VIRGINIA BEACH DERMATOLOGY ASSOCIATES, PLLC.

A few developments in skin care….

THE MAGIC OF KEFIR
You all probably remember one of those newscasts where the Western reporter huffing up a mountain in the Caucasus meets up with an aged goatherder. He asks the goatherder how he gets up the mountains so easily at his age. The goatherder modestly tells him that it’s easy for him—he’s only 80—and then points to an even older man higher up the mountain and says to ask him. He’s 100 and beginning to complain.

Chances are these goatherders are drinking kefir, a liquid yogurt-like drink that is ubiquitous in the region. The name kefir comes from the Turkish word for “good feeling.” Its unique, slightly carbonated
taste was regarded as a gift from the gods and has a mystical reputation as a longevity elixir. Kefir is an ancient drink and was supposedly discovered when shepherds of the Caucasus realized that fresh milk carried in pouches would occasionally ferment into an effervescent beverage.

Unlike kefir’s cousin, yogurt (another gift from the Turks), which is created from milk by adding lactobacillus, kefir is made by combining milk with a pinch of kefir grains—a complex mixture of yeasts and lactobacilli. While “active” yogurt has two strains of bacteria, kefir hosts twelve. Further, the bacteria in yogurt only feeds the gut and provides temporary visitors, kefir’s bacteria will set up shop in your colon and provide many benefits.

Kefir enhances lactose digestion. It is recommended that those who are lactose intolerant drink this magical liquid. There is also decent evidence that kefir inhibits tumor formation and the Helicobacter that causes ulcers. While claims that kefir inhibits cancer may be hype, there is certainly good evidence that it prevents Candidiasis, yeast infections. It definitely helps prevent constipation.

Another use for Kefir is that it makes it easier to swallow pills. Capsules especially flow easier with kefir. If you take calcium supplements, it is urged that you take these with kefir. Not only does kefir have a good deal of calcium, it contains inulin, which helps with calcium absorption.

HEALING MAGNETS
Exposing rats to pulses of a low-amplitude magnetic field sped wound healing, as reported recently by three plastic surgeons. They made an incision in the rats and exposed half of them to the magnetic field, The researchers found increases in tensile strength of 18-59 per cent compared to the control rats. However, before you run out and buy a giant magnet as a precaution for the next time you cut yourself, realize that these were pulsed magnetic fields of a very specific configuration.

LASER TO GROW HAIR??
When I first heard about the use of lasers to grow hair, I was perplexed. Were these claims legitimate? How does this happen? This paradoxical effect was first noted during experimentation with mice (again!). In experiments with wound healing and lasers, it was noticed that not only did the wounds heal better with low-level laser energy, but the hair grew in thicker. Further, Spanish women who were undergoing laser for hair removal began to complain that hair was sprouting in new places and thickening in some of the treated spots. This was especially true in darker skinned women. The reason for this problem is that physicians were being cautious in darker complected women, and using lower levels of energy. It is these low-level energies which stimulate hair growth.

Low-level laser light is compressed light of a wavelength from the cold, red part of the visible light spectrum. It is different from natural light in that it is one precise color; it is coherent (travels in a straight line), monochromatic (a single wavelength), and polarized (its beam vibrates in a single plane of orientation). These properties allow low-level laser light to penetrate the surface of the skin with no heating effects, no damage to the skin and no known side effects.
There are basically two devices; one is a hood which is applied to the scalp in a physician’s office and the other is a hand-held device. The former is administered in a doctor’s office while the latter can be done either in a doctor’s office or at home.

MICROWAVE FOR NAIL FUNGUS
Treating nail infections has long been difficult. When I first entered dermatology, we only had topical medications, which could not penetrate the nail and therefore did not work—and Griseofulvin, an oral drug which sometimes worked but took about a year if a cure was to be achieved.Then oral medications such as Itraconazole and Terbenafine came along. While I consider the latter quite safe, there are rare cases of liver toxicity. Penlac a topical medication is, of course, very safe but not too effective.

Now researchers have come up with a microwave device that uses microwave technology to treat nail fungus without drug toxicity or any other side effects. The microwave energy passes easily through the nail and permits controlled treatment at depths where the fungi live, which is under the nail and under the nail bed. The device is now undergoing clinical trials.

CAN AGING BECOME OBSOLETE?
Telomerase research has long fascinated me. Telomerase is an enzyme that coats all cells after cell division. It ensures that the cell surface is smooth and in order. As we age, our bodies become depleted of telomerase, and, following cell division, our cells become increasingly frayed. It is felt by many scientists that the lack of telomerase leads to cancer, arthritis, other chronic diseases and skin aging.

What if telomerase was applied to the skin? This was originally tried in, of course, mice. The skin of those mice whose skin was soaked in telomerase aged significantly less than their fellow control rodents. (Maybe, Mickey Mouse was involved in an experiment of this sort nearly 80 years ago. He sure has aged beautifully.) Tests on human skin corroborated the findings in mice.

The Jan Maarini Skin Research company combined the telomerase enzyme with anti-inflammaatory agents, peptides and transforming human growth factor to produce a new product named Age Intervention Regeneration Booster. This product is applied to the skin for six weeks, four times a year. Reportedly, the benefits are substantial.

UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF ROSACEA
The cause of Rosacea, a suffusion of the mid-face, has long perplexed us dermatologists. Dermatologists at the University of California at San Francisco appear to have unlocked the door to the enigma of this disease, hopefully leading to a cure for this disfiguring condition. The answer may lie in the production and transformation of peptides called cathelicidins. These chemicals are actually good guys. They are produced by the epidermis to protect the skin against infection by bacteria. Like many biologic systems, such as collagen synthesis, they are born as precursors. An enzyme, called SCTE or kallikrein 5, cleaves them and forms the active cathelicidins. It appears that having too much of this enzyme causes rosacea.

Investigators found abundant amounts of active cathelicidins in patients with rosacea and minimal amounts in normal controls. Further, those with rosacea had wildly increased amounts of the enzyme SCTE. Even more telling, the investigators were able to reproduce the inflammatory characteristics of rosacea in mice by injecting active cathelicidin peptides or adding SCTE. These responses were absent in mice with a deleted cathelicidin gene.
This explains some of the known facts about rosacea, such as the frequent positive response to antibiotics (which would kill the bacteria which motivates the skin to produce cathelicidins) Now that we have a cause, it will not be too long before researchers and the oft-maligned drug companies who support them will figure out a cure.

This article was written by Dr. Arnold Oppenheim, M.D. for the Tidewater Women – December 2007 Edition.