Recycling At its Best…..From Sewage to Tap…..

Orange County, South California has installed a new plant that recycles the sewage water that flows out of your dishwasher, laundry, the flushed water in the toilet to drinking water. It’s a $481 million plant, which serves millions of people in the southern California area. The sewage water is treated to remove any dust particles up to 1/300^th the size of your hair. The water is further treated to pass through ultraviolet light environment to remove any further impurities. The sewage water goes through much more purification process before its bottled and available to you.

This sure can be an example for many water trodden areas around the world.

Awesome Win for India........Awful Timing from BCCI

It was a great week for Indian cricket esp. after a forgettable 2^nd test match at Sydney. Against all odds and expectations they came together and totally justified their capabilities. This match should be the best come back match for Indian cricket team esp. considering the turmoil and disappointment they have gone through at Sydney. Laxman once again played a key role against Australians, Irfan was amazing and what a way to come back into the team. Altogether a game that ended with a lot of promises and hope for upcoming Indian cricket.

All the Best India!!!

But having seen such an amazing performance from Indian team, I would say it was an awful piece of timing to disclose the team for upcoming one day internationals. With the 4^th and the most crucial game imminent it was bad judgment on the part of BCCI to disclose the one day team now. For this game you want your players to be mentally free rather concerned about their future place in the team. This for sure would add a little bit of pressure on the players who are dropped.

Leaving Ganguly out of the one day team might look an aggressive move on the part of BCCI to prepare a much younger team but I feel he should have been retained esp. because he was in form and there would have been a right mixture of experience and youth in the team.

Anyways the most superior Indian Cricket Organization has always been like this and they continue to be so shockingly aloof to the psyche of its players. Another famous principle they follow is they bring in young cricketers into the team, do not give them a game to play and they drop them for the future teams……this just goes on and on…….

FRAXEL … A Potential Solution for Acne Scars.

This weekend I underwent the third of the four treatments for my acne scars. It was 4 months ago I started to seriously ponder of treating my acne scars and put an end to this conspicuous chronic problem. I visited a dermatologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, one of the most renowned hospitals in the world. The treatment suggested to me was FRAXEL Laser, a fairly new treatment which is as effective as ablative lasers with the benefits of the gentler, non-ablative lasers. In my view this is the best of the available treatments that suits all skin types, with a small down-time. It would just take a couple of days after the treatment to get back to daily activities. With 3 down for me I can certainly see a change in my scars except for the ice-pick scars. I am hoping to do much better over the next few weeks and months. It seems the treatment is going to have its effects seen until 1 year post treatment. I will update my further experience as things move on.

Here are a few answers to questions that you might come up with if you are interested in undergoing this treatment.

How effective is Fraxel?

Fraxel helps you eliminate minor scars; minimize the depth of ice-pick scars. The best thing about fraxel is it treats the skin from deep inside by making deep incisions and helping the collagen grow gradually, an important entity for healthy skin. The improvement is supposed to be seen until one year post treatment as the collagen keeps growing continuously into these incisions.

It is independent of the skin type and there are no permanent side effects with this treatment although in a few cases people with darker skins may face a temporal isolated pigmentation change on the treated skin. Fraxel treatment in conjunction with proper skin care will decrease the chances of these pigmentation changes. Applying bleaching cream, moisturizing lotion and sunscreen when you face the sun is really important while undergoing the treatment.

No Treatment is 100pc Effective, so is Fraxel. For deep ice-pick scars its only 60% effective to the maximum considering undergoing 5 treatments.

But the advantage with Fraxel is that you can undergo as many treatments as you want until you are satisfied. With each treatment you can only get better J

Which Doctor?

Finding the doctor for Fraxel is an important step. I have visited a few doctors before finalizing one. With each doctor I did my home work searching for his credentials and experience. I have looked at pictures of the patients who have undergone this treatment in their facility. In the end I decided to go with the one who is more experienced in Fraxel, who impressed me the most and who is a listed doctor on www.fraxel.com. At this site you can find more information about Fraxel.

Number of Treatments?

The number of treatments is directly proportional to the depth of the scars. On an average they would prefer 4 treatments, each treatment separated by a month. Some doctors would do 3 treatments and take a 6 month break and perform the remaining. Stick to the same nurse throughout the treatment if possible.

Is it painful, excruciating, or a pleasant caress?

HMMMmmm….. Definitely not pleasant. But it isn’t excruciating as well.

It’s slightly painful which is very much bearable for general mankind.

What to Expect after the Treatment?

A soccer ball on your shoulders, if its already one then find a ball bigger than that. The treated skin will swell considerably which will completely subside in 2 days. In some cases you can see the dry skin peeling off and making the skin pinkish. Also, you will feel the heat for 2 hours post treatment.
Everything will get back to normal within 2 to 3 days.

Costs?

Each session costs between USD 800 and USD 1000. The total treatment costs obviously depend on the total number of sessions. Financing is available sometimes, check with your facility.

Any Cosmetics required?

Cetaphil moisturizing lotion

Cetaphil face wash

Melashade Sunscreen.

4% Hydroquinone bleaching cream.

All I can say is Fraxel is a potential best solution out there for Acne Scars that suits all the skin types and also the treatment's nil permanent side-effects and small down-time are impressive.

I am half way into my treatment, I am happy with the change until now and hope it would do much better in the coming few months.