LiveLongAgeWell

I received a number of calls and emails regarding my recent post on Botox, so here’s a brief update regarding two issues.

First regarding the cost. In the U.S. an average Botox treatment runs about $300 to $400 for “one treatment area” (in Brazil, about R$ 400), so before you agree to being injected, ask the doctor how many “areas” she wants to treat, and what will be the total cost. You might be able to negotiate that a bit, particularly for more than one area. Don’t be shy about asking. Many plastic surgeons are negotiating charges these days.

Expect to pay more in big cities and on the East Coast, but I wouldn’t make my choice based on price, but on the qualifications and experience of the plastic surgeon or dermatologist. And while you may have heard of “Botox parties” (most common in California)…personally, I would run away from any doctor who participated in such an event. Injecting “the most potent toxin known to man” is not a trivial medical procedure; it carries risks and you want it done in a relatively sterile environment, with the doctor paying attention only to you, not to a crowd and with an eye on his marketing presence.

The second Botox issue is that a new type of Botulinum toxin should be FDA approved this year; a decision is expected by mid-April.  Apparently the new form (brand name Reloxin, and already available in Europe as Dysport), has several potential advantages over the current Botox made by the Allergan Corporation.

The cost to your doctor for each vial of Reloxin will be lower than the cost of Botox, so the cost to the patient should be less. And while the new form is also, like Botox, a form of Botulinum toxin A—and very similar to the standard Botox—Reloxin contains less “protein load” so it is thought patients might form less antibodies to this new toxin, and so the beneficial effect might last longer. And the onset of action is said to be somewhat faster, though this is probably no big advantage.

Once Reloxin is released, for me personally, I wouldn’t run out and be one of my doctor’s first patients. Reloxin is said to spread in the tissues more than Botox, and the concentration of Reloxin is different than Botox, and for any new procedure, there is a “learning curve” for your doctor while she or he gets acquainted with the nuances of the new medicine. I’ll give another update when the drug is released. Some cosmetic experts are expecting “price wars”, but for sure, expect to see lots of new ads…

Next post….pills people are taking to boost brain power!

I’ve always been interested in people who seem to “turn gray” (their hair that is), but otherwise seem to age well. For example, my own brother developed the salt-and-pepper look in his twenties, and now, in his late 50s, he has mostly gray hair but his skin still looks great…and I’m sure he doesn’t use any facial creams whatsoever. He took up marathon running at age 56, now runs at least six marathons per year, and at the finish of each one, he’s not very worn out…he could run much further if the race demanded.

And I, with much less gray hair…I’m sure right now there’s no way I could finish a marathon. In general I haven’t noticed any correlation between gray hair and aging of the skin, or internal aging…what has been your experience in that realm, for yourself or by observing others?

You might be interested in this article in the New York Times, which discusses that studies show no correlation between gray hair and aging of the skin or, more important, with lifespan. Gray hair seems to be just a characteristic found on a gene and has nothing to do with aging in general. Don’t let that stop you from tinting your hair (in a quality and safe way) if you want, and we’ll cover that sometime later in this blog, or in my book…

Another thing I find interesting is that here in Brazil most everyone knows his or her blood type, whereas in the United States, many people don’t know. And here’s a good reason to be blood-type aware: your chance of getting pancreatic cancer (unfortunately one of the deadliest and most difficult to detect early), is much higher with certain blood types.

A recent report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed that those with blood type O appear to have the lowest risk, and if you have are type A, you have a 32 percent higher risk than a type O individual. If you are type AB, you run a 51 percent higher risk, and type B, a 72 percent higher risk.

Some hints for avoiding pancreatic cancer I covered in a previous post, and certainly if you are type O, you still could develop this cancer, but if you have type A, AB, or B blood, I would pay particular attention over the years to the latest research in detection and prevention. Hopefully this new blood type research will lead to fresh ways to prevent and treat this killer.