July 22nd, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Cosmetic Surgery, Dermal Filler, Facial Plastic Surgery, Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Kathleen Stegman, Maxillofacial Surgery, Midwest Medical Aesthetics, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery SmartBrief, Platelet-Rich Fibrin Matrix, PRFM, PubMed, Selphyl, Skin Rejuvenation, Skin Volume, Soft Tissue Regeneration, Twilight Movie, Vampire Craze, Vampire Facelift
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I first saw mention of the “vampire facelift” two weeks ago as a news article listed in the July 9th issue of the Plastic Surgery SmartBrief: “Vampire facelift” uses patient’s platelets and fibrin in dermal filler.”
The article begins:
Instead of a traditional facelift, patients are being offered another option to get rid of wrinkles. It’s called Selphyl or the “vampire facelift,” and it uses a person’s own blood to sculpt the face.
Selphyl, according to the company’s website:
The patented SELPHYL® System enables the safe and rapid preparation of an activated Platelet-rich Fibrin Matrix (PRFM). A small volume of the patient’s blood is collected and the platelets and fibrin are concentrated during a simple centrifuge process. The resulting product (liquid, gel or membrane) can be applied to a treatment area of the face or body to stimulate natural, new tissue growth. SELPHYL® prepared PRFM has been shown to increase skin volume and rejuvenation.
SELPHYL® ensures a preparation of fibrin and platelets, with virtually no red or white blood cells. Studies have shown these platelets to be viable and intact. Platelets will release proteins, which have been reported to trigger cell migration, proliferation and differentiation over time.
With over 45,000 procedures performed world-wide, this technology has been extensively used for soft tissue regeneration in plastic surgery, orthopedics and maxillofacial surgery.
So how does Sephyl create any face-lifting effect? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
July 22nd, 2010 by AndrewSchorr in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Avandia, Avastin, Bevacizumab, Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Breast Cancer Treatment, Breast Cancer Trials, Cancer Research, Diabetes Drug, Diagnostic Radiology, Duke University, False Hope, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, GlaxoSmithKline, Medical Credentials, Medical Errors, Medical Mistakes, Oncology, Pathology Errors, Patient Harm
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The news wasn’t good this week for women concerned about breast cancer.
First came the story that some women were diagnosed with breast cancer, very early stage, had treatment –- including disfiguring surgery -– and then found out they never had cancer in the first place. The pathologist goofed, maybe even a second pathologist also misread the biopsies.
How does this happen? Not surprisingly it comes back to the clinical experience of the doctor. Properly diagnosing breast cancer, whether through radiology scans or pathology biopsies is not always easy. And in many communities the general radiologists and pathologists just don’t have enough specialized experience. This leads to mistakes, especially when the suggestions of possible cancer are subtle and minute. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
July 22nd, 2010 by David H. Gorski, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Alt-Med World, American Nurses Association, Andrew Wakefield, Anti-Vaccine Propaganda, Anti-Vaccine Quackery, Autism, CAM, Complementary And Alternative Medicine, Dr. Kimball Atwood, Dr. Rashid Buttar, Dr. Rolando Arafiles, Family Physician, H1N1, Health2Fit, License To Practice Medicine, Medical Quackery, Morgellons Disease, Naturopathy, North Carolina Board of Medical Examiners, North Carolina Integrative Medicine Society, North Carolina Medical Board, Nutritional Supplement, Pseudomedicine, Pseudoscience, SBM, Science Based Medicine, Shruggie, Suzanne Somers, Texas Medical Board, Texas Nurses Association, TMB, Unscientific Medicine, Urine Therapy, Whistleblowing Nurses, Winkler County Memorial Hospital, Zrii
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I can’t speak for anyone else who blogs here at Science-Based Medicine, but there’s one thing I like to emphasize to people who complain that we exist only to “bash ‘alternative’ medicine.” We don’t. We exist to champion medicine based on science against all manner of dubious practices. Part of that mandate involves understanding and accepting that science-based medicine (SBM) is not perfect. It is not some sort of panacea. Rather, it has many shortcomings and all too often does not live up to its promise.
Our argument is merely that, similar to Winston Churchill’s invocation of the famous saying that “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried,” science-based medicine is the worst form of medicine except for all the others that have been tried before. (Look for someone to quote that sentence soon.) It’s not even close, either. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
July 21st, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: ADHD, Autism, Bible of Psychiatry, Bipolar Disorder, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Dr. Allen Frances, Dr. Daniel Carlat, DSM-IV, Duke University School of Medicine, Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview.org, Mental Disorder, Mental Disorder Epidemics, Mental Health, Mental Illness, National Institute of Mental Health, NIMH, Normality, Overdiagnosis, Psychiatric Fads, Psychiatric Times, Psychiatry, Psychology, Unhinged
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There’s a noteworthy column in Psychiatric Times, “Normality Is an Endangered Species: Psychiatric Fads and Overdiagnosis,” by Allen Frances, M.D. He was chair of the task force that worked on the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual — DSM-IV — one edition of the “bible of psychiatry.” He is professor emeritus of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine. There’s a lot of common ground between what Dr. Frances writes and what Dr. Daniel Carlat (the subject of an earlier blog posting) writes about. Dr. Frances is concerned about the directions that might be taken in the authoring of DSM-V, now underway.
Excerpts:
“Fads in psychiatric diagnosis come and go and have been with us as long as there has been psychiatry. The fads meet a deeply felt need to explain, or at least to label, what would otherwise be unexplainable human suffering and deviance. In recent years the pace has picked up and false “epidemics” have come in bunches involving an ever-increasing proportion of the population. We are now in the midst of at least 3 such epidemics–of autism, attention deficit, and childhood bipolar disorder. And unless it comes to its senses, DSM5 threatens to provoke several more (hypersexuality, binge eating, mixed anxiety depression, minor neurocognitive, and others). Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
July 18th, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Dangerous, Dermatology, Dr. Peter Lipson, General Medicine, Health Journalism, Huffington Post, HuffPo, Inaccurate Medical Information, Journalistic Ethics, Medical Ethics, Medical Misinformation, Medical Misunderstanding, Medical News, Medical Science, Medicine Story, Misleading Patients, Science Based Medicine, Skin Cancer Conspiracy, Sun Exposure
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Today I refer you to an excellent post by Peter A. Lipson, M.D., at the blog Science Based Medicine entitled “HuffPo blogger claims skin cancer is conspiracy.”
The post focuses on an article by someone who contends that the link between sunlight and skin cancer is a conspiracy by dermatologists and the cosmetic dermatology industry. Dr. Lipson’s highly insightful analysis about the “interview” process and how doctors must act these days on behalf of their patients concludes:
This article shows a misunderstanding of journalistic ethics, medical ethics, and medical science. It’s a disaster. And it’s no surprise that it’s in the Huffington Post.
While this is a medicine story, my question relates to why an organization with a lot of great front-page news so frequently posts medical articles that are wrong and, sometimes, downright dangerous.
Read the article first, then read Dr. Lipson’s analysis.
Disclosure: I am an occasional contributor to Science Based Medicine but, like all contributors there, receive no compensation.
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
