Reminiscences

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions   People with scoliosis tend to be very conscious of the flaws in their bodies. I am no expert in medicine and cannot advise people with this condition to undergo corrective surgeries. Each patient is different and an invasive surgery is not the best treatment for all. I do believe that if the physician does recommend/encourage it, after reviewing all the relevant facts (including whether the condition is progressive), then the patient should overcome his/her fear and go for it for both health and aesthetic reasons. The surgery would not make the spine perfect. However, it would definitely improve it. In most cases, patients do recover well and the conditions, which typically become mild, tend not to deteriorate much after surgeries.  This post, inspired by fashion journey of a dear one (C, whom I mentioned in my previous posts) provides fashion tips for people whose condition is mil...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions Some years ago, I noticed a difference in my hair texture depending on where I was living. My hair in its "default" state used to be of fair quality, given that I have very good health.  My hair texture deteriorated when I was residing in London/Cambridge: it almost instantly became coarse and frizzy and, at the same time, a little greasy. While I was vacationing in Helsinki (Finland), it turned soft and babyish even though I forgot to bring shampoo and bought a random brand from the local supermarket, and hardly spent time on my hair after washing it. In cities like Hong Kong and Vancouver, my hair texture did seem to fluctuate a bit, due to reasons that I failed to find out at that time. My condition was at its worst during my stay in Waterloo/Ontario (Canada): it literally turned into one giant, sticky clump.   At one time, I thought my hair turned bad when I was too occupied...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions Many physicians insist that health supplements are not necessary for good health. "One only needs to follow healthy diet," they like to say. At most, on multivitamin pill a day would suffice.  Yes, a multivitamin pill per day has helped me reduce my sick days and incidences of common cold. Many KOLs on YouTube recommend different health supplements for each part of the body. Their subscribers wonder if they need to purchase an entire health food store. I am here to recommend several lesser-known supplements and food that have proven to be highly beneficial to general health and that are very affordable or at least not outrageously expensive. 1. Healthy hair ~  Fo-ti , or He Shou Wu , is a Chinese herb that is not very well-known in Western societies and has proven to be highly effective for the prevention--and even reversal--of greying hair.  Various brands of it, mostly in pil...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions   Sunken eyelids are believed to be caused primarily by dehydration, fatigue, and aging (i.e. loss of  fat and collagen in the area). People are generally advised to moisturize the eyelid areas and drink more water.  Dermatologists like Dr. Dray, who has achieved celebrity status on YouTube, has a video in which she discusses different eye lotions and treatment techniques . Some dermatologists in the West recommend the injection of fillers, whereas in countries like Korea, dermatologists recommend even more extreme measures: eyelid surgeries (Doesn't this confirm the beauty-obsessed stereotypes of Korean people? A surgeon himself underwent an eyelid surgery to fix his somewhat uneven eyelids, a very mild asymmetry which was not obvious except to himself. You need to beware: cosmetic surgeries, not lest those performed in the eye area, are generally not reversible. For me persona...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions I have done some research about people whom I do not normally pay much attention to. They include Martha Hunt, Lindsay Ellingson, and Naomie Harris. What do they have in common? They all underwent spinal fusion surgeries as teenagers to correct their scoliosis (a lateral curvature of the spine). Who are these celebrities? Hunt was already a budding fashion model from the United States when she found out that she had scoliosis. Ellingson , also from the U.S., was scouted several years post-surgery, and like Hunt, she became a model/"angel" for Victoria's Secret. For  Harris , a British actress, her illness and surgery were only mild interruptions to her studies and career and did not prevent her from getting into Cambridge University, enrolling in an acting school, and becoming an acclaimed actress. Another fashion model is Canadian model Emm Arruda .  In fact, spinal fusion sur...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions A brave and lovely woman I have a dear cousin, C, who also grew up in Hong Kong. She suffers from scoliosis and underwent surgery to improve it when she was barely twelve at the Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital on Hong Kong Island. I took care of her for a while as her parents were busy working. Back in those days, patients had to wear casts or braces after surgeries to help protect their spines and aid their recoveries. I still recall the six months post-surgery during which she wore a heavy cast and could not even take a proper shower.  She had her surgery during the summer vacation, went back to school when school began in September, and barely skipped classes (except when she had to take a leave of absence to obtain a new cast at the hospital, which happened thrice). In today's society, many people feel no shame despite the many reasons why they should do so. I am referring to ...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions   A couple of days ago, I wrote about Spironolactone - a super drug for the treatment of acne. This is not the end of the acne fighting struggle: Spironolactone is not effective in curing  stubborn acne that has already formed, and cannot help remove thick tissues that sometimes form in areas where the pimples once were.  In rare cases, the thick tissue may take the form of a small keloid . It should not happen frequently but is extremely frustrating when it does: the keloid may have a rubbery texture and may be darker in color than the surrounding skin. It would be a painful reminder of what was there and has not completely vanished. This happened to me several times when I still had some stubborn acne that did not heal easily on its own. My dermatologist in Hong Kong (last named Yip, whom, last time I checked, is still working) performed cryosurgery on the keloid tissue, i.e....

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions For a long time, I've wanted to write about spironolactone for acne treatment. I've found it to be the most, perhaps only, way to cure acne for at least a sizeable sector of women acne sufferers. While there  seem to be enough testimonies to its effectiveness on the Internet, one more would not hurt. Those who are contemplating this treatment can feel more motivated to for for it when they come across my blog. If you are a persistent acne patient, and have tried over-the-counter medicines and oral antibiotics but to no avail, you might not need to turn to Accutane, which I heard is a scary drug.  Acne in many women is caused by hormones.  Spironolactone seems, from what I observed, the ultimate cure with the least side effects. In my case, it seems to have had no side effect at all. I have heard of this medicine for some time. Yet I always turned to antibiotics such as meocyclin...