Tag: Doctor Who

What Causes Childhood Arthritis?

What Causes Childhood Arthritis?
David Chandler

What is childhood arthritis?Childhood arthritis is a disease that occurs in children under the age of 16. It causes pain, stiffness, and swelling in one or more of the joints. This pain, stiffness, and swelling are called inflammation. With childhood arthritis, the inflammation lasts longer than six weeks, and is not caused by an injury or other illness. Childhood arthritis is also called juvenile arthritis.How common is childhood arthritis? It affects 1 in 1,000 US children under the age of 16. Both boys and girls are affected by childhood arthritis. Arthritis is not just a disease of old people. In fact, approximately one in 1,000 children under the age of 16 suffers from arthritis. Juvenile arthritis is among the most common chronic childhood disorders.What causes childhood arthritis?The exact cause of childhood arthritis is unknown. Childhood arthritis does not usually run in families and cannot be passed from one person to another. The onset of childhood arthritis may follow an infection or injury, but these events do not cause the arthritis. With childhood arthritis, the body’s immune system stops working properly. The immune system’s job is to fight off germs and disease. However, in a child with childhood arthritis the immune system attacks healthy tissues. What triggers this process is unknown.What can you do about childhood arthritis? If your child has inflammation, in one or more joints for more than six weeks your doctor may perform a physical examination of your child and order tests, such as x-rays and blood tests to find out what is causing the inflammation. There is not just one single symptom, sign, or test that will give a diagnosis of childhood arthritis.If your doctor thinks your child has childhood arthritis, he or she will usually refer your child to a rheumatologist (pronounced room-a-tol-o-jist). A rheumatologist is a doctor who has received special training in the diagnosis and treatment of problems involving inflammation of the joints, muscles and other parts of the body. About the Author
For more information, visit www.ArthritisInfoCenter.com

The History of Hair Transplant

Hair transplant procedures have come a long way in recent decades. The results surgeons can get with the new areas of hair on a patient’s previously balding areas are better than they have ever been before. It is amazing that this first started with a doctor who wanted to transplant hair to give people new eyebrows.

Dr. Okuda of Japan was busy trying to transplant hair to the eyelashes and eyebrows of people who had lost them traumatically. This was before World War II. When the war broke out, his discovery of hair transplant procedures was squelched until two decades later.

In 1959, Dr. Norman Orentreich began a new field of surgery when he published on the use of hair transplant surgery. It was during this decade that doctors had begun to try moving balding-proof hair follicles to the balding areas of patients’ heads. They used hair from the fringe, or back and sides of the head, to accomplish this.

The doctors were trying to determine whether hair follicles were balding resistant because of where they were located on the head or because of something inherent in the follicles themselves. This would settle the issue of whether hair transplant would work by those methods.

After their trials, they got the answer: the hair follicles themselves made the difference in the life of the hair and not where they were placed on the scalp. They termed this phenomenon Donor Dominance. Hair transplant surgery was on the horizon.

Doctors started doing hair transplant procedures immediately. They began with a method that was somewhat flawed. While they did use their idea about moving hair from the sides and back of the head to the balding areas, they did not have pleasing results.

These hair transplant procedures in the 1960s and 1970s used a method where 15-25 hairs were grafted in a round plug pattern. These plugs were both conspicuous and unsightly. They looked quite unnatural; if a person had hair plugs, everyone knew it. They were not only unbecoming, they were also permanent.

Improvements were made in hair transplant surgery in the 1980s. Mini-grafts were better, but they still had the appearance of plugs, albeit smaller plugs. These were made up of 5-8 hairs each. This size of plugs is still being used by some surgeons even today.

As time has gone by, the graft used by most surgeons has gone down. The hair transplant of grafts between 1-8 hairs is the norm. Up to 800 grafts can be done in one sitting now. There is still room for improvement, though, as the results still do not look completely natural as they should.

A new method of hair transplant that is being used by some doctors today is follicle-unit micro-grafting. In this procedure, grafts are made up of 1-4 hairs and are placed over the balding area. This is the usual number of hairs in follicles on a healthy head of hair. By inserting thousands of these follicular units, surgeons can give the appearance of natural hair and hairline.

Hair transplant surgery has reached a level where it can produce a result that is virtually undetectable to most people. Over the course of several decades, it has changed from an experimental procedure to one that is used frequently and successfully.

How You Can Avoid Dishonest Hair Transplant Doctors

It is easy to assume that any doctor will do everything in his power to do right by you. However, it would be nave to think that there are no hair transplant doctors that are dishonestly trying to use you to make money and nothing more. There are a few things to take into consideration.

1. Watch out for high pressure tactics. One example is when a promotion is run guaranteeing a special price if you schedule your procedure by a certain date. Most reputable doctors charge a fair price for the hair transplant surgery and so do not need to discount it. Another example is when you go in and the doctor or other people in his office will not take no for an answer. Any good doctor knows the decision is yours to make.

2. Try not to use a doctor who starts you off with a salesman or other person who has nothing to do with the health occupations. You need a person with good training to show you all you need to make your mind up about the surgery. You do not need a person whose only agenda is to sell you on getting hair transplant procedures done.

3. You should start to get concerned if your doctor has no specific good stories to tell about hair transplant surgery they have done. You need to see before and after photos. You need a way to contact former patients. If at all possible, you need to be able to visit with patients the doctor has treated so they can show you the results in person. You are not asking too much – it is a major commitment you are making.

4. If your doctor says to try a few hair transplant grafts and then decide, run. This is never a good idea. Once you start having the grafts done, you are committing to a full set of procedures. Otherwise, your hair will end up looking out of balance.

5. Do not get involved with a doctor who does not listen. A good doctor knows how important the hair transplant is to you. He will listen to your questions about hair transplant and provide intelligent answers. He will also try to find out what your goals are to see if they are realistic.

6. Keep it realistic. If the doctor says the hair transplant will cost an exorbitant amount of time or money, be wary. You should have a basic idea of the going rates before you make this decision. On the other hand, if the doctor talks about how little it will cost and how quick and easy it will be, be suspicious of that too. The answer should lie somewhere in the middle.

7. Not all hair transplant stories are good ones. If the doctor you consult with claims that his are, you cannot trust what he says. Virtually every doctor has some procedure that has gone wrong to some degree. A good doctor will admit this and provide a plan to avoid it.

There are hair transplant stories that would make most people think twice about having the surgery. However, it is not a good representation of the fine work that most hair restoration surgeons are doing. Just make sure you find one of those good surgeons.