Help Wrinkles with Vitamin C

Vitamin C can help in the reduction of the appearance of wrinkles. It is one of the most commonly used ingredients in skin care products. It is an antioxidant that can help reduce skin damage that is caused by free radicals. It is also important for the synthesis of collagen, which is an important structural protein in the skin. It is needed for the connective tissue in the body, especially in the layer where collagen is made. Thats why people who have healthy diets look younger than people who don't. Diets high in linoleic acid, which is found in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, also promote younger looking skin by reducing dryness and thinning of the skin.

First Face Transplant Done in America

In Cleveland, reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow and a team of specialists performed the first face face transplant done in America by replacing 80 percent of a disfigured woman's face by using the face of a female cadaver. Many details of the surgery have not been released but surgeons that do this usually transplant skin, facial nerves, muscles, and other deep tissue.

Skin is considered an organ and it still runs the risk of the body rejecting it, as with other organ transplants. Recipients of transplants have the risk of deadly complications, such as the new facial tissue attacking the recipient's body and the recipient's body attacking the bone marrow or the transplanted face to cause inflammation at the area of the new tissue. They also have to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent the body rejecting the organ. This raises the risk of cancer and other diseases.

This is the fourth one done worldwide. Two have been done in France and one was done in China. The first one was a partial face transplant done in France in 2005 on a woman who had been mauled by her dog and received a new nose, chin, and lips from a brain-dead donor. Another was done in France on man disfigured by a genetic disease. One was done in China on a farmer that had been disfigured by being mauled by a bear.

Funeral Directors in Philadelphia Steeling and Selling Body Parts

In Philadelphia, three funeral directors sold a total of 244 bodies for $1,000 each to a former oral surgeon who collected the bones, tissue, and skin from the bodies to be used for transplants. The transplants were used worldwide by unknowing medical patients.

A man named Michael Mastromarino, a former oral surgeon who ran the Biomedical Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J., ran the operation with help of a team of “cutters” who stole the body parts. The funeral directors named Louis Garzone, Gerald Garzone, and James CcCafferty were arrested and have thousands of counts against them, including running a corrupt organization, forgery, and theft of body parts. Mastromarino plans to surrender and fight the charges he has against him. He says that he was victimized by the funeral directors and that they were in charge of getting consent and all he was suppose to do was take care of the tissue and send samples to the processors.

The families of the bodies thought that their loved ones were cremated, but the bodies were left unrefrigerated for days and sometimes put in alleys next to the funeral home until a cutter arrived. The funeral directors lied and forged death certificates to say that the bodies had died from heart attacks or blunt-force trauma. They also made up fake names for the bodies and forged family consent forms and the authorities have found the true identities of only 48 of the 244 bodies. They also reduced the ages of the bodies and changed their dates of death to make it look as if the parts were newer and fresher.

The parts were used to treat burns, replace broken bones, and provide for other medical needs. One woman is suing because she says that she received hepatitis by getting a transplant from one of the bodies that had HIV, hepatitis C, and cancer.