tips for beautiful,wrinkle-free skin with leech therapy

Leeches, as we all know, can be viewed by many as quite disgusting creatures to look at, especially when they are full and bloated after gorging themselves on blood. Many people fear leeches and most stay away from them. Just the thought of having a leech attach themselves to a part of the body is enough to scare anybody. But remember, there are leeches that serve many purposes, especially when it comes to the medicine world. These medicinal leeches have long been used in the treatment of illnesses and diseases, and they have also been used in the healing process of skin grafts.

As soon as the leeches attach themselves to the skin graft site, they begin to suck blood. While sucking, they also release a component called hirudin from their saliva. This component is very important in the inhibition of platelet aggregation (the process where the platelets clump or stick together) and coagulation cascade (a series of processes that ends with fibrin clot formation). Since there is a vasodilator component in their saliva too, venous congestion is further reduced, promoting good blood flow into the skin graft. After continuous medicinal leech therapy, the skin graft will soon turn warm and pinkish, a good sign that there is an adequate blood supply.

The frequency of leech therapy in patients with skin replants is about four days to five days, while the frequency in patients whose skin grafts became compromised is about six to ten days.

Not all patients who undergo skin grafts are a candidate for leech therapy. Those who have AIDS or HIV are not recommended to undertake medicinal leech therapy because it could put them at risk of bacterial sepsis. Likewise, patients who take immunosuppressive drugs are also not advised to undergo leech therapy due to the same reason.
Although the risk of acquiring an infection is small, patients with skin grafts that have become unsuccessful are not always given leech therapy.

Something good about leeches

CATCH some mother leeches and sell them to a new breeding farm looking to meet its full capacity. You can do that in Penang where farmers Muhamad Mohd Ali and Badrul Hisham Ramli have set up 50 breeding ponds.

Each leech can fetch you RM1 or more, de-pending on size.

Just dip your leg into a murky swamp and wait for the leeches to latch on, said one young man, who recently brought some samples to show Badrul.

The farm in Penaga, North Seberang Prai, breeds the big variety which the Malays called lintah, seven to 12cm long when fully mature and up to 30cm when they stretch.

Worldwide, there are 600 species of leeches and Malaysia has six species. The farm breeds mainly leeches with the green or brown belly, said Badrul.

Theirs currently is the biggest indoor leech farm in the state, using cement and poly tanks, versus the outdoor farm that uses ground ponds.

“We require 30,000 breeder leeches to breed at full capacity and now have some 16,000 of them. Each of the 50 ponds can eventually hold up to 30,000 leeches,” he added.

They feed on plankton growing in the ponds and suck on eel’s blood twice a week for additional protein.

“We put into the ponds powdered fertilizer that contains microbes to encourage plankton growth.

In demand: Badrul (left) and Muhamad inspecting some leeches at their farm.

“Twice a week, live eels are placed in the tanks for the leeches to feed on, two eels per tank,” Badrul said, adding that the dead eels are then made into eel oil.

Leeches live up to two years and lay eggs three to four times during their lifespan.

He added the farm obtains expert help from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and information scoured from the Internet. It also has its own website at www.arowanavis.com.

The local and international demand for lee-ches is high, mainly for medical reasons and beauty care.

Currently, the farm is producing just for the local market, supplying breeder leeches to other start-out farms and making leech oil.

Wriggly creatures: Mature leeches ready for breeding.

Muhamad and Badrul also conduct leech farming courses for small groups, helping others keen to start similar businesses. After all, they got their start from attending a similar course advertised in the newspaper about a year ago.

The Biology of leeches

Biology. Leeches are annelids or segmented worms, and although closely related to the earthworms, are anatomically and behaviourally more specialised. The bodies of all leeches are divided into the same number of segments (34), with a powerful clinging sucker at each end (although the anterior, or front sucker can be very small). Body shape is variable, but to some extent depends on the degree to which their highly muscular bodies are contracted. The mouth is in the anterior sucker and the anus is on the dorsal surface (top) just in front of the rear sucker. Leeches usually have three jaws and make a Y-shaped incision. The Australian land leech has only two jaws and makes a V-shaped incision. Australian leeches can vary in size from about 7 mm long to as much as 200 mm when extended.

Different Types. Leeches are grouped according to the different ways they feed. One group (the jawed leeches or Gnatbobdellida) have jaws armed with teeth with which they bite the host. The blood is prevented from clotting by production of a non-enzymatic secretion called hirudin. The land leech commonly encountered by bushwalkers is included in this group. Jaw drawings, after M. Stachowitsch The Invertebrates - an Illustrated Glossary A second group (the jawless leeches or Rhyncobdellida) insert a needle-like protrusion called a proboscis into the body of the host and secrete an enzyme, hemetin which dissolves clots once they have formed. Leeches which live on body fluids of worms and small freshwater snails possess such an apparatus. A third group, (the worm leeches or Pharyngobdellida) have no jaws or teeth and swallow the prey whole. Its food consists of small invertebrates.

Respiration. Respiration takes place through the body wall, and a slow undulating movement observed in some leeches is said to assist gaseous exchange. Aquatic leeches tend to move to the surface when they find themselves in water of low oxygen content. As a fall in atmospheric pressure results in a small decrease in dissolved oxygen concentrations, rising leeches in a jar of water provided nineteenth century weather forecasters with a simple way of predicting bad weather.

Sense Organs . Sensory organs on the head and body surface enable a leech to detect changes in light intensity, temperature, and vibration. Chemical receptors on the head provide a sense of smell and there may be one or more pairs of eyes. The number of eyes and their arrangement can be of some use in Identification, however to properly identify a leech, dissection is required. The Rhyncobdellids are capable of dramatic colour changes, and although not an attempt at camouflage, the significance of this behaviour is unknown.

Reproduction. As hermaphrodites, leeches have both male and female sex organs. Like the earthworms they also have a clitellum, a region of thickened skin which is only obvious during the reproductive period. Mating involves the intertwining of bodies where each deposits sperm in the others' clitellar area. Rhyncobdellids have no penis but produce sharp packages of sperm which are forced through the body wall. The sperm then make their way to the ovaries where fertilisation takes place. The clitellum secretes a tough gelatinous cocoon which contains nutrients, and it is in this that the eggs are deposited. The leech shrugs itself free of the cocoon, sealing it as it passes over the head. The cocoon is either buried or attached to a rock, log or leaf and dries to a foamy crust. After several weeks or months, the young emerge as miniature adults. Studies show that the cocoons are capable of surviving the digestive system of a duck. Leeches die after one or two bouts of reproduction.

Feeding. Most leeches are sanguivorous, that is they feed as blood sucking parasites on preferred hosts. If the preferred food is not available most leeches will feed on other classes of host. Some feed on the blood of humans and other mammals, while others parasitise fish, frogs, turtles or birds. Some leeches will even take a meal from other sanguivorous leeches which may die after the attack. Sanguivorous leeches can ingest several times their own weight in blood at one meal. After feeding the leech retires to a dark spot to digest its meal. Digestion is slow and this enables the leech to survive during very long fasting periods (up to several months).

Foraging - How does a leech go about searching for a blood meal? A hungry leech is very responsive to light and mechanical stimuli. It tends to change position frequently, and explore by head movement and body waving. It also assumes an alert posture, extending to full length and remaining motionless. This is thought to maximise the function of the sensory structures in the skin. In response to disturbances by an approaching host, the leech will commence "inchworm crawling", continuing in a trial and error way until the anterior sucker touches the host and attaches. Aquatic leeches are more likely to display this "pursuit" behaviour, while common land leeches often accidentally attach to a host.

The Bite . When a jawed leech bites it holds the sucker in place by making its body rigid. Using its semi circular and many toothed jaws like minute saws, it then makes an incision in the skin and excretes a mucous from the nephropores (external openings from the kidney-like organs). This helps the sucker to adhere. A salivary secretion containing the anticoagulant and a histamine floods the wound and the leech relaxes its body to allow the blood to be ingested. This mixture allows the blood to flow and also prevents clotting once inside the leech. A bacterium in the gut of the leech assists the digestion of the blood, and it has been shown that the type of bacterium varies with the type of host on which the leech feeds. The bacterium also prevents growth of other bacteria which may cause the ingested blood to putrefy.

Habitat. Most leeches are freshwater animals, but many terrestrial and marine species occur. Land leeches are common on the ground or in low foliage in wet rain forests. In drier forests they may be found on the ground in seepage moistened places. Most do not enter water and cannot swim, but can survive periods of immersion. In dry weather, some species burrow in the soil where they can survive for many months even in a total lack of environmental water. In these conditions the body is contracted dry and rigid, the suckers not distinguishable, and the skin completely dry. Within ten minutes of sprinkling with a few drops of water, these leeches emerge, fully active. Freshwater leeches prefer to live in still or slowly flowing waters, but specimens have been collected from fast flowing streams. Some species are considered amphibious as they have been observed in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats.

Question..........................

Leech therapy
My daughter (7 y.o) has some minor problems such as an attention deficit, insomnia, headache. And my wife decided to take our girl to the hirudotherapy. Our daughter is glad, and my wife claims that it helps. And they brought these full leeches home, they are like pets now. My wife and my daughters are crazy about pet animals including kinds of creepy crawlers (but for me these thick leeches are rather disgusting).
Well, the qtn is
Have you ever tried leech therapy?
Is it popular in your area?

Operation Beauty: Moore leeches!

Operation Beauty

Demi Moore covers herself in blood-sucking leeches to keep her skin looking fresh.

The actress -- who, at 45, is 15 years older than husband Ashton Kutcher -- is a huge fan of a detox treatment which involves the unpleasant creatures being placed on her body.

"I was in Austria doing a cleanse and part of the treatment was leech therapy," she told David Letterman.

"These aren't just swamp leeches though -- we are talking about highly trained medical leeches. We're talking high-level bloodsuckers."

Presley victimized

Priscilla Presley has confirmed she was operated on by an unlicensed cosmetic surgeon.

Presley -- ex-wife of Elvis Presley -- was injected with industrial-grade silicone used to lubricate automobile parts in 2003.

Dr. Daniel Serrano, who eventually was jailed for his illegal surgery techniques, performed the procedure on the Naked Gun actress.

Presley's representative said: "Priscilla Presley was one of many documented victims of Dr. Serrano. Ms. Presley dealt with this matter years ago and everything is well."

Tisdale says no to surgery

High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale has ruled out having more plastic surgery in the future.

The 22-year-old actress -- who had a nose job last November to correct a deviated septum and smooth out two bumps stemming from a past fracture --dismissed reports of further procedures, saying she is not planning to go under the knife again.

She told People magazine: "People are saying I had another nose job and I did not. That's ridiculous. I was away in New Zealand filming a movie."