LONGECITY

So I was at the dermatologist trying Juvederm for the first time and she put something called Alastin on my face at the end of the procedure. She suggested it as an option but said it was expensive. It is in fact very expensive, $200 per bottle. I looked all over for reviews and only one person on Reddit responded with the opinion that it's a scam since their website rejected their bad review of it. They said it didn't even moisturize much less improve anything. 

However, still open to possibilities. 

Are there other similar elastin promoting products that are cheaper?

I hate their website because it just says "Alastin does this and that and the other thing!"

but it doesn't say HOW it does any of that or even what its active ingredients are. 

I would look into elastase inhibitors. 

 

 If reversing the loss of elastase is the goal, then this is not exactly the outcome I'm seeing with EGCG.

 

The opposite is actually sought as elastASE is the enzyme breaking down elasTIN which is what you should be looking to inhibit. So if EGCG is doing that, it should be welcome.

After I caught a nasty strain of coxsackievirus B4 that is in general circulation, I developed body-wide fine crêpe paper-like wrinkles on the skin, which I believe are the result of reduced elastin. Viral infection can increase the production of what are known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which are a family of enzymes which break down elastin, collagen and other connective tissue components. I caught my virus via kissing on a date.

Other people who caught the virus from me also developed this crêpe paper-like skin wrinkling. You can see pictures of the wrinkling on my hands at the bottom of this page of my website about the virus. In addition to skin wrinkling, the virus also caused sudden onset gum recession (periodontitis) in me and other who caught the virus. Periodontitis also involves these MMP enzymes breaking down elastin and collagen in gum tissues. A picture of my virally-caused receded gums is found half way down this webpage of my site.

Coxsackievirus B is a virus from the enterovirus genus. Other enteroviruses include echovirus, poliovirus, enterovirus D68 (which is the chief suspect for causing paralysis of children in the US), coxsackievirus A, and rhinovirus, a common cold virus. In most cases, enterovirus only causes acute infections which are cleared from the body by the immune response in a matter of weeks. Enterovirus cannot normally cause chronic, lifelong infections. 

But certain enteroviruses, which include coxsackievirus B and echovirus, are now understood to cause chronic intracellular infections that can last a lifetime. So once you catch coxsackievirus B and echovirus, you will likely have it in your tissues for life. These persistent lifelong enterovirus infections are called non-cytolytic enterovirus infections, and they are suspected of causing a number of diseases, including type 1 diabetes, dilated cardiomyopathy, mitral valve prolapse (a common heart valve disease), myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome), and Parkinson's.

It's funny that people in the anti-aging longevity community think that the key to a long life is avoiding toxins and eating good food, along with taking beneficial supplements and drugs. Yet they usually don't make the link between nasty viral pathogens in common circulation and chronic disease and early death. But most of the common chronic diseases that reduce healthspan and lifespan have been linked to common pathogens that many of us already have in our bodies, having picked them up earlier in life.

Many of these disease-causing pathogens will be unsuspectingly picked up from kissing a new girlfriend or boyfriend. Often such viruses may cause no initial symptoms when we first catch them from other human beings, or may just cause minor symptoms like a sore throat or temporary gastrointestinal upset. But then a few years down the line, they may trigger a nasty chronic disease, like multiple sclerosis, heart disease, atherosclerosis, Crohn's disease, Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and also mental heath diseases such as generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar, anorexia nervosa, OCD, etc.

One brilliant scientist who studies the connection between common pathogens and chronic diseases is Professor Paul W. Ewald. In this video, he discusses the link between common pathogens and cancer. He says that back in the 1970s, there were no cancers which had been linked to pathogens. But nowadays, we know that around 20% of cancers are caused by pathogens. Prof Ewald thinks that as we research the pathogen-cancer link, we will find that a lot more cancers are caused by infectious micro-organisms.

I caught my virus via kissing on a date.

The opposite is actually sought as elastASE is the enzyme breaking down elasTIN which is what you should be looking to inhibit. So if EGCG is doing that, it should be welcome.

That was a typo.

After I caught a nasty strain of coxsackievirus B4 that is in general circulation, I developed body-wide fine crêpe paper-like wrinkles on the skin, which I believe are the result of reduced elastin. Viral infection can increase the production of what are known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which are a family of enzymes which break down elastin, collagen and other connective tissue components. I caught my virus via kissing on a date.
 
Other people who caught the virus from me also developed this crêpe paper-like skin wrinkling. You can see pictures of the wrinkling on my hands at the bottom of this page of my website about the virus. In addition to skin wrinkling, the virus also caused sudden onset gum recession (periodontitis) in me and other who caught the virus. Periodontitis also involves these MMP enzymes breaking down elastin and collagen in gum tissues. A picture of my virally-caused receded gums is found half way down this webpage of my site.
 
 
Coxsackievirus B is a virus from the enterovirus genus. Other enteroviruses include echovirus, poliovirus, enterovirus D68 (which is the chief suspect for causing paralysis of children in the US), coxsackievirus A, and rhinovirus, a common cold virus. In most cases, enterovirus only causes acute infections which are cleared from the body by the immune response in a matter of weeks. Enterovirus cannot normally cause chronic, lifelong infections. 
 
But certain enteroviruses, which include coxsackievirus B and echovirus, are now understood to cause chronic intracellular infections that can last a lifetime. So once you catch coxsackievirus B and echovirus, you will likely have it in your tissues for life. These persistent lifelong enterovirus infections are called non-cytolytic enterovirus infections, and they are suspected of causing a number of diseases, including type 1 diabetes, dilated cardiomyopathy, mitral valve prolapse (a common heart valve disease), myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome), and Parkinson's.
 
 
It's funny that people in the anti-aging longevity community think that the key to a long life is avoiding toxins and eating good food, along with taking beneficial supplements and drugs. Yet they usually don't make the link between nasty viral pathogens in common circulation and chronic disease and early death. But most of the common chronic diseases that reduce healthspan and lifespan have been linked to common pathogens that many of us already have in our bodies, having picked them up earlier in life.
 
Many of these disease-causing pathogens will be unsuspectingly picked up from kissing a new girlfriend or boyfriend. Often such viruses may cause no initial symptoms when we first catch them from other human beings, or may just cause minor symptoms like a sore throat or temporary gastrointestinal upset. But then a few years down the line, they may trigger a nasty chronic disease, like multiple sclerosis, heart disease, atherosclerosis, Crohn's disease, Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and also mental heath diseases such as generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar, anorexia nervosa, OCD, etc.
 
One brilliant scientist who studies the connection between common pathogens and chronic diseases is Professor Paul W. Ewald. In this video, he discusses the link between common pathogens and cancer. He says that back in the 1970s, there were no cancers which had been linked to pathogens. But nowadays, we know that around 20% of cancers are caused by pathogens. Prof Ewald thinks that as we research the pathogen-cancer link, we will find that a lot more cancers are caused by infectious micro-organisms.

Too bad we don't have DRACO available.

So much interesting and likely useful science is stopped dead by our current drug approval regime.

 

Too bad we don't have DRACO available.

So much interesting and likely useful science is stopped dead by our current drug approval regime.

 

Wow, what a fascinating read!

Why on earth is this not number one priority for us? There is literally nothing right now to kill herpes virus, and this shows so much promise and yet...

 

In 2015, an independent research group reported to have successfully observed antiviral activity against the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) using DRACOs in vitro.^[5]

As of December 2015, research related to DRACOs had ground to a halt, for obscure reasons described variously as "murky" and "due to the extreme novelty of its mechanism".^[6]

Very odd. 

I visited their site. Was not impressed with any of the before/after pictures. Started reading their product description, stopped reading at "proprietary blend". Scam

I visited their site. Was not impressed with any of the before/after pictures. Started reading their product description, stopped reading at "proprietary blend". Scam

Whose site? Who are you talking about?

I've only tried a sample of this twice thus far, and was very disappointed. If anything, what I observed was my pores were seemingly larger than before. Of course, I did not go back and purchase it due to that scare, so I don't really have a final say in whether it worked for my skin or not.