Botox and Pregnancy: is it possible to make “beauty shots” to expectant mothers?

A pregnant woman, like anyone else, wants to look beautiful, young and fresh. However, in preparation for motherhood, expectant mothers in the first place do not worry about their appearance, but the proper development of the child, so they avoid negative effects of nicotine, alcohol and all kinds of drugs. For this reason, many women are thinking about the safety of modern cosmetic procedures – in particular, injections of Botox.


    So are these two concepts compatible : Botox and pregnancy?

How do Botox injections “work”? The effectiveness of such popular procedure today, as injections of Botox, is extremely high. The principle of the injection is that the administration of botulinum toxin into the skin in a low concentration blocks the nerve endings of muscles, thus achieving the effect of non-surgical smoothing facial wrinkles and skin tightening, which persists for about 3-4 months.

Botox: pros and cons

If, under normal circumstances, an injection of Botox is made at a specialist clinic, there will be no complications after the procedure. However, Botox during pregnancy may have a greater impact on a woman’s body and cause significant weakness, digestive problems, allergic reactions, dizziness, shortness of breath and other rarely seen side effects of the drug under normal circumstances. That’s why beauticians and Gynaecologists do not recommend the injection even for women who have repeatedly done it before pregnancy. The future mother should worry not about how much is a shot of Botox, but whether it is safe for her and her baby.

If a woman decides at any cost to fight wrinkles during pregnancy and make botulinum toxin therapy it is highly recommended to consult a doctor – obstetrician-gynaecologist and beautician.

Botox during pregnancy: research

Despite a passion for “beauty injections”, which is noticeable all over the world, the effect of Botox on the body of a pregnant woman and the developing foetus is still unknown.

On this issue, opinions of experts differ. Some believe that to compare the pros and cons of Botox is impractical, because the risk of side effects persist, and this can adversely affect foetal development. Other experts believe that Botox and pregnancy are quite compatible, because the dose of the botulinum toxin injection is so small that it could not have a systemic impact on the body of a pregnant woman.

However, the results of medical studies, conducted on rats and rabbits at the Italian National Institute of Neuroscience, showed that high doses of Botox during pregnancy can cause : spontaneous abortions, malformations, development delays, insufficient weight gain of the foetus.

Of course, these results are not direct evidence of potential harm of Botox to the foetus. However, at this stage, the developers of the drug do not wish to risk by women’s health, hence they do not target them with similar studies on Botox and pregnancy. And this is clear. Because in the course of studying the pros and cons of Botox injections should not be made to the pregnant woman, that may endanger the life of her child. And this is an inadequate payment for momentary beauty.

According to physicians, greater responsibility for the health of the child lies with women themselves, so they, like anyone else, need to understand that we should be careful about the Botox injections during the pregnancy( if we want it to be successful).

But when women are only planning pregnancy, Botox injections can be made safely up to pregnancy.

Пневмония

Пневмония— острое инфекционное заболевание преимущественно бактериальной этиологии, характеризующееся очаговым поражением респираторных отделов легких с наличием внутриальвеолярной экссудации.
Поскольку пневмония по определению является острым инфекционным заболеванием, в диагнозе «пневмония» нет необходимости указывать обозначение «острая». Следует также помнить, что в настоящее время термин «хроническая пневмония» не применяется...
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Пневмония @medguruua - Медгуру -: Медгуру - Медицинская социальная сеть

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate

What is SLS?

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) is a synthetic detergent, cleaning agent and anionic surfactant (substance that makes bubbles), used in many cleaning and hygiene products. SLS is derived from cheap coconut and palm oils that in combination with its high detergent properties make substance the most popular and useful from a whole range of surfactants. SLS is available commercially in powder and pallet forms. In water the pallet form dissolves faster than the powder form.

Why is it used everywhere?

Because it is cheap, SLS is widely utilized as one of the ingredients of detergent for laundry. Due to its highly effective cleansing qualities it is used in any task requiring the removal of oil stains, hence high concentration of the substance is found in engine degreasers, floor cleaners and car washing soaps. For its thickening effects and its ability to create lather SLS is added to liquid soaps, bubble baths, body wash, shampoos and oral hygiene products. Also today SLS obtains popularity in products such as scrubs, shaving creams, hair sprays, make-up removals where it provides a foaming effect. However the foaming effects of soaps do not improve the ability to clean. It is added for visual reasons.

History

SLS was developed during World War II as a synthetic alternative to soap, because the natural ingredients such as animal fats, used to make soap, were in a short supply. Because of its high detergent and grease cleaning properties SLS found its high usage in washing and cleaning navy machines, such as tanks, armoured personnel carriers and aircrafts. Since 1947th in France and later since 1949th in Great Britain and USA, SLS became integral part of the laundry detergents.

After 1952, the manufactures started using it in shampoos. Since a second half of 80s SLS became highly popular among the manufactures of the makeup and the cosmetic industry as a whole. This included: acne treatment, hand and face cream, mascara, around-eye cream, lip balm and eye-liner. During the next decade even some eczema treatments, damaged skin treatments and rash creams contained SLS.

Laboratory Application

In science it is commonly used to prepare the proteins for electrophoresis in SLS-page technique. This compound disrupts non-covalent bonds in the proteins, in turn denatured molecules of proteins lose their usual shape, which increases negative charge of the proteins.  In medicine SLS has also found a usage in the analysis of haemoglobin. Sodium Lauryl Sulphate combines with the oxidized iron sub-unit in haemoglobin creating a stable product which then can be analysed.

Why is there a worry about SLS?

As all lathers and detergents, SLS extracts oils from the skin, in turn this process may cause irritation of skin, as a result causing inflammation (dermatitis). The main symptoms are: dryness, soreness and redness of the skin.

The extent and deepness of irritation caused by SLS depends on: a time during which it comes in a contact with the skin; its concentration in a product and frequency of usage. At the end of the 90s and at the beginning of 2000s some media sources actively speculated on a topic of the danger of SLS, especially its links to the skin cancer and blindness. However these rumours remained not proved. In 2002 in the US the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) assessed the ingredient for safety in several tests and reported that SLS appears to be safe in skin care products that are applied briefly to the skin and then rinsed off. 

Who should worry about SLS?

According to the several studies conducted by the International Eczema Society and European Paediatric Society for the last three years, there are two groups of people which are most subjected to the influence of SLS: children up to 10 years and people suffering  from aphthous ulcer. The epidermis (outer layer of the skin) is thinner in children than in adults. For this reasons the skin of children is more sensitive to SLS than of adults. There have been several studies that showed the patients had significant aphthous ulcers after using SLS-containing toothpaste, compared with the people using SLS-free toothpaste. Moreover, patients using the SLS-free toothpaste experienced faster healing of ulcers and less ulcer-related pain in average than patients using SLS-containing toothpaste.

What can we do?

When choosing bath or skin care products for a child, it is recommended to pick products that are specially formulated for babies or children. They contain substances that are milder and gentler than SLS, which are derived from sugar. I would also advise not to apply SLS-containing products to skin for a long time and rinse them off as soon as possible. Hence you can reduce the time of influence of SLS on skin as well as prevent any possible irritation.

Do not use products containing SLS if you or your children have eczema or sensitive skin. You can buy SLS-free soaps at most chemists. Although they do not foam, they are just as effective at cleaning the skin. However, SLS-free products cost more than "traditional" formulations.

Euthanasia

Introduction

We are all familiar with euthanasia in circumstances where people want to end their lives when faced with a terminal or incurable diseases in order to relieve themselves of their suffering. In these cases the people who die ask for euthanasia. However there are cases where people cannot make such requests. But how about people with no reasonable excuses who wish to commit a suicide and would like to be assisted with this?

This issue has been at the centre of the very heated debates since the mid of 1800s.

Defining Euthanasia

Before discussing the problem itself, of critical importance, in my opinion, is how we define euthanasia.  First time in medical context euthanasia was used by an English philosopher and jurist Francis Bacon in the seventeenth century. He referred to an easy, painless, happy death, which was a physicians' responsibility to relieve the body's sufferings. Nowadays one of the definitions says, euthanasia is "painless inducement of a quick death". However some people argue this definition, as it leaves open a number of possible actions, could not be seen as euthanasia. For example in a case where a person kills another, painlessly but with this death he or she gains benefits (i.e. inheritance, etc).

There is another situation, such as an accidental death which is quick and painless but not intentional. According to oxford English dictionary euthanasia is "the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma", where "suffering" is a vital condition. However this approach to define euthanasia has also counterexamples such as a killing of person suffering from a fatal or an incurable disease, where personal gain is suspected. The third, wider, definition incorporates intentionality and says - "the death must be intentional rather than accidental, with the motive to relieve suffering" (euthanasia definition, euthanasia.com) Referring to this definition, some people argue that the motives must be in the best interest of person, who expresses intention to end his/her life. And at the same time a person who performs euthanasia must not benefit from it. Thus as we can see, the definition of euthanasia must encompass four main points:

·         death must result from intention of one person to kill another person, who terminally or incurable ill;

·         the means must be painless and quick;

·         the "killer" must be motivated only by the best interest of person who dies.

Types of Euthanasia

Next part of definition arises many debates around itself and concerns "voluntarily". There are three types of euthanasia:

·         voluntary, when actions are conducted with the consent or after request of the patient;

·         non-voluntary - when procedures are conducted but the consents of the patients are unavailable, because of mental or deep-physical illnesses. For instance in a case of a child euthanasia or when the person is in a coma;

·         involuntary - occurs when actions are performed against the will of the patients who are able to give reasonable consents, (they do not choose to die) or where not asked.

Voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia can all be further divided into passive and active types.

The passive type incorporates withholding of vital treatments such as antibiotics, nutrients necessary for the support of life. The active euthanasia is a cause of the usage of lethal substance, such as injections.

Issues around Euthanasia

One more problem that arouse around euthanasia is so called "the doctrine of double effect". This states that "bad results can be morally accepted if they are the site effects of good actions". This principle is used to justify the situations when a doctor gives the drugs to a patient in order to relieve symptoms even though they know such actions may shorten the patient's life. Very often such a drug is morphine.

 But this is usually when reasonable doses of drugs are uncounted, because doctors have not the aim to kill his patients. The bad result of the patient's death is a site effect of the good result when reducing the patient's pain. But what if the dose was fatal (much larger than it needs to relieve pain) and who can estimate the dose for every patient separately?

People who are against euthanasia claim that it weakens society's respect for the sanctity of life. In other words, by the accepting euthanasia the society accepts that lives of the disabled or sick worth less than others. They insist that it is too difficult to define and separate when it is done in a person's best interest or not, and the defining borders are too subtle and very often overlap.

Another group of reasons is concerning the very government, where euthanasia may be a useful weapon to silence the dissentients as well as became a cost effective way to treat the terminally ill.

The main opposed power in this issue is the religion. Many religions are against euthanasia. They believe a human life belongs to God, because it was given by Lord, hence only the creator can take it away. Another explanation of religion rejecting euthanasia is attitude to suffering, where it says that endurance is a God's plant to purify soul of a sufferer a and his/her relatives, as a way to enter the Heaven.

Pro- euthanasia activists often point to the countries such as Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and state of Oregon in the US where euthanasia is legal today. On the other hand some media reports reveal that elderly people in these countries carry cards or certified letters saying they do not want to be euthanized, for a fear it would be carried out against their will.

Conclusion

Although we all understand that it is not just the pain and suffering the incurable and terminally ill individuals have to endure, but also the pain and suffering of their friends and families that should be taken into a consideration. However the border between euthanasia and murder is very subtle and unclear that sometimes we cannot even define what is what.