient so long as patients can make a fair assessment based on robust information. The tipping point rests in making sure this information is accurate. That is in turn one step in the direction of ensuring that, when push comes to shove, every employer can adequately insure their personnel to a high standard and without breaking the budget. The secret rests in the accuracy of information.

World Hospital Monitor for Medical Tourists?

The World Hospital Monitor

The World Hospital Monitor

World Hospital Monitor is a unique database that will provide reliable and authoritative performance information for international hospitals that are looking to attract patients from other countries.

Specifically in the US, there are three drivers of whether or not a patient will travel abroad for medical care: lack of information or trust in the information that is being provided, fear and motivation.

First, there is a lack of information available to patients (and payors) about procedures being performed in “foreign” hospitals. The World Hospital Monitor will provide standardised information on a variety of key elements that are important to patients and payors.

Secondly, there is fear. Patients are fearful to travel for medical procedures. It is something outside of their comfort zone. The World Hospital Monitor should have a Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) tool, which will help new patients overcome the fear of the unknown by accessing qualitative information from former patients who have every reason to report their experiences accurately.

Finally, there is motivation. Right now, a major motivator is the cost of an alternative procedure. As payors have increasing financial pressures brought upon them, there will be new and innovative ways that they will seek to have patients travel abroad for specific treatments.

Aggregated outcomes data should be collected, analysed, translated and compared and statistics remains proprietary. Trusting relationships with hospitals which understand the importance of transparency and objective comparisons must be developed. A coalition of accurately compared outcomes data will benefit both hospitals and patients because it offers a level-playing field to shop for other aspects, such as price and proximity.

Data from specific hospitals based outside of the US that have an interest in bringing patients in from the US, or for that matter any market outside of their home market will be collected. The World Hospital Monitor must have a standardised data collection procedure and further a standardised PRO tool which are all used in the development of this unique database.

The World Hospital Monitor is able to provide an index of hospitals by any number of criteria to determine the appropriate value for the patient, relative to other hospitals and procedures in their home region or country.

US Healthcare: Very Expensive

A number of key factors are driving up the expenses of US retail healthcare, for example, the costs of technology, pharmaceuticals, litigation and supporting an aging population.

Technology and pharmaceuticals have improved and become more expensive. The huge influx of Insurance funds into the US healthcare system over the past 50 years has meant that hospitals are able to afford ever-increasingly expensive medical and imaging technology. This has rapidly advanced the development of medical science and the efficacy of care, but these technologies are often supported by the highly inflated prices that can be charged in the US for research, development and manufacturing. But once total initial marginal costs are met, these products may be sold to hospitals in other countries, often at a fraction of the US cost.
Similarly, the US pharmaceutical industry tends to charge two to three times more for branded drugs in the US than it does elsewhere. This is the reason for protectionist legislation passed in the US, which attempts to stop the distribution of pharmaceuticals from Canada, Mexico and other countries across US borders.

In a recent paper published as part of a new textbook in International Finance, it is noted that the top 10 pharmaceutical companies on the US stock market grossed more combined profits in 2005 than the entire remaining Fortune 500. The gap has been widening for more than 20 years.

Another main reason for higher costs in the US is the extremely litigious nature of the healthcare market compared to other countries. High malpractice insurance costs have dramatically driven up the cost to practise medicine in the US. In certain specialties such as obstetrics, neurosurgery, orthopaedics and some general surgical subspecialties, malpractice insurance premiums are so high, and reimbursement rates are dropping, that many physicians can no longer afford to practice. In obstetrics, for example, the physician is not only responsible for the mother, but also for the newborn until age 18, creating an 18-year “tail” for insurance liability.

This doesn’t appear to be as significant a problem in other countries offering quality healthcare. However, with no form of recourse or jurisdiction in foreign countries for potentially unexpected outcomes of surgery, US-based carriers and employers have been somewhat hesitant to sponsor international insured health plans. But the cost savings are so significant, that this may change as international insurers may start to develop medical-travel policies to support the growth in this market. .
Price transparency is another vital factor when looking at health costs. American hospitals base their retail charges on an intricate budgeting process, which results in each hospital’s revenue and costs being different, as are their prices for services. That is why the price of a simple blood test can easily vary dramatically among hospitals for the same test, using the same machines. This differs from the cost structures in Asia, India and the Latin American hospitals which often post prices on the wall and collect the cash at the door.
As more US residents begin to check websites for prices by procedure and look for quality measurement tools to make their purchasing decisions, US hospitals may eventually have to compete with foreign hospitals on a price transparent basis. Some more innovative hospital systems, such as Alegent Health (Omaha, Nebraska), are starting to post prices on their websites.
As the market for foreign healthcare solutions to the US’s domestic pricing problems begins to grow, one can probably expect to see more pricing transparency before price and service competition begins in earnest.
Ultimately, market forces will drive US hospitals to compete for patients by diagnosis, offering price-competitive packages of services including travel for both the patient and a companion.
This will not only occur internationally, but domestically, as patients gain control of their ever greater healthcare dollars.
For the past 40 years, consumers have been excluded from the complete healthcare buying equation, so with more control of the healthcare dollar, consumers will demand more information and more choices among providers.
What happened with the deregulation of the travel industry a number of years ago, to create more user-friendly websites and booking systems, is now poised to occur in the US healthcare industry. This is not new. Hospitals and providers in India, Asia and around the world have been on a cash basis for many years. Prices are posted in each lobby as they are in hotel rooms and healthcare is treated as a consumer good.
Secretary Leavitt, secretary of health and human services who oversees Medicare, summed up the issue succinctly: “Why can’t we buy healthcare in the US like we buy a car? Medicare paid for 251,000 coronary artery bypass surgeries last year and 91,000 hip replacements. Medicare knows what they cost, why shouldn’t the consumer? Our system of financing healthcare is broken.”
While no one solution will solve the unchecked healthcare inflation, the institution of rapidly developing globally competitive healthcare markets will have a small but meaningful impact on US healthcare. If US hospitals start losing market share to foreign hospitals, they may have to implement competitive travel packages and transparent pricing to compete.

medical tourism information to patients. contact at sgerst@medicaview.com or 1 954 701 9505

US healthcare in crisis:

Will tens of thousands of Americans become medical tourists?

The driving force behind the globalisation of healthcare is economics. At US$2.4 trillion in annual expenditures, the US healthcare industry is, by far, the largest industry in the world, significantly outpacing US national defence spending, and projected to reach US$4.1 trillion by 2016.
Viewing healthcare as a huge potential export, the US should be trying to capitalise on the quality healthcare offered by its hospitals and physicians. But instead, the domestic system is getting so expensive that the US has effectively started to price itself out of world markets. This not only affects healthcare as an exportable product of the US, but US manufacturers and service providers in industries offering health insurance to their employees must then add this cost to the price of their exports and labour costs, making the US less globally price competitive.
By 2010, the cost of healthcare per US citizen is projected to rise from its current average of US$7,110 to US$9,216 per person. At that point, Americans will spend approximately US$1 trillion more per year on healthcare than in 2000 – a 58 percent increase in 10 years. By 2015, healthcare is expected to rise from 16 to 20 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.
Whereas, in the past, patients from around the world used to seek high-quality care from US providers, Modern Healthcare reported in May that the number of patients leaving the US for medical treatment is growing at a faster rate than the number of patients coming in for treatment. It follows that by outsourcing healthcare to other countries, the US is furthering its trade imbalance.
There are large retail price differences between the US and other countries for certain surgical procedures, so it is no wonder US residents in control of their healthcare dollars are seeking care abroad. These include those who are uninsured, underinsured or have health plans that reward cost savings for international travel.
But while Insurance pays rates comparable to some of the Asia and Latin American countries for similar procedures, the US uninsured and underinsured do not have access to this same-rate structure and suffer from retail pricing and cost shifting. Both 60 Minutes and BusinessWeek have reported on this economic phenomenon in recent years, creating increased awareness for patients in need of care who can’t afford US prices.

America invades Vietnam, Thailand invades Cambodia (Hospital)

INDOCHINA:

John C. Lincoln Hospitals (JCL) has signed an agreement with Vietnam’s Envita Asia Hospital Corp. The joint venture will provide the Vietnamese hospital’s most seriously ill and injured patients access to American healthcare expertise and technology.

Le Thanh Cat Van, chairman of Envita Asia Hospital said he had been looking to partner with an American hospital for some time, and finally found a hospital receptive to the idea, “They are willing to exchange medical education and expertise training with physicians in Vietnam.”

Envita will pay for the travel expenses involved. Patients from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia will travel to JCL to receive treatment and receive an undisclosed discount on their medical bills.

In 2003, the Vietnamese government first allowed the private sector to offer medical services. There are now 18 locally owned private hospitals and two private hospitals with overseas owners. Envita’s chairman is leading a consortium to rebuild an aging French hospital in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). The 70-bed hospital will open in February and there are plans to have 250 beds by 2011.

One of the few Vietnamese hospitals to attract medical tourists is FV Hospital, an international standard general hospital. Since establishment in 2003, FVH has been accredited by one of the most respected healthcare authorities worldwide: the French “Haute Autorité de Santé” (HAS). Located in Saigon South, just 15 minutes from the centre of Ho Chi Minh City, it offers a wide range of medical and surgical services to over 150,000 patients a year. FV Hospital is 100 percent foreign-owned by a group of French, Swiss and Belgian doctors and leading international development banks. FV hospital offers a five-star hotel serviced room.

Bangkok Hospital is building a facility in Phnom Penh catering to Cambodians seeking high-end medical treatment. Thailand’s Bangkok Hospital hopes to encourage more wealthy patients to seek treatment in Cambodian hospitals. The Royal Phnom Penh Hospital, a US$40 million joint venture in partnership with Bangkok Hospital is expected to open in July 2009. The eight-storey building will initially accommodate 100 beds but will eventually expand to 200 beds. As financial conditions improve for more Cambodians, they have begun to seek medical treatment overseas in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The new Royal Phnom Penh Hospital seeks to keep more at home.

Of Longevity Clusters, Long Life Bottled Water & Snakes coiled in a Jar of Alcohol

WHO calls for further promotion of traditional medicine

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for greater promotion of traditional medicine and its integration into health care systems.

WHO issued a "Beijing Declaration" at the end of its congress on traditional medicine, which recognised traditional medicine as one of the resources of primary healthcare services to increase availability and affordability.

It defines traditional medicine as covering a wide variety of therapies and practices and varying greatly from region to region. "The knowledge of traditional medicine, treatments and practices should be respected, preserved, promoted and communicated widely and appropriately based on the circumstances in each country," said the declaration.

Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral-based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being. So the declaration should also recognize beating the sick patients with bamboo sticks, smoke them in incense, swallowing life rat and pigeon's fetuses, poking and stuffing the female's genital with prayer beads, having holy sexual intercourse with the healer etc etc etc. Real scary.

Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America use traditional medicine (TM) to help meet some of their primary health care needs. In Africa, up to 80 percent of the population uses traditional medicine mostly witch doctors. In industrialised countries, adaptations of traditional medicine are termed “Complementary“ or “Alternative”.

While China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea and Vietnam have fully integrated traditional medicine into their healthcare systems, many countries are yet to collect and integrate standardised evidence on this type of health care.

The WHO calls on governments to formulate regulations and standards to ensure appropriate, safe and effective use of traditional medicine. Governments should establish systems for the qualification, accreditation or licensing of traditional medicine practitioners.

An unusual element of traditional Chinese medicine is longevity medical tourism in China. Just being here adds years to your life — or at least that’s what elderly natives, eager government officials and hopeful visitors in a remote corner of China contend.

Poyue and several other villages near the Vietnam border in China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region comprise a “longevity cluster.” They claim an inordinate number of centenarians, including one said to be 113 years old. Bama county, with a population of 250,000, has 74 centenarians, or about one for every 3,400 people. That’s a far higher incidence than in the US or even in Japan, which has one of the longest average life expectancies in the world.

Experts on aging are sceptical about the existence of longevity clusters, but that hasn’t blunted Bama’s ambitions to become a centre for health tourism. Bama’s plans include building upscale accommodations for foreign tourists who want a spa vacation without the costly treatments, massages and exercise regimens. They argue that visitors need only breathe the air and drink the water, and they’ll benefit. Water from the local river comes from springs and is considered so pure that it is drunk without treatment or filtration. In Bama City, the four-star Longevity Hotel sells everything from Long Life bottled water to snakes (or centipedes, scorpions, tarantulas...anything highly poisonous) coiled in a jar of alcohol which are a staple of Chinese medicine.

doctorh the PatientAdvisor: Bill harzia? Bilharziosis

doctorh the PatientAdvisor: Bill harzia? Bilharziosis

Plastic Surgery? Or not.........

What You Can Fix Without Plastic Surgery

You'd be surprised by how much better problem spots can look if you work at them (with cosmetics, OTC products and in-office procedures like lasers, chemical peels, fat transfers, microsuction and injections of Botox or fillers like Restylane and Hylaform):

• Dark undereye circles

• Fine wrinkles under the eyes

• Smile lines around the eyes

• Dry or blotchy skin

• Oily, irregular skin

• Discoloration or pigmentation

• Lines like parentheses at the corners of the mouth

• Vertical frown lines between eyebrows

• Lines above the upper lip

• Fine wrinkles on the cheeks

• Slight fullness along the jawline

• Double chin

• Defined nasolabial line (from your nose to the corner of your mouth)

• Nasolabial line etched into skin

But......

Nope, these will need a call to a reputable plastic surgeon:

• Excess eyelid skin

• Puffiness or deep undereye circles

• Deep vertical frown lines between eyebrows

• Jowls hanging over the jawline

• Hanging skin and deep facial wrinkles

• Very loose neck skin

• Loss of cheek fullness

• Nasolabial fold (a deeper, more severe version of the nasolabial line) etched into skin
http://doctorhmd.hi5.com

doctorh the PatientAdvisor: Money Saved: Satisfied UK Medical Travellers

doctorh the PatientAdvisor: Money Saved: Satisfied UK Medical Travelhttp://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42051lers

doctorh the PatientAdvisor: Avoid Surgery: Try Facial Makeup & Contouring

doctorh the PatientAdvisor: Avoid Surgery: Try Facial Makeup & Contouring

Bad news for Malaysia, Thailand, India, Singapore, East European Hospitals?

UNITED STATES:

With the world (translated:US) economy spiralling downwards US medical tourism promoters come to realise that fewer people than predicted are flying to foreign countries for medical procedures, they are starting to shift their focus a little closer to home.

Domestic US medical tourism is growing as medical travel agencies continue to hunt for the best deals for patients willing to look beyond their hometowns for care they think is better and less expensive.

Hospitals are looking for ways to attract new patients from within the US.

With this in mind, Aspirus Wausau Hospital plans to expand its target area by participating in a domestic medical travel network. The medical facility is one of a handful of US hospitals trying to compete for consumers using a value-based approach to medicine. Employers are setting up approved hospital lists where employees get reimbursed for travel and lodging and reduced co-payments. Otherwise, they get the company's standard insurance coverage.

Meanwhile, Boston-based medical tourism company Healthbase has established partnerships with several US healthcare providers to make affordable high quality medical care available to patients from the US, Canada and Mexico. It still also offers treatment overseas. Uninsured Americans have traditionally been charged much more than what insurance companies are charged for the same service by US hospitals. By negotiating for lower price for medical care, Healthbase's customers will pay even less than what insurance companies pay in specific cases for medical services. This means, a heart bypass tagged at over US$100,000 can now be had for under US$15,000, which closely matches the price of the operations overseas. Woe is Asian hospitals; boo-hoo..BUT Wait: can US hospitals match the smiles and courtesy of the Thais and Malaysians? Or the cleanliness of Singapore? Do they have Taj Mahal? Do they have Draculas? Ah-hah.

Meanwhile, medical tourism management expert Health Travel Guides has reached an agreement with The Krongrad Institute of Miami, Florida to develop affordable medical tourism options for prostate cancer patients in the US. Health Travel Guides CEO Herb Stephens said: “It is important for consumers to understand that they have healthcare options that do not necessarily mean travelling abroad.”

Avoid Surgery: Try Facial Makeup & Contouring

Instantly Wipe 10
Years Off Your Face

Looking Young through Facial Illusion

For ages, women have depended on tricks to tweak reality a bit—creating
appearance of bigger eyes, lusher lips, a smaller nose, higher cheekbones,
and smooth, unmarked skin. Using cosmetics is the simplest way to minimize or conceal age-related skin imperfections— instantly. Foundation softens the appearance of fine lines, brightens skin, and hides discoloration. Concealer erases dark circles under your eyes or broken capillaries on your cheeks. Blusher returns the bloom of youth to a tired-looking complexion, while lipstick gives pale or sallow skin a welcome jolt of color. A touch of powder ensures that makeup lasts
longer and colors stay truer.

Nothing looks as good as naturally healthy skin, but let’s be honest. We all have
moments when we want to fake it: to cover up or “correct” perceived flaws, to enhance
what nature may—or may not—have given us.
See how a little judicious swipe of cosmetic color create the desired illusion:


Double Chin
To camouflage a double chin, brush a bit of rose-brown blush along your jaw from your earlobes to your chin.
Highlight your chin with light translucent powder. Make sure to blend really, really well.

Fine Line Erasers
Makeup that contains light-reflecting particles can reflect light
away from your lines and make them appear to disappear. Apply it all over your face, or
under the eyes or on laugh lines.

Deep Line Erasures
Do what 40-plus models and celebrities do when preparing for a photo shoot: Reach for the cosmetic spackle— seriously —and fill them in.

Lip Plumper
Moisturize your lips with dew droplets collected on Japanese Bamboo leaves at the break of sunlight. It’ll plump them up. In addition,
moisten a bit of cinnamon and rub it on your lips before you apply lipstick. Or apply a
bit of cinnamon oil to your lips (use only a drop as some people are sensitive to it).

Ashy Skin
If you are dark-skinned and prone to an ashy complexion, a few strokes
of apricot powder on the face will warm the skin up fast. And, off course, moisture
regularly with dew droplets collected on Japanese Bamboo leaves at the break of sunlight.

Fast Freeze
To put a temporary freeze on lines under the eyes, moisture
regularly with dew droplets collected on Japanese Bamboo leaves at the break of sunlight and try an eye cream with peptides, which smooth lines for a few hours.

Line Plumper
To soften the little lines on your face, put a bit of moisturizer—
yes, with dew droplets collected on Japanese Bamboo leaves at the break of sunlight - and, after you apply foundation, pat it between the nose and chin, under eyes, or anywhere you have lines and want to soften them.

Thin Lips
To make think lips fuller, draw a thick line on your lips with lip crayon,
and blend it in toward the center of the mouth with your fingers. Apply gloss in the
center of the top and bottom lips, and extend it out toward the even, which adds fullness to lips.

Frown Lines
To ease wrinkles in a less invasive way than Botox, apply Acetyl Hexapeptide-3— a high-tech amino acids said to soften lines caused by repeated facial movements. It will make you look better.

Smile Lines
Your Smile lines loom large, plump them up: dip a makeup sponge into Acetyl Hexapeptide-3— a high-tech amino acids with - you guessed it - dew droplets collected on Japanese Bamboo leaves at the break of sunlight, and dab it over the area, smoothing it out on top of your makeup.

Lip Lines
To touch up and cover lines above the lips, use a concealer pencil around
your lips. You can also try your regular concealer, but if it mixes with your lipstick, it can change the color.

Less Lips
Sometimes it seems our lips are the only things that do get thinner. To
create the look of more lip, try a lighter, neutral lip shade in a cream formulation with a hint of shimmer.

Crinkly Lips
Avoid matte lipstick. Apply creamy color in the form of a lip
crayon. For just a hint of color with shine, mix lip balm in your palm with a few strokes from the crayon, and press it into your lips with fingers.
Swab a little petroleum jelly onto your front upper teeth to keep the lipstick off.

Money Saved: Satisfied UK Medical Travellers

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The Treatment Abroad Group UK: Medical tourism survey

Medical tourism is defined as the act of patients traveling outside their country in order to undergo a medical treatment. Some countries like Thailand have been doing this for years, while newcomers like Malaysia, India, South Africa and Singapore are steadily catching up.

In the USA there are millions (45 million Americans to be exact) who have no insurance. 1.7 million people die each year because they lack insurance coverage and do not receive the medical treatment they need. Still, there are millions more tired of waiting in line for their chance for necessary healthcare. These and other issues make exploring medical tourism so worthwhile.

The Treatment Abroad group of UK based medical and health travel information sites has completed the first in depth survey of medical tourists. It is based on the experiences of 650 patients who have travelled for treatment. The highly encouraging data from this survey is the level of savings achieved and the level of satisfaction of those who traveled from the UK. Medical travellers completed an extensive post-visit online survey run by an external research company.

Although 60% of total travellers were male, this reduced to 8% for those travelling for cosmetic surgery. For 83%, the purpose of the trip is that they wanted to save on the cost of treatment in the UK.

On the total cost of treatment, 11% of those going for dental treatment spent £10,000 or more, and 9% going for elective surgery spent £10,000 or more.

17% of all travellers said they saved more than £10,000 compared to UK cost. Of the nine out of ten who were satisfied, 74% were very satisfied and 16 % quite satisfied with their experience of treatment abroad.

97% stated that they would definitely or probably go for treatment abroad again.

96% of would definitely or probably go back to the same doctor/dentist/hospital/clinic.

96% would recommend treatment abroad to a friend or relativePrices for hip replacement abroad

The table below, extracted from the Treatment Abroad PriceWatch Survey 2007 compares prices for hip replacement overseas and also provides an indication of the package saving (allowing for travel and accommodation costs).

Country	Procedure price	Procedure saving	Travel cost	Hotel nights	Hotel per night	Hotel cost	Total price	Package saving
Belgium	£5,585	30%	£60	7	£45	£315	£5,960	26%
Bulgaria	£2,000	87%	£160	7	£45	£315	£2,475	69%
Cyprus	£4,100	49%	£145	7	£40	£280	£4,525	43%
France	£5,689	29%	£60	7	£60	£420	£6,169	23%
Germany	£5,296	34%	£165	7	£60	£420	£5,881	26%
Hungary	£4,450	44%	£100	7	£40	£280	£4,830	40%
India	£3,547	56%	£350	7	£30	£210	£4,107	49%
Latvia	£3,924	51%	£210	7	£20	£140	£4,274	47%
Malaysia	£2,205	72%	£720	7	£40	£280	£3,205	60%
Spain	£5,695	29%	£100	7	£55	£385	£6,180	23%
Tunisia	£3,000	63%	£190	7	£45	£315	£3,505	56%
Turkey	£4,725	41%	£155	7	£35	£245	£5,125	36%
Venezuela	£5,971	25%	£530	7	£50	£350	£6,851	14%
UK	£8,000						£8,000

Plastic Surgery vs Nature's Gift

You aren't happy with how you look. Actually, you're mortified with how you look. This definitely isn't the way you thought things would turn out. When you were a child, people used to fawn over how cute you were. Then, puberty stepped in, and your ears and nose jutted out. As you've aged, your appearance has just, in your mind, gotten worse. It's time to take charge of your appearance, and find a cosmetic surgeon. No, you're not getting plastic surgery because you're trying to attract someone. You have been lucky enough to find someone that loves you for your personality (which is all that should matter anyway). But it's time to stop being ashamed of how you look, and the right cosmetic surgeon should be able to restore your self-esteem. So, what are the ideal traits of a cosmetic surgeon? Well, it's easy enough for you to do your research nowadays when it comes to that. Before, people who were looking for a cosmetic surgeon would have to rely strictly on generalities from patients and whatnot. Unfortunately, many people have chosen the wrong surgeon, and their looks have suffered because of it. Now, all you have to do is turn to the Internet for all the information you need about the various surgeons available for the kind of procedure that you want. In fact, some of the surgeons have their own websites, in which there should be a FAQ section to answer most, if not all, of the questions that you have. Of course, it's important to keep in mind that much of the information on the Internet is rather questionable. So, it's important to use your instincts. Sometimes, the decision as to which surgeon to choose is a simple one, especially if you live in a small area that only has one surgeon that specializes in the cosmetic procedure that you want to have done. If you're hesitant about that, then you also have the option of traveling to the surgeon that you want. However, be aware that that can incur significant additional fees. You'll know more about the surgeon immediately if you schedule a general meeting. This meeting can be thought of as a consultation, but you should really only agree to that once the decision has been made to choose this particular surgeon for the procedure. During the meeting, you should have a list of things to talk about. The ideal surgeon won't "fit you in", but rather take all the time that is needed to answer questions about the overall process. The surgeon should be confident and not pressure you to have additional work done. While you're at the meeting, take a look around the surgeon's office (which is usually where such meetings happen). There should be a medical school diploma, as well as additional certifications. Of course, there's also the issue of financing the procedure. The ideal surgeon will have a number of different payment plans that you can choose from – plans that enable you to pay in installments. More information on a cosmetic surgeon, male breast reduction and a liposuction procedures performed in your area is just a click away. Source:www.isnare.com

Bill harzia? Bilharziosis

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Been to Egypt?
Any part of Egypt. Where you can access the river Nile: be it Cairo, the modern Egyptian capital, Alexandria, one of the greatest ancient cities, Aswan, Assiut, Giza, the site of the Pyramid of Khufu, Luxor, Zagazig, Sharm el Sheikh, Suez, where the Suez Canal is located... Al-Minya...
Anywhere in Egypt....
Why did I ask? Because lurking beneath the Nile river is Bilharzia.
Bill_harzia? Sound like Bill_Clinton, isn't it? Yeah, some similarities too. Because lurking beneath the body of Monica Lewinsky is Bill Clinton. And lurking beneath some nice silk blanket is Monica Lewinsky. And lurking beneath the roof of the White House in Washington DC is some nice silk blanket. Hah-haa. Anyways back to Bilharzia and Bilharziosis. Also known as Schistomiasis. It is a disease that in the long term will lead to bleeding and ulceration in the bladder or intestine, liver damage, kidney failure and cancer. My point is if you had been in the river Nile and you had been swimming, washing or paddling there or been drinking its water or eating food that has been washed in its untreated water you can contract this disease. A significant number of liver cirrhosis in Egypt is attributed to this disease. Kinda easy to make a diagnosis of hepatomegaly, isn't it, eh you medical students? No way, we are not going to help you pass your exam that easy. We will give you some really nasty, complicated case of multi organ damage, rather. So, study hard. Anyways Bilharziosis is caused by this parasite bilharzia and the cycle of infection starts when fresh water becomes contaminated by the parasite’s eggs which are transferred to the water through the stools and urine of people who are already infected. Once in the water, the eggs hatch and the worms reproduce in the bodies of water snails. Minute fork-tailed larvae (known as cercariae) are released into the water where they can live for about 48 hours. If they come into contact with human skin, the larvae penetrate and enter the blood stream, travelling through the body to the blood vessels of the lungs and liver, and from there to the veins around the bowel or bladder. After a few weeks the mature worms mate and begin to produce eggs, which pass through the walls of the bladder or intestine before being returned to the outside in faeces or urine. And so the cycle continues. Kinda like that movie Aliens 'In space no one can hear you scream' isn't it? Wonder if Sigourney Weaver been to Egypt? What if she actually had and she paddled in the river Nile and..... say anybody heard of Sigourney Weaver lately? Wonder. So if you were in Egypt six months back and you develop this rash or itchy skin especially inbetween your toes or fingers and now you have fatigue, fever, chills, cough, muscle aches, jaundice, weight loss and enlargement of the liver and spleen then you better scream. You are not in space y'know and everyone can hear you scream. What should you scream about? No, not 'I got the Pharaoh's curse' no Sir_rie. You can scream 'I got Bill Clinton's itch but not Monica Lewinsky'. Sheesh. Anyways let us cure you. A short course of the drug praziquantel usually clears up the infection even in advanced cases, but does not protect against re-infection. Medical Advisory Services for Travellers Abroad (MASTA) advises travellers to be aware that fake and sub-standard medicines can be sold in many developing countries. What else is new. And if you are treated before significant damage or complications occur the results are usually good. Whew.
Whew indeed. Hey Bill, did they manage to cure you of Monica Lewinskiosis? Good boy, Bill, good boy.

Medical Tourism: The Rush

Everyone is talking about medical tourism these days. 
Some refer to it as Health Tourism. 
Seems like the citizens of the first world countries got fed up with their own healthcare system where curing a disease means plunging yourself into an ocean of debt or downright poverty. More than half of US denizens are not insured. No, they did not hate insurance nor did they distrust it....or perhaps they did...it is just that they could not afford to pay the premium. And without insurance there will be an impossibility to seek medical treatment...not the modern kind anyway; yeah, you can still go and see a witch doctor or medium or something. And probably you can operate on your own kidneys and stitch your own gaping wounds. But generally normal human seldom resorts to the aforementioned health solution. 
Anyways, back to Medical Tourism. 
US citizen are flocking across the border to Mexico, across the ocean to Bulgaria, Chekoslovakia (in Europe), India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia (in Asia). Malaysia.....? Uh-huh. You know that country in South East Asia where until three years ago the tallest building in the world was erected in its capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Now it is just the tallest twin towers in the world. The title went to Taiwan and now Dubai is holding it and maybe no one will ever be able to surpass it. So superficial....we got the tallest, we got the longest, we got the widest, we got the ugliest etc etc. Ugliest? 
Anyways, back to Medical Tourism (saying this can get to be a habit). 
Went to a few cities in India: Mumbai, Chennai/Kolkatta, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Bangalore on different time of the year.  NB don't go during the summer. 
Visited the hospitals; some are reasonable enough with reputable enough doctors and a few actually got JCI accreditation. 
Funny, isn't it? I mean this JCI things? Seems like every country in the world went head over heel trying to get JCI accreditation. As if when you got it the whole of the USA will descent upon your country bringing with it their patients fully stuffed with billion of the old green bills. Wake up people, the ISO, ISQUA etc etc are just as good; even the local accreditation system too. Want the mighty USA to descent on your country? Try being Afghanistan and Iraq. Don't forget Guatemala, El salvador. And while we are at it try changing your country's name to North Korea or Iran or Evil Axis; Wait a few more years and see if the old green bombs..ooops..old green bills come and rain onto your paddy field or poppy field or just plain old fields. 
Any fields. 
Back to India: don't go to the government hospitals. The corridors are lined by people sitting or lying on the floor; rather filthy people if you know my meaning and not at all confidence inspiring to any sick rich foreign people like, ahem, you and your spouse and children. Even the private hospitals, while themselves (some anyway), look grand enough, are surrounded by lots of poverty in the form of dilapidated everything (almost). 
All the big cities excepting perhaps New Delhi the seat of the government and foreign embassies are littered here and there with old dirty plastic sheets which constitute dwelling where human actually live, sleep, having sex and procreate. And how they procreate. Real contribution to humanity numbers. Sex is good, eh? 
Did I mention Agra and the Taj Mahal? Ahhhh.... Taj Mahal. The most beautiful building I had ever seen if I may say so. Truly breath taking from afar and close up. No other buildings in the world can compare to her; and I had travelled all over the world mind you. But the city of Agra itself is a disgrace. Dirty, noisy potholed roads and denizens with lackasaidal attitude. It is like having a beautiful beautiful princess standing in the middle of a murky, foul smelling mud swamp and attended to by a bunch of morons and the mentally retarded. 
When in Hyderabad do not forget to savour the best Briyani Rice in the world. Only in Hyderabad. Such glorious food.
Thailand has more impressive hospitals and the staff are so polite it is condescending on our part. We felt like royalties, pompous; while in reality some of these people in their hospitals are making more money than our average Jane and Joe. 
Singapore is clean and the hospitals are high tech but compared to the Thais the people are bordering rudeness. It was said that Singapore is sixth best in the world for medical treatment and facilities. And the people speaks English. Or Singlish. 
Malaysia then:....put it between the Thais and the Singaporeans. The country is reasonably clean, the people are polite enough but can be slightly irritating with their lackasaidal attitude. English (or Manglish?) are spoken. Things are cheap here and that includes the medical bills. Hotels, food. transportation. Everything is half what Singapore charges and 30% cheaper than Thailand. The hospitals are fantastic and you would not believe some actually possess more advanced equipment than Singapore's. Traffic is bad but not as half bad as Bangkok, Thailand or worse India's impossible traffic. And her highways which traverse the whole length of Peninsula Malaysia and extend from Singapore in the south right up to Thailand to the north is one of the best in the world; even by US standard. 
But beware many the drivers in Malaysia are probably the insanes who just bolted from some mental institution and wreak havoc in the highways turning it into an impromptu F1 circuit. And their tempers are just amazing; these people need to be taught anger management and injected with a high dose of road courtesy lesson. 
Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton will be right at home in these highways, otherwise.

Medical Students and Dead Bodies Nightmares

Medical student and Cadavers: Interesting that when you were a medical student and the very first time you had to go to the anatomy room and faced rows of cadavers. Male cadavers. Female cadavers. Young, old, child cadavers. The sight was enough to make some of the students hair stood on end and chill their blood. Old stories about vampires, draculas, flesh eating carrions or...friday the 13th. Friday the 13th? Oh, whatever. Anyways some of the students could not sleep well that night; one claimed that the cadaver came to life and visited her on her bed...eeeuuu. Kinda like the Mummy Return. Another saw two cadavers outside of his balcony doing the 'jiggly with it' under the full moon. Was that the wolves singing and moaning? By the by it was normal those days for us students to apply and borrow the cadaver parts and bring them back home for study purposes. What we did was to carry them in cooler boxes and once home just stuff the parts into our freezer until needed. Usually we set aside half of the freezer space for our normal food stuff (chicken, meat, mutton, fish, trotters etc etc). Trotters?....And the other half for our study material: maybe half a human head, maybe a hand or a heart and liver. It happened once in a cold winter morning when our house helper arrived to do her daily job; as soon as she opened the freezer she ran out screaming shouting to the whole world that there was a human hand inside our fridge; she was convinced that we were cannibals. Ahhh the good old student days; carefree..you only have to worry about exam and passing it. But let us ride our big bike first shall we and forget about exam.