Topping Up Testosterone?

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The Testosterone Drop

Testosterone levels decline amongst men over a certain age. Exactly when depends on the individual and also how we measure it, but the age of 45 is a commonly-given waypoint for the start of this decline.

(the actual start is usually more like 20, but it’s a very small decline then, and speeds up a couple of decades later)

This has been called “the male menopause”, or “the andropause”.

Both terms are a little misleading, but for lack of a better term, “andropause” is perhaps not terrible.

Why “the male menopause” is misleading:

To call it “the male menopause” suggests that this is when men’s menstruation stops. Which for cis men at the very least, is simply not a thing they ever had in the first place, to stop (and for trans men it’s complicated, depending on age, hormones, surgeries, etc).

Why “the andropause” is misleading:

It’s not a pause, and unlike the menopause, it’s not even a stop. It’s just a decline. It’s more of an andro-pitter-patter-puttering-petering-out.

Is there a better clinical term?

Objectively, there is “late-onset hypogonadism” but that is unlikely to be taken up for cultural reasons—people stigmatize what they see as a loss of virility.

Terms aside, what are the symptoms?

❝Andropause or late-onset hypogonadism is a common disorder which increases in prevalence with advancing age. Diagnosis of late-onset of hypogonadism is based on presence of symptoms suggestive of testosterone deficiency – prominent among them are sexual symptoms like…❞

(Read more)

…and there we’d like to continue the quotation, but if we list the symptoms here, it won’t get past a lot of filters because of the words used. So instead, please feel free to click through:

Source: Andropause: Current concepts

Can it be safely ignored?

If you don’t mind the sexual symptoms, then mostly, yes!

However, there are a few symptoms we can mention here that are not so subjective in their potential for harm:

  • Depression
  • Loss of muscle mass
  • Increased body fat

Depression kills, so this does need to be taken seriously. See also:

The Mental Health First-Aid That You’ll Hopefully Never Need

(the above is a guide to managing depression, in yourself or a loved one)

Loss of muscle mass means being less robust against knocks and falls later in life

Loss of muscle mass also means weaker bones (because the body won’t make bones stronger than it thinks they need to be, so bone will follow muscle in this regard—in either direction)

See also:

Increased body fat means increased risk of diabetes and heart disease, as a general rule of thumb, amongst other problems.

Will testosterone therapy help?

That’s something to discuss with your endocrinologist, but for most men whose testosterone levels are lower than is ideal for them, then yes, taking testosterone to bring them [back] to “normal” levels can make you happier and healthier (though it’s certainly not a cure-all).

See for example:

Testosterone Therapy Improves […] and […] in Hypogonadal Men

(Sorry, we’re not trying to be clickbaity, there are just some words we can’t use without encountering software problems)

Here’s a more comprehensive study that looked at 790 men aged 65 or older, with testosterone levels below a certain level. It looked at the things we can’t mention here, as well as physical function and general vitality:

❝The increase in testosterone levels was associated with significantly increased […] activity, as assessed by the Psychosexual Daily Questionnaire (P<0.001), as well as significantly increased […] desire and […] function.

The percentage of men who had an increase of at least 50 m in the 6-minute walking distance did not differ significantly between the two study groups in the Physical Function Trial but did differ significantly when men in all three trials were included (20.5% of men who received testosterone vs. 12.6% of men who received placebo, P=0.003).

Testosterone had no significant benefit with respect to vitality, as assessed by the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy–Fatigue scale, but men who received testosterone reported slightly better mood and lower severity of depressive symptoms than those who received placebo❞

Source: Effects of Testosterone Treatment in Older Men

We strongly recommend, by the way, when a topic is of interest to you to read the paper itself, because even the extract above contains some subjectivity, for example what is “slightly better”, and what is “no significant benefit”.

That “slightly better mood and lower severity of depressive symptoms”, for example, has a P value of 0.004 in their data, which is an order of magnitude more significant than the usual baseline for significance (P<0.05).

And furthermore, that “no significant benefit with respect to vitality” is only looking at either the primary outcome aggregated goal or the secondary FACIT score whose secondary outcome had a P value of 0.06, which just missed the cut-off for significance, and neglects to mention that all the other secondary outcome metrics for men involved in the vitality trial were very significant (ranging from P=0.04 to P=0.001)

Click here to see the results table for the vitality trial

Will it turn me into a musclebound angry ragey ‘roidmonster?

Were you that kind of person before your testosterone levels declined? If not, then no.

Testosterone therapy seeks only to return your testosterone levels to where they were, and this is done through careful monitoring and adjustment. It’d take a lot more than (responsible) endocrinologist-guided hormonal therapy to turn you into Marvel’s “Wolverine”.

Is testosterone therapy safe?

A question to take to your endocrinologist because everyone’s physiology is different, but a lot of studies do support its general safety for most people who are prescribed it.

As with anything, there are risks to be aware of, though. Perhaps the most critical risk is prostate cancer, and…

❝In a large meta-analysis of 18 prospective studies that included over 3500 men, there was no association between serum androgen levels and the risk of prostate cancer development

For men with untreated prostate cancer on active surveillance, TRT remains controversial. However, several studies have shown that TRT is not associated with progression of prostate cancer as evidenced by either PSA progression or gleason grade upstaging on repeat biopsy.

Men on TRT should have frequent PSA monitoring; any major change in PSA (>1 ng/mL) within the first 3-6 months may reflect the presence of a pre-existing cancer and warrants cessation of therapy❞

Those are some select extracts, but any of this may apply to you or your loved one, we recommend to read in full about this and other risks:

Risks of testosterone replacement therapy in men

See also: Prostate Health: What You Should Know

Beyond that… If you are prone to baldness, then taking testosterone will increase that tendency. If that’s a problem for you, then it’s something to know about. There are other things you can take/use for that in turn, so maybe we’ll do a feature on those one of these days!

For now, take care!

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  • Dial Down Your Pain

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    This is Dr. Christiane Wolf. Is than an MD or a PhD, you ask? The answer is: yes (it is both; the latter being in psychosomatic medicine).

    She also teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, which as you may recall is pretty much the most well-evidenced* form of meditation there is, in terms of benefits:

    No-Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness

    *which is not to claim it is necessarily the best (although it also could be); rather, this means that it is the form of meditation that’s accumulated the most scientific backing in total. If another equal or better form of meditation enjoyed less scientific scrutiny, then there could an alternative out there languishing with only two and a half scientific papers to its name. However, we at 10almonds are not research scientists, and thus can only comment on the body of evidence that has been published.

    In any case, today is going to be about pain.

    What does she want us to know?

    Your mind does matter

    It’s easy to think that anything you can do with your mind is going to be quite small comfort when your nerves feel like they’re on fire.

    However, Dr. Wolf makes the case for pain consisting of three components:

    • the physical sensation(s)
    • the emotions we have about those
    • the meaning we give to such (or “the story” that we use to describe it)

    To clarify, let’s give an example:

    • the physical sensations of burning, searing, and occasionally stabbing pains in the lower back
    • the emotions of anguish, anger, despair, self-pity
    • the story of “this pain has ruined my life, is making it unbearable, will almost certainly continue, and may get worse”

    We are not going to tell you to throw any of those out of the window for now (and, would that you could throw the first line out, of course).

    The first thing Dr. Wolf wants us to do to make this more manageable is to break it down.

    Because presently, all three of those things are lumped together in a single box labelled “pain”.

    If each of those items is at a “10” on the scale of pain, then this is 10×10×10=1000.

    If our pain is at 1000/10, that’s a lot. We want to leave the pain in the box, not look at it, and try to distract ourselves. That is one possible strategy, by the way, and it’s not always bad when it comes to giving oneself a short-term reprieve. We balanced it against meditation, here:

    Managing Chronic Pain (Realistically)

    However, back to the box analogy, if we open that box and take out each of those items to examine them, then even without changing anything, even with them all still at 10, they can each be managed for what they are individually, so it’s now 10+10+10=30.

    If our pain is at 30/10, that’s still a lot, but it’s a lot more manageable than 1000/10.

    On rating pain, by the way, see:

    Get The Right Help For Your Pain

    Dealing with the separate parts

    It would be nice, of course, for each of those separate parts to not be at 10.

    With regard to the physical side of pain, this is not Dr. Wolf’s specialty, but we have some good resources here at 10almonds:

    When it comes to emotions associated with pain, Dr. Wolf (who incidentally is a Buddhist and also a teacher of same, and runs meditation retreats for such), recommends (of course) mindfulness, and what in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is called “radical acceptance” (in Buddhism, it may be referred to as being at one with things). We’ve written about this here:

    “Hello, Emotions”: Radical Acceptance In CBT & DBT

    Once again, the aim here is still not to throw the (often perfectly valid) emotions out of the window (unless you want to), but rather, to neutrally note and acknowledge the emotions as they arrive, á la “Hello, despair. Depression, my old foe, we meet again. Hello again, resentment.” …and so on.

    The reason this helps is because emotions, much like the physical sensations of pain, are first and foremost messengers, and sometimes (as in the case of chronic pain) they get broken and keep delivering the message beyond necessity. Acknowledging the message helps your brain (and all that is attached to it) realize “ok, this message has been delivered now; we can chill about it a little”.

    Having done that, if you can reasonably tweak any of the emotions (for example, perhaps that self-pity we mentioned could be turned into self-compassion, which is more useful), that’s great. If not, at least you know what’s on the battlefield now.

    When we examine the story of our pain, lastly, Dr. Wolf invites us to look at how one of the biggest drivers of distress under pain is the uncertainty of how long the pain will last, whether it will get worse, whether what we are doing will make it worse, and so forth. See for example:

    How long does back pain last? And how can learning about pain increase the chance of recovery?

    And of course, many things we do specifically in response to pain can indeed make our pain worse, and spread:

    How To Stop Pain Spreading

    Dr. Wolf’s perspective says:

    1. Life involves pain
    2. Pain invariably has a cause
    3. What has a cause, can have an end
    4. We just need to go through that process

    This may seem like small comfort when we are in the middle of the pain, but if we’ve broken it down into parts with Dr. Wolf’s “box method”, and dealt with the first two parts (the sensations and the emotions) as well as reasonably possible, then we can tackle the third one (the story) a little more easily than we could if we were trying to come at it with no preparation.

    What used to be:

    “This pain has ruined my life, is making it unbearable, will almost certainly continue, and may get worse”

    …can now become:

    “This pain is a big challenge, but since I’m here for it whether I want to be or not, I will suffer as I must, while calmly looking for ways to reduce that suffering as I go.”

    In short: you cannot “think healing thoughts” and expect your pain to go away. But you can do a lot more than you might (if you left it unexamined) expect.

    Want to know more from Dr. Wolf?

    We reviewed a book of hers recently, which you might enjoy:

    Outsmart Your Pain – by Dr. Christiane Wolf

    Take care!

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  • We don’t all need regular skin cancer screening – but you can know your risk and check yourself

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    Australia has one of the highest skin cancer rates globally, with nearly 19,000 Australians diagnosed with invasive melanoma – the most lethal type of skin cancer – each year.

    While advanced melanoma can be fatal, it is highly treatable when detected early.

    But Australian clinical practice guidelines and health authorities do not recommend screening for melanoma in the general population.

    Given our reputation as the skin cancer capital of the world, why isn’t there a national screening program? Australia currently screens for breast, cervical and bowel cancer and will begin lung cancer screening in 2025.

    It turns out the question of whether to screen everyone for melanoma and other skin cancers is complex. Here’s why.

    Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock

    The current approach

    On top of the 19,000 invasive melanoma diagnoses each year, around 28,000 people are diagnosed with in-situ melanoma.

    In-situ melanoma refers to a very early stage melanoma where the cancerous cells are confined to the outer layer of the skin (the epidermis).

    Instead of a blanket screening program, Australia promotes skin protection, skin awareness and regular skin checks (at least annually) for those at high risk.

    About one in three Australian adults have had a clinical skin check within the past year.

    clinician checks the back of a young man with red hair and freckles in health office
    Those with fairer skin or a family history may be at greater risk of skin cancer. Halfpoint/Shutterstock

    Why not just do skin checks for everyone?

    The goal of screening is to find disease early, before symptoms appear, which helps save lives and reduce morbidity.

    But there are a couple of reasons a national screening program is not yet in place.

    We need to ask:

    1. Does it save lives?

    Many researchers would argue this is the goal of universal screening. But while universal skin cancer screening would likely lead to more melanoma diagnoses, this might not necessarily save lives. It could result in indolent (slow-growing) cancers being diagnosed that might have never caused harm. This is known as “overdiagnosis”.

    Screening will pick up some cancers people could have safely lived with, if they didn’t know about them. The difficulty is in recognising which cancers are slow-growing and can be safely left alone.

    Receiving a diagnosis causes stress and is more likely to lead to additional medical procedures (such as surgeries), which carry their own risks.

    2. Is it value for money?

    Implementing a nationwide screening program involves significant investment and resources. Its value to the health system would need to be calculated, to ensure this is the best use of resources.

    Narrower targets for better results

    Instead of screening everyone, targeting high-risk groups has shown better results. This focuses efforts where they’re needed most. Risk factors for skin cancer include fair skin, red hair, a history of sunburns, many moles and/or a family history.

    Research has shown the public would be mostly accepting of a risk-tailored approach to screening for melanoma.

    There are moves underway to establish a national targeted skin cancer screening program in Australia, with the government recently pledging $10.3 million to help tackle “the most common cancer in our sunburnt country, skin cancer” by focusing on those at greater risk.

    Currently, Australian clinical practice guidelines recommend doctors properly evaluate all patients for their future risk of melanoma.

    Looking with new technological eyes

    Technological advances are improving the accuracy of skin cancer diagnosis and risk assessment.

    For example, researchers are investigating 3D total body skin imaging to monitor changes to spots and moles over time.

    Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can analyse images of skin lesions, and support doctors’ decision making.

    Genetic testing can now identify risk markers for more personalised screening.

    And telehealth has made remote consultations possible, increasing access to specialists, particularly in rural areas.

    Check yourself – 4 things to look for

    Skin cancer can affect all skin types, so it’s a good idea to become familiar with your own skin. The Skin Cancer College Australasia has introduced a guide called SCAN your skin, which tells people to look for skin spots or areas that are:

    1. sore (scaly, itchy, bleeding, tender) and don’t heal within six weeks

    2. changing in size, shape, colour or texture

    3. abnormal for you and look different or feel different, or stand out when compared to your other spots and moles

    4. new and have appeared on your skin recently. Any new moles or spots should be checked, especially if you are over 40.

    If something seems different, make an appointment with your doctor.

    You can self-assess your melanoma risk online via the Melanoma Institute Australia or QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.

    H. Peter Soyer, Professor of Dermatology, The University of Queensland; Anne Cust, Professor of Cancer Epidemiology, The Daffodil Centre and Melanoma Institute Australia, University of Sydney; Caitlin Horsham, Research Manager, The University of Queensland, and Monika Janda, Professor in Behavioural Science, The University of Queensland

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Black Beans vs Fava Beans – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing black beans to fava beans, we picked the black beans.

    Why?

    In terms of macros, black beans have more protein, carbs, and notably more fiber, the ratio of the latter two also being such that black beans enjoy the lower glycemic index (but both are still good). All in all, a clear win for black beans in this category.

    In the category of vitamins, black beans have more of vitamins B1, B5, B6, E, K, and choline, while fava beans have more of vitamins A, B2, B3, B9, and C. That’s a marginal 6:5 win for black beans, before we take into account that they also have 43x as much vitamin E, which is quite a margin, while fava beans doesn’t have any similarly stand-out nutrient. So, another clear win for black beans.

    When it comes to minerals, black beans have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium, while fava beans have more manganese, selenium, and zinc. Superficially this is a 6:3 win for black beans; it’s worth noting however that the margins aren’t high on either side in the case of any mineral, so this one’s closer than it looks. Still a win for black beans, though.

    Adding up the sections makes for an easy overall win for black beans, but by all means, enjoy either or both—diversity is good!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure

    Take care!

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  • Make Your Negativity Work For You

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    What’s The Right Balance?

    We’ve written before about positivity the pitfalls and perils of toxic positivity:

    How To Get Your Brain On A More Positive Track (Without Toxic Positivity)

    …as well as the benefits that can be found from selectively opting out of complaining:

    A Bone To Pick… Up And Then Put Back Where We Found It

    So… What place, if any, does negativity usefully have in our lives?

    Carrot and Stick

    We tend to think of “carrot and stick” motivation being extrinsic, i.e. there is some authority figure offering is reward and/or punishment, in response to our reactions.

    In those cases when it really is extrinsic, the “stick” can still work for most people, by the way! At least in the short term.

    Because in the long term, people are more likely to rebel against a “stick” that they consider unjust, and/or enter a state of learned helplessness, per “I’ll never be good enough to satisfy this person” and give up trying to please them.

    But what about when you have your own carrot and stick? What about when it comes to, for example, your own management of your own healthy practices?

    Here it becomes a little different—and more effective. We’ll get to that, but first, bear with us for a touch more about extrinsic motivation, because here be science:

    We will generally be swayed more easily by negative feelings than positive ones.

    For example, a study was conducted as part of a blood donation drive, and:

    • Group A was told that their donation could save a life
    • Group B was told that their donation could prevent a death

    The negative wording given to group B boosted donations severalfold:

    Read the paper: Life or Death Decisions: Framing the Call for Help

    We have, by the way, noticed a similar trend—when it comes to subject lines in our newsletters. We continually change things up to see if trends change (and also to avoid becoming boring), but as a rule, the response we get from subscribers is typically greater when a subject line is phrased negatively, e.g. “how to avoid this bad thing” rather than “how to have this good thing”.

    How we can all apply this as individuals?

    When we want to make a health change (or keep up a healthy practice we already have)…

    • it’s good to note the benefits of that change/practice!
    • it’s even better to note the negative consequences of not doing it

    For example, if you want to overcome an addiction, you will do better for your self-reminders to be about the bad consequences of using, more than the good consequences of abstinence.

    See also: How To Reduce Or Quit Alcohol

    This goes even just for things like diet and exercise! Things like diet and exercise can seem much more low-stakes than substance abuse, but at the end of the day, they can add healthy years onto our lives, or take them off.

    Because of this, it’s good to take time to remember, when you don’t feel like exercising or do feel like ordering that triple cheeseburger with fries, the bad outcomes that you are planning to avoid with good diet and exercise.

    Imagine yourself going in for that quadruple bypass surgery, asking yourself whether the unhealthy lifestyle was worth it. Double down on the emotions; imagine your loved ones grieving your premature death.

    Oof, that was hard-hitting

    It was, but it’s effective—if you choose to do it. We’re not the boss of you! Either way, we’ll continue to send the same good health advice and tips and research and whatnot every day, with the same (usually!) cheery tone.

    One last thing…

    While it’s good to note the negative, in order to avoid the things that lead to it, it’s not so good to dwell on the negative.

    So if you get caught in negative thought spirals or the like, it’s still good to get yourself out of those.

    If you need a little help with that sometimes, check out these:

    Take care!

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  • Tasty Hot-Or-Cold Soup

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    Full of fiber as well as vitamins and minerals, this versatile “serve it hot or cold” soup is great whatever the weather—give it a try!

    You will need

    • 1 quart low-sodium vegetable stock—ideally you made this yourself from vegetable offcuts you kept in the freezer until you had enough to boil in a big pan, but failing that, a large supermarket will generally be able to sell you low-sodium stock cubes.
    • 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
    • 2 leeks, chopped
    • 2 stalks celery, chopped
    • 1 large onion, diced
    • 1 large carrot, diced, or equivalent small carrots, sliced
    • 1 zucchini, diced
    • 1 red bell pepper, diced
    • 1 tsp rosemary
    • 1 tsp thyme
    • ¼ bulb garlic, minced
    • 1 small piece (equivalent of a teaspoon) ginger, minced
    • 1 tsp red chili flakes
    • 1 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • ½ tsp turmeric
    • Extra virgin olive oil, for frying
    • Optional: ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt

    About the MSG/salt: there should be enough sodium already from the stock and potatoes, but in case there’s not (since not all stock and potatoes are made equal), you might want to keep this on standby.

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Heat some oil in a sauté pan, and add the diced onion, frying until it begins to soften.

    2) Add the ginger, potato, carrot, and leek, and stir for about 5 minutes. The hard vegetables won’t be fully cooked yet; that’s fine.

    3) Add the zucchini, red pepper, celery, and garlic, and stir for another 2–3 minutes.

    4) Add the remaining ingredients; seasonings first, then vegetable stock, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

    5) Check the potatoes are fully softened, and if they are, it’s ready to serve if you want it hot. Alternatively, let it cool, chill it in the fridge, and enjoy it cold:

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Body Scrubs: Benefits, Risks, and Guidance

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    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    ❝I was wondering whether I should be using a body scrub in the shower, rather than just soap.  What should guide me in the choice of a body scrub, and are there any risks to be aware of?❞

    Body scrubs are great for giving skin a healthy glow, but are best used sparingly—over-exfoliation leads to the opposite effect (unhappy skin, premature skin aging, etc).

    As for contents:

    • microplastics are now banned in most places, but you might want to check any products (and their containers!) are BPA-free, pthalate free, etc.
    • fragrances in body scrubs are usually a bad idea, and many essential oils have been shown to be endocrine-disruptors, which you do not want:

    About the microplastics, harmful artificial chemicals in general, and what constitutes “etc”:

    Consumer behavior and exposure to parabens, bisphenols, triclosan, dichlorophenols, and benzophenone-3: Results from a crowdsourced biomonitoring study

    About the fragrances’ (including “natural” essential oils’) endocrine-disrupting shenanigans:

    Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: an Endocrine Society scientific statement

    So, what might you want to use instead?

    If you’re feeling adventurous, you might like to try treating yourself to a pineapple-based mask instead (a muslin cloth soaked in pineapple juice will work just fine; please don’t waterboard yourself though), as the bromelain enzymes (found very generously in pineapple juice) break down dead cells without the need for scrubbing.

    Another option is a homemade salt- or sugar-scrub. Put your salt or sugar into a jar, add enough warm water to cover it, leave it for about a day, adding more water if it seems in danger of drying out, until it recrystallizes with a high water content keeping it malleable to the touch; congratulations, you now have a very simple scrub. This should still not be used more than, say, once per week, though.

    Last but not least, you might consider investing in a konjac sponge; they gently remove dead skin without damaging living skin. Here’s an example product on Amazon, for your convenience

    For more on gentle-yet-effective skincare, you might like to read:

    Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less

    Enjoy!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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