The Center for Aesthetic Medicine and Surgery, a comprehensive, multispecialty center, is now open at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. This center offers a wide range of aesthetic face and body treatments, cosmetic surgical procedures, and cosmetic nonsurgical procedures.

“Mayo Clinic has assembled a world-class team of professionals versed in the latest techniques and technologies,” says Colin Driscoll, M.D., the center’s medical director. “We are here to ensure each patient receives the highest-quality care while achieving their desired results.”

Procedures offered

Procedures offered at the center include:

• Aesthetic body, face, neck and eyelid surgery.
• Breast reduction or augmentation.
• CoolSculpting.
• Injections and fillers.
• Laser hair removal.
• Laser skin resurfacing, including tattoo removal.
• Rhinoplasty.
• Tummy tucks.
• Varicose vein treatments.

"Sometimes our work reduces pain or repairs physical deformity. Other times, it's simply about enhancing joy and personal well-being," says Dr. Driscoll. "Regardless, our team of specialists is dedicated to helping you age gracefully and live well so that you feel confident and look your best."

The center is a collaboration between the Division of Plastic Surgery and departments of Otolaryngology, Dermatology, Ophthalmology and Vascular Medicine, integrating these areas of expertise into a single service area in a centralized location.

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A regenerative refresh to cosmetic procedures

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There are more than 600 types of neurologic and neuromuscular diseases that can affect your nervous system. The nervous system includes the brain, spinal cord and nerves that control all the workings of the body. When something goes wrong with a part of your nervous system, you can have trouble moving, speaking, swallowing or breathing. Other problems can develop with your memory, senses or mood. Two such diseases are muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis (MS).

Muscular dystrophy is a group of diseases that cause progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass. In muscular dystrophy, abnormal genes (mutations) interfere with the production of proteins needed to form healthy muscle.

In MS, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body. Eventually, the disease can cause nerves to deteriorate or become permanently damaged.

On the Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Jennifer Martinez-Thompson, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, discusses treatment options for muscular dystrophy and MS. Also on the program, Dr. Erica Loomis, a Mayo Clinic trauma and critical care surgeon, explains what causes intestinal obstruction and how it's treated. And Dr. Colin Driscoll, a Mayo Clinic otolaryngologist, tells us about the health consequences of untreated hearing loss.

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"We've always thought of hearing loss as just 'Ah, it's one of those things that happens as we get older,'" says Dr. Driscoll.

But he says hearing loss can start a cascade of health issues, including making symptoms of dementia worse.

"If you have hearing loss, now you're devoting more and more of your cognitive ability to trying to understand what's being said. My brain is working overtime to sort the words out and understand the sentences. So if I'm peeling away a whole bunch of my energy to apply it to the simple task of listening and understanding speech, it's not available then for my other activities. It's not causing Alzheimer's disease or a structural dementia in that way, but it's leading to a change in your cognitive ability," says Dr. Driscoll.

Most hearing loss can be improved with hearing aids or cochlear implants. 

"There's evidence that improving hearing will improve cognition, and there might be even more significant connections there. We know improving hearing decreases the risk of social isolation, depression — which we know are connected with falls, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease," says Dr. Driscoll.

A simple hearing test followed by proper interventions can improve your quality of life and your health. 

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"Kids are supposed to start babbling. They babble from the beginning. They should continue to babble, and then they should start developing some words. And, so, if they're not doing those things, then we should test the hearing," says Dr. Driscoll. 

Some of the other things you might notice if your child has hearing loss include:

• Not responding to your voice
• Not responding to softer sounds
• Not reaching normal speech and language milestones

Dr. Driscoll says that most cases of hearing loss in young kids are caused by ear infections.

"Treatable, reversible in the vast majority of cases," says Dr. Driscoll.

But some kids may have hearing loss that requires interventions such as hearing aids or cochlear implants.

"If you have any concern whatsoever, get a hearing test. It's painless. They're readily available. Do the testing," says Dr. Driscoll.

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The world we live in can be loud."There are a lot of common activities we engage in that provide sustained, damaging noise exposure: leaf blowers, lots of power tools, lawn mowers," says Dr. Driscoll.

He says hair dryers, vacuum cleaners — even pounding a nail — can produce sounds that can damage your hearing. 

"There are OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) guidelines for occupational safety and health guidelines that start to kick in at 85 decibels," says Dr. Driscoll.

Sudden loud noises or sustained loud noises can damage the tiny hairs in your inner ear that are essential to hearing. 

"They don't regenerate. So you want to hang on to every little hair cell in the inner ear you can," says Dr. Driscoll.

Dr. Driscoll says wear earplugs or noise-canceling headphones. And he adds that you should never double the damage by wearing headphones to listen to music and turning up the music so you can hear it over the lawn mower.

Be nice to your ears. They're the only ones you have.

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DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My father is 80. He recently started having trouble with his hearing, but he doesn’t think he needs to have it checked. He says that it’s just part of being old. But I’m worried about the impact not being able to hear is having on him. He struggles to take part in conversation, and he seems withdrawn. Would a hearing evaluation be a good idea?

ANSWER: Yes, your father should have his hearing checked. Although hearing loss is common as people age, it’s important to confirm the underlying cause. Often, there are steps that can be taken to improve hearing, no matter a person’s age. Correcting hearing loss can help keep older adults active and engaged in their daily lives. It also can decrease the risk of developing other health conditions.

Hearing loss is a widespread problem. About 36 million Americans have some level of hearing loss, and it becomes more prevalent as people get older. Approximately one-third of Americans 65–74 have hearing loss. That number increases to half in adults over 75.

Although effective treatments are available to help improve hearing loss, only about 20% of people who could benefit from treatment actually seek help. This lack of treatment often significantly affects the social, physical and cognitive health of older adults.

As in your father’s case, having difficulty in social situations and withdrawing from interactions with others are common consequences of hearing loss. That can spiral into other problems. When a person doesn’t have meaningful social interactions, it increases the risk of depression. And it can negatively affect eating and sleeping habits. In some people, it also may increase the risk of alcoholism or other forms of chemical dependency.

Hearing loss can take a physical toll, too. When difficulty hearing keeps a person home more often, they may be less engaged in physical activity and become more sedentary. That reduction in physical activity can trigger weight gain, decrease in muscle tone, and a loss of balance that can increase the risk of falls. Some research indicates untreated hearing loss may lead to a higher risk of cognitive problems, including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Although most people think of hearing aids when they consider treatment for hearing loss, various treatment options are available. Depending on the underlying cause of the hearing problem, treatment may include surgery, a cochlear implant, hearing aids, assistive listening devices or a combination of those therapies.

Determining the right treatment starts with a comprehensive evaluation to pinpoint the reason for hearing loss. Although age-related loss is common, other factors may contribute to decreased hearing, too. For example, earwax buildup often contributes to hearing difficulty, and wax usually can easily be removed by a health care provider.

If your father needs a hearing aid, it may be comforting for him to know that hearing aid technology has advanced dramatically over recent decades. Hearing aids now are better able to recognize and automatically adjust for different listening environments, and they are highly customizable. Contemporary hearing aids also communicate easily with phones and other devices, such as TVs and microphones, making listening to those devices much easier.

Encourage your father to have his hearing evaluated. Getting treatment for hearing loss likely will improve his physical, mental and emotional well-being, as well as decrease the risk of other health concerns that can develop due to untreated hearing loss. — Dr. Colin Driscoll, Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

****************************

Related Articles

• Mayo Clinic Minute: Can you slow down age-related hearing loss? published 3/1/19
• Mayo Clinic Minute: What is hearing loss? published 12/25/18
• Mayo Clinic Radio: Tinnitus and age-related hearing loss published 12/20/18
• Sharing Mayo Clinic: Hearing loss spurs doctor to pay it forward published 3/26/17
• Mayo Clinic Q and A: Hearing loss and how hearing aids may help published 12/17/16
• Mayo Clinic Q and A: Hearing loss — when to see your physician and why published 12/10/16
• Mayo Clinic Radio: Hearing loss prevention and treatment published 10/13/16

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If hearing aids don't work for you, cochlear implants might.

"One of the more exciting things that's been developed in the last number of years is surrounding the concept of preserving the hearing that people currently have," says Dr. Driscoll.

He says some people who choose cochlear implants do have some level of hearing. It's just not good. Before the new technology was available, any residual hearing was lost during surgery to implant the device.

"The idea now is, can we preserve that functional, mildly useful hearing and then augment it with the cochlear implant," says Dr. Driscoll.

The new technology allows Dr. Driscoll and his team to monitor hearing levels during surgery to make sure implantation does not disrupt existing hearing. It allows patients to …

"… get the best of both worlds," says Dr. Driscoll. "Hang on to what you have and then augment what you don't have."

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There are more than 600 types of neurologic and neuromuscular diseases that can affect your nervous system. Two such diseases are muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis (MS). On the Mayo Clinic Radio podcast, Dr. Jennifer Martinez-Thompson, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, discusses treatment options for muscular dystrophy and MS. Also on the podcast, Dr. Erica Loomis, a Mayo Clinic trauma and critical care surgeon, explains what causes intestinal obstruction and how it's treated. And Dr. Colin Driscoll, a Mayo Clinic otolaryngologist, explains the health consequences of untreated hearing loss.

The post #MayoClinicRadio podcast: 3/16/19 appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

On the next Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Jennifer Martinez-Thompson, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, will discuss treatment options for muscular dystrophy and MS. Also on the program, Dr. Erica Loomis, a Mayo Clinic trauma and critical care surgeon, will explain what causes intestinal obstruction and how it's treated. And Dr. Colin Driscoll, a Mayo Clinic otolaryngologist, will explain the health consequences of untreated hearing loss.

Here's your Mayo Clinic Radio Health Minute.

The post Neuromuscular diseases / intestinal obstruction / health consequences of hearing loss: Mayo Clinic Radio appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

There are more than 600 types of neurologic and neuromuscular diseases that can affect your nervous system. The nervous system includes the brain, spinal cord and nerves that control all the workings of the body. When something goes wrong with a part of your nervous system, you can have trouble moving, speaking, swallowing or breathing. Other problems can develop with your memory, senses or mood. Two such diseases are muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis (MS).

Muscular dystrophy is a group of diseases that cause progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass. In muscular dystrophy, abnormal genes (mutations) interfere with the production of proteins needed to form healthy muscle.

In MS, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body. Eventually, the disease can cause nerves to deteriorate or become permanently damaged.

On the next Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Jennifer Martinez-Thompson, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, will discuss treatment options for muscular dystrophy and MS. Also on the program, Dr. Erica Loomis, a Mayo Clinic trauma and critical care surgeon, will explain what causes intestinal obstruction and how it's treated. And Dr. Colin Driscoll, a Mayo Clinic otolaryngologist, will explain the health consequences of untreated hearing loss.

To hear the program, find an affiliate in your area.

Use the hashtag #MayoClinicRadio, and tweet your questions.

Mayo Clinic Radio is on iHeartRadio.

Access archived shows or subscribe to the podcast.

Mayo Clinic Radio produces a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

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