Improving Senior Citizen’s Quality of Life                             

                When I taught adult Medical/Surgical Nursing, one of the course components addressed geriatric nursing.  The initial focus was on normal aging and active seniors.   In every class, students appeared shocked that adults over the age of 40 still cared about their physical appearance,  wanted to wear swim suits, and even mores surprisingly that they still wanted to have normal sex lives.   One of the areas that I stressed throughout the course was maintaining Quality of Life for the senior population.    Preventive modalities, treatment aids, management of pain control and rehabilitation were emphasized.  Although retaining self esteem was   addressed, I tended to spend little time on hair loss and wrinkles, as there was little to suggest except wigs, hats, topical moisturizers and plastic surgery for a small percentage of seniors.  

Step forward to 2011.  What a different world, filled with so many more viable options to assist our seniors .   Advances in medicine and dentistry have allowed seniors to live longer and remain active longer.  Many seniors now have careers and/or are active volunteers.   However improvement in appearance for seniors has lagged behind the advances in medicine.  The emphasis still being on beauty in youth, I think at least partially due to the still common misconception that senior citizens don’t care about their appearance.   Sad and untrue.   Improving Quality of Life is especially important during the aging process to maintain self esteem.  Now we have more tools to aid us.  

What is especially interesting are the new stem cell therapy based products which improve the appearance of the skin by stimulating the body’s own cells, producing smoother, healthier appearing skin.  These products are also addressing hair loss in women, as well as men.   Although lack of sex drive in seniors is a misconception, aging may cause more difficulty achieving satisfying sexual activity due to a  decrease in moisture of the vagina as the cells become less active.  Again,  scientists are addressing this issue with stem cell therapy products which stimulate the cells to secrete moisture instead of a gel or lubricant which is temporary and does not address the loss of cell activity producing the problem.  These are just a few of the exciting new advances which address problems which affect our aging population and can improve and extend our Quality of Life.  If you would like to find out more about stem cell based products, go to www.bioRegenerativeSciences.com.    Keep checking back for more on these new advances.      Rita Friedman, RN, PhD., JD., Scientific Advisory Board, BioRegenerative Sciences.  

               

New Cutting Edge Product for Dry Eye Syndrome!

As a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of BioRegenerative Sciences (BRS), I have the opportunity to try new products and weigh in on their value, or lack of value to the community.  Although exciting, my background in medical research causes me to demand “proof” of efficacy of a product before I recommend it.  Additionally, I have an ethical responsibility to be forthright about the products, good, bad or indifferent.

                Today, I’m excited to share exciting news about a new product, “I-Ease”, for Dry Eye Syndrome.  As I don’t have eye dryness other than that caused from overuse  of contact lens, I did not believe that the product would produce any noticeable changes, but I proceeded to use one drop twice a day, as recommended.  The drops were installed into my eyes about 15 minutes before I put my contacts in.  The first observation of the product was that the drops were a clear liquid, no burning or stinging or any other noticeable difference.  Within 72 hours, I noticed my contacts were more comfortable at the end of a long day in the wind and sun.  After about a week of using the drops, I was waking up with dried secretions on my eyelashes and cut back usage to one drop in the morning.  The heavy secretions disappeared and I was just left with more comfort with my hard contact lens.  According to BRS co-founder Dr. Greg Maguire, the I-Ease doesn’t act as a lubricant, but instead stimulates my own underproductive cells to produce- and produce they did!

                Despite the response I experienced, the cautious researcher side of me still wanted more proof, from people who are not affiliated with the product or BRS in any way, so I sought out people with Dry Eye Syndrome.  I gave samples to several people with varying degrees of complaints.  Some of which have tried prescription products, over the counter drops and eye plugs without relief.  The spontaneous feedback received is very exciting.  Decrease in symptoms occurred within 24 hours in some users.  Ater several days of use, two users with severe symptoms, unresponsive to other therapies and drops, experienced a marked decrease in their symptoms.  One of the users had chronically red, irritated eyes every day and the redness has now almost disappeared and the irritation significantly improved after one week of use.  My veterinarian, who had prior Lasik surgery, has experienced significant relief of symptoms and is now trying the veterinarian formula on some of her Canine patients with Dry Eye Syndrome that have been unresponsive to other treatments (more on that in a later post).

                Yes, I am very excited about this new cutting edge product and the results that I have personally experienced and observed.  If you have questions or want to purchase this product, feel free to drop me a line at: prfrotts@gmail.com  .  It’s never too early to feel better!