Nail Health Care Information

Prevent Ingrown Hairs When Shaving Or Waxing - When Shaving…

Shave after the hair has been wet for at least 5 minutes. Hair
that is wet and full of moisture can be cut easily. Hair that is
not well saturated can be very strong and tough. As the razor
passes over, the hair is pulled up from the follicle. After it is
cut it retracts below the skin surface with the resultant risk of
it growing into surrounding tissue.

Shave in the direction of the hair growth. Cutting with the grain
not against it will prevent hair being cut too short.

Prevent ingrown hairs by avoiding repeat strokes over the same
area. Repeated strokes can also result in hair being cut too
short.

Shave with the skin in a relaxed condition. Do not stretch the
skin too taught. A little pressure may be necessary but excessive
stretching can again result in hair being cut too short.

Use Tea Tree Oil twice a day in conjunction with a loofah bath or
shower. Tea Tree Oil has a bacterial ability to kill infection
and prevent pustules forming. (Avoid the eye area)

When Waxing

To pull out the hair cleanly without breaking it follow these
recommendations: Apply a thin layer of wax in the direction of
the hair growth, preferably holding the spatula or tongue
depresser at a 45 degree angle as you spread the wax.

When applying the cotton strip over the wax, rub in the same
direction as the hair growth leaving about 1/3 of the strip free
to allow for a firm grip for a fast back pulling action.

Pull the skin taut before pulling the cotton strip away.

Pull back with a rapid movement close to the skin. Do not pull up
or out, rather pull back.

One fast, smooth, pull back is much more effective than a series
of light pulls which only increase the pain and leave patchy
areas.

After 24-48 hours exfoliate the skin (with a Loofa sponge for
example) to prevent the dead skin from accumulating in areas that
can become ingrown such as the bikini line, upper thighs,
underarms and calves.

Prevent ingrown hairs by not wearing tight clothing over freshly
waxed areas to minimize the risk of irritation and ingrown hairs.

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Treatment for nail fungus (onychomycosis) can be a lengthy process: first, it must get at the fungus and stop its growth, and then it takes time for the damaged toe- or fingernail to grow out, taking the fungus remnants and damage with it. If the goal is healthy looking feet to slip into summer sandals, treatment must begin months in advance. Fingernails grow quite slowly; toenails are even slower.

If treatment for nail fungus begins before the infection is too far advanced, that is, it’s still confined to the distal regions of the nail near the tip, it will be easier to treat. It will look healthy sooner, and oral prescription drugs will be more easily avoided. The topical liquid, Penlac nail lacquer, stands out from the other prescription treatments because it is applied to the nail rather than taken internally. It can only be used, however, if the lunula, the crescent shaped whitish part of the nail near the base, is not infected.

Even when the whole nail is infected, there is a wide range of treatment for nail fungus. Prescription drugs other than Penlac nail lacquer are taken orally, and there are cost and toxicity issues to consider. Many proprietary remedies are available, most of which are topical formulations. They include lotions and salves that have been marketed for many years as over the counter remedies. Newer homeopathic variations are made from essential oils and other natural ingredients believed to have antifungal activity.

Other variations on treatment for nail fungus come from the bright ideas of people who thought it through and tried something different. Someone who knew that fungus dislikes acid conditions came up with soaking hands or feet in vinegar. Chlorine bleach’s disinfectant properties no doubt inspired the dilute bleach soak, and the antiseptic in Listerine mouthwash was thought, by someone, to be a good treatment. Vicks VapoRub, and hydrogen peroxide have been used similarly, while a mix of dark beer and a strain of bacteria, Bacillus acidophilus, may be based on the idea that a friendly organism can drive out an unfriendly one. Like Penlac Nail lacquer, all of these remedies get at the problem from the outside, through the nail, and they have the best chance of working if they get through to the fungus.

R. Drysdale is a freelance writer with more than 25 years experience as a health care professional. She is a contributing editor to Treatment for Nail Fungus, a blog dedicated to the treatment of fingernail and toenail fungus.

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Most people with migraine attacks learn that they have more success if they treat their attacks early rather than delaying medication until two or more hours have passed. They find there is a window of opportunity during which they can resolve their headaches completely, but if they wait too long, then in most cases the treatment is not nearly as good, and the attacks run their full course.

Particularly observant victims of migraine attacks might also discover that when their migraines get to a stage called “allodynia” when everything hurts–even a light brush to the skin or contact with a warm object–then treatment is likewise less successful.

The chances to make these kinds of observations have been available to people with migraine for as long as there have been decent treatments. Aspirin was the first good, widely available treatment for migraine attacks, and was manufactured in tablet form as long ago as 1915. But it has been in only the last few years that scientific studies have explored these phenomena in detail, and revealed some of the secrets as to why they occur.

Dr. Rami Burstein and colleagues at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston performed a study of treatment outcomes in a total of 61 migraine attacks occurring in 31 patients. In some attacks treatment was given within the first hour of symptoms, while in other cases treatment was purposely delayed until four hours after the attack’s onset. The treatment used was a “triptan” drug, rather than a painkiller. Triptans are a newer group of medications that act on some of the nervous system’s receptors for the natural chemical serotonin. In each case, the patient also received a physical examination at the time of treatment to determine whether or not allodynia was present.

What the investigators found was that in the 34 attacks in which allodynia had already developed, the triptan stopped pain within two hours in just 15% of the attacks. But in the 27 attacks in which allodynia had not yet developed, the triptan was successful in 93% of the attacks. While allodynia was more frequently present in attacks that were treated late, the doctors found that the presence or absence of allodynia was more important in determining the success of the treatment than whether or not the treatment was late.

Dr. Burstein also headed a team of scientists that found out why this is the case. Because this information could not be obtained in humans, test tubes or computers, these experiments were performed in laboratory rats. Burstein developed a procedure for simulating migraine attacks in rats and via tiny electrodes he was able to “listen in” on the electrical activity of individual nerve and brain cells as the attacks developed.

What he found was that at the beginning of an attack, nerve cells connecting various membranes within the head to the brain were the first to become overactive in their firing patterns. The excessive activity in these nerve cells, in turn, drove a second set of pain-processing cells located within the brain into their own state of overactivity. If this second group of cells remained hyperactive for too long, then they became “sensitized” and kept firing away, as if on autopilot, even if the nerve cells that got them going in the first place were shut down. In this state of spontaneously self-regenerating overactivity of the pain-processing brain cells, it could be shown that ordinarily non-painful stimuli applied to the skin of the rats were handled by the nervous system as if they were painful. Or, said another way, the development of allodynia in the rat signaled that the pain-processing brain cells had become sensitized.

Just as in the humans, triptan drugs could be administered to the rats at different stages of the migraine attacks. If the triptan was administered before the pain-processing brain cells had become sensitized, then it was able to shut down the cascade of excessively firing cells and stop the attack. But if the triptan was given after sensitization had occurred, then it was ineffective.

Collectively, these studies in humans and rats build a powerful case that what humans need to do in order to be successful in stopping their migraine attacks is to treat them before their pain-processing brain cells have become sensitized. And the best way to tell if sensitization has occurred is according to whether or not ordinarily non-painful contacts to the skin have become painful. In short, migraine patients need to race the clock to treat their attacks before the development of allodynia.

(C) 2005 by Gary Cordingley

Gary Cordingley, MD, PhD, is a clinical neurologist, teacher and researcher who works in Athens, Ohio. For more health-related articles see his website at: http://www.cordingleyneurology.com

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