The magic of Botox has not changed. It remains the gold standard for relaxing muscles to address dynamic wrinkles. The magic of the Holiday Season does not change either. Combining Botox and the Holiday Season will help you look and feel your best as you celebrate this fun filled time of year.

Botox Cosmetic® is a natural purified protein that blocks impulses from the nerves to the tiny facial muscles responsible for the deep muscle pull creases. Consequently, the muscles relax so that the undesirable creases gradually fade away. After treatment, the overlying skin remains smooth and unwrinkled while the untreated facial muscles contract in a normal fashion, allowing desirable facial expression to be unaffected, yielding a natural rejuvenation.

Book your appointment early so that you get the results you want when you want.

There is no question that one of the best medical technologies that have been developed of the last 20 years is LASERS. Their applications are many and varied and they have revolutionized the treatment of the skin. We can remove brown, blue, black and red discolorations from the skin without leaving a scar. But of all the laser skin treatments one the best by far is LASER HAIR REMOVAL. One zap of laser light can disable hundreds of hair follicles stunting and eventually preventing them from growing. Think of it – no more waxing, shaving, plucking – the shear freedom of it. As always there are caveats. If you have blond or grey hair in the area you want treated (eg upper lip) then you are probably not a candidate. Darn! But for the rest of you with dark hair in places you simply don’t want it you are a candidate. Try it – you will be amazed. https://nakatsuiderm.com/treatments/laser-hair-removal/

Did you know that by Canadian Advertising Standards the most popular treatment for wrinkles in North America cannot be mentioned by name? Can you guess the name – it starts with a ‘B’? We can talk about what it does – relaxes muscles so that wrinkles fade away for a period of time. We can tell you the price $230.00 per syringe or $10.00 per unit but we cannot mention the name. Do you need another hint? It ends with an ‘x’. We can tell you that many celebrities in North America have this treatment done but we cannot mention the product name . OK one more hint – it has a ‘t’ right smack in the middle of the name. Did you guess the name?

The skin is like a large layer of spandex covering the body. If you pull on your skin and let go, it will snap back into place. When the skin is forced to stretch beyond the capacity of its natural elasticity, as is the case with rapid growth during pregnancy, stretch marks may form. The presence of increased cortisone levels in the body during pregnancy exacerbates the problem. Typically during pregnancy stretch marks occur over the abdomen, hips, buttocks and breasts.

Seen under a microscope, a stretch mark will reveal only a few elastic fibers in the centre and an abundance of curled and clustered elastic fibers at the edges. The collagen fibers, which are protein building blocks of the skin, are separated rather than grouped into bundles. These changes take place in the second layer of the skin, the dermis.

Initially stretch marks appear as red and purple lines of varying lengths and widths. Sometimes they are wrinkled and shiny. Gradually they fade to a color or shade lighter than the surrounding skin and remain that way.

So, for Kate the million dollar question is whether or not she can prevent stretch marks during pregnancy and the answer is no. There are an abundance of topical products on the market containing agents such as Vitamin E and aloe vera which claim to prevent stretch marks. These products will probably not work and they may actually result in allergic reactions.  There are also claims that moisturizing and massaging the stretched skin will encourage circulation and therefore keep the building blocks of the skin healthy. It is unlikely this will help to prevent stretch marks but it may help with the itch that sometimes occurs with dry, stretched skin.

A healthy diet rich in vitamins and minerals contributes to healthy skin and a healthy baby. Kate should also avoid unnecessary weight gain. Excess weight adds more stretch to the skin increasing the likelihood of stretch marks.

If stretch marks occur, what can be done? Some will resolve on their own once the skin is no longer under pressure and the hormones are back to normal. Others may have to be treated. Topical agents containing tretinoin in very high doses has proven effective in realigning some of the collagen and elastins in the skin. Unfortunately it is a very irritating course of action.

In the early stages of stretch mark formation when the striae are still reddish, purple in color, treatments with vascular removal lasers have proven to reduce the redness and realign the building blocks of the skin. This is the best treatment for improving the appearance of stretch marks.

Treatments to older stretch marks with lasers such as the DeepFX carbon dioxide laser have proven helpful although far from magical.