What's New: York Vein and Laser Clinic

We keep on top of the latest techniques and technology by networking with other physicians in the field and by frequent attendance at conferences. We search the world for the best treatments available, so you can be assured of getting the results you are looking for.

Cellcosmet has arrived! (See the previous update). I think there is more excitement around here about this product launch than I've ever seen. Come and try it out. A 45 minute eye treatment will convince you that this product really works. From now until Dec 31, 2008, Cellcosmet eye treatments are offered at $45 (regular $89. That's 50% off). This is a nationally advertized special. Look for our name in the Cellcosmet ads in the next few issues of Elle magazine! Space is limited, so call soon.

It's a very busy month! On top of the introduction of Cellcosmet, we are now offering Sculptra, the "liquid facelift". This "filler" is administered over three sessions spaced monthly. It provides powerful stimulation of collagen production and gives you about 3 years of benefit. I haven't had time to get the webpage up yet. Meanwhile, you can read about it on the Sculptra website.

The C0₂ laser is also keeping us extremely busy. We're removing moles and skin tags from 4-6 patients a day and seeing some fantastic results.

Cellcosmet: From Switzerland comes an astonishing new line of skin care products and treatments called Cellcosmet. These patented products are like no other, and the benefits they provide are unprecedented. But you don’t need to take our word for it. Sometime soon, likely in October, we will be offering 45 minute Cellcosmet clinical eye treatments. You won’t have to wonder if you have benefited. You will immediately be amazed to see greatly diminished lines, firmer contours, and a brighter complexion. When you back up your treatment with regular use of Cellcosmet home products you can maintain much of the improvement indefinitely.

These products use patented technology to keep high levels of intact stem cells in the creams. Once the creams are applied to your skin, the protective effects for these intact cells is lost. The cells break down and release a flood of nutrients and enzymes that provide immediate benefits for your skin.

Sculptra: We are going to start offering Sculptra in the next few months. This "filler" is dubbed "the Liquid Facelift". Its effect can last three years.

We just took delivery of a new carbon dioxide laser that removes moles and skin tags and just about any other skin lumps and bumps. This laser basically vaporizes a very thin layer of the mole with each pass until normal skin is reached. Damage to this healthy skin is minimal so the risk of scarring is minimized. Most treatments require no local anesthetic.

1) The Pixel is coming (late March), and we're pretty excited! This laser offers the best solution for skin texture, fine lines, acne scars, and melasma. Downtime is minimal compared to traditional skin resurfacing, just a few days of redness. Results can be astounding. More details will be posted on a Pixel page very soon.

2) We have been using the Ultrashape for six months now, and we continue to average just over 2cm loss in circumference per session. Our best result was 4.7cm in one session!

3) We are now offering a new range of peels that are much more pleasant. They look like jam and chocolate, and they lack the chemical smell of standard peels. And they work just as well as our usual peels.

4) We recently switched our main brand of cosmeceuticals to Proderm, because they contain no parabens. Parabens are used as preservatives in most cosmetic products (check the labels). So far the evidence that parabens are harmful is not very convincing. But it is definitely known that parabens persist in human tissue. There are concerns about hormone effects and cancer. We want to be cautious and proactive. So we're moving away from products that contain parabens.

5) Introducing Monday Madness: you can get Peels and Microdermabrasion for 50% off on Mondays for a limited time (we're not sure when the offer will withdrawn, but it definitely won't run forever!) (Sorry, this ended July 1/08 after a four-month run.)

We have been using the Ultrashape for almost two months now, and we are happy to report that we are averaging just over 2cm loss per session.

We bought the Soprano, the world's only painless hair removal laser. And we have a lot of patients who are happy we did!

On July 6, 2007 we took delivery of a new laser for hair removal. It is called the Soprano, and it is manufactured by Alma Lasers. We will have it for a one month trial. We’ve been waiting for this laser for almost two months, eager to see if it lived up to its promise. Well let me tell you, this laser is the most incredible device that has come on the market since the invention of laser hair removal about 10 years ago!

I tried it on myself, and I can report that it is PAINLESS, as claimed! I did an area on my lower leg about the size of the palm of my hand. It only took about thirty seconds! Toward the end of that time, I felt a very mild prickly sensation. And that was all. NO pain!

We are told that fewer sessions are needed. This of course remains to be seen, but I have no reason to doubt the manufacturer’s claim.

In September we will take delivery of a new body contouring device. The Ultrashape is an incredible new device that uses ultrasound to kill fat cells. This is the most powerful body sculpting device on the planet. It works about three times faster than our Accent to permanently eliminate localized fat deposits like love handles, tummies, and saddle bags.
We will be only the fifth clinic in Ontario to get one.
It will arrive in the first week of September, but we are booking consultations now.
Visit the Ultrashape website to find out how this device achieves a reduction in circumference of almost one inch per session with no pain, no risk, no downtime, and no effort!

We are are now offering two new dermal fillers that provide intermediate duration. Radiesse lasts about 18 months and Evolence lasts about 12 months. Evolence can be used anywhere, including the lips, and Radiesse can be used anywhere except the lips. These fillers are about 50% more expensive than the Restylane line, but this is more than made up by the duration of action which is 2 to 3 times as long.

We are considering the purchase of a fractional laser for the treatment of scars and wrinkles. This laser fractionates the beam, meaning it breaks it up into dozens of tiny beams in a single square centimeter. Each of these micro-beams burns a microscopic hole in the skin that heals in a day or two with minimal redness or downtime. After a few sessions the entire surface of the skin has been treated giving you results that are similar to full-bore laser resurfacing, a procedure that requires a lot of downtime and risk.

In July we will be trialing a laser that promises PAINLESS hair removal. Lots of lasers have made this promise before, but none have accomplished it. We'll see!

Accent: the Accent may prove to be the most incredible invention ever made for aesthetic treatments. This new patented device uses harmless radio waves to gently warm tissue. This warming kills fat cells and tightens collagen. Therefore, the device can be used for skin tightening, body contouring, and treating cellulite. The results can be outstanding. It works better than Thermage for skin tightening and way better than Velasmooth for cellulite. Treatments are painless, and there is no downtime! Read more in our Skin Tightening, Body Contouring, and Cellulite pages.

The products contain the pharmaceutical-grade antioxidant vitamins A, C, K, and E plus green tea extract. It has an SPF of 18+ because of its base of triple-milled titanium and zinc. You get unsurpassed coverage, broad spectrum UV protection and free radical neutralization all at the same time. No other makeup can offer you all of this!

Hair Transplantation: We are now offering this procedure. Hair transplantation is, by a huge margin, the most effective method of hair restoration available. It is an office procedure done under local anesthetic. It involves taking hair from the back of the head and moving it to the bald area. For reasons that are not fully understood, hair follicles from the sides and back of the head are not lost in male pattern baldness, and even if they are moved elsewhere, they will survive indefinitely.

Botox will soon have competition, however, it is not expected that this will affect the price, at least not in the USA where the system of reimbursement for medical Botox is deeply entrenched in their insurance programs. We'll see what happens in Canada.
We don't anticipate switching to the new product, because the world has almost twenty years of experience with Botox, and all the bugs have been worked out. I don't intend to switch from a known entity to an unknown entity (the new stuff is not identical).

"This one seems too good to be true. Using red light from LEDs, fibroblasts (cells in the skin that make collagen) are stimulated. The treatment simply involves sitting or lying in front of a device that looks like a fancy Lite Brite toy. The only thing you will feel is a bit of boredom! After several treatments your skin looks and feels younger. Sounds like magic doesn't it? But I have seen some amazing photos of this device treating sunburn. With only one session, the treated side of the patient's sunburn showed a huge improvement compared to the untreated side. We will be watching this one carefully."

Well, there isn't any more buzz about photomodulation in cosmetic medicine circles this year, so this one might be falling flat on it's face. We will, however, keep watching.

"The Harmony device we own is upgradeable simply by plugging in whatever new handpiece the manufacturer (Orion Lasers) has developed. Their latest development is the Erbium YAG laser. This high-powered laser is designed for skin resurfacing to eliminate wrinkles and sun damage. Several other manufacturers already have these devices in the marketplace, and they are showing great results. We are waiting for some clinical evidence of efficacy of Orion's device before we add this option."

We will be taking a look at an Er:YAG by Sciton Corp this year. This amazing laser can do precise skin resufacing measured in microns (millionths of a meter). The doctor can dial in depths from 10 microns to 200microns. A 10 micron resurfacing would be like getting microdermabrasion. Very, very mild. A 200 micron treatment is serious resurfacing! It involves considerable downtime and some risk of scarring and hypopigmentation.

"This completely new approach to laser resurfacing involves the creation of a zillion microscopic holes ("microthermal wounds") with healthy skin in between, rather than the traditional approach in which the entire surface of the skin was lasered off during resurfacing. There might be 2000 holes in one square centimeter, but they are so small that they might only damage 10-15% of the skin in the area. The healthy cells between the wounds repair the skin rapidly. The patient experiences little pain and minimal downtime, but he/she gets similar benefit as traditional laser resurfacing with its 3-4 week downtime and lots of pain. We're watching this one."

Well, we're still watching. Results have been good, but not as good as hoped. Perhaps with a few years of experience results will improve, as with Thermage.

Portrait SR: This is yet another device being marketed for skin tightening, but this one is quite different. It uses tiny blasts of hot nitrogen gas to heat the deep layers of skin and produce skin tightening. They call it plasma resurfacing. As with all new technologies, it has yet to prove itself. But we're watching, because we want to be able to offer a skin tightening procedure to you with minimal downtime for reasonable cost.

Liposuction was initially developed in the operating room by surgeons. Dermatologists took the procedure out of the OR and into the office with the development of the tumescent technique. Rather than performing liposuction under general anesthetic, tumescent anesthesia involves the infusion of large volumes of dilute local anesthetic into the area to be treated.

The procedure is much safer than traditional liposuction, because the large volumes of fluid injected reduce blood loss to a minimum. Blood loss has been the cause of almost all deaths in traditional liposuction, and this has given liposuction a bad rap in the media. But now tumescent liposuction is the standard of care. Downtime is almost zero. Discomfort is almost zero. And the results are just as good.

What's New & What's Coming