One of the great things about a woman’s bathroom is the smell - soaps, shower gels, bubble bath, as long as you don’t go too heavy on the hair spray or perfume, everything smells clean and fresh. Why, then, would someone want to use vinegar as a skin care product? Believe it or not, vinegar deserves a place of honor on your natural skin care shelves. Find out what it can do for you, and how to make it smell good.

Vinegar - your best choice is unfiltered apple cider vinegar, also known simply as cider vinegar - contains beta-carotene, pectin, a wide range of vitamins and several minerals vital to good health and healthy skin.

It’s a powerful antioxidant that fights free radicals, stimulates circulation in small capillaries, helps eliminate waste, and protects against fungal and bacterial infection. It also irrigates the skin, dissolves excess fat deposits near or on the surface, balances oily skin and restores the skin’s natural pH.

Vinegar is also great for acne: It not only clears up a breakout, it can even reduce acne scarring. And it’s great for lightening age spots or other discoloration.

Mixing apple cider vinegar with an equal part of clean water - if you need skin care products designed for sensitive skin, start with one part vinegar and five parts water - also shrinks the pores, reduces shiny patches, and gives you an overall healthy glow.

Adding vitamin C crystals increases the antioxidant content and offers even more protection.

How do you get rid of the smell? Believe it or not, the smell dissipates within a few minutes but, to be sure, add a few drops of essential oils. Lavender, rosemary, rose, and elder flower are among the most common. These oils also have their own skin care benefits. Lavender is a soothing, antiseptic anti-inflammatory excellent for psoriasis, acne and sunburn. Rosemary is also antiseptic, and relaxes both the nerves and muscles. Rose stimulates circulation and purifies, and elder flower, high in vitamin C, is a mild astringent that also softens the skin. However, all the oils should be used in moderation.

After you’ve cleansed, toned, stimulated, softened and purified your skin with apple cider vinegar and essential oils, don’t forget to apply a shielding lotion. The fastest way to ruin a good skin care treatment is pollution. Environmental chemicals and toxins break down the protective layer of the skin, produce free radicals, and cause dry skin, eczema and aging. A good shielding lotion bonds with the skin’s outer layer to keep out chemicals.

Give apple cider vinegar a try. It could be just the skin care product you need to get that healthy glow. And don’t forget the shielding lotion.

Author, Gloria MacTaggart, is an expert author on skin care solutions and contributes articles on skin care for 21st Century Formulations. For more information, please visit http://www.SkinMDNatural.com.

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Laser eye surgery in Orange County has witnessed increasing popularity together with rising demand in recent years. As the technology involved has seen more efficient ways of carrying out the procedures, costs of the surgery have also dropped, rendering it much more affordable to a larger number of people. These same individuals who might benefit from the operation would have baulked at the prices in the past, but now they embrace it as a very practical way of improving their eyesight without having to burn a hole in their pockets.

With the natural rise of affluence in Orange County, it has resulted in numerous medical clinics and facilities that specialize in laser eye surgery. They cater to the demand in the region and it would be an understatement to say that Orange County residents are spoilt for choices when it comes to choosing which laser eye surgery clinic to have their vision correction done in. The ready supply of laser eye surgeons and services have also meant that the various practices have engaged in competition in order to get as many patients as they can afford to care for. This has resulted in very competitive prices offered to potential customers.

Cheaper laser eye surgery rates are a bonus to patients, but it can also make choosing the best, or most suitable, surgeon, a more difficult task. When it comes to medical services, it is not necessarily a good strategy to opt for cheaper clinics and surgeons. Many of these practices might be lowering their rates to make up for the low number of clients they have, due to their relative lack of experience compared to other established surgeons. There are also many clinics that provide a wider range of laser eye surgeries such as custom Lasik and PRK, and as a result of overhead, might charge higher prices for their advanced procedures. Therefore, you should never allow price to be an overriding factor in your decision of choosing a laser eye surgeon to perform the operation on you.

Another important area to analyze would be the track record and success rate of the surgeons that you shortlist during your search. It might be instinctive to go for a laser eye surgeon who has achieved fame through the media and is the recommended name on many people’s lips. However, you should look deeper into his experience and track record, and compare it across other surgeons’ credentials. It might be surprising to find out that a surgeon who might be well known could have done that through one extremely successful operation on someone famous or important, but his or her overall track record might still pale in comparison to other surgeons with lower profiles. At the end of the day, your eyes are your priority, and not the massaging of someone else’s ego. Thus, always do a proper check on a few possible laser eye surgeons, and choose the one with the best success rate and a proven track record.

There are many other details which can be used to select the best laser eye surgery practice in Orange County for your needs, but the above two points mentioned are definitely crucial in making the right decision. As it concerns your eyes, one of the most important parts of your body, it justifies more time and care taken to make it.

John Carew is a medical journalist who is well versed in lasik eye surgery Orange County. Learn more about laser eye surgery Orange County from his coverage.

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The skin is the reflection of your health and our personality. There is no doubt that the skin is most crucial organ that determines our beauty. Besides esthetical factor, the skin is the largest organ of the body. It is linked to all vital functions of the body, and serves numerous functions. It plays a role of protection and exchange.

Everyone would like to have fair skin. However, the ideal skin is rare and natural. I don’t know for men, but women know the importance of radiant skin. For a woman, being uncomfortable in her own skin is like carrying a cross. Perfect skin does not exist. Even when the appearance is superb, skin always has a small frustrating detail. Either it is too dry or too oily, or it is covered in dark spots or it streak of couperose. The skin is a living organ changing from season to season, depending on age, hormonal fluctuations, diet and your lifestyle

Real beauty shines through a look, a smile, an attitude. It is also expressed through the state of the skin. Unfortunately, over the years, the skin begins to lose its freshness. Even before the wrinkles begin to appear, you may notice spots, rough texture or uneven complexion: fine lines, dark under eye circle, etc.

What can you do?

Contrary to what most people think, having beautiful skin is not waking up one day and using an antioxidant cream for a couple weeks. You need to practice healthy lifetime habits to keep your skin looking soft, smooth and radiant. The following are some of those habits:

Nutrition – A healthy diet has a positive effect on the aging of the skin. To resist the signs of time and ageing, skin must be properly hydrated and nourished. while creams and masks can help, good health of the skin starts with a healthy diet. Eat lots of foods providing oligo-elements, vitamins A, E and C and fatty acids. Eat healthy, make your skin happy! To see the result of your diet, you need to moderate consumption of alcohol and limit sugar intake.

Avoid pollution - The pollution accelerates the aging of the skin. Pollution particles contribute to accelerate the production of the skin free radicals, resulting in skin irritation, tarnished skin and wrinkles. To treat those damages, you need antioxidant creams. When I say, creams, I am not talking about dangerous chemical that will do more harm than good. I meant safe natural antioxidant creams, which can fight against the formation of free radicals, and act as filters between the skin and pollution to ensure a younger skin.

Skin hydration - It is essential to hydrate your skin. Skin hydration is one of the best weapons against skin damages. It helps to preserve the flexibility and firmness of the skin of the face. In addition to the daily use of skin moisturizer, drink plenty of fresh juice; no sugar please. Give yourself a time of relaxation during the day. Many researches confirm that people who have a habit of relaxing in the evening or taking a nap in the afternoon tend to have less wrinkle and suffer less from stress.

Avoid Prolonged Sun Exposure - Protecting skin from the sun helps to preserve its youth. Sun exposure is responsible for nearly 80% of the marks of age! They are mostly UVA that act in this sense. Penetrating deeply into the skin, they promote the release of free radicals. So, to protect your skin during sunshine, apply sunscreen. If possible, avoid all prolonged exposure to the sun, because not only minor damages, overexposed to UVA rays can cause skin cancer.

There are plenty of other precautions to take for a healthy skin and this article is not enough to content them all. To learn more about tips and natural skin care that can help you look younger than your age, visit our Skin Natural products website

Raphaelo is a cosmetologist who strongly believes in natural beauty. He loves to share his own personal beneficial experiences with natural skin care products to others. To learn more about natural skin care, Please visit his Skin Natural products website

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Although puncture wounds are common, retained foreign bodies are not. Wounds with a foreign body sensation should be evaluated. The presence of wood or vegetative material, graphite or other pigmenting materials, and pain is an indication for foreign body removal. Radiography may be used to locate foreign bodies for removal, and ultrasonography can be helpful for localizing radiolucent foreign bodies. It is wise to set a time limit for exploration and to have a plan for further evaluation or referral. Injuries at high risk of infection include organic foreign bodies or dirty wounds. These should be treated with plain water irrigation and complete removal of retained fragments. In most cases, antibiotic prophylaxis is not indicated. If a patient presents with an infected wound, the possibility of a retained foreign body should be considered. Tetanus prophylaxis is necessary if there is no knowledge or documentation of tetanus immunization within 10 years, including tetanus immune globulin for the person with a dirty wound whose history of tetanus toxoid doses is unknown or incomplete. (Am Fam Physician 2007;76:683-8. Copyright [C] 2007 American Academy of Family Physicians.)

Foreign bodies may be retained in the body through many mechanisms, including ingestion, placement in bodily orifices, and surgical errors. This article is limited to objects that have penetrated the skin. Puncture or impalement injuries are common. In the United States in 1999, there were 8.2 million emergency department visits

for open wounds. (1) Retained foreign bodies are not common. The authors of one study involving patients injured by broken glass found retained glass in 15 percent of wounds. (2) The risk of puncture wounds and retained foreign bodies increases in warmer seasons or climates because of bare skin and outdoor recreation. Persons who work in occupations such as carpentry and the garment industry are at increased risk of impalement with nails or pins. These injuries are more common in children or adults with mental or physical impairment, which may result in behavior or lack of control that increases risk.

Although these injuries may seem minor, wounds with neglected foreign bodies are a common cause of malpractice claims. (3) Any wound that penetrates the skin should be evaluated to determine if exploration for foreign bodies is needed. An accurate history of the mechanism of injury and description of the probable object can help localize the problem and determine the need for removal.

Investigating for Possible Foreign Body

Patients may not be aware of retained material, but if there is sensation of a foreign body, it is important to explore the wound. Removal is easier if wounds are examined within 24 hours because the entry wound is visible and open. Older injuries have inflammation, induration, scarring, and/or granulated tissue, making it more difficult to localize the foreign body. The risk of infection increases with time until the wound is fully healed.

The mechanism of injury is important in evaluating for foreign bodies. Bite injuries may include teeth, and punches to the face may include tooth fragments in the punching hand. Broken objects causing wounds may leave embedded fragments. Wounds from nails or other sharp objects puncturing the foot through shoes or socks may include remnants of leather, cloth, or rubber. (4)

The composition of the foreign body will influence evaluation and removal. Metal objects in soft tissue pose a lower risk of infection than organic matter. Inert metal foreign bodies may not have to be removed, because removal might cause more trauma than simply leaving them in place. The decision to remove a foreign body is also based on symptoms or risk of complications. If a foreign body is producing pain, it should be removed.

Types of Foreign Bodies

SPLINTERS

Splinters are commonly from wood, thorns, or spines from plants but also may be plastic or glass. Wood and vegetative material must be removed from wounds because they are associated with increased inflammation and risk of infection. Larger or buried splinters can result in difficulty removing the entire foreign body or localizing it for removal.

FISHHOOKS

Fishhooks caught in the skin are problematic because of the barbs that are intended to keep fish on the hook. Fishhooks have a straight shank and a curved belly with a barbed point at the end. Some fishhooks have multiple barbs. Others have multiple hooks, and it is necessary to cut off the other hooks for safe removal. Most fishhook injuries occur in the hand, face or scalp, upper extremity, or foot. Fishhooks in the eyelid or eye require immediate ophthalmologic referral.

GLASS

Patients with glass embedded in a wound are more likely to report the sensation of foreign bodies. One study found that patient sensation was more likely for wounds with retained glass than for those without glass. The positive predictive value of patient sensation was 31 percent; negative predictive value was 89 percent. Although the negative predictive value was high, 57 percent of retained glass foreign bodies would have been missed without radiography. (2) In patients with sensation of foreign body, superficial wounds that have been adequately explored do not require radiography. Plain films can be clinically beneficial in locating glass foreign bodies in deep wounds with or without exploration. (5) In patients without sensation, the history can guide the decision for further investigation. All glass is radiopaque; however, there is limited ability for radiography to detect glass fragments smaller than 2 mm. (2) Glass is inert and can be left in place if it is difficult to locate or remove.

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INTRODUCTION

Increasingly, over the past fifteen years, dating violence among adolescents has emerged as a growing public health concern. While the first article on late teen courtship violence appeared in 1981 (Makepeace, 1981), a current search of the PubMed database, using the key terms “adolescent dating violence,” identified 110 articles published since 2000; this is more than a three-fold increase in the number published during the preceding 7-year period. Furthermore, dating violence has been incorporated in Healthy People 2000 and 2010, the blueprints for national decennial public health initiatives (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000a, 2000b). Finally, dating violence prevalence trends are now regularly monitored through the Center for Disease Control’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, specifically the Youth Risk Behavior Study (YRBS) (YRBSS).

National trends in the prevalence estimates of physical dating violence victimization over the previous 12-month period among high school youth indicates its relative stability; prevalence rates in 2005, 2003 and 1999 were 9.2%, 8.9%, and 9.1%, respectively (MMWR, 2006a MMWR 2006b; Howard & Wang, 2003a, Howard & Wang,

2003b). In other words, on an annual basis, dating violence takes its toll on a substantial number of youth. Moreover, victimization appears undifferentiated by gender and is associated with risk behaviors for both male and female high school students (MMWR, 2006b; Cercone, Beach, & Arias, 2005; Gray & Foshee, 1997). Based on 1999 national YRBS data, a risk profile of youth who reported past year physical dating violence victimization was identified. Overall, being a victim of dating violence was associated with reports of sad/hopeless feelings and engagement in high-risk sexual practices, specifically, recent multiple sex partners and unprotected sex. Gender differences in this risk profile emerged as well. Among males, attempted suicide and fighting behavior were correlated with victimization, while among females, binge drinking and cocaine or inhalant use were predictors (Howard & Wang, 2003a; Howard & Wang, 2003b). The co-occurrence of dating violence victimization with emotional well-being and engagement in other risk behaviors has been substantiated by a host of studies across geographic locales and diverse samples of youth (Roberts, Auinger, & Klein, 2005; Silverman, Raj, & Clements, 2004; Ackard & Neumark-Sztainer, 2002; Foshee, Benefield, Ennett, Bauman, & Suchindran, 2004; Foshee, Linder, MacDougall, & Bangdiwala, 2001).

While prevalence rates for dating violence victimization by gender are quite similar during adolescence, the adult literature suggests that Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is largely a gender-specific issue with victimization rates for females ranging from three to six times those for males (Silverman, Raj, & Clements, 2004; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Even during adolescence, females are more likely to suffer injury (Cercone, Beach, & Arias, 2005; Halpern, Oslak, Young, Martin, & Kupper, 2001; Foshee, 1996; Lane & Gwartney-Gibbs, 1985). Furthermore, adolescent females are more vulnerable to violent sexual abuse from dating partners than males (Foster, Hagan, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004). For these reasons, the focus here is on adolescent females.

The present study aims to update prevalence estimates and examine the robustness of the risk profile of dating violence among adolescent females based upon the most current and representative data from the national 2005 YRBS of U.S. high school students.

METHOD

Sample

The 2005 national school-based Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data were used for this study. This survey is one component of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) that was established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor the prevalence of youth behaviors that most influence health. Comprehensive design and sampling procedures are available from the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report series, and are excerpted here in condensed form (MMWR, 2006a). The YRBS survey used a three-stage cluster sample design to produce a nationally representative sample of high school students in grades 9-12. The first stage contained 1,270 primary sampling units (PSUs), which consisted of large counties or groups of smaller, adjacent counties. From these, 52 were selected from 16 strata, formed on the basis of the degree of urbanization and the relative percentage of African-American and Hispanic students in the PSU. Each PSU was selected with probability proportional to the size of the school enrollment. The second sampling stage selected 203 schools, also with probability proportional to school enrollment size. The third stage randomly selected one or two intact classes of a required subject (e.g., English or social studies) from the entire 9th-12th grades at the chosen school. All students in the selected classes were eligible participants. A total of 159 schools with 15,349 students completed survey questionnaires. The school response rate was 78%, and the student response rate was 86%, resulting in an overall response rate of 67%. For the purpose of this study, only female participants (N = 7,179) were selected for the analysis.

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