A complimentary web seminar series from the publishers of Medical Economics and Contemporary OB/GYN

Rejuvenating Your Practice & Patients

Series continues on June 11, 2008, 6 PM - 7 PM, EST

These 1-hour web events, sponsored by Fraxel® and CareCredit® will feature a discussion between

Cheryl Whitman, CEO of Beautiful Forever Consulting Firm and Linda Quinn, MD with a live Q & A session geared to physicians considering adding aesthetic services to their practices.

Covering topics which include market opportunities, revenue potential, risk management and staff training. This program will provide information that could help physicians attract new patients, retain existing patients and increase practice revenue.

For more information and to register,

visit www.memag.com/cosmetic

Live Webcast Dates

• Wednesday, June 11, 6PM - 7 PM EST
• Thursday, July 24, 12PM - 1PM EST
• Wednesday, August 20, 7PM - 8PM EST
• Thursday, September 18, 10AM - 11AM EST

Skin Deep
Eco-Friendly Paths to Exfoliation

By NORA ISAACS


AFTER Laura Noss signed up to receive a weekly organic produce box from a farm near her home in Menlo Park, Calif., she decided that fruits and vegetables grown close to home taste better.

"It has opened my eyes to what is local and seasonal," Ms. Noss said. "I now understand that what I put in my body and on my body matters."

So she began looking for ways to go local beyond the palate. Last year, while she planned a getaway to Maui, she hunted for treatments that used indigenous ingredients at the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel and Spa. That is how she found herself being scrubbed with locally-sourced coconut and sugar, then dunked in just-harvested coconut milk -- for $160 a treatment.

"It felt like it would be fresher than some of the other treatments," said Ms. Noss, 38, the founder of Social Planets, a communications and marketing company. "I envisioned the woman going out to the tree and plucking my coconut."

More than 28 percent of spas nationwide use local ingredients, according to a 2007 survey by the International Spa Association, a trade group for the industry. Last year, after seeing the trend take off, the association started tracking how many of the 3,000 spas in its membership use ingredients from local nature in treatments.

In an age of global warming and high gas prices, is it any wonder that more spa-goers are gravitating to blueberries, honey and even maple syrup, cultivated close by because they believe it leaves a lighter carbon footprint?

The local-food movement, popularized by writers like Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver, has created an aura of authenticity around all things local. Forward-thinking spas have long included indigenous ingredients on their menus, but more spa owners have entered the game of late, now that customers will pay more for services they deem environmentally responsible.

Some spas use perks to attract clients. The Cliff House Resort and Spa in Ogunquit, Me., offers a Maine Blueberry Pedicure at no extra charge to extended-stay guests if they book a $110 Maine Blueberry Body Wrap.


That more businesses (spas included) are rushing to make greenbacks off the green-minded hasn't escaped the notice of Jessica Jensen, a founder of Low Impact Living, an online resource that helps consumers live eco-friendly.

"There are two kinds of companies," Ms. Jensen said, "ones that are genuinely dedicated to these issues and incorporate them into every aspect of their business, and then other companies trying to put a varnish on their business in the form of putting a few green techniques here and there."

Some critics say that marketing -- not any environmental impulse per se -- is the reason local ingredients are touted at spas from the Napa Valley to the Maine Coast.

"Putting the label 'organic' or 'local' on a product allows a vendor to charge more, irregardless of supply and demand," said James E. McWilliams, the author of "A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America." "There is a psychological factor at work here as well. When a company can claim they are going local, it conveys a sense of virtue, that what they are doing is natural and pure, and that their behavior is alternative and even elite. These are values that a lot of consumers today crave."

For complete article please go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/fashion/15SKIN.html?ref=health  

www.theDERM.org is an interactive Web community designed to meet the educational needs of dermatology and aesthetic medicine healthcare providers.  This community is designed to provide most up-to-date health and medical information to healthcare providers to improve patient care and enhance clinical outcomes. 

Access to all content on the www.theDERM.org is free to healthcare providers although registration is required for access to CME Activities and Medical Conference Highlights Reports.  Members of www.theDERM.org have access to Multimedia CME Activities, Online CME Lecture Series, Live CME Webinar Programs, Experts & Viewpoints Discussions and Blogs, Medical Conference Highlights, Peer-to-Peer Discussion Forums, Patient Education Materials, Online Surveys and a comprehensive list of World-wide Medical Conferences. 

All content is reviewed and approved by the Editorial Board of www.theDERM.org which consists of national thought leaders in dermatology and aesthetic medicine. For more information, visit www.theDERM.org to register or click here info@theDERM.org.

HealthyAging

Vol. 3 Issue 5 Page 23

Power Your Web Site for Results

Is your Web site simply an online business card floating in cyberspace? If so, it's time to make a change.

James C. Fairfield, MD

Right up front, this article is about Web sites--and whether doctors should have them--and why. What follows is not a technical exegesis of the mysterious inner workings of Web sites, for that is the purview of Web designers. It is instead a marketing rationale for having one.

Five years ago, I had no Web site. I worked for a large medical group practice and started my own practice after the medical group tanked. Along with my line of thinking, "I need a logo, letterhead and business cards" came the unbidden thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to have a Web site?" I had no particular reason for thinking this other than it would just be, well, cool.

That's how a doctor with no business training thinks. Imitating what others did, gobbling up every pitch made by vendors who said, "You must have this," I was fair game for having my thin wallet flattened completely.

Much savvier now, I could do a full rant on business cards, logos, Yellow Pages and their vendors. But this column is about Web sites, why you should have one, what it should look like, what it should do, how you should measure its effectiveness and where it fits in the Big Picture of your total marketing effort.

My first Web site was built by a Web designer recommended by someone I knew. I saw her work and it looked OK. After all, a Web site was just a Web site. I really didn't know what other function it was supposed to perform other than "to be." My thinking wasn't unlike appreciating a new car without considering that a vehicle could actually be a means of travel.


All in all, it was a pretty Web site with a floral graphic, a description of my practice, contact information, list of services, and before and after photos. I thought it was good enough, because, again, it was just a Web site. The truth of the matter? It was simply an online business card floating in cyberspace. It didn't do anything other than offer information to anyone who stumbled on it.


Evidently, there were enough key words in it that some people found it via searches. But it wasn't configured to rank higher than a default position in the vast array of sites offering the same products and services. As a marketer, I had to change my thinking about the creation of this Web site and its return on investment.

If you consider marketing as what you do instead of just being the person providing services, then every piece of your marketing package must fulfill a function. And it should do so with positive math. By this, I mean all marketing efforts should increase net revenue and generate new clients.

"If you build it, they will come" does not apply to Web sites.

For complete article please go to:

http://healthyaging.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Search/AViewer.aspx?AN=HA_

08jan1_hap23.html&AD=01-01-2008

POOP-DE-DO0!

FECAL FACIAL IS LATEST WACKY SKIN TREATMENT

By RAAKHEE MIRCHANDANI

April 29, 2008

HOLY crap!

Enough with "normal" beauty routines such as placenta and kitty litter - New Yorkers can now add nightingale No. 2 to their beauty regimens.

For just $216, Shizuka Bernstein will slather your face in feces for a full 50 minutes - what she calls the "Geisha Facial" - at her Midtown spa, Shizuka New York.

The ancient Japanese cleanser - geishas and kabuki dancers have been using the bird poop to wash off their heavy white makeup since the 18th century - contains guanine, which supposedly removes pollutants and blackheads, and helps even out skin tone.

"My English is not perfect, it's my second language. And they [her customers] know I could be making mistake with what I was saying. And they would ask me if I was sure, if I was really talking about bird poop," says the Japanese native, describing what her customers thought when she first introduced the fecal facial.

The exotic excrement comes in a powder form, directly from Japan, and is sterilized with UV light to kill bacteria. And while there is an odor - Bernstein says it smells like "hay" or "like outside" - it's not the kind you would expect.

For complete article please go to: http://www.nypost.com/seven/04292008/entertainment/poop_de_do0__108673.htm

A complimentary web seminar series from the publishers of Medical Economics and Contemporary OB/GYN

Rejuvenating Your Practice & Patients

Series continues on June 11, 2008, 6 PM - 7 PM, EST

These 1-hour web events, sponsored by Fraxel® and CareCredit® will feature a discussion between

Cheryl Whitman, CEO of Beautiful Forever Consulting Firm and Linda Quinn, MD with a live Q & A session geared to physicians considering adding aesthetic services to their practices.

Covering topics which include market opportunities, revenue potential, risk management and staff training. This program will provide information that could help physicians attract new patients, retain existing patients and increase practice revenue.

For more information and to register,

visit www.memag.com/cosmetic

Live Webcast Dates

• Wednesday, June 11, 6PM - 7 PM EST
• Thursday, July 24, 12PM - 1PM EST
• Wednesday, August 20, 7PM - 8PM EST
• Thursday, September 18, 10AM - 11AM EST

Skin Deep
Eco-Friendly Paths to Exfoliation

By NORA ISAACS


AFTER Laura Noss signed up to receive a weekly organic produce box from a farm near her home in Menlo Park, Calif., she decided that fruits and vegetables grown close to home taste better.

"It has opened my eyes to what is local and seasonal," Ms. Noss said. "I now understand that what I put in my body and on my body matters."

So she began looking for ways to go local beyond the palate. Last year, while she planned a getaway to Maui, she hunted for treatments that used indigenous ingredients at the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel and Spa. That is how she found herself being scrubbed with locally-sourced coconut and sugar, then dunked in just-harvested coconut milk -- for $160 a treatment.

"It felt like it would be fresher than some of the other treatments," said Ms. Noss, 38, the founder of Social Planets, a communications and marketing company. "I envisioned the woman going out to the tree and plucking my coconut."

More than 28 percent of spas nationwide use local ingredients, according to a 2007 survey by the International Spa Association, a trade group for the industry. Last year, after seeing the trend take off, the association started tracking how many of the 3,000 spas in its membership use ingredients from local nature in treatments.

In an age of global warming and high gas prices, is it any wonder that more spa-goers are gravitating to blueberries, honey and even maple syrup, cultivated close by because they believe it leaves a lighter carbon footprint?

The local-food movement, popularized by writers like Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver, has created an aura of authenticity around all things local. Forward-thinking spas have long included indigenous ingredients on their menus, but more spa owners have entered the game of late, now that customers will pay more for services they deem environmentally responsible.

Some spas use perks to attract clients. The Cliff House Resort and Spa in Ogunquit, Me., offers a Maine Blueberry Pedicure at no extra charge to extended-stay guests if they book a $110 Maine Blueberry Body Wrap.


That more businesses (spas included) are rushing to make greenbacks off the green-minded hasn't escaped the notice of Jessica Jensen, a founder of Low Impact Living, an online resource that helps consumers live eco-friendly.

"There are two kinds of companies," Ms. Jensen said, "ones that are genuinely dedicated to these issues and incorporate them into every aspect of their business, and then other companies trying to put a varnish on their business in the form of putting a few green techniques here and there."

Some critics say that marketing -- not any environmental impulse per se -- is the reason local ingredients are touted at spas from the Napa Valley to the Maine Coast.

"Putting the label 'organic' or 'local' on a product allows a vendor to charge more, irregardless of supply and demand," said James E. McWilliams, the author of "A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America." "There is a psychological factor at work here as well. When a company can claim they are going local, it conveys a sense of virtue, that what they are doing is natural and pure, and that their behavior is alternative and even elite. These are values that a lot of consumers today crave."

For complete article please go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/fashion/15SKIN.html?ref=health  

www.theDERM.org is an interactive Web community designed to meet the educational needs of dermatology and aesthetic medicine healthcare providers.  This community is designed to provide most up-to-date health and medical information to healthcare providers to improve patient care and enhance clinical outcomes. 

Access to all content on the www.theDERM.org is free to healthcare providers although registration is required for access to CME Activities and Medical Conference Highlights Reports.  Members of www.theDERM.org have access to Multimedia CME Activities, Online CME Lecture Series, Live CME Webinar Programs, Experts & Viewpoints Discussions and Blogs, Medical Conference Highlights, Peer-to-Peer Discussion Forums, Patient Education Materials, Online Surveys and a comprehensive list of World-wide Medical Conferences. 

All content is reviewed and approved by the Editorial Board of www.theDERM.org which consists of national thought leaders in dermatology and aesthetic medicine. For more information, visit www.theDERM.org to register or click here info@theDERM.org.

HealthyAging

Vol. 3 Issue 5 Page 23

Power Your Web Site for Results

Is your Web site simply an online business card floating in cyberspace? If so, it's time to make a change.

James C. Fairfield, MD

Right up front, this article is about Web sites--and whether doctors should have them--and why. What follows is not a technical exegesis of the mysterious inner workings of Web sites, for that is the purview of Web designers. It is instead a marketing rationale for having one.

Five years ago, I had no Web site. I worked for a large medical group practice and started my own practice after the medical group tanked. Along with my line of thinking, "I need a logo, letterhead and business cards" came the unbidden thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to have a Web site?" I had no particular reason for thinking this other than it would just be, well, cool.

That's how a doctor with no business training thinks. Imitating what others did, gobbling up every pitch made by vendors who said, "You must have this," I was fair game for having my thin wallet flattened completely.

Much savvier now, I could do a full rant on business cards, logos, Yellow Pages and their vendors. But this column is about Web sites, why you should have one, what it should look like, what it should do, how you should measure its effectiveness and where it fits in the Big Picture of your total marketing effort.

My first Web site was built by a Web designer recommended by someone I knew. I saw her work and it looked OK. After all, a Web site was just a Web site. I really didn't know what other function it was supposed to perform other than "to be." My thinking wasn't unlike appreciating a new car without considering that a vehicle could actually be a means of travel.


All in all, it was a pretty Web site with a floral graphic, a description of my practice, contact information, list of services, and before and after photos. I thought it was good enough, because, again, it was just a Web site. The truth of the matter? It was simply an online business card floating in cyberspace. It didn't do anything other than offer information to anyone who stumbled on it.


Evidently, there were enough key words in it that some people found it via searches. But it wasn't configured to rank higher than a default position in the vast array of sites offering the same products and services. As a marketer, I had to change my thinking about the creation of this Web site and its return on investment.

If you consider marketing as what you do instead of just being the person providing services, then every piece of your marketing package must fulfill a function. And it should do so with positive math. By this, I mean all marketing efforts should increase net revenue and generate new clients.

"If you build it, they will come" does not apply to Web sites.

For complete article please go to:

http://healthyaging.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Search/AViewer.aspx?AN=HA_

08jan1_hap23.html&AD=01-01-2008

POOP-DE-DO0!

FECAL FACIAL IS LATEST WACKY SKIN TREATMENT

By RAAKHEE MIRCHANDANI

April 29, 2008

HOLY crap!

Enough with "normal" beauty routines such as placenta and kitty litter - New Yorkers can now add nightingale No. 2 to their beauty regimens.

For just $216, Shizuka Bernstein will slather your face in feces for a full 50 minutes - what she calls the "Geisha Facial" - at her Midtown spa, Shizuka New York.

The ancient Japanese cleanser - geishas and kabuki dancers have been using the bird poop to wash off their heavy white makeup since the 18th century - contains guanine, which supposedly removes pollutants and blackheads, and helps even out skin tone.

"My English is not perfect, it's my second language. And they [her customers] know I could be making mistake with what I was saying. And they would ask me if I was sure, if I was really talking about bird poop," says the Japanese native, describing what her customers thought when she first introduced the fecal facial.

The exotic excrement comes in a powder form, directly from Japan, and is sterilized with UV light to kill bacteria. And while there is an odor - Bernstein says it smells like "hay" or "like outside" - it's not the kind you would expect.

For complete article please go to: http://www.nypost.com/seven/04292008/entertainment/poop_de_do0__108673.htm