Look Good to Feel Good

Great News! Taking care of your skin can make you look better, feel better and live longer. New research is showing that wrinkles, thinning skin, varicose veins, and age spots are more than just vanity issues. These are the tell-tale signs of nutritional deficiencies and hormonal decline. It’s your body signaling for help. It’s a call to action. Your body is saying. “I need more vitamin C, E, Carotenes and Bioflavonoids.” Your skin is the largest organ of your body. It is a visible barometer of your overall health status. By improving the health of your skin you improve the health of your entire body.

As we age the body’s inherent production of antioxidants that protect the skin decreases. As this happens, your skin becomes leathery and wrinkled; age spots begin to appear on your face and hands, your arteries lose their elasticity, your joints and cartilage stiffen, your vision becomes cloudy, your spine eventually becomes stooped and your brain neurons become hardened and entangled.

Free radicals destroy cell membranes and damage the collagen and elastin that make up the connective tissue matrix of your skin, blood vessels, joints and brain neurons. In fact, free radicals have been implicated in more than sixty diseases, including heart disease, hardening of the arteries, arthritis, alzheimer’s disease, cataracts and cancer.

Antioxidants are molecules that deactivate free radicals and stop the cellular and tissue damage they cause, including DNA mutations. You can compensate for the short supply of antioxidants within your body by eating foods and taking supplements that are rich in antioxidants such as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Beta-Carotene, and Proanthocyanidin bioflavonoids.

At the Hansen Clinic we teach patients which foods to eat to live the longest and be the healthiest. We also prescribe specialized supplements that strengthen and enhance your internal collagen and elastin production. Additionally, we prescribe topical skin care treatments, including facials, peels, photo rejuvenation therapy and injectable dermal fillers to promote collagen production and restore the beauty of your skin and the total health of your entire body.

Nature’s Top Four Antioxidants

Vitamin C is nature’s best known antioxidant. It is also essential to the production of collagen and elastin. Additionally, Vitamin C is the predominant antioxidant in the skin where if it is plentiful and it protects against cancer and photoaging. Internally it also boosts the immune system by protecting White Blood Cells from free radicals released in the fight against viruses and bacteria. Vitamin C can also extend your lifespan.

A study published in the journal Epidemiology, reported that people with a Vitamin C intake of as little as 300 to 400 mg daily had 42 percent lower overall death rates and 45 percent lower heart disease death rates than people who took less Vitamin C. Dr. James E. Enstrom, an epidemiologist at UCLA who lead the study, said that this amount of Vitamin C daily increases the mean life expectancy by as much as six years compared to the low intake group.

Vitamin E protects all cell membranes and the stratum corneum of the skin. Plants make Vitamin E and C to protect them from damage caused by the sun’s rays. Humans cannot make Vitamin C or Vitamin E, therefore, they must get both from their diet or supplements.

Vitamin E prevents the oxidation of LDL Cholesterol. A study conducted by the World Health Organization determined that a low level of vitamin E is a more accurate predictor of heart disease risk than a high cholesterol level. Taking as little as 200 I.U. of Vitamin E daily over a two year period resulted in a 47% decreased risk of heart disease compared to the group consuming only the RDA level of merely 30 I.U. daily.

Carotene is another potent antioxidant, which is stored in the skin. It provides a natural bronze coloration to the skin and absorbs UV radiation. Research that appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that 8 weeks of supplementation with 25 mg of Carotenes lead to a 29% less intense sunburn response in those who took it regularly. Epidemiological data indicate there is an inverse correlation between the amount of beta-carotene found in the blood stream and lung cancer risk. That means, the lower the level of beta-carotene in the blood, the higher the risk of lung cancer and conversely, the higher the level of beta-carotene in the blood, the lower the risk of lung cancer.

Bioflavonoids are natural plant molecules that strengthen and protect the connective tissue of the body. The connective tissue is the network of collagen and elastin that holds everything in the body together. Bioflavonoids should be considered vitamins because we cannot survive without them and our bodies cannot make them. We must get them from our diet or from supplementation. You find them in the skins and seeds of grapes, cherries, apples, blueberries, and the peels of oranges, grapefruit and the bark of apple and pear trees.

Grape Seed Extract provide the highest concentration of the most active form of bioflavonoids known as Proanthocyanidins. These specialized bioflavonoids protect collagen by blocking collagenase, the collagen destroying enzyme.

The Fountain of Youth

Ponce de Leon should have looked in the vineyards of his own back yard for the Fountain of Youth. The secret was there all the time, hidden within the tiny seeds of Europe’s finest vineyard grapes. The key ingredient is a substance extracted from the seeds and skins of grapes; a bioflavonoid known as Oligomeric Proanthocyanidin Complex, or OPC for short.

This remarkable natural supplement may be the most important medical discovery of the century. A deficiency of this essential bioflavonoid leads not only to the aging of the skin, but may lead to the most dreaded diseases of our time, including heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, cataracts, and more. To read some patient success stories that show how effective Grape Seed OPCs can be click here.

Phloretin is another potent bioflavonoid recently found in the bark of apple, pear and grapefruit trees. It has been shown to inhibit nearly 80% of the elastin destroying enzyme elastase. It is a potent antioxidant that inhibits age spots and activates cell renewal. It is antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflamatory. It can be found in SkinCeuticals Phloretin CF topical serum described below.

You Are Only As Young As Your Connective Tissue

To a large extent, youthfulness is determined by the suppleness of your collagen and elastin. Your skin, blood vessels, joints and every membrane within your body are laced together with these connective tissue components. During infancy, these connective tissues are extremely soft and pliable. Over time the collagen and elastin fibers gradually become cross-linked by free radical damage leading to wrinkles, cellulite and baggy skin. Summertime sun exposure can accelerate this process dramatically.

Natural Dermal Fillers for Immediate Results

At the Hansen Clinic we treat the body from the inside and from the outside. In addition to the special nutrients that Dr. Hansen prescribes to nourish your body from the inside, he traveled to Paris, France to learn the art and medical science of natural dermal fillers, including Restylane, Juvederm and Radiesse. These natural products replace the hyaluronic acid that is lost as we age and stimulate the production of new collagen.

Hyaluronic acid is produced by the body to provide the soft supple texture of the skin and lips. It is like a carpet pad underneath a carpet. As we age this natural padding becomes oxidized by the sun’s rays and eventually wears thin. By injecting Restylane® or Juvederm into the dermis of the skin we can restore the natural fullness of the padding and reduce the appearance of facial wrinkles and folds.

Collagen can be promoted in the body by injecting a natural dermal filler composed of micro spheres of calcium. This compound known as Radiesse is a soft and pliable gel-like material that is injected into the dermis of the skin to create a natural “scaffold” over which new collagen is laid down by the body. The result is a long-lasting correction of wrinkles and the restoration of your natural more youthful appearance.

Dr. Hansen’s Rx for Youthful Longevity

You can push back the clock and even reverse the effects of aging on your body from the inside and the outside, by taking 4 powerful steps: