Defined as a multidisciplinary approach to healthcare, integrative medicine incorporates not only traditional medicine but also involves professionals from other health-related fields to achieve wellness and health. Integrative medicine considers all aspects of healing as important in achieving this goal. Attention is paid to the mind and spirit, dieting, exercising, biofeedback, herbal supplementation, acupuncture, and other methods of treatment. All these approaches may be used to improve wellness and healthy living. Integrative medicine values the therapeutic relationship between the patient and the practitioner as integral to achieving wellness. Many names have been used in the past in reference to this approach toward healing, including alternative medicine, holistic medicine, and complementary alternative medicine. Some physicians still do not consider this approach to healing as a viable treatment option. However, the value of non-conventional therapies has become more apparent over the years, and a newer and more progressive attitude towards combining these alternative treatment modalities with conventional medicine has been successfully adopted by many physicians around the world. Integrative medicine is the current, more descriptive term employed for this multidisciplinary approach to health and wellness.
All around the world, the proportion of the elderly is rising. As we age, our susceptibility to infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and arthritis continues to increase. This, in turn, adversely affects our quality of life and productivity. Anti-aging medicine focuses on preventative measures against chronic disease, illness, and degenerative changes that occur with age.
The question arises whether the process of aging itself can be delayed or reversed. Conventional medicine has been successful in treating many age-related illnesses of the organ systems, chronic diseases, and degenerative changes. However, the emphasis has not been to reverse age-related disorders and diseases. With advances in genetic mapping, bioengineering, hormonal therapy, and stem cell research, it may now be possible to slow down or even prevent the aging process. Anti-aging medicine promotes a comprehensive system of medical and health-related treatments provided by a multidisciplinary group of physicians, pharmacists, engineers, nutritionists, and exercise physiologists to combat the aging process. This must be done scientifically by acquiring data and objectively assessing the effectiveness of each treatment before offering it as a viable therapeutic option to the patient.
A partial list of anti-aging methods currently being used or studied across the world is provided below:
The challenges that face health care in the 21st century are likely to become more complex with an increasingly aging population. The prevalence of chronic diseases, the progressive loss of function, and tissue degeneration will require new and innovative methods on the part of physicians and pharmaceutical companies to battle organ dysfunction and offer new therapeutic options for replacement and regeneration of tissues. Regenerative medicine is a branch of medicine that applies bioengineering, developmental biology, and stem cell research toward the regeneration of cells, tissues, and organs. New research is already underway and will, in all likelihood, revolutionize medicine in the years to come. Medical breakthroughs always depend on the collaboration and convergence of multiple scientific disciplines. This concept is clearly seen in the development of regenerative medicine as discoveries in the fields of nanotechnology, bioengineering, and stem cell therapy have led to the convergence of scientific data that is extremely encouraging. As the demand for regenerative medicine continues to rise, more physicians and scientists will study these treatments with clinical trials. These solid scientific studies will set the framework for the use of these therapies in a variety of illness and chronic diseases in the future.
A partial list of some of the techniques used for regenerative medicine are listed below:
Dr. Marefat and the staff at Metropolitan Plastic Surgery would be happy to help you set up a private consultation to discuss regenerative medicine in Virginia. Schedule an appointment online or call one of our locations at 703-516-7600 (Arlington area) or at 703-560-9583 (Woodbridge).
Dr. Marefat offers a number of financial assistance programs and payment programs to cover the cost of regenerative medicine treatments in Virginia. Please visit the patient financing section of our website for more details or ask the staff at Metropolitan Plastic Surgery about these options so that you can get started with regenerative medicine treatments in Virginia today.
