Massage face to retain freshness
Desh Raj Kaistha

MASSAGE is an important part of a beauty therapy. It is the answer for a dry, chapped and wrinkled skin. After the age of 35, it is necessary to regularly go for a massage because the skin starts losing its natural oils. Massage is a remedy for neglected skin. It increases blood circulation which helps the skin retain its freshness. It also tightens the tissues. A regular cream massage helps replenish the skin which is losing its natural oils.

Before massaging your face, it is necessary to remove all traces of make-up and dirt. Massage should be done with a light and feathery touch of the fingers. The movements of the fingers should be swift but light and firm. The directions of fingers should upward and outward, towards the temple. The massaging should be done slowly with fingers. Massage should be done for 20-25 minutes. For those under 20 years, 10 minutes is sufficient.

Before you start massaging, tie a head band and drape a towel below the shoulder. For dry skin, cold cream is preferred and for oily skin, it advised to use to use olive oil with a few drops of leon juice.

Different movements are employed for massaging: stroking, kneading, pinching, tapping, piano, cross-finger, circular, friction and pressing.

Stroking: Massage the cream on the face with fingers with the stroking motion. It makes the skin soft.

Kneading: While massaging the cheeks and chin, the motion is applied with a closed fist, similar to the motion used for dough making.

Pinching: With the help of fingers and the thumb, pinch the chin and cheeks, moving from bottom upward, towards the temple.

Tapping: Massage the skin with tapping movements with your fingers which should be firm and swift. Tapping movements help reduce double chin and tighten the flagging skin.

Circular: This type of movement is used for massaging areas around the lips, nose and eyes. This is done with finger tips. This type of movements help to remove wrinkles.

Cross-finger. Interlock fingers of both hands and press them on the chin, moving them slowly and firmly upward towards the temple. This type of movement helps reduce the double chin.

Massaging should be done continuously, without any time gap. After massaging, steam your face. It expands the pores of the face, bringing out the dirt accumulated. Thus, it freshens up the skin. If there are any blackheads, remove them with the blackhead remover. Then wipe the face with a towel or tissue paper and apply face mask.

There are different types of face masks for different skins:

Oily skin: Take a half ripe pear. Mash and seive it. Apply it to the face, avoiding the eyes. Leave it on for 15 minutes and then rinse off.

Sluggish skin: Take 1 tablespoon of finely ground orange peel, 1 tablespoon of finely grounded oatmeat and 1 tablespoon of ground almonds. Mix the ingredients and use 1/2 tablespoon of the product at a time while washing your face. Its slightly abrasive texture helps to slough off dead cells and gives the skin a renewed vitality.

Sun dried skin: Take 1 slice melon and 1 tablespoon of liquid honey. Mash and sieve the melon. Mix it with honey. Apply to face, avoiding the eyes. Leave it on for 20-to-30 minutes and rinse off. Your skin will feel wonderfully smooth and taut.

After applying the face mask, leave it on till it is dry and then wash it off with warm water. Dab your face with a clean towel and put cotton wads soaked in rose water or two thin slices of cucumber so as to cover yours eyes and relax. Sandalwood paste can be applied without massaging and steaming your face.

The facial should be done twice a month or more, depending on the skin condition. Flaws in your face need not dishearten you. Try these remedies to bring back the charm.

Avoid a Vajpayee knee: exercise & diet

REGULAR exercise of the knees and a healthy lifestyle to maintain the ideal body weight can save a patient from undergoing the expensive joint replacement operation for osteoarthritis of the knee, says a senior orthopaedic surgeon and joint replacement specialist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi.

Talking to UNI, Dr Subhash Shalya, trained by New York-based surgeon Chitranjan Ranawat, who performed knee replacement surgeries on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, claimed that out of 1,000 patients of osteoarthritis, only one needs joint replacement. The rest can be treated with the help of oral medicines, intra-articular injection, minor day care surgeries and by healthy lifestyle changes. Joint replacement is required only when it is totally damaged.

The knee joint is the largest joint in the body. It is formed by the union of three bones — thigh bone (femur), leg bone (tibia) and front bone (patella). Bone ends are covered by a shock absorbing soft cushion called cartilage.

With age, wear and tear starts in the cartilage and bone ends become denuded. As a result, friction starts in between exposed bones, causing pain.

The other factor is that with aging, the synovial membrane (the lining of joint) thickens and it secretes less synovial fluid which results in the increased friction of bones, leading to a pain during movement of the joint.

Dr Shalya says that being overweight is the one of the main factors that damages cartilage. Fast food, fried food, smoking, alcohol, excessive use of tea, coffee, drug addiction, sleeplessness, mental tension and environmental pollution also contribute to the damage of the knee joint.

Elaborating how overweight becomes a factor for the damage of knee cartilage, Dr Shalya says 1 kg extra body weight imparts a 10 kg extra load on the knee cartilage. So, if the patient is obese by 20 kg, then the knees will be pressurised by 200 kg, which will not allow the cartilage to regenerate itself, hence pain in the knee.

Regular specific exercises of the knee which are known as "weight relieving quadriceps drills" increase the blood supply to cartilage, synovial membrane and joint structure and make the weakened thigh muscles strong.

Similarly, the correlation of old age and osteoarthritis is due to the formation of free radicals in all cellular activities in the body. Modern lifestyle, including fast food, addiction to smoking and liquor and mental tension, enhance the process of formation of free radicals.

As motor vehicles emit smokes, in human body free radicals are formed, which weaken the body and lead to aging. In the young age, these free radicals are destroyed by antioxidants of body. The amount of antioxidants in the body gradually decreases with aging.

While these antioxidants are also available in the form of tablets and capsules, he recommends intake of more fresh fruits, green vegetables and balanced vegetarian diet to increase antioxidants in the body.

Certain norms help prevent the joint from damage. They include sitting without bending knees, avoiding the squatting posture, avoiding the use of the Indian toilet, use of a stick in the opposite hand of the aching knee joint, support of railing during climbing upstairs, and soft pad insole of shoes.

Besides, regular physical exercise, avoidance of tea, coffee, smoking, yoga and meditation also increase production of antioxidants by the body itself.

Dr Shalya also suggests that knee should not be bent beyond the 90° angle because this creates more damaging pressure on the cartilage of knees.

Treatment is available to increase the synovial fluid by the "viscosupplementation" technique. A synthetic substitute of the fluid called sodium hyaluronate is injected into the damaged joint to make it lubricated. These injections are given once a week for three consecutive weeks. But before doing this, proper cleaning and washing of the joint is necessary by arthroscopy, in which old torn pieces of cartilage, osteophytes, damaged inflamed synovial membranes and useless lubricationless synovial fluid are removed. The whole process is known as arthroscopic debridgement of knee joint.

As chondrotin plays an important role in the formation of joint cartilage, regular use of medicines like "chondro protectives and chondro regeneratives" which are available in tablets and capsule forms repair the damaged cartilage in three months "if the body weight of patients is normal."

If the knee is bent and legs bowed, then it has to be corrected by a small operation called high tibial osteotomy and by this straight line alignment of all joints — hip, knee and ankle, of the lower limb is achieve. The operation needs two days of hospitalisation. After this operation, knee joint replacement is not needed for the next 10 to 15 years, provided the patient maintains normal body weight and does not sit cross-legged and sits without bending the knee more than 90°." UNI