Archive for August, 2011
The Worst Anti-Acne Measures
When it comes to dealing with acne there are many things you can actually do to get rid of the problem. There are many different solutions, cremes and methods you can employ to get rid of this unpleasant skin condition. And every solution can be quite effective in different cases. Still, there are some things you should never do to your acne no matter what type of it you seem to have if you don’t want to make the problem even worse. Some of these things may be commonly suggested as an effective solution to acne by people who aren’t very competent on the matter. So if you don’t want to make your acne worse, here are some things you should definitely avoid doing about acne:
Excessive hygiene
While keeping your skin healthy and clean all the time is important becoming fanatic about it may have negative consequences. It is important to remove oil excess and dirt from the skin daily in order to prevent inflammation and bacterial infection. However, if you are washing your skin several times a day and use a strong antibacterial soap or solution for it you risk making your skin too dry and irritating it. This in turn can make your skin more vulnerable to external factors and lead to excessive damage. So don’t become a hygiene maniac if you have acne.
Excessive use of anti-acne solutions
Moderation is one of the most important aspects for any type of treatment including anti-acne solution use. While used in small or moderate amounts, most acne treatments can be very effective and eliminate acne breakouts effectively. However, if you feel that the solution isn’t working as desired or just want to get results faster using excessive amounts of it or more often than needed can actually damage your skin and make the acne problem even worse.
Mixing different solutions
It may seem like a rational move to mix different effective solutions for acne in order to maximize the benefit and get results faster. However, this is definitely not the brightest thing to do if you want to keep your skin healthy. Different solutions use different ingredients that may interact with each other and cause side effects. Moreover, by combining several topical solutions you can irritate your skin and cause additional problems that will ultimately lead to acne breakouts.
Dealing with the problem on your own
Sure, you can easily buy just any kind of anti-acne solution online or in the pharmacy. But if you don’t see any improvements it’s recommended to visit a doctor rather trying to use all types of solutions on your own. This is especially important when it comes to such drugs as Accutane. Although it’s hard to find this drug in a typical pharmacy, you can easily purchase Accutane online. Using such potent medications without your doctor’s supervision is very dangerous because it can lead to harmful side effects and make the problem even worse. So if you really want to get rid of acne make sure to pay a dermatologist a visit and undergo all health tests you’ll be indicated with. Your skin problems can be a sign of more serious health conditions you’re unaware of.
What exactly is a patent?
In a way, this is way too technical for an article here but, unless you understand a little about the law, it’s hard to understand why your drugs cost so much. Bear with us. It gets easier as we go on. A patent is a monopoly. Whoever invests the time and money to invent something new gets the exclusive right to sell the product for a limited period of time. Because there’s no competition, the inventor can charge a higher than usual price to recover the development costs. At the end of the period of protection, anyone can copy the design and manufacture the product. Not surprisingly, this brings down the price fast and we consumers benefit. But there’s no protection on the idea itself. So if another manufacture starts with the idea of the original product and also invests time and money to create a new way of exploiting the idea, that is also protectable by a monopoly. That’s why the little blue pills were unchallenged on the market until 2003 when two other drugs arrived on the market. Both these new drugs were separately created and neither copies the original. This did produce a little competition in the market but not enough to really help the consumers. Both the new manufacturers had spent a lot of money and wanted to get it back as quickly as possible. It suited all three to keep the prices high for the erectile drug market.
Pfizer’s original patent will run out in March, 2012 and the arrival of generic copies will potentially reduce its $1 billion in sales to the US market. So Pfizer is suing one of the world’s biggest generic manufacturers to stop it from entering the US market until 2019. The basis of this action is the fact Pfizer registered a second patent on the underlying chemistry of the drug in 2004. The name of the generic is sildenafil citrate and there’s no doubt at all that the first patent is valid. The second patent is disputed as a crude device for trying to buy an extra seven years of monopoly during which we can be gouged by higher prices. Essentially, it reinvents the original chemistry with one of two minor variations. The generic manufacturer is unimpressed but so far, the United States Patent Office has agreed with Pfizer that there’s sufficient novelty in the second application to justify a new patent. We all wait with interest to see what the court in Virginia will say.
Why should you care? Although you may be buying online and therefore buying the generic copies manufactured outside the US at lower prices, everyone who goes through the US system to get a prescription ends up paying top dollar for the drug. Come March 2012, there should be a flood of generics into the US market and, when you go into your neighborhood drugstore with a prescription, you should see retail prices drop significantly. Viagra has proved itself a highly effect drug. That’s why it’s the biggest seller in the US. Because of the lack of price competition, we’ve all been paying more than we should. So we should all be cheering on the generic manufacturers. That’s the way we get the Viagra we need without having to pay extortionate prices.
How should we treat pain?
The role of doctors in our culture is very important. Because they can be useful in treating injuries and illnesses, they have become a profession. To ensure only the best people enter the profession, there are high educational standards to meet. The training is long and difficult. But, once doctors have qualified, they command respect. This is not just for the knowledge and experience they have collected. The power of the placebo effect also relies on believing the doctors actually know what they are doing. Remember, in all clinical trials, placebos are rated as highly effective by an average one-third of participants. If someone in a white coat gives you a pill in the right circumstances, you are likely to feel better even though the pill is made out of chalk. It’s all part of the magic of being a doctor.
The profession has also made big strides in shaping public opinion. The general practitioners used to be the gods. Now, thanks to television shows like House, it’s the surgeons in the top hospitals. Not that any of them are like House, you understand. But many do feel they can do what they want. So they develop reputations for their skills and build empires inside their hospitals. This grows their income and protects them. Why? Because once a patient is allocated to a particular empire, it holds on to that patient. That means the empire gets the credit for all the fee income earned and, if anything goes wrong, no one outside the empire gets to hear about it.
In other countries where they practise socialized medicine, there’s a team approach to treatment. Instead of one doctor having a monopoly on controlling treatment, the patient becomes the focus of interest for a group of healthcare professionals representing a range of relevant knowledge and skills. There are regular meetings where groups of people discuss how best to treat the individual. Collective decisions are taken. Why is this better? Well, suppose a patient comes in and reports pain. The first doctor diagnoses the problem and begins treatment. Some time later, the patient is still complaining of pain. In our system, the first doctor might fear loss of reputation if he or she calls for a second opinion, so simply prescribes more painkillers. If the pain persists, the dosage of the painkillers is increased or stronger drugs are used. The result is our country has the highest consumption of prescribed medications in the world. We’ve been persuaded the best treatment always comes in a pill bottle. In other countries, doctors and other healthcare professional work hard to avoid prescribing drugs. This not only cuts down the long-term cost of treatment, but also tends to produce better results.
None of this takes anything away from Tramadol. Indeed, if you travel round the world, the drug is widely available for treating moderate to severe pain. Although the brand names can differ from country to country, the basic chemistry is recognized as highly effective. But outside the US, you will find Tramadol is prescribed as part of a wider range of treatments to manage the pain. Indeed, the aim is to enable you to have a good quality of life without having to depend on any drug.