I don’t think there is any person in the whole wide world who doesn’t want to continue looking young, even after they’ve passed middle age. Everyone, no matter how young or old they actually are, would like to look and feel young. This is not just related to physical appearance, but also to general health and well being. Nobody likes the wrinkles and pains that come with old age. It is for this reason that billions of dollars have been pumped into anti-aging research over the last decade. All of it in the quest for anti aging treatments!

When you hear the phrase ‘anti aging treatments’, one of the first things that comes to mind is anti wrinkle creams!  In fact, these creams have become almost synonymous with anti aging treatments and have thus given the entire genre a limited and narrow focus. But anti aging treatments are about much more than merely removing the wrinkle off one’s face!  Anti aging treatments are about holistically treating the aging human body to make it look and feel young. And this involves much more than the merely superficial.  Although looking young is most evident in physical appearance, it has a lot more to do with the overall health and fitness of the body. And genuine anti aging treatments will concentrate on the inner well being as a precursor to external appearance.

But the world of anti wrinkle creams, face stretching creams and the like have given the entire field of anti aging treatments a bad name. Superficial anti aging treatments treat merely the external body. But even then, superficial anti aging treatments are a multi million dollar industry. Studies estimate that nearly 80% of the over the counter drugs and creams sold as part of anti aging treatments, actually belong to the superficial or external cosmetic category. And when the industry itself is worth several billions, you can safely imagine how large that is!

But more important than using anti aging products, is learning to choose the ones that are beneficial. It is not true to say that all prescribed anti aging products are beneficial. In fact, any cosmetic anti aging product brings with it a certain amount of side effects. This is because anti aging product go against nature as it were. They try to reverse and sustain what is essentially a natural degradation of the human body. And anything that tries to reverse the natural, naturally faces resistance. This resistance could take the form of mild rashes and pains. But if intensive chemical anti aging treatments like invasive surgery, botox injections and the like are used, they could leave more serious effects like scarring and freezing of the facial tissue.

However, there is a school of thought that anti aging treatments are a recourse adopted by the busy and the stressed out population as a way to regain their youth. It has been found for instance that almost all anti aging treatments are used by urban and cosmopolitan dwellers. Rural dwellers on the other hand, scarcely feel the need to use anti aging treatment. Their simple lives help them live longer and fitter lives.

Some people think there’s nothing that can be done about stretch marks. Once you’ve got them, they’re here to stay. That turns out not to be true.

First off, many stretch marks just fade over time, making them much less noticeable, and some people can live with them this way. You can also cover them up with makeup made especially for that purpose. For those who want to do better than just covering them up, laser therapy is a promising option. The color of the stretch marks that need treatment will determine the type of laser a surgeon uses. One type stimulates production of cells that make pigment, another reduces the color of stretch marks.

Another type of laser treatment actually stimulates collagen production to restore elasticity in the stretch marks themselves. It is the skin’s being stretched past its limit that causes stretch marks in the first place. This can happen when a person grows rapidly such as during puberty. It can also happen when a person gains weight rapidly such as during a pregnancy. The damage is actually done in the skin’s middle layer, the dermis. (The skin has three layers: the other two are the outer layer, called the epidermis, and the innermost layer, called the subcutaneous layer.)

Another treatment for stretch marks is blue light therapy, something that can be helpful in treating acne too. It is a combination of gel and light, used to remove stretch marks.

An older, low-tech treatment is to use creams to help moisturize skin, repair collagen and elastin growth. They commonly contain combinations of cocoa butter, wheat germ oil, lanolin and vitamin E. But actually, these creams are most effective if used while your skin is being stretched to help keep it soft, supple, smooth and elastic. So prevention is a good idea for those most susceptible to them. If you haven’t applied creams while the skin was being stretched, the sooner you begin afterwards, the better.

Who has to worry most about stretch marks? People who are genetically disposed to them, that’s who. And it turns out people with darker skin tend to be less susceptible than those with lighter skin.

There isn’t one fail-safe, 100 percent way to prevent or eradicate stretch marks, but a combination of some of these therapies will dramatically reduce their appearance or eliminate them. One thing to keep in mind about stretch marks is that they pose absolutely no health risk. They’re more of an imperfection than a threat.

After spending a few months in New Zealand I was able to stop by Fiji on my way to Los Angeles for a twenty-dollar connection fee.  I figured that it may be the only time when I’d be able to stop in Fiji for twenty dollars, so I booked in a four-day layover.  Most of my time was spent on a little island just north of the main island.  It was beautiful, with long, crescent-moon beaches, lots of coconuts, lots of sun, and plenty of hammocks.

The snorkeling was world-class, and my second day on the island I rented a snorkel, mask, and pair of fins, slapped on some sunscreen, and snorkeled the day away.  When I got out of the water for the last time and got ready to head in for dinner, my back felt a little warm.

When I got back to my room I realized my sunburn was worse than I thought.  My back was pink, with a few lighter splotches where I managed to get on a little bit better coat of sunscreen.  I tossed on a shirt and went to dinner, but by the time I went to bed my sunburn was keeping me plenty warm; if I laid on my back it felt like I was lying on a heated blanket.

By the next morning my sunburn was so bad it was almost purple, and a week later I was peeling sheets of dead, peeling skin off of my back.  I should have known better.  Sunburn is the leading cause of skin cancer in adults, and each successive burn raises the odds that you’ll have skin cancer.  When I went snorkeling, slapping on a little bit of sunscreen wasn’t nearly enough.  Not only was my back exposed to the sun for the entire day, the water washed off the sunscreen (even waterproof sunscreen) quickly, leaving my skin open for damage.  I should have been reapplying sunscreen every couple of hours or, even better, keeping my back covered with a t-shirt despite my desire to come home with a golden Fijian tan.

Once my back was sunburned I took a number of steps to treat it.  Sunburn, like its name suggests, is in fact a burn, just as you would get from putting your hand on a hot stove.  I treated it with pure aloe, an age-old treatment for wounds and burns.  I also made sure to apply some moisturizer, since one of the biggest effects of sunburn is that it makes your skin extremely dry.  Though my back eventually healed, the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been since I took steps to treat my burn.