Dangerous Beauty
By Susan Mosley
Fast Facts
In 2002, 6.9 million cosmetic procedures were performed, with total spending at 7.7 billion dollars!
Most women are exposed to as many as 200 synthetic chemicals every single day in makeup, perfumes, hair care products, and soaps!
Of the 10,000 chemicals in personal care products, 89% have not undergone safety testing.
Common ingredients in beauty products, including phthalates, acrylamide, formaldehyde, and ethylene oxide, are classified by the EPA as carcinogens or reproductive toxins.
Up to 70% of what we apply topically is absorbed into the body.
2 people in Florida were paralyzed and on life support after being injected with a non-FDA approved Botox alternative.
Only 2 states require the reporting of adverse events occurring in physicians’ offices, where most cosmetic procedures are done. Only 5 states require accreditation office surgical suites.
The FDA has received approximately 10,000 reports of bad reactions to alpha-hydroxy products, ranging from irritation to burns.
Since 1990, there have been 125 newspaper reports on deaths during liposuction. Half of the 1/4-million liposuction procedures performed in 1997 were NOT done by plastic surgeons!
The total mortality rate from liposuction is higher than death rates from motor vehicle accidents (15.2 deaths per 100,00 people) or homicides (5.9 per 100,000.
But what about Botox? That’s pretty safe isn’t it? It must be, people are giving Botox parties! Remember how you learned not to eat food from dented cans because it may have botulism? Botulism causes food poisoning, paralysis, and even death. The botulism neurotoxin blocks nervous system impulses that tell your muscles to contract. Some enterprising doctor had the brilliant idea to use the toxin to paralyze facial muscles, temporarily erasing wrinkles, a novel and quite profitable idea. Paralysis lasts from 3 to 8 months. Many actresses are prohibited by contract from using Botox, because it eliminates expression!
However, if the injection misses the target area and gets into the bloodstream or nerve, long term damage can result. The toxin can migrate to other parts of the body, causing eye dryness, inability to close the eyelid, drooping eyelids, body pain, chills, congestion, cough, sore throat, fever, itching skin, or joint pain.
Ok, say you are willing to gamble and get a paralyzing agent injected into your face, what about the long-term effects? Have you ever known someone who is paralyzed from a stroke or an auto accident? Did you notice how wasted their limbs look? Well, that’s exactly what happens with your face; facial muscles become flaccid and things eventually slide downhill! You have to continue Botox injections to maintain your look.
What about cosmetic surgery? The key word to focus on here is surgery. You can have complications from these operations just like any other invasive procedure. You don’t think about the pain, swelling, bruising, nausea, and weeks of recovery time when you are watching those makeover TV shows; you just fantasize about the beautiful new you.
By far, the biggest dangers are from anesthesia: airway obstruction, blood clots in the legs or lungs, brain damage, death, heart attack, malignant hyperthermia, and stroke. Even if you just have local anesthesia you can have infection, splitting sutures, tissue death, skin rashes, excessive scarring or keloids, bleeding, and hematoma. If you are lucky to get through the surgery without problems, depression is quite common following surgery.
One big danger is when your surgeon tries to do too many procedures at one time, especially if removing too much fat during liposuction. Most of these procedures are now done in the doctor’s office and you are sent home immediately, Since you are on pain medications, you are not the really competent to monitor yourself. Unless you have medically savvy person watching you, you could quickly develop complications. Make sure your doctor has performed many of these procedures, is board certified (any physician can take a weekend class and do cosmetic work). Talk to former patients, check infection rates. You want to see the end results of their work. You don’t want to end up obviously altered like Farrah Fawcett, or Joan Rivers.
You may be scrupulous about eating organic, and avoiding preservatives, but have you ever thought about the chemicals you absorb through your skin? Many cosmetic and skin care items contain petroleum products. Would you voluntarily put gasoline on your body? Most fragrances are synthetic, and can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, coughing, and skin irritation.
Some of the scary ingredients in your beauty products include:
Mineral oil, and petroleum jelly, crude oil derivatives. They lock in moisture, but also toxins, and keep oxygen out, leading to premature skin aging. Just think, the very first skin care products we used as babies were bad choices.
Isopropyl alcohol, another petroleum product, is found in lotions, aftershave, cosmetics, and hair color. Isopropyl alcohol is also used in antifreeze and shellac!
Propylene glycol, (PG) also a mineral oil compound, found in most moisturizers, is the exact same compound found in antifreeze, hydraulic fluid, and brake fluid! PG is used to break down proteins. Well, guess what skin is made of? The EPA requires workers to wear protective clothing when working with this chemical as it can cause brain, liver and kidney damage. Your deodorant actually has more concentrated PG than in industrial applications!
Dibutyl phthalate, found in nail polish, perfume, hair spray. DP mimics estrogen, causing low sperm counts, thyroid malfunction, and breast cancer. It is easily absorbed into skin and fatty tissue. Male babies whose mothers have high levels of phthalates in their urine have smaller penises and scrotums. Man made chemicals feminize babies in the womb. Europe has banned phthalates in cosmetics and baby toys. Some rivers in England are so contaminated that all the fish and roaches have become female.
Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate, (SLES) are used in car washes, as auto engine degreasers, and to clean garage floors. But they are also an ingredient in 90% of all shampoos, and in conditioners, skin creams, and toothpaste! Even in the health supply store where I work, most of the shampoos contained one of these ingredients. SLS and SLES cause cataracts and malformations in children’s’ eyes. SLS can react with other ingredients in your products to form cancer causing dioxins and nitrates. One shampoo can put as much nitrates in your body as eating a pound of bacon!
Lead is in hair dyes. Lead can disrupt nervous impulse transmissions, heart activity, and blood clotting, premature birth, miscarriage, or developmental delays in children.
Talc in baby powder, face powder, antiperspirants, and eyeshadow is potentially carcinogenic when inhaled.
Formaldehyde (watch your labels for Imidazolidinyl urea and DMDM hydantoin) is in nail polish, shampoo, and soaps. Formaldehyde is used to preserve tissue specimens and in embalming bodies. It can cause joint pain, allergies, depression, chronic fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, chest pain, ear infections, and asthma.
Coal tar, a known carcinogen, is used for coloring.
How can I be sure my products are safe?
USDA has stopped certifying organic personal care products. Beware, many products that claim they are organic or all natural are really not. Companies who have pledged to phase out toxic chemicals from their products can be found at www.safecosmetics.org.
The Environmental Working Group at www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep/browse_products.php.has rated the most and least dangerous products by type, so you can find the safest toothpaste, shampoo, etc.
Some of the safer brands available locally include Aveda, Arbonne, Celltech, and Bare Escentuals. These lines may have small amounts of preservatives to prevent mold and spoilage, but contain no animal products, petrochemicals, artificial fragrances or dyes. They use essential oils for fragrance and therapeutic effect, with minerals and natural food extracts for color. Some of these manufacturers also carry cleaning supplies and nutritional supplements. www.holisticbeauty.net carries other safe product lines.
For more information read Drop Dead Gorgeous: Protecting Yourself from the Hidden Dangers of Cosmetics by Kim Erickson.
For more information call:
Susan Mosley, LAC, Dipl. C.H.
Four Seasons Wellness
6245 Vance Road, Suite B
Chattanooga TN 37421
423-596-9024
www.fourseasonswellness.com
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