August 3rd, 2011 by KerriSparling in Opinion, True Stories
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When Jeff Hitchcock approached me last year and asked if I would feel comfortable leading the Pregnancy and Diabetes session at Friends for Life, I was honored. But also a little confused. What on earth was I going to tell the session attendees? I couldn’t spout off medical information. I am not a licensed medical professional.
“I’m just a person with diabetes who had a baby. And my pregnancy was a bit of a tangled one, too!” I remember emailing to Jeff, wondering if they’d be better off with a doctor at the helm of that discussion.
He replied within minutes, telling me that was exactly why they wanted me to lead the session. And I grinned, but felt nervous.
Before the little bird joined our family, I did a lot of research about pregnancy with diabetes. Hard facts, statistics, and professional recommendations were available by the fistful. The problem was finding anecdotal information about managing pregnancy and diabetes at the same time. Before Chris and I left for Spain that year, knowing we were ready to try for a baby, I felt prepared. But when we came home and found out I was pregnant, I wanted nothing more than to find a room full of other pregnant women who had diabetes, so I could immerse myself in their support and say, “I have NO CLUE what I’m doing!! HELP!!” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
August 3rd, 2011 by Jeffrey Benabio, M.D. in Health Tips
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Yes, laser hair removal is a common and effective way to permanently remove hair. It is safe, but remember these tips:
- Hair removal lasers target the pigment in hair (that’s how they work). Hair lasers can damage darker or pigmented skin as the laser will target both the hair and the skin, burning it. This can lead to permanent skin discoloration.
- Tanned skin is dark skin, and laser hair removal should never be done on people with a tan.
- Laser hair treatments hurt. Some people Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Dermatology Blog*
August 3rd, 2011 by Berci in Announcements, News
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FDA has published an announcement about regulations regarding medical mobile applications.
The agency’s draft guidance defines a small subset of mobile medical apps that impact or may impact the performance or functionality of currently regulated medical devices. This subset includes mobile medical apps that:
a. are used as an accessory to medical device already regulated by the FDA
(For example, an application that allows a health care professional to make a specific diagnosis by viewing a medical image from a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) on a smartphone or a mobile tablet); or
b. transform a mobile communications device into a regulated medical device by using attachments, sensors or other devices
(For example, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
August 2nd, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in Health Tips, Opinion
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- Brachioplasty Before Surgery
- Brachioplasty surgery has been called the “Arm Lift” and it kinda does “lift” the arm. The areas treated in the upper arm have been called amongst other things “Bat Wings.” Surgery tightens the skin around the upper arm which can hang unattractively in those who have lost a good deal of weight. This varies of course.
Traditional brachioplasty surgery is performed through an incision (and leaves a scar) from the arm pit to the elbow. Care is taken to try to make the scar fall into a less often seen area when the arms are at the sides. The scars from surgery
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
August 2nd, 2011 by Dinah Miller, M.D. in Opinion
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In the Clinical Encounters case featured here two days ago, I presented the story of a psychiatrist who goes for a urological procedure and discovers that one of his former patients is the nurse assisting. People wrote in to suggest ways he should handle this awkward situation and I was struck by the idea that some suggested he tell the urologist that he knows the nurse in a social setting (because he can’t tell the other doc that the nurse was his psychiatric patient) and the assumption that the urologist would be understanding, and that perhaps the urologist should have policies in place in case of such events.
Do surgeons think this way? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*