IN THIS ISSUEHumans can catch some pet diseasespage 4
Lasers can be used to removeunwanted tattoos page 14
FEATURING
HEALTHWATCHHEALTHWA
North Georgia’s Health & Prevention Magazine
Pages 12-13
Doctors cautious in prescribing pain medicationpage 10
� Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
By Shannon [email protected]
God bless you! Hearing that phrase is, for some, a daily occur-rence as they battle allergies that make them sneezy, itchy and gen-erally uncomfortable.
Be it pollen, dust, pet dander or a combination, allergy shots can offer relief.
“It’s best to think of allergy shots as vaccines,” said Dr. Ronald Beebe, a board-certified aller-gist and immunologist with The Longstreet Clinic. “... because what you’re doing is you’re stim-ulating an immune response, which is what a vaccination does, so that it gives you protection.”
An allergy basically means the patient is too sensitive to the aller-gen. The vaccine aims to desen-sitize by administering a small dose of the allergen over time. Dosage increases over time as the frequency of the shots decreas-es; patients typically receive the shots for about five years.
In the end, 85 percent of those who take the shots say they feel it has helped, Beebe said. Patients should try the shots for at least a year.
If shots aren’t successful, medi-cation and avoiding the allergen are the next best treatments.
What causes the allergy is a bit of a mystery to doctors. Genetics and environment can both play a role.
“There’s a lot of data that kids growing up on farms outside, outdoors more, don’t get allergy and asthma nearly to the extent of kids who grow up in a more urban setting,” Beebe said. And if both parents are allergic, there’s a 70 percent chance the child will
be, too, Beebe added.Children are the best candi-
dates for allergy shots, though. Beebe said children age 5 and older can begin shots.
“I would say children prob-ably benefit the most from shots because when you’re young — what you’re trying to do with these shots is push the immune system a certain way, and it’s easier in children because their immune system is still develop-ing,” he said.
For those who may have taken the shots as children but feel their allergies are again a prob-lem, they can come back and take another skin test to deter-mine their allergies and take the shots as adults, Beebe said.
There are side effects to the vac-cines, though. Patients can have a local reaction to the allergen at the site of the shot, meaning it may swell, redden or cause pain. Systemic reactions are also pos-sible, though rare, in which the patient could break out in hives or have trouble breathing.
For these reasons, those taking the vaccines should always do so at a doctor’s office and remain in the office for half an hour after taking the shot.
The side effects make allergy vaccines for food allergies too dangerous. Trials for allergy shots for peanuts created reactions that were too frequent, Beebe said.
One method of treating aller-gens has fewer side effects and
is gaining popularity. The treat-ment is similar to an allergy vaccine but is taken in drops under the tongue. It has yet to be approved by the FDA but is used in Europe.
Beebe advised against taking this treatment until it is approved, which may take about five years.
“The problem is that when you give a dose under your tongue, it’s a lot less than you would give in the shot,” Beebe said. “So you have to use such high doses to achieve the same effect that you get a lot of local reaction like sores in the mouth.”
Allergy shots on the other hand, have been around for 100 years, and Beebe said they’re getting safer and safer.
Series of shots often best treatment for allergies
The TimesLicensed Practical Nurse Denise Tench administers an allergy shot Tuesday to Dosha Blanchard at the Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
Center at The Longstreet Clinic in Gainesville.
Sunday, July 24, 2011 �gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
Specialty Clinics of Georgia - Pain ManagementWelcomes Steve Crider, Jr., MD
1250 Jesse Jewell Parkway Suite 200 • Gainesville
and 5005 Friendship Road • Buford770-297-7277 • www.scgpain.com
Dr. Crider earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Georgia and his medical degree from the MedicalCollege of Georgia in Augusta. He completed his anesthesiology residency at Northwestern University in Chicagoand his Pain Management Fellowship at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Dr. Crider is board certified by theAmerican Board of Anesthesiology and is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the AmericanAcademy of Pain Medicine. Dr. Crider is now accepting new patients in Buford.
Call 770-297-7277 to schedule an appointment.
284373 7-24
By Savannah [email protected]
Breast health is an important and sometimes confusing topic among women and medical professionals alike.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a statement recom-mending that women begin mam-mogram screening at age 50, rather than the previous age recommen-dation of 40. The Task Force also recommends women be screened every two years rather than year-ly as suggested before. The new recommendations have left many women wondering what to do.
“That kind of left people with a lot of anxiety. We know that
breast cancer is very common and it is a great concern for most women,” said Dr. Monica Newton, family medicine physician with the Northeast Georgia Physicians group.
“The mammogram guidelines have been confusing, but all experts agree that all women should be screened for breast cancer at least at age 50 through age 69 with a mammogram and a clinical exam,”
The change in the recommended age stems from studies showing that women younger than age 50 are at a higher risk of receiving a false-positive test result. An inaccu-rate test can result in psychologi-cal harm, additional medical visits, biopsies in women without cancer,
unnecessary treatment and radia-tion exposure.
“Following the guidelines and starting at age 40, the risks are minute; it is much more important to find the cancer,” said Dr. Julie Presley, chief of mammography and radiology service at the North Georgia Health Systems Imaging Center in Braselton. “There are sig-nificant numbers of cancers that are found between 40 and 50 years old.”
Breast cancer accounts for 23 percent of total cancer cases and 14 percent of cancer deaths. It is the leading cancer in women.
“We know the lifetime risk for a woman is one in eight, so you kind of balance those risks and say
either ‘I’ll be screened or I won’t’ and that is obviously an individu-al’s decision,” Newton said. “... just being a woman and age is a risk factor, you can’t go on family his-tory alone.”
Breast tissue is more dense in younger women, which contrib-utes to the higher rate of false-posi-tive test results. Wearing deodor-ant and lotion to an appointment could also appear to be an artifact on the film.
“We obviously know that if we can prevent one cancer death we have to overlook some things. Some of the things we have to overlook are the false positives that come
Mammograms still vital diagnostic tool despite confusion over guidelines
Please see Mammograms page 4
� Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
770-318-3071
Specialist in Medical Office Cleaning 770.318.3071 | [email protected]
from mammograms,” Newton said.Film mammography is the oldest
screening tool and is considered the gold standard by medical pro-fessionals. Doctors can use other tools in conjunction with mammo-grams, such as MRI and ultrasound to help determine whether or not there is a concern.
Presley said women should speak with their doctor to decide on the best time to begin screening. She said communication between doc-tors is important and if a woman has had a mammogram in the past and is going to a new facility it is imperative to have those films sent to the new office.
“So much of mammography is comparing old to new,” Presley said.
MammogramsContinued from page 3
By Jacob [email protected]
Even if they say a dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s, a medical specialist would ask you to think twice before puckering up for man’s best friend.
According to Andrew Reisman, a family doctor with The Longstreet Clinic, pets can pose a number of health concerns to their human companions.
Fur can carry poison ivy, and animals also have been known to pass on harmful parasites and bacteria.
Reisman said he sees cat scratch Fever most often, with one or two cases a year.
It’s a bacteria contracted through cat scratches or bites and is usually treatable through antibiotics.
An infected person might not feel sick, but Reisman said they’ll come into his office with large swollen lymph nodes.
But a more serious threat posed by cats is a parasite known as toxoplasmosis.
According to Reisman, it’s usu-ally contracted while cleaning a litter box and can attack the eyes, brain and cause birth defects in pregnant women.
From 400 to 4,000 children are born in the United States each year with complications due to this parasite, Reisman said.
“We always advise pregnant women not to change the kitty litter,” he said. “If you don’t have someone to do that, hire some-one.”
But cats aren’t alone in the risk they pose to humans.
Dogs often carry hook and round worms that can be passed to their owners.
“You really shouldn’t be playing in storm puddles,” Reisman said. “They mix with everything so all the stool in the grass runs downs the hill with the water into the puddle at the bottom. And that’s where you’re at risk to get the hook worms.”
Some pet diseases can find their way to human owners
Please see Pet diseases page 5
Sunday, July 24, 2011 �gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
He said children often play in the puddle and have their skin penetrated by the small worms.
“It will penetrate the skin, reach the lungs through the blood-stream, come through the airways and get swallowed,” he said. “Then they reach the small intestines and mature into adult worms. Then they suck blood and intes-tinal fluids.”
According to Reisman, one-fourth of the world’s population is infected with some species of hook worm, but it’s much less common in the United States.
He said he has entertained it as a possible diagnosis, but never actually seen one himself.
Round worms are more com-mon.
Again contracted through feces, they travel through the intestines, into the bloodstream and then to various organs throughout the body. According to Reisman, they most commonly attack the liver, lungs and central nervous sys-tem.
“I had a guy who went to a pig roast. Two weeks later he came in dizzy and unable to walk,” Reisman said. “He had a classic looking (roundworm) in his brain on the CT scan.”
Both round and hook worms are typically treatable with medi-cations.
But humans aren’t the only ones that need to watch their back.
Laura Townshend, a veterinarian at South Hall Veterinary Hospital, said humans can also accidentally make their pets sick.
There aren’t too many transfer-able diseases, but she said the strep throat bacteria is occasion-ally passed from humans to pets.
In order to rid the bacteria from a home, Townshend said she’s seen cases where the veterinarian will work with the family doctor and treat simultaneously.
But despite these risks, Reisman said he wouldn’t recommend get-ting rid of your pets just yet.
With basic hygiene and plenty of hand washing, he said most risks can be minimized.
“The fortunate aspect is, in a normal family medicine practice, it’s a very small percentage of what we see,” he said.
Pet diseasesContinued from page 4
Tom Reed / The TimesDr. Laura Townshend checks a cat at the
South Hall Veterinary Hospital. It is possible for humans to accidentally make their pets sick.
� Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
By Jennifer Jackson WhitleyFor The Times
Recent studies show as many as one-third of Americans suffer from chronic pain, and pain medi-cations account for 10 percent of all pharmaceutical sales.
“One way to identify chronic pain is to look at how long the pain has been going on; usu-ally chronic pain is classified as pain that lasts for longer than its expected duration after the start of the pain,” said John Givogre, a doctor specializing in anesthesiol-ogy and interventional pain man-agement at Lanier Interventional Pain Center LLC.
Chronic pain often is classified
as pain lasting for longer than three to six months.
“If you stub your toe, it gets better in a couple of days, but if six months later it’s still hurting, that’s chronic pain,” Givogre said. “Essentially, chronic pain is pain that is still present months after a precipitating event, or pain that is still present after it should have gone away in normal cir-cumstances.”
There are many causes of chron-ic pain: arthritis, trauma from injuries, nerve injuries and much more.
“There are multiple ways to treat chronic pain. One of the
Early treatment key for easing chronic pain
Please see Pain page 8
Sunday, July 24, 2011 �gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
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more credible or common ways would be taking medications,” Givogre said. “There are numer-ous types, like medicines that help with pain, inflammation or nerve hyperactivity. There are injection or interventional treatments, spine injections, cortisone injections or nerve blocks.”
Givogre specializes in interven-tional treatments of chronic pain.
With the sale of pain medications on the rise, threats of addiction raise caution in both patients and doctors.
“The threat of addiction is low in people who do not otherwise have history of addiction or addictive personality, but there is always at least a low risk when you’re using
habit-forming medications that someone could become addicted to them,” Givogre said.
Physical therapy, in which patients use exercise to maintain strength and mobility, is another reasonable treatment for chronic pain.
However, people suffering from chronic pain should not participate in rigorous exercises.
“Usually a gentle range of motion exercises and stretching are the easiest ways to start – low impact exercises. You wouldn’t tell some-one with joint arthritis to start jog-ging,” Givogre said.
While there is no way to actively prevent injuries that cause chronic pain, there are some precautions one can take to reduce the risk.
“There are certain things that would predispose chronic pain: general health issues, like keep-ing your weight under control, not smoking and good nutrition play a role in the development of chronic
pain (as well as other medical con-ditions),” Givogre said.
Another way to reduce one’s risk is to see a doctor and receive treat-ment as early as possible; like most illnesses, it’s better to treat chronic pain early.
“If you have an injury that occurs that has pain and it doesn’t go away as expected, see someone so it can be treated early – it has a higher success rate of actually alleviating the pain,” Givogre said. “The golden rule: the earlier we can treat some-thing, the better the results are going to be.”
The same healthy habits for other medical reasons also will help pre-vent chronic pain. However, once someone has it, it must be treated.
“The longer that people wait to be treated, the less likely that treat-ment will be successful,” Givogre said. “The longer that chronic pain goes on, the risk of depression and other health problems – like
weight gain and poor sleep – start to compound and will have lasting effects.”
Though treatable, chronic pain is not always curable.
“Some chronic pain can be cured, but most cases are managed long-term, similar to the way you would manage high blood pressure or dia-betes,” Givogre said.
Chronic pain, or pain lasting lon-ger than its expected duration, is becoming more and more preva-lent. While it’s manageable, Givogre has one warning: do not leave it untreated.
“See a doctor about a consultation for treatment of the chronic pain,” he said. “If someone thinks that they have chronic pain, or knows some-one who does, the most important thing is to talk to a physician and see a specialist so they can outline the treatments. People do not have to suffer from chronic pain; the vast majority can be helped.”
PainContinued from page 6
10 Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
By Jennifer Jackson WhitleyFor The Times
Patients who suffer from chronic pain, whether it is caused by arthri-tis, fibromyalgia or nerve trauma, live with a constant, cumbersome pain. Though it can be treated and cured, medications prescribed to aid chronic pain come with a list of potential warnings.
On one side, medications can help alleviate a patient’s pain. On another side, those same prescrip-tions come with risks of addiction and a few nasty side effects.
“If you’re talking about narcot-ic or opioid pain medications, then those threats are habituation or addiction — your body gets used to having it,” said Dr. John Givogre of Lanier Interventional Pain Center LLC.
Depending on what type of medication one takes, addiction can be a common and dangerous risk.
According to the National Information Center for Pain Medication Addiction, addiction to pain medication is the fastest growing sector of drug abuse. With more than 50 million Americans suffering from chronic pain, more than 5 million are said to com-monly abuse their medications.
“There’s also some evidence that pain medications tend to affect your immune system as well as the hormone regulation in your body,” Givogre said.
Like other medications, narcot-ics and opioids have physical side effects as well.
“They can cause constipation, drowsiness, itching; they can
depress respiration and can lead to a potential overdose if taken inappropriately,” Givogre said.
One of the most common threats of pain medication is its addictiveness and potential abuse. However, another issue for physi-cians is distinguishing between a patient who needs medication to treat chronic pain and one who wants it to feed his or her addic-tion.
“If a there is a history of addic-tiveness, the current trend with medication is that primary care providers are not the ones writ-ing prescriptions for pain medica-tions; often, a patient is referred to a specialty of pain management,” said Dr. Syed S. Zaidi of Medlink Gainesville.
However, if primary care provid-ers do write prescriptions for pain
medication, there are precautions they can take.
“I have a policy in place if I do write a prescription called a ‘pain medication contract,’” Zaidi said. “The patient cannot call back within 10 days for refills, and if they lose the prescription, they lose it; it cannot be replaced. The contract is a basic tool available for caution.”
According to Givogre, pain medi-cation has low risks if taken — and prescribed — correctly. Like many doctors, he takes several precau-tions before prescribing addictive medication.
“Patients are often drug-screened for presence of inappropriate sub-stances in their bodies,” Givogre said. “Review of previous treat-
Doctors cautious in prescribing of pain medications
Please see Pain meds page 11
Sunday, July 24, 2011 11gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
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ment records and medical history are also important.”
To prevent the use of addictive pain medication, patients are also offered other forms of treatment, like physical therapy and low-impact exercise.
However, no matter what pre-cautions doctors take, some patients choose to abuse their medications.
When this happens, physicians are faced with a tough decision: is the patient looking for medica-tion to assuage their chronic pain, or are they only looking for it because of an addiction?
“The best way to handle a situ-ation like this would be to avoid going down the road of using
addictive medication, and make sure you present other medica-tion and treatment options for them,” Givogre said. “If a patient is looking for medication, and not treatment, he or she will usually not pursue other options.”
Prescribed medication helps mil-lions of people cope with chronic pain; without it, people could suf-fer incessantly. If taken correctly, pain medication is put to good use, lowering risks of addiction, habituation and drug abuse.
“The positive aspect of taking pain medication is the quality of life that comes after a decreasing of the pain; and for someone who is in pain, that almost becomes the focus of their life — it’s always in the back of their mind; pain is always going to make known its presence,” Zaidi said. “To take care of that pain, medication is doing its job; the addictive potential is the other side of that.”
Pain medsContinued from page 10
1� Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
7 0 5 Je s s e Je w e l l Pa r k w a y, S E , S u i t e 2 0 0 , G a i n e s v i l l e • P h o n e 7 7 0 . 5 3 4 . 9 0 1 4 • w w w. g h v g . n e t
At Gainesville Heart & Vascular Group, we believe that the patient is the center of our practice. We are committed to providing the best possible care through diligent clinical evaluation and appropriate use of state-of-the-art technol-ogy. Guided by compassion for each individual, we strive to provide convenience and peace of mind to our patients by providing most services under one roof. Our ultimate goal — help our patients achieve a better quality of life.
GAINESVILLE HEART AND VASCULAR GROUP
SERVICES OFFERED• Adult Consultative Cardiology• ECG, Holter and Event Monitoring• Exercise Treadmill Testing• Echocardiography• Transesophageal Echocardiography• Stress Echocardiography• Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (Nuclear Scans)• Peripheral Vascular (claudication) Testing• Cardiac Catheterization (leg and wrist access)• Coronary Angioplasty and Stenting• Peripheral Vascular Angioplasty and Stenting• Renal Angioplasty and Stenting• Pacemaker Implants• Loop Recorder Implants• Pacemaker and ICD Management• Anticoagulation Management• Lipid Management• Pulmonary Hypertension Testing
GAINESVILLE HEART AND VASCULAR GROUPCardiovascular disease affects
80,700,000 people in the United States.
2829
52 7
-24
dd
• Coronary heart disease or disease in the blood vessels which supply oxygen to the heart affects 17,600,000.
• Myocardial infarction or a heart attack affects 8,500,000 people. There are 785,000 new heart attacks and 470,000 recurrent per year.
• Angina pectoris, chest pain or discomfort caused by reduced blood supply to the heart muscle, affects 10,200,000 people.
• Stroke or disturbance to brain function due to disturbance to the brain’s blood supply affects 6,400,000.
• Peripheral vascular disease or disease affecting the blood vessels of the arms and legs affects 10,000,000.
• Heart failure, the heart’s inability to meet the body’s demand, affects 5,800,000.
Risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease include age, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, tobacco use and family history of cardiovascular disease. Symptoms associated with cardiovascular disease include chest pain, shortness of breath, arm/leg pain, loss of consciousness and fatigue.
We at the Gainesville Heart and Vascular Group specialize in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Established in 1994, the Gainesville Heart & Vascular Group, formerly known as the Gainesville Heart Group, is recognized as the first cardiology practice dedicated to the care of heart patients in Gainesville and surrounding areas.
Its founder, Dr. David P. Johnson is a Gainesville native who had a dream of providing full-time and full-service cardiac care to the community. He and his partners played an integral part in bringing the Open Heart Surgery program to Gainesville in 2002.
Our staff has a reputation of applying a personal touch to our care and cherishing the relationship we have with our patients. Our staff, including physicians, enjoys residing and being an active part of the Hall County community.
Our office has a wide variety of services, including general cardiology consultation, electrocardiography, echocardiography/ 2-D Doppler, stress echocardiography, nuclear stress testing and ankle brachial pressure index. Our physicians are staffed round the clock, 365 days a year, at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center.Cardiac catheterizations, including coronary and peripheral artery stenting, stress testing, transesophageal echocardiography and pacemaker devices are performed at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center.
We would enjoy an opportunity to meet with you to prevent, diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease.
Sunday, July 24, 2011 1�gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
7 0 5 Je s s e Je w e l l Pa r k w a y, S E , S u i t e 2 0 0 , G a i n e s v i l l e • P h o n e 7 7 0 . 5 3 4 . 9 0 1 4 • w w w. g h v g . n e t
At Gainesville Heart & Vascular Group, we believe that the patient is the center of our practice. We are committed to providing the best possible care through diligent clinical evaluation and appropriate use of state-of-the-art technol-ogy. Guided by compassion for each individual, we strive to provide convenience and peace of mind to our patients by providing most services under one roof. Our ultimate goal — help our patients achieve a better quality of life.
GAINESVILLE HEART AND VASCULAR GROUP
SERVICES OFFERED• Adult Consultative Cardiology• ECG, Holter and Event Monitoring• Exercise Treadmill Testing• Echocardiography• Transesophageal Echocardiography• Stress Echocardiography• Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (Nuclear Scans)• Peripheral Vascular (claudication) Testing• Cardiac Catheterization (leg and wrist access)• Coronary Angioplasty and Stenting• Peripheral Vascular Angioplasty and Stenting• Renal Angioplasty and Stenting• Pacemaker Implants• Loop Recorder Implants• Pacemaker and ICD Management• Anticoagulation Management• Lipid Management• Pulmonary Hypertension Testing
GAINESVILLE HEART AND VASCULAR GROUPCardiovascular disease affects
80,700,000 people in the United States.
2829
52 7
-24
dd
• Coronary heart disease or disease in the blood vessels which supply oxygen to the heart affects 17,600,000.
• Myocardial infarction or a heart attack affects 8,500,000 people. There are 785,000 new heart attacks and 470,000 recurrent per year.
• Angina pectoris, chest pain or discomfort caused by reduced blood supply to the heart muscle, affects 10,200,000 people.
• Stroke or disturbance to brain function due to disturbance to the brain’s blood supply affects 6,400,000.
• Peripheral vascular disease or disease affecting the blood vessels of the arms and legs affects 10,000,000.
• Heart failure, the heart’s inability to meet the body’s demand, affects 5,800,000.
Risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease include age, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, tobacco use and family history of cardiovascular disease. Symptoms associated with cardiovascular disease include chest pain, shortness of breath, arm/leg pain, loss of consciousness and fatigue.
We at the Gainesville Heart and Vascular Group specialize in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Established in 1994, the Gainesville Heart & Vascular Group, formerly known as the Gainesville Heart Group, is recognized as the first cardiology practice dedicated to the care of heart patients in Gainesville and surrounding areas.
Its founder, Dr. David P. Johnson is a Gainesville native who had a dream of providing full-time and full-service cardiac care to the community. He and his partners played an integral part in bringing the Open Heart Surgery program to Gainesville in 2002.
Our staff has a reputation of applying a personal touch to our care and cherishing the relationship we have with our patients. Our staff, including physicians, enjoys residing and being an active part of the Hall County community.
Our office has a wide variety of services, including general cardiology consultation, electrocardiography, echocardiography/ 2-D Doppler, stress echocardiography, nuclear stress testing and ankle brachial pressure index. Our physicians are staffed round the clock, 365 days a year, at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center.Cardiac catheterizations, including coronary and peripheral artery stenting, stress testing, transesophageal echocardiography and pacemaker devices are performed at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center.
We would enjoy an opportunity to meet with you to prevent, diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease.
1� Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
By Savannah [email protected]
Having that ex-boyfriend’s name tattooed on your arm seemed like a romantic gesture at the time, but two kids and a divorce later, it serves as a painful reminder of love gone wrong.
It is estimated that more than 50 percent of people experience regret over a tattoo at some point in their lives. While tattoos were once considered permanent, tat-too removal is becoming more popular.
In the past, the only way to remove a tattoo was through chemically burning the skin, or surgery, which nearly always left the patient with serious scarring. Skin grafts were often necessary with surgical removal.
Today, however, removing a tat-too can be achieved with a rela-tively simple technique involving a laser.
“The lasers use different wave lengths to disperse the tattoo pig-ment. The laser breaks up the pig-ment and they are picked up by the body’s own immune system
and eliminated,” said Dr. Monica Newton, family medicine physi-cian with the Northeast Georgia Physician’s Group. “Laser removal is generally considered safe, but people have experienced local-ized skin reactions; people can also get hyper or hypo-pigmenta-tion of the skin, meaning whiten-
ing or darkening of the skin in the laser removal sight.”
Depending on the size, color and style of the tattoo, laser removal can be a costly and time consum-ing process. Laser removal takes several sessions, spaced six to eight weeks apart, to allow the body to heal itself and aid in the removal.
There are other options should a person decide against laser removal. There are many topical creams available over the internet and at retail stores. Creams act to lighten the skin and make the contrast of a tattoo less notice-able, but generally cannot remove the tattoo completely.
People can also have an old tattoo altered to “clean up” the
Lasers can be used to remove unwanted tattoos
Please see Tattoo page15
tattoo or cover over it completely with a new one.
Eric Carpenter, owner and artist at New Vision Tattoo in down-town Gainesville, said he sees a lot of tattoo cover-ups and reworks.
“When it comes to cover-ups I always tell people to pick out three or four things they might like to see because it’s going to be give and take, you may not get exactly what you want, depend-ing on what’s going on with the tattoo,” Carpenter said.
Bold black lines can be near-ly impossible to cover and may always show through a cover-up. An experienced tattoo artist will know what colors, shading and details a cover-up will require to be successful.
It is sometimes necessary to tat-too an ink dissolving solution into a tattoo before a cover-up can occur. The solution acts to break up the pigment enough that an artist can create a tattoo its owner will finally be happy with.
Carpenter said people who come in wanting to be tattooed will often want to know the price more than they want to consider the art or the artists. This mental-ity often results in people getting tattoos from illegal “couch art-ists,” people who have little to no experience in tattooing and practice from their homes.
These illegal artists are the rea-son his shop sees so many people who want to hide a tattoo. He said he can make it look better, but he can’t make it look the way it should have in the first place.
“A good tattoo isn’t cheap and a cheap tattoo isn’t good,” Carpenter said.
Sunday, July 24, 2011 1�gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
TattooContinued from page 14
1� Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
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Laser diabetic treatmentDiabetic retinopathy is the
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Blue Laser Group believes in building relationships, caring for people, investing in excellence
Sunday, July 24, 2011 1�gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
1� Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
Donating, selling substandard
baby beds illegal
By Patricia CallahanChicago Tribune
It is now illegal in the U.S. to sell or even donate a crib that fails to meet the toughest crib safety rules in the world.
Newly required safety tests are so stringent that few cribs in American homes — even those that have escaped recall after recall — are sturdy enough to pass them. As a result, federal regulators recom-mend that families that can afford to do so should buy new cribs and
destroy their old ones.“I know times are tough, but I
always felt like the price of a crib is minuscule compared to the price of your child’s life,” said Susan Cirigliano, a Long Island, N.Y., mother who pushed for tougher standards after her son Bobby died in a defective crib in 2004. “I was a normal mom raising her kids. Never in a million years would I have thought that could happen to me.”
Over the last four years, Chicago Tribune investigations have report-ed that a product supposed to be the safest item in the nursery — the one place where a parent can leave an infant unattended for hours — had become a deathtrap for some babies thanks to bad designs, defective hardware and
flimsy parts.Those stories prompted congres-
sional hearings and recalls, and ulti-mately led to the new standards.
The new rules address all of the major hazards that have killed infants in recent years, including traditional sides that move up and down. While convenient for par-ents, those so-called “drop sides” too often broke, creating deadly gaps in which babies got trapped, including Bobby Cirigliano. Drop sides are now forbidden.
The law effectively eliminates the secondhand market for cribs — at least for the near future — because it is now illegal to sell a crib that fails to meet the new standards. It will likely take more than a year for the new cribs to find their way to garage sales and auction sites as
hand-me-downs.In addition to checking stores
that sell new cribs, Scott Wolfson, a spokesman for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, says his agency will be monitoring eBay, craigslist and other sites to make sure older cribs don’t get resold.
Under the new standard, label-ing will make it easier to assemble a crib without missing a key step. Many babies died when the sides of their cribs were put on upside down, leaving the beds structurally unsound. The new rules mandate that sides clearly show which way is up or that they function well both ways.
A new battery of tests will bet-ter simulate the long life of a crib, finding screws that come loose,
New crib standards toughest in world
Please see Crib safety page 19
Sunday, July 24, 2011 1�gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
mattress supports that separate and slats that break. Each of those haz-ards can create a deadly gap that babies’ tiny bodies can slip through. When their heads get caught, they can hang to death or otherwise suf-focate.
The old rules allowed manufac-turers to tighten screws between different tests. Under the new ones, the crib has to pass all of them without any adjustments along the way. In one test, the crib is pushed repeatedly in eight different direc-tions for a total of 72,000 move-ments to simulate wear and tear. Separately, a 45-pound weight is dropped on the mattress support 750 times.
“These new cribs are going to be so much better than what’s out
there in terms of the testing,” said Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger, a Chicago-based consumer advocacy nonprofit that has pushed for tougher crib tests for more than a decade.
The biggest challenge for parents will be to verify that the crib they are buying meets the new rules. There is no standard label to distinguish a crib made under the new rules from an older one. Parents should
not rely on a simple label that says the crib “meets or exceeds” federal and voluntary standards; millions of cribs recalled for deadly hazards carried such assurances.
Manufacturers are required to provide a certificate to retailers that lists where and when samples of their crib models were tested under the new standards. Although the law doesn’t require retailers to pro-vide these certificates to custom-
ers, safety commission spokesman Wolfson says consumers can ask for them if they want documented proof that the cribs meet the new rules.
Cowles, of Kids In Danger, rec-ommends that consumers demand proof in writing. “I would not buy a crib if the retailer can’t show you proof that it meets that mandatory standard,” Cowles said. “I would not take people’s word for it.”
While stores have known this day was coming for six months, some smaller retailers earlier this month asked federal regulators to give them more time to sell off their inventory of older cribs. In a 3 to 2 vote, the safety commission denied that request.
“I know we’ve saved a lot of lives doing this,” Cirigliano said of the new safety standard. “The thing I’m happy about is I’ll never know how many. That’s the greatest thing in the world not to know.”
Crib safetyContinued from page 18
�0 Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
Q: How do I know if the crib I’m buying meets the new tougher standards?
A: Ask if the crib meets “16 CFR 1219,” the law for full-size cribs, or “16 CFR 1220,” the law for those of nonstandard sizes. Don’t trust simple labels that say cribs meet or exceed federal standards, as older and recalled cribs carried those labels.
Manufacturers must provide to retailers a certificate that states when and where samples of their cribs were tested. Stores aren’t required to provide the certificates to shoppers, but federal regulators say anyone who wants proof should ask for them. Nancy Cowles, execu-
tive Director of Kids In Danger, recommends that parents ask for proof in writing, rather than relying on a salesperson’s assur-ances.
Q: I’m short and really wanted a drop-side crib. Now that it’s illegal to sell one, what should I do?
A: Manufacturers are making some models of fixed-side cribs where the top rail is lower to the ground, so you don’t have to break your back or be 6 feet tall to easily set down a sleep-ing baby. These are sometimes called “low profile” cribs.
Q: I’m an expectant parent and can’t afford a new crib. My neighbor is offering me her son’s crib. Why shouldn’t I take it?
A: Second-hand cribs can be deadly, especially if the assem-
bly directions or the original hardware is lost. Retailers are offering models for less than $100, and many of them con-
vert to toddler beds. There are ways to shave that amount from
Please see Q&A page 21
Crib safetyQ&A
Sunday, July 24, 2011 �1gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
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your nursery budget, such as by opting for a fitted crib sheet — often less than $10 — rather than a far more expensive bed-ding set that includes bumper pads and a quilt, both of which safety advocates say you should avoid anyway. You also don’t need a changing table. Some families find it easier to change a baby on the floor.
Q: Are cribs more expensive now?
A: The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association said it costs about 10 percent more for materials to make a crib under the new rules, but many stores are still offering afford-
able models.
Q: I have the crib my daugh-ter outgrew. It worked well for her. Should I use it for the baby I’m expecting or buy a new one?
A: Regulators recommend you buy a new one. The new rules are the toughest in the world and include tests that are far more stringent than those that your crib went through. Some of the deaths in cribs in recent years happened after parents took their cribs apart, stored them and rebuilt them for subsequent children. Some of those parents said the crib seemed fine until the moment it broke and killed their child.
Q: My baby is a toddler and will transition out of his crib in the coming months. I don’t want to buy a new crib. How
can I make sure the crib I’m using is safe?
A: Go to recalls.gov to make sure your model isn’t one of 11 million cribs that have been recalled in recent years. If you have a drop-side crib, check to see if your manufacturer will provide hardware that immobi-lizes that side. Every time you change your toddler’s crib sheet, tighten all screws and check that the sides and mattress plat-form have not separated in any place. Keep your eye out for gaps, which can be deadly. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has a helpful video with more safety tips at this site: cpsc.gov/info/cribs/cribs-qa.html.
Q: My crib was expensive, and I want to get some money for it. Why can’t I sell it?
A: Unless your crib meets the
new federal crib standard, which is unlikely unless you bought it in recent weeks, it’s illegal to sell it or even to donate it.
Q: I bought a crib two weeks ago and now realize it doesn’t meet the new rules. What can I do?
A: Unfortunately, retailers were allowed to sell off their old inventory until the new law went into effect last month. Check your store’s return pol-icy to see whether they’ll take it back.
Q: I want to throw out my old crib but am worried somebody may take it. What should I do?
A: Take your old crib apart and throw it out in pieces — one side one week, one side another week — so that nobody can rebuild it from the parts left on the curb or in the trash bin.
Q&AContinued from page 20
�� Sunday, July 24, 2011 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com
Advertorial provided byGainesville Eye Associates
More than 21 million people living in the United States have diabetes, and 6.2 million of them are undiagnosed, accord-ing to the American Optometric Association. In addition, an esti-mated 54 million Americans age 40-74 have pre-diabetes, a condition that puts them at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
For all of these people, regu-lar eye exams are extremely important. For those who have already been diagnosed with the disease, a yearly exam can keep diabetes-related eye dis-eases at bay. For those at risk, an eye exam, believe it or not, may be the first way diabetes is diagnosed.
“Diabetic retinopathy is often the first sign of diabetes and can be detected in a stan-dard dilated eye exam,” said Dr. Jack M. Chapman, a board-certified ophthalmologist with Gainesville Eye Associates. “The eye is the only place that blood vessels can be seen in their natural state, so eye exams can really tell a lot about your body and your health.”
An eye exam doesn’t take long and involves dilating both eyes. These exams can also find effects of high blood pressure, anemia and elevated blood cho-lesterol. And, yearly eye exams can detect glaucoma, which
diabetics are 40 percent more likely to develop, and cataracts, which diabetics are 60 percent more likely to develop.
Chapman and other Gaines-ville Eye Associates board-cer-tified ophthalmologists, Dr. Stephen J. Farkas, Dr. Clayton G. Blehm and Dr. Lori C. Lebow, have extensive experience in diagnosing and treating eye dis-eases including diabetic reti-nopathy, the most common eye issue associated with diabetes.
Diabetic retinopathy is dif-ferent in each person, so the Gainesville Eye Associates oph-thalmologists will spend time with each patient reviewing their medical history, lifestyle, and the degree of damage to the retina.
In many cases, no treatment is required. But sometimes, laser treatments may be recom-mended to halt further prog-ress of the two types of dia-
betic retinopathy – background retinopathy and proliferative retinopathy.
With background retinopa-thy, blood vessels have weak-ened and begin to leak, causing swelling and fluid collection in the retinal tissues. Depending on where the fluid collects, blind spots and blurred vision can occur and make activities such as reading and driving dif-ficult or impossible.
Proliferative retinopathy is the more advanced stage of diabetic retinopathy. A series of events causes the retina to detach, and severe loss of sight and even blindness may result. Surgery can save straight-ahead and color vision.
Both forms of retinopathy are treated with laser surgery, which can be performed in Gainesville Eye Associates’ state of the art office. The procedures take about 20 minutes, and
there’s no pain thanks to local anesthetic placed on the eye. After the procedure, patients will experience blurry vision for about a day, and sometimes they will see small spots in their visual field related to the laser treatment.
While surgery often slows or stops the progression of diabet-ic retinopathy, it is not a cure. Sixty percent of people who have had diabetes for more than 15 years show symptoms of retinal damage. High blood pressure and pregnancy both can worsen the condition.
The importance of an annual eye exam for diabetics cannot be stressed enough. Between 12,000 and 24,000 people lose their sight each year due to dia-betes complications, but most blindness can be prevented with a yearly exam to detect any issues and treat them as quickly as possible.
Gainesville Eye Associates has offices in Gainesville, Cornelia, Blairsville, Hiawassee, Clayton, Braselton and Hayesville, N.C. Its newest clinics are now open in Sylva, N.C., and Franklin N.C. To find out more about Gainesville Eye Associates, or to schedule an appointment, con-tact their office today at 770-532-4444. You can also learn more about the services offered by Gainesville Eye Associates by visiting its Web site at www.gainesvilleeye.com and follow-ing it on Facebook.
Yearly eye exams can keep diabetic-related eye problems in check
Our Newest Clinic:
With the most highly skilled surgeons utilizing the world’s leading technology, Gainesville Eye Associates is simply the right choice for the best visual outcome. As the rst microincisional surgeons in Gainesville and one of only a few in all of North Georgia, our physicians perform state-of-the-art procedures to help you achieve your best vision.
Gainesville Eye Associates is the largest ophthalmology practice in the area with over three decades of experience providing exceptionalpatient care. We offer the full spectrum of surgical, medical and optical eye care. Trust your vision to the experts.
• State-of-the-art cataract procedures
• Gainesville’s #1 multifocal implanters featuring the ReSTOR lens
• Utilizing the world’s leading products and technologies in every segment of cataract surgery
• Comprehensive eye exams
• Custom LASIK with iris recognition
• Vitreoretinal and oculoplastic medical and surgical consultations
• The rst microincisional surgeons in Gainesville; now featuring Ozil technology with Intelligent Phaco
• Diabetic eye care
• Glaucoma treatment
• Macular degeneration management
• Botox and cosmetic injectables
• Eyelid plastic surgery
Stephen J. Farkas, M.D. Jack M. Chapman Jr., M.D. Clayton G. Blehm, M.D. Lori C. Lebow, M.D. S. Michael Veach, O.D.
Sunday, July 24, 2011 ��gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |
Our Newest Clinic:
With the most highly skilled surgeons utilizing the world’s leading technology, Gainesville Eye Associates is simply the right choice for the best visual outcome. As the rst microincisional surgeons in Gainesville and one of only a few in all of North Georgia, our physicians perform state-of-the-art procedures to help you achieve your best vision.
Gainesville Eye Associates is the largest ophthalmology practice in the area with over three decades of experience providing exceptionalpatient care. We offer the full spectrum of surgical, medical and optical eye care. Trust your vision to the experts.
• State-of-the-art cataract procedures
• Gainesville’s #1 multifocal implanters featuring the ReSTOR lens
• Utilizing the world’s leading products and technologies in every segment of cataract surgery
• Comprehensive eye exams
• Custom LASIK with iris recognition
• Vitreoretinal and oculoplastic medical and surgical consultations
• The rst microincisional surgeons in Gainesville; now featuring Ozil technology with Intelligent Phaco
• Diabetic eye care
• Glaucoma treatment
• Macular degeneration management
• Botox and cosmetic injectables
• Eyelid plastic surgery
Stephen J. Farkas, M.D. Jack M. Chapman Jr., M.D. Clayton G. Blehm, M.D. Lori C. Lebow, M.D. S. Michael Veach, O.D.
