The always reliable Wired.com news site has investigated a Web site that sells Dysport over the net and without a prescription. The report is a fascinating insight into what we all suspect is going on but most don't really want to admit... DIY Botox: Site Offers Injectable Drug Without Prescription — With How-To Video (hat tip Dr Marcus):

Discountmedspa.com sells a variety of other DIY cosmetic treatments, including prescription Renova, and lip-filling gels. The botulinum toxin-derivative for sale on the site is Dysport, which is produced by the pharmaceutical company Ipsen and is a competitor of Allergan’s Botox. The site simply calls it “the Freeze.”

These sites are brazenly circumventing regulations that protect consumers from bad or fake drugs and ensure that the chemicals are used correctly. The laws were designed precisely to prevent Americans with little to no medical training from doing things like buying a form of toxin, mixing it with saline, and injecting it into their faces. Yet, precisely that appears to be possible with the help of discountmedspa.com.

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The recent Miss Plastic Surgery pageant -- which was held in Budapest, Hungary on October 9, 2009 -- may represent either the ne plus ultra of plastic surgery-related events, or some kind of new high in marketing chutzpah. I've concluded that the event was born out of Hungary's need to attract medical tourists, namely the well-to-do Americans and Europeans who perceive a good value in traveling overseas to get a tummy tuck, facelift, etc. -- as opposed to any higher ideals of beauty or a strong need to celebrate the results of plastic surgery procedures.

Well, there was a winner in this contest, and the media is all abuzz with accolades and put downs. I question the validity of serious news coverage in this case. The majority of reports are offered with a straight face, whereas the whole affair was instead a marketing coup for Hungary. I mean, whom among you has dreamed of taking a spa vacation retreat to beautiful Budapest?

The Hungarians took the event 100% seriously. The pageant's jury required that "the winner should be an example for all too natural Hungarian women." This is no joke, says a German-language daily that covered the event. According to the event organizers, the candidates were to present a "perfect harmony of body and soul" at the show. To be sure, the contestants' intellectual qualities were not part of the competition. Nearly all of the 18 applicants to the plastic title were endowed with silicone breasts and/or new noses.  One of them presented surgically souped-up toes. 

The winner of the pageant, 22-year-old Reka Urban, apparently has had a boob job; in fact, the most popular procedure among most of the contestants was (you guessed it) breast augmentation. The winner's prize, an apartment in Budapest to live in, reflects a rather pragmatic side of this weird contest.

It is worth a peek at the (very limited) number of photographs that the media have published on this event. Judging by what I've seen, the pageant looks like it was a hoot in the vein of The Three Stooges -- check out the shot of contestants caught in what looks like a a bizarrely staged "comic relief" moment.

When I look at the impeccably coiffed but routinely runway model-ish Urban seated on a wire mesh throne and holding what looks like a giant flowering hogweed scepter thingie, I realize the Miss Plastic Surgery pageant is one of the more classless insults to the whole industry. 

The September 2009 issue of Nature Genetics carried an interresting research story coming out of Asia -- a scientist at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) has discovered a new direction for the creation of anti-wrinkle treatments:

Scientists in Singapore and Germany report that mutations in the PYCR1 gene cause the rare genetic condition that results in premature skin aging and that is known as "wrinkly skin syndrome."

Their findings not only suggest that increasing levels of the PYCR1 protein could reverse conditions that cause fast aging and wrinkly skin but also provide insight into how some unexpected genes help maintain youthful skin.

Bruno Reversade, Ph.D. of Singapore's Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) led the international research team that involved collaborations with over 15 hospitals and research centres in 13 countries.

Using bioinformatics tools, Dr. Reversade and his team analyzed DNA samples collected worldwide from patients who, at a young age, displayed signs of premature aging. They identified the PYCR1 gene on chromosome 17 of these patients to be defective and found specific mutations in the gene that led to conditions often seen in elderly people, such as loose skin, loss of bone density, hip dislocation and cataract.

They also determined that skin and bone were the two tissues most severely affected in patients with wrinkly skin syndrome. Since skin and bone contain high levels of the PYCR1 protein under normal circumstances, developing therapies that could increase the activity of the PYCR1 protein could possibly reverse the process of aging in affected individuals or slow it down in normal people.

The scientists found that the PYCR1 protein is located in mitochondria, the cell's "power house," providing energy for the cell's consumption. In their experiments, they observed changes in mitochondrial morphology and cell death in the connective tissues of individuals with PYCR1 mutations.

To determine the effects of reduced levels of PYCR1 protein, the scientists studied the growth of frog and fish models in which the PYCR1 gene had been experimentally shut off. They found that the mitochondrial function in the animal models' skin was altered, and there was also an increased occurrence of cell death.

"Our findings confirm the significance of mitochondrial function in the aging process," said Dr. Reversade. "They also unexpectedly highlight the importance of metabolism as PYCR1 is important in the synthesis of proline, a common amino acid involved in metabolism. Age-defying and anti-wrinkling treatments for common disorders related to ageing may also benefit from sustaining proline metabolism."

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