This is posted as a "heads up" for all of my fans out there. I don't know anything about this and post it only for your benefit "if" if fits you in any way..

God Bless all of you.
Anti-aging clinics arrive in San Luis Obispo
By Sarah Arnquist
sarnquist@thetribunenews.com
Tribune photo by David Middlecamp
Dr. Phillip Borgardt gives Nora Reynoso a mesotherapy facial treatment at his SLO Aging Institute. The treatment injects vitamins into the skin of the patient.
More information about two local doctors practicing anti-aging medicine
Spurred by the popularity of anti-aging clinics in larger cities, two physicians have opened such practices in San Luis Obispo, offering therapies they say reverse the effects of aging and keep people feeling younger, longer.
With 81,000 residents between 45 and 75 — one-third of the population — San Luis Obispo County is fertile ground for anti- aging centers, which usually target wealthier clients.
Dr. Peter Muran moved his Longevity Healthcare Center from Orange County to San Luis Obispo in 2005. Dr. Philip Borgardt closed his internal medicine practice earlier this year and opened the SLO Aging Institute in August. Neither doctor accepts health insurance.
Anti-aging medicine combines diet, exercise, supplements, hormone replacement therapy and cosmetic procedures in attempts to keep people feeling young. While some of these services can be found through other doctors, Muran and Borgardt say their integrated approaches, plus hormone therapy that many doctors don’t provide, can turn back the clock.
"We’ve almost doubled the life expectancy in the last 100 years, and now the question is about quality of life," Borgardt said.
Booming business
The American Medical Association has not taken a position on anti-aging medicine, but critics are surfacing nearly as fast as the practice is growing. The critics warn that no products or therapies have proved to slow or reverse aging and some may be harmful.
In 2002, 51 scientists published a paper in Scientific American magazine denouncing anti-aging medicine’s claims to turn back the clock.
"Our language on this matter must be unambiguous," the scientists wrote. "There are no lifestyle changes, surgical procedures, vitamins, antioxidants, hormones or techniques of genetic engineering available today that have been demonstrated to influence the processes of aging."
The warnings, though, are not stopping Americans from spending their money.
Last year, Americans spent $44.6 billion on anti-aging products, including plastic surgery, cosmetic procedures such as Botox injections and "cosmeceuticals" such as creams with touted anti-aging benefits, according to Business Communications Co. The market research firm expects the market to increase to $72 billion by 2009 as many of the nation’s 78 million baby boomers resist old age.
Anti-aging practitioners are capitalizing on a growing segment of older Americans with disposable income, said Freddi Segal-Gidan, a board member of the California Geriatrics Society and a professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Gerontology.
"In (today’s) society we don’t really respect and revere aging the way other generations have, and I view this as buying into that," Segal-
Gidan said.
Controversial hormone therapy
Besides philosophical differences, some geriatric specialists warn that anti-aging products are poorly regulated and that therapies, especially prescribing human growth hormone, may be harmful.
Anti-aging practitioners defend their use of human growth hormone by pointing to research that shows it builds muscle, thickens skin and reverses signs of aging in older people.
"It is possible to roll back 10 to 15 years in the way someone feels," Borgardt said.
But research also shows that human growth hormone has potentially harmful side effects, and many doctors caution against using it.
Borgardt acknowledges the controversy. He said he prescribes human growth hormone only for patients with proven deficiencies.
Muran and Borgardt are board diplomats of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, a Chicago-based nonprofit with 11,500 members that promotes anti-aging medicine.
The California Medical Board, the state’s physician regulatory agency, does not recognize board certification for anti-aging medicine like it does for other specialties such as geriatrics or endocrinology.
People cannot expect a magic pill to make them live longer or solve their health woes, Borgardt and Muran said. Exercise, diet and other lifestyle choices, such as smoking and drinking, are the greatest determinants of good health and longevity, but many people need hormone replacement therapy to maximize their health, they said.
Not all their patients are older, either. Borgardt said his youngest patient receiving anti-aging remedies is 38. And they are willing to pay for the services he provides.
Nora Reynoso, 44, paid $1,200 for three mesotherapy facial treatments at Borgardt’s office. Mesotherapy injects vitamins and antioxidants into the face to tighten it.
After the 45-minute treatment she received during her lunch break, Reynoso patted her cheeks and said she could feel the difference in firmness. She and her friends are willing to pay to look and feel young, she said.
"I think it’s important to stay young looking," Reynoso said.
Based on his patient satisfaction, Borgardt predicts that in five years anti-aging medicine will be considered mainstream. Muran agreed.
"People are going to demand that extra youth or longevity in their life," Muran said.