health and safety: ACUPUNCTURE GIVES YOU A GLOWING LOOK

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

ACUPUNCTURE GIVES YOU A GLOWING LOOK

Acupuncture is no longer just a medical treatment, it’s also for attaining that ‘zillion bucks’ look

When you look into the mirror, what is it on your face that you would like to get rid of ? Is it the wrinkles, the dark circles under the eyes, the pores on your cheeks, the double chin, or your complexion…? What takes a lot of make-up to hide, or may be even cosmetic surgery now finds a cure in acupuncture it seems, and all this without pinching your pocket too much.
A steady rise
    “People usually come to get treated for diabetes, psoriasis, reducing pain and anxiety, but now acupuncture is also proving to be a wonderful solution to make you look beautiful as well,” says Dr S Donaparthi, a doctor practising acupuncture. No wonder, acupuncture clinics catering to beauty treatment are mushrooming all over. Although fewer as compared to beauty parlours and allopathic clinics, believers in this therapy are on the rise, and have gone up by at least 10 to 15 per cent recently. Dr Sanghmitra Chari, another practitioner, says that the takers for this branch of medicine has gone up. “It’s because allopathy does not have a permanent cure. Also, there is a growing need for alternative medicine.”
How does it work?
    When an acupuncture practitioner inserts the tiny needles into areas of the body, this stimulates the production of collagen in the general area and the skin is supported and nourished by the body, rather than by some external application. The production of collagen firms the skin and stretches out any fine lines. “In some cases, electric stimulation is given where the needles are inserted,” says Dr R Geeta. But what deters most patients is the thought of needles being pierced, so now a few clinics have laser equipment, which beams rays at strategic points, instead of needles.
    A viable Option?
    Clients for acupuncture include careeroriented women, who want to look good, in a short time. “I had gone for allopathy treatment for blemishes but the condition seems to have only worsened over time. And then someone suggested this. Acupuncture has taken years off my face,” says Swati Sharma.
    However, Dr Kishore Kumar Koya, medical director of a cosmetic surgery centre, disagrees with the view. He says, “Blemishes and wrinkles are caused because of many factors such as overexposure to the sun, pollution, etc. Acupuncture can cure only underlying problems relating to the senses and nerves. Such cosmetic problems can be treated only through chemical peeling or highend lasers.”