Flabbiness – Surgical & Non-surgical fixes – Your Choice

Flabbiness, especially in the arms and thighs, occurs in part because of a syndrome called sarcopenia — age-related muscle loss combined with the loss of elasticity in the skin. The loss of muscle mass is not inevitable, however. To preserve muscle mass, you can do cardiovascular exercise and weight lifting or resistance exercise training.

Surgical Intervention

Liposuction, Liposculpture, VASER Liposelection is performed to remove excess fat that does not reduce following exercise and diet. Liposculpture or Liposuction aims to improve body shape and self-image enabling you to wear the clothes you want. Liposuction,Liposculpture is carried out to correct abnormal fat deposits; under chin,neck,male chest (Gynaecomastia),and lower body (Lipodystrophy). Abnormal or excess fat deposition can arise from a familial trait or simply as a result of the changes of aging. Fat deposition in the lower body and legs (Lipodystrophy) commonly has a genetic link and can prove difficult for the patient to reduce with diet and exercise but is suitable for Liposuction, Liposculpture.

Fat deposition in the male chest (Gynaecomastia) is relatively common and rarely responds to diet and exercise but is suitable for VASER Liposelection, Liposuction, Liposculpture, or PAL Liposuction.

Many patients are troubled by these fat deposits that can readily be treated by Liposuction, Liposculpture. However, liposuction should not be undertaken lightly, but should be part of your program of diet and exercise to improve your body shape, fitness and tone. You should aim to reduce your weight as much as possible prior to any liposuction, liposculpture surgery.

Liposuction, Liposculpture involves removing fat by the use of suction (aspiration), through a metal tube (cannula). This can be performed using a simple manual liposuction technique or Power Assisted Liposuction, PAL. Manual liposuction suction techniques are suited to relatively small areas whilst PAL Liposuction or VASER Liposelection facilitates rapid,safe and significantly less traumatic liposuction treatment for large areas.

Secret Surgery patients have achieved amazing results with the introduction of the latest Vaser Lipo techniques take a look at the before and after pictures on the website.

Results are seen almost immediately as soon as swelling is reduced!

Non-surgical Fixes

Exercise

The Obesity Society recommends resistance exercise training to avoid both sarcopenia and obesity as a person gets older. If you have never done resistance exercise, it’s best to start with a trainer to avoid injury. Resistance training has been shown to increase muscle mass even among 70- to 90-year-olds.

We now have an aging population combined with an epidemic of obesity in this country, a phenomenon now being called sarcopenic obesity — as people get older, they are getting heavier and losing muscle mass. A healthy diet along with aerobic and resistance exercise is the antidote. It may be possible to prevent most of the sarcopenia seen in the older population if resistance exercise training is incorporated into a workout routine two to three times per week, especially for perimenopausal and postmenopausal women and older men.

Not only is weight lifting and weight-bearing exercise important for your muscles, it’s also important for maintaining your bone mineral density, which decreases in women dramatically at perimenopause. In addition to exercise, a healthy diet with adequate amounts of protein, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can enhance muscle and decrease body fat. If you don’t consume milk products, it’s essential to take a vitamin D supplement with calcium. All these dietary and exercise recommendations will help with muscle mass and can prevent sarcopenia.

Results can be seen several weeks to months into starting the regular toning exercise routine.

With or without surgical intervention we would recommend that you take up some form of exercise to maintain and prevent return of flabbiness.

Skin Firming Creams

To supplement both the surgical and non-surgical fixes we would recommend that you use a good quality firming body wash, serum and firming cream on a daily basis to provide the flabby areas with the correct nutrients they need to regenerate.

RE9 Advanced Nourishing Body Wash

This intensive moisturizing wash, with vitamins and minerals, nourishes skin and enhances radiance and tone. ( 200 mL )

Reactivating Body Serum

This botanically based, pre-moisturizing body gel absorbs quickly to help replenish skin’s moisture barrier. ( 100 ml/3.4 fl. oz. )

RE9 Advanced Firming Body Cream

This luxurious cream supports collagen and elastin to help promote a firmer, more toned, smoother look and feel to skin. ( 190 g )

 

****    ****    ****    ****    ****    ****    ****    ****

 

If you would like to find out more about the procedures at Secret Surgery please contact Sara-SecretSurgery@live.co.uk

The RE9 Advanced products above can be purchased direct online from AfreshMeArbonne

Parabens – “Are they the silent killers of 21st century?”

When you look on the label of so many personal, beauty and skin care products and you will see a particular ingredient listed.  

It’s called Parabens.  

In recent years there is now a big movement into finding Paraben free skin care products and Paraben free cosmetics and personal/beauty products.

What is a Paraben?

Parabens are a class of chemicals used as preservatives. There are many individual Parabens and different ones are used for somewhat different purposes, but primarily as preservatives.  They are efficient as bacteriological agents and as fungicidal agents. As preservatives they work against bacteria and fungi.

Parabens are found in a wide range of different personal care products like shampoos, shaving gels, cosmetics, skin care products, toothpastes, pharmaceuticals and much more. Have a look at the label of some of the personal products you’re using now and see if you can see the word Parabens listed.

Why do people search for Paraben Free products?

Because Parabens are considered by many to be a dangerous chemical, and any product that uses Parabens as a preservative should be avoided.  The big skin care, cosmetics, personal and beauty companies tell us that Parabens are quite safe, and that they have been used for years.

There are many who are starting to dispute this and believe that Parabens are actually harmful.  Studies have suggested that Parabens can indeed be toxic to some people.  But always the problem with studies is establishing when something is proven.  For example, Parabens have been found  in the breast tissue of breast cancer patients. It doesn’t prove that Parabens cause breast cancer, but it’s causing enough concern for people to look for alternative Parabens  free products!

Other studies have suggested that Parabens cause allergic skin reactions, interfere with the body’s endocrine system and may cause skin rashes, along with possible weak hormonal effect on the body.

Parabens in direct contact with our skin are readily absorbed into our blood stream, and can be detected in our blood shortly after use when tested. This is a little scary but again is not definitive proof that they are dangerous to our health. But it’s something to think about.

The problem is that Parabens  are cheap, and so the big companies are addicted to their use because of this. It comes down to profit.  There are excellent natural preservatives available, which could replace Parabens, but at a higher cost.

So now you can see why so many people are now searching for Paraben free skin care products!  They are not certain that the Parabens are dangerous, but would prefer not to find out.

There are excellent Paraben free skin care products and Paraben free cosmetics available.  These products work as well, and most of the time usually better, than their mainstream counterparts that cling onto the use of Parabens.

Until there is a large-scale study to define the safety / use of Parabens in our cosmetics and skin care products the question will remain unanswered.

Our customers have all chosen not to take the risk, and are already enjoying the benefits of living Paraben free using our products.

By all means research some more yourself.  It is unlikely that you come up with a definitive answer, it comes down to personal preference.

We invite you to ask yourself just one important question ….

“Are you comfortable using a product that includes an ingredient with a question mark over it’s safety, or would you prefer to use a safer alternative?”

We know what we prefer.

Check out our full range at Afresh Me Arbonne

  

 

 

 

 

Quick guide to Weight Loss Surgery

 

Exercise and eating right are the best ways to lose weight. However there are many people who have tried those methods for years and still can’t lose excess weight — weight that can cause serious health problems.

For people in this frustrating situation, weight loss surgery (bariatric surgery) may be an option. Below you will find information to help you better understand the procedures, and determine if you’re a good candidate.

The Gastric Balloon

Gastric balloon is a reversible and incision free weight loss procedure. The concept is simple. A deflated soft silicone gastric balloon is inserted into the stomach via the mouth and filled with liquid or air, reducing the amount of food the stomach can hold and causing the patient to feel fuller faster. The balloon can be left in place for up to six months. Once removed, the stomach — and sometimes the patient’s appetite — returns to normal.

Gastric Balloon: Are You a Candidate?

The gastric balloon procedure may be right for someone who needs to lose weight before an upcoming, once-in-a-lifetime event, such as a wedding or high school reunion. It can also help individuals better comply with prescribed diets. Unlike with other weight loss surgeries which require a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher, you only need a BMI of 27 or above to undergo the gastric balloon procedure.

 

Gastric Bands

Adjustable gastric banding is a restrictive type of weight loss surgery. In a nutshell, it involves placing a silicone band with an inflatable inner collar around the upper stomach to restrict food intake. This creates a small pouch and a narrow passage to the lower stomach. This small passage delays the emptying of food from the pouch and causes a feeling of fullness. The silicone band can be tightened or loosened over time to change the size of the passage.

Other terms for adjustable gastric banding are laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding and gastric banding.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Gastric Banding?

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) requirements for adjustable gastric banding are the same as for other weight loss surgeries. For example, the NIH requires a body mass index (BMI) greater than 40. This is the equivalent of being about 100 pounds overweight for men and 80 pounds overweight for women. BMI takes height and weight into account to measure body fatness, and a BMI of 30 or above in adults is considered obese.

People with BMIs between 30 and 40 may also be candidates for gastric banding with Lap Band if they have obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. The Realize Band is approved for use in people with a BMI between 35 and 40 and at least one obesity-related condition.

Gastric banding may be an option also for people in whom the more invasive gastric bypass surgery is deemed too risky due to underlying health complications

Roux-en-Y-Gastric Bypass (Traditional and Laparoscopic)

The Roux-en-Y bypass is more common and considered less complicated than the biliopancreatic diversion bypass, since Roux-en-Y does not remove portions of the stomach.

The traditional Roux-en-Y-gastric bypass is performed through open surgery with one long incision.

The Roux-en-Y gastric bypass can also be performed laparoscopically. The laparoscopic Roux-en-Y-gastric bypass uses multiple smaller incisions (instead of one long incision) — a laparoscopic tool is inserted, which offers a visual guide to the inside of the abdomen during the procedure.

The laparoscopic Roux-en-Y produces less scarring and lets you recover faster than the traditional Roux-en-Y-gastric bypass.

What Candidate should choose a Gastric Bypass?

The gastric bypass procedure is a type of bariatric surgery or weight loss surgery designed to reduce your food intake if you have tried and failed to lose weight through diet and exercise.

Gastric bypass can greatly improve the quality of life not only because of an improvement in appearance and an increase in mobility, but also because it can reduce the number and severity of health problems that overweight people are prone to suffer, such as diabetes and heart/circulation problems.

 

The Change Is Upto You …

Being a good candidate means having realistic expectations. Weight loss surgery will help reduce your risk of life-threatening conditions and improve your overall health and appearance. The results may change the way others interact with you. These changes should improve your quality of life; however, the surgery alone is often not enough to turn your life around. Significant behavior modifications, and even a variety of additional procedures, may be necessary.

Additional surgical procedures (for example, to remove excess skin, lift sagging body areas, improve loose muscles or treat fat deposits) might include a facelift,breast augmentation, breast lift, abdominoplasty or liposuction.

If the excess weight is localized in an area that produces an apron of fat below the breast, abdomen, or hips, a panniculectomy may help to remove excess fat or skin.

Scots firm Secret Surgery has enjoyed a prolific first year of business. The cosmetic surgery holiday specialists, who turned one in November, have recently expanded their services north of the border after a flurry of interest from Scottish women. Founded by Dumbarton businesswoman Angela Chouaib, Secret Surgery has gone from strength to strength over the past 12 months, attracting new clients and earning awards along the way.

The firm has already helped over 200 women experience surgery abroad in a state-of-the-art Polish Hospital. Many of Secret Surgery’s clients had yearned to have cosmetic procedures for some time, but were unable to, often due to the prohibitive cost. After being told that she must wait two years for plastic surgery on the NHS, Angela decided to launch Secret Surgery.

She spent Nine months researching surgery options in the UK and abroad, before discovering a Hospital in Poland she felt was suitable…

View original post 250 more words

Poor men – they get a rough deal really. We make fun of them for their man bellies, their balding heads and, worse of all, their moobs. We subject them to the kind of comments you wouldn’t get away with saying to a lady – unless you wanted a slap that is. With all that ripping, it’s little wonder, then, that there’s been a 7% increase in the number of men seeking cosmetic surgery in the UK.

Traditionally a female domain, cosmetic surgery is largely sought after by women wanting to repel the signs of ageing through facelifts, losing fat through liposuction and increasing their bust size through implants. These are all things that men get self-conscious about too however. Well, perhaps not increasing their bust size…

View original post 195 more words

Cosmetic Surgery Abroad – Read before you make a decision!

Secret Surgery

The First Choice for Cosmetic Surgery Abroad

Welcome to Secret Surgery, where you will find high quality cosmetic surgery abroad. If you are looking for cosmetic surgery abroad, rest assured, we can cater for your specific requirements.

Browse our services online at your leisure Secret Surgery

Why Choose Secret Surgery?

Here at Secret Surgery, we understand that our customers are looking for plastic surgery abroad from a company that you can trust. We are passionate about customer service and strive to support our customers through every stage of the process.

Not only do we offer you excellent prices for plastic or cosmetic surgery (almost a third to a fifth of what you would pay in your home country), but immediate appointments at modern clinics staffed by well trained staff. Your assigned personal assistant will not only meet you (and any other guests) at the airport but will accompany you for all your appointments and also can help you plan your free time. A full itinerary will be agreed before your arrival and we can organise everything you require.

If you would like additional information regarding plastic surgery abroad, please do not hesitate to get in touch. When it comes to plastic surgery abroad, our talented team have a wealth of industry knowledge and expertise. Contact us today for a free no obligation quote on (0)7742 911 117 . Alternatively drop us an email to Sara-SecretSurgery@live.co.uk.

Looking for Plastic Surgery Abroad?  Talk to Secret Surgery

If you want to avoid long waiting lists and sky high fees, we can provide you with state of the art facilities and a stress free service.

Why have Cosmetic Surgery Abroad?

One of the questions which gets raised a lot when considering the topic of surgery-tourism is that of why. Why do people fly half-way around the world in order to undergo stressful surgeries which are readily available here in the U.K?

On the surface it does seem like a no-brainer; undergo surgery close to your home in an environment which you are familiar with and recover with friends and family around you or fly out to a foreign country where you may not speak the language in order to undergo a surgical procedure in a medical system which you will most likely not be familiar with.

When you look at it like that, it does seem rather strange that so many people, and more every year according to statistics, choose to go abroad to get nipped and tucked and sucked. However, there are viable reasons why cosmetic surgery abroad can be a good option and, in order to allay your fears, or perhaps give you some ammo when you’re convincing your friends or your partner that it’s a good idea, we thought it would be good to run down some of these ideas now.

Let’s start off with the most obvious reason; money. Surgery abroad can be up to, or oftentimes more than, 50% cheaper than it would be in the U.K. Or so it seems on the surface; once you factor in the cost of flights and accommodation, you might not be saving as much money as you think. One way around this is to look at the package deals which many companies now offer.

The incentive of spending less money, particularly in these bleak economic times, is what motivates most people to seek out surgery abroad. The savings can be biggest in the emerging markets such as India and this is tempting people to travel further and further afield for surgery whereas previously these same people might have stayed in the boundaries of Europe or North America.  The notion that you can change your body, change your life and change who you are for vastly reduced amounts of money is something which is clearly very tempting but, remember, if an offer seems too good to be true or you simply don’t feel right about it, stay clear. It’s better to save your health than to save money.

Another reason why so many people are now opting for cosmetic surgery abroad is the chance to combine their surgery with once-in-a-lifetime travel. Many of us now work long hours and get very few holidays; those breaks we do get seem to be full of trying to catch-up on the things we haven’t had time to do whilst trying to earn a living and thus, having a holiday gets pushed further and further down the list of things we want to do.

Clearly, having a major surgery means that you will have to book time off work and thus, trying to utilise this rare spare time as much as possible, some people think that surgery abroad will allow them to have a holiday as well as have their surgery; they will come back to work relaxed, rejuvenated and completely renewed and will be able to jump back into their regular routine. This is all well and good and one can certainly see the appeal, but there are important considerations. The first, and really sorry to be the party-pooper on this one, is that this isn’t a holiday, it’s a hospital visit.

Don’t choose a location based on the weather and, if possible, don’t choose a place which you think you would enjoy exploring. Unless you can afford to stay in your country of choice for several weeks after surgery, you probably aren’t going to feel like donning a rucksack and camera in order to go wandering around like a regular tourist. You would be better off choosing a country which you feel comfortable in and in which you have at least a basic grasp of the language.

The opportunity to go to a beautiful, exotic resort is certainly enticing, but you should really be considering the quality of care you would receive and the reputation of the clinic rather than how many minutes walk it is from the hotel from the beach. British, plastic surgeons have reported a vast increase in the number of corrective surgeries they are having the perform fixing botched operations which were done on the cheap abroad. This is a lesson to us all, if we try to save too much money and go for the cheapest option then we will only end up paying more, both physically and financially, further down the line.

Those who choose surgery-tourism as a way to see more of the world are probably not entering into the process for the right reasons. That being said, as long as you’re sensible, nice weather and beautiful surroundings really can’t hurt your recovery can they?

Ultimately, it is normally the financial concerns, which lead people to look overseas for surgeries.  Some people believe that the extra stress and worry, the turning away from a plethora of surgical expertise in the U.K and the leaving behind of friends and family during the recuperation process, is worth it if they can save money. Perhaps one of the important things to note is that some people have cosmetic surgery abroad because they don’t fully understand the costs; the price looks cheap on paper but what about plane tickets, or accommodation or simply keeping yourself whilst you are in your foreign destination of choice?

Saving money is certainly a valuable thing to do, and as long as you choose a reputable and safe hospital, you could be quids in!

At Secret Surgery you can be assured our prices include everything from flights, transfers, accommodation and surgery – so you can be guaranteed no surprises on the day!

 

There are a number of thoughts that will be going through your head when you consider electing for cosmetic surgery.

Are you choosing the right clinic? Have you considered all the options? Can you afford it?

This last question is, undoubtedly, one that troubles many patients. Yes, many surgical procedures are available on the NHS – gastric bands and breast reductions are just two of them – but they’re only available to those deemed ‘suitable candidates’. Because of this, many of us are unable to remedy these hang-ups; we cannot achieve something we’ve dreamed of achieving for years. For those of us who don’t comply with the NHS criteria, there’s no other option than contacting a private clinic.

Of course, private surgery in the UK is more expensive than anywhere else in the world. Costs can be substantial, even for the most common procedures. That’s why many patients consider travelling to…

View original post 228 more words

Dukan v Paleo

Paleo Works: How To Diet

We get a lot of questions asking how our way of eating differs from say the Dukan Diet or the Atkins Diet.  Well the latter two are indeed quite similar in their make up and include similar foods although at different stages.  However many of the foods and even non foods (as may better describe them) included are in fact detrimental to both health and well being. In addition both these diets are specifically geared towards weight loss results and fall short on considering long term sustainability as they are both temporary programs with one focus, losing weight.  In particular the Dukan diet severely reduces fat intake and relies upon calorie restriction and exercise to provide results. The Atkins diet fares little better as it encourages you to purchase their own brand processed foods. We will look at the Atkins diet a little closer in this series, however for now…

View original post 829 more words

Weight Loss and Sleep

Paleo Works: How To Diet

Weight loss: are you getting enough sleep?   It’s a serious question..Take a look at this:

It’s 2004 (6 December 2004) and the headline reads:

“Sleep loss, appetite and weight gain”

Did you see it?  The article goes on to confirm  that researchers at the University of Chicago  have found that partial sleep deprivation alters the circulating levels of the hormones that regulate hunger, causing an increase in appetite and a preference for calorie-dense, high-carbohydrate foods.

So this study (published in the 7 Dec. 2004 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine), gives us a mechanism linking sleep loss to the current epidemic of obesity.

In the experiment, research subjects (who slept only four hours a night for two nights) had an 18 percent decrease in leptin, the hormone that tells the brain there is no need for more food, and a 28 percent increase in ghrelin, the…

View original post 361 more words