The Merz Scales, the first standardized, comprehensive rating system to measure the skin’s aging process, were presented at THE Aesthetic Show in Las Vegas. Developed by a leading team of multidisciplinary experts to “establish a universal language of aging,” The Merz Scales address the unmet need for an educational tool to facilitate communication between physicians and patients. While The Scales do not diagnose or treat any particular conditions, they serve as a platform to discuss the aging process.

“In recognizing the need for a standardized, validated, consistent method to measuring the skin aging process, Merz set forth to revolutionize the aesthetic industry with the creation of The Merz Scales,” said Mikael Svensson, vice president of medical and aesthetic dermatology at Merz. “The Merz Scales exemplify our commitment to the science of aesthetic medicine.”

The Merz Scales, including A Validated Brow Positioning Grading Scale; A Validated Grading Scale for Forehead Lines; A Validated Lip Fullness Grading Scale; A Validated Grading Scale for Marionette Lines; A Validated Hand Grading Scale; and, A Validated Grading Scale for Crow’s Feet were published in a special issue of Dermatologic Surgery in November 2008.

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Rochelle Pemberton opened her mail one day to find a brochure from a local med-spa with a “personal” invitation for a free skin care consultation. She bit.

“It was fun getting my skin imaged and talking to someone about my skin,” she says. “But they sure did want me to buy something!”

Rochelle ended up not purchasing anything at that med-spa. “I want a place where I really feel like they want the best for my skin. Not where they want to sell me something.”

And so Rochelle, like many women, turned to the internet.

Women Go Online for Healthcare and Skin Care Information

Traffic at health-care sites hit 72 million visitors last year, up 14% over the previous year, according to comScore Inc., an online consulting firm. And women are using the internet more, partly as more women over 50 become comfortable with a computer.

Women are clearly hungry for reliable information on skin care products and anti-aging treatments. Like Rochelle, they want accurate, unbiased information. And doing it in the privacy of their home is an added benefit.

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Older mice are more susceptible to proteoglycan-induced arthritis (PGIA). Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access journal Immunity & Ageing have shown, for the first time, that young mice are completely resistant, but become fully susceptible to the disease with age.

Tibor Glant, from Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, worked with a team of researchers to investigate the effects of immunological senescence on susceptibility to arthritis. He said, “Our results suggest that, while the young can effectively regulate their immune response to proteoglycan, in older mice these mechanisms are partially lost. This ‘physiological’ loss of control may lead to sustained activation of autoreactive T cells and auto-antibody production, directing the immune system against self antigen and culminating in joint inflammation in genetically susceptible animals”.

The researchers conclude that complex age-related changes in interactions between T cells and antigen presenting cells, and reduced generation of regulatory T cells, may lead to impaired immune regulation and the development of autoimmune disease. Glant said, “Increasing incidence of rheumatoid arthritis with age has been repeatedly shown in the human population, hopefully this mouse model will go some way towards explaining why”.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory Inc. of Roy, Utah, is voluntarily recalling some skin sanitizers and skin protectants marketed under several different brand names because of high levels of disease-causing bacteria found in the product during a recent inspection. The FDA is warning consumers to not use any Clarcon products.

Consumers should not use any Clarcon products and should throw these products away in household refuse. Analyses of several samples of over-the-counter topical antimicrobial skin sanitizer and skin protectant products revealed high levels of various bacteria, including some associated with unsanitary conditions. Some of these bacteria can cause opportunistic infections of the skin and underlying tissues. Such infections may need medical or surgical attention, and may result in permanent damage. Examples of products that should be discarded include:

- Citrushield Lotion
- Dermasentials DermaBarrier
- Dermassentials by Clarcon Antimicrobial Hand Sanitizer
- Iron Fist Barrier Hand Treatment
- Skin Shield Restaurant
- Skin Shield Industrial
- Skin Shield Beauty Salon Lotion
- Total Skin Care Beauty
- Total Skin Care Work

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Cancer patients who are older than 65 years have poorer physical health and, in some cases, mental health when compared with people of the same age group without cancer, according to a study in the June 9 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Because health-related quality of life (HRQOL) before cancer is not often measured, the impact of cancer on HRQOL is poorly understood.

To quantify the changes before and up to 2 years after cancer diagnosis, Bryce B. Reeve, of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues looked at changes in HRQOL from 1998 through 2003 in 1,432 patients aged 65 years or older. They compared the patients who were enrolled in Medicare managed care plans with 7,160 matched control subjects, by using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry linked with Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (MHOS).

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