Here are the top stories for this week. View the rest of the medspa and aesthetic industry news at www.medspapress.com.

Clinique La Prairie named world's best medical spa A world-renowned Swiss clinic, popular with a growing number of visitors from the Middle East, has been named the world’s best medical spa by a leading UK newspaper. MedSpaPress would like to congratulate our subscriber Clinique La Prairie on this prestigious honor bestowed by the London Times.

Fat blasters are on their way Having a thin and shapely body is the dream of many, but dieting is unpredictable, and the thought of liposuction, with its high costs and associated health risks, is often too high a price to bear. Now Israeli company Ultrashape has developed a unique new body-contouring device that "blasts" unwanted fat from the body, notably the stomach, thighs and bottom, creating the same effects as liposuction without any of the associated health risks.

Laser clinic ordered to refund laser hair removal fees A hair removal clinic has been ordered by a tribunal to refund thousands of dollars to a customer who tendered photos of his hirsute body as proof that the laser treatment did not work. George Khano, 24, told the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal he had paid $4500 to the Evolution Laser clinic in Sydney after being promised that the treatment was permanent.

Plastic surgery for migraine sufferers The new surgical techniques were inspired by an unexpected side effect to facial plastic surgery - specifically, a forehead rejuvenation procedure. The report appears in the January issue of the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Artes Medical obtains ISO certification Artes Medical, a medical technology company focused on the development of permanent injectable aesthetic products, announced on January 5, 2006 that it has received a quality system certificate demonstrating compliance with ISO 13485:2003, the internationally recognized quality system standard for medical device manufacturers. This marks the first steps required for receiving the European CE mark and Canadian approval to market injectable products such as ArteFill.

More men are discovering cosmetic surgery Need proof that cosmetic surgery and men is now a mainstream marriage? Check out these statistics: While women still make up 87% of all cosmetic surgery patients, 1.2 million procedures were performed on men in 2004. That's a 16% increase since 2000, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

Botox at the mall: Know when to walk away! It used to be that you had to go to a doctor's office to get Botox injections. But now, in many parts of the country, you can get your wrinkles erased right at the mall. With the demand for age-erasing procedures booming, so-called medical spas are opening in strip malls and shopping malls, with about 1,200 nationwide.

Hope you enjoyed this week's news from MedSpaPress. You may click on www.medspapress.com to view and search on more news from our industry.

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