I just received a flyer announcing the 16th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine to be held next month in Washington, DC. The way this brochure reads (\u201c3000 participants, 300 exhibitors, 60 speakers, global market of anti-aging products to reach $115.5 billion by 2010, your Gateway to Opportunity\u201d), you\u2019d think any doctor failing to become an anti-aging specialist would be left at the gate. And any patient who can\u2019t afford an anti-aging specialist and the pricey therapies offered had better be getting her affairs in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have nothing bad to say about the two eminently likeable physicians who founded the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine years ago. They certainly are about the most successful medical entrepreneurs on the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this might put the \u201canti-aging\u201d industry into perspective:
\u2022 First, it\u2019s very heavily marketed to primary care physicians as a means of enhancing their incomes. When I last attended the convention, the 300 or so exhibitors were all trying to sell me something I could in turn sell to my patients: laser wrinkle erasers, Botox, chemical resurfacing, innumerable nutritional supplements, lab tests, and space-age pieces of \u201cbeam-me-up\u201d equipment available on easy-term leases (\u201cjust five patients a day will earn you $400,000 a year!\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Second, with our aging population, doctors with dollar signs for eyeballs believe the timing for something \u201canti-aging\u201d is auspicious. Everyone\u2019s big fear, they figure, is to grow old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe it\u2019s just our Midwestern common sense, but patients here aren\u2019t buying it. When I spoke to a couple of physicians who had added an anti-aging component to their offices, they were disappointed. \u201cNot much demand.\u201d \u201cEverything\u2019s too expensive.\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s face it, the best steps you can take regarding anti-aging are free.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that says it best. If you really want a chance for the big sleep at age 95 after a sweltering tennis match, it\u2019s your job, not your doctor\u2019s. You don\u2019t need a medical specialist to perform (out-of-pocket) diagnostic tests that conclude you should eat a healthful diet, reduce stress, exercise regularly, avoid tobacco, get regular check-ups, and take a few sensible nutritional supplements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As one professional aesthetician recently told me, \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as a good face lift. The best I can say is that some are better than others. The extra-smooth-constantly-surprised look–that\u2019s the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The late comedian Richard Pryor said that cocaine was God\u2019s message you had too much money. I\u2019d make that \u201ccocaine and anti-aging medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be well,
David Edelberg, MD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just received a flyer announcing the 16th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine to be held next month in Washington, DC. The way this brochure reads (\u201c3000 participants, 300 exhibitors, 60 speakers, global market of anti-aging products to reach $115.5 billion by 2010, your Gateway to Opportunity\u201d), you\u2019d think any doctor failing to become […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2087,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,352,2,3],"tags":[569,181],"class_list":["post-1719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a","category-aging","category-blog","category-knowledge-base","tag-anti-aging-industry","tag-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\r\n