And Now For Something Completely Different

Rather than posting sporadically I am going to try and post an entry each day for the next month and see what develops. While I have enjoyed the major entries, they by necessity always seem to deal with one issue, given their length and they come infrequently as they take a while to write. So let's try daily and see what develops?

What Price Beauty?

Now that Sculptra (formerly New-Fill) has been approved for correcting HIV-related facial lipoatrophy (fat loss), Stephen and I have been curious as to how well the product works. We got our first peek at potential results, when we found out that an acquaintance has had 3 sessions using Sculptra and the results are stunning. Bob looks great, not that he ever looked bad, but the enhancement or reconstruction of his face is just amazing. It looks very natural and Bob reported that he has had no real issues with the treatments.

So when we found out that the French drug maker Aventis was offering the drug for free to HIVers making $40,000 or less, our curiosity was further piqued. But when we found out that one of my previous doctors, has been the only doctor trained in the US by Aventis to administer Sculptra and his practice is in Miami, well we just can't resist checking this out. So we are going to do some legwork and find out the costs and issues involved and I'll report the results back here.

I can't believe that we are actually going to explore some face/body reconstruction options instead of having to fight some new side effect or illness. To think that there might be a way to reverse some severe fat loss and regain some lost looks is potentially exciting. Unfortunately Sculptra is not permanent and might require "refreshing", but those are all details we'll explore.

One of the hardest things about surviving with HIV is when you must deal with the physical damage that the disease, side effects and medications can cause. To watch your body change and degrade and know there is little you can do to reverse the damage. Many of you know what I mean, when you get that "HIV look" and it seems time that somebody finally listened, I'm sure with thoughts of dollars floating through their heads, but still they are finally starting to address some of our needs.

To think I could regain some of what I have lost physically, to this disease, is really exciting. I expect it will still be expensive, even with getting the compound for free, but just the fact that the option exists, really bodes well for future developments. Until I know all the details, I won't know if this is a viable solution, but it's sure nice to start having some options.