Cosmetic

Hernias are a common ailment among Americans; more than 4 million people develop the painful condition. And although both men and women develop hernias, female patients may be harder to diagnose. Doctors and patients may not realize the abdominal pain a woman is feeling is because of a hernia. Dr. Hien Nguyen, assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the pain can be mistaken for other conditions with similar symptoms, such as adhesions from prior surgery, endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts.

Maryland is moving to toughen regulations on the fast-growing medspa industry - a move designed to narrow a "loophole" and prevent deaths such as one last year following a liposuction treatment at a Timonium facility. Regulations being discussed by state officials would bar plastic surgeons from performing liposuction and other procedures in medspas and medical offices unless the facilities are inspected by the government or third-party accrediting bodies, Maryland Secretary of Health Joshua Sharfstein said.

Cosmetic Center Inc. signed a definitive agreement with Revlon Inc. yesterday to merge with a subsidiary of the New York-based cosmetics giant.Prestige Fragrance & Cosmetics Inc. will be merged into Cosmetic Center Inc., which will retain its name.The two companies signed a letter of intent Oct. 1.The Savage-based Cosmetic Center operates 68 specialty retail stores in the mid-Atlantic region and Illinois, and distributes mass-merchandised cosmetics."The merger provides us with a broader geographical presence," said Bruce Strohl, chief financial officer of Cosmetic Center.

A bill to give health regulators more oversight of facilities like the now-closed Monarch Medspa in Timonium is making a late surge in the General Assembly after weeks of discussions among state and industry officials. The House of Delegates unanimously passed the legislation Monday afternoon. It needs to clear the Senate, including an extra procedural step, within the next week. The legislative session draws to a close April 8. If passed, the law would close a regulatory gap that does not allow state health officials to proactively inspect and oversee plastic surgery centers.

The Cosmetic Center Inc., a Savage-based specialty retailer of cosmetics, fragrances and beauty aids, reported increases in revenues, net income and earnings per share during its fourth quarter, which ended in September.The company opened two new Maryland stores, in Waldorf and Wheaton, and three stores in Illinois during the fiscal year.Three months ended 9/27/91.......Revenue..... .... Net........ Share'91...... 21,302,000...... 347,000... 0.11'90...... 17,720,000...... 272,000... 0.09% change.

Cosmetic Center Inc. shareholders formally approved the merger of the Savage-based makeup and hair-care superstore chain with a Revlon subsidiary yesterday.The vote to merge with Prestige Fragrance & Cosmetics Inc., the retail outlet subsidiary of Revlon Inc., was made at the annual meeting.Under the merger, shareholders of Cosmetic Center Class A and Class B stock could elect to receive either one share of newly issued Cosmetic Center Class C voting common stock or $7.63 in cash for every share they held.

NEW YORK -- Cosmetic Center Inc.'s shares fell 20 percent amid concern the drug and cosmetic retailer will post lackluster sales through the first half of 1995.The Savage, Md.-based company confirmed that outlook when it reported a half-hour before the close of trading that December sales were unchanged from a year earlier at $19.3 million. The company partly blamed poor fragrance sales for the lackluster results.Cosmetic Center's Class A shares fell $2.50, to $9.75 -- the lowest since Oct. 16, 1991.

Cosmetic Center Inc., the Savage-based makeup and hair-care superstore chain, received and instantly rejected yesterday a surprise offer of $54.6 million from Miami-based Perfumania Inc.The offer touched off a day-long flurry of executive meetings at Cosmetic Center's headquarters and caught the analysts who cover the 71-store chain totally off guard."

The Cosmetic Center, a Savage-based retail chain, will create a new class of non-voting stock to let it conduct a new equity offering without imperiling the founders' control of the company.Under the plan announced yesterday, each share of the company's common stock will be reclassified as one-half share of Class A non-voting stock and one-half share of Class B voting stock.The company said the plan will be submitted to a vote at the company's annual meeting March 13, but the result is a foregone conclusion because the family of Chairman Louis R. Weinstein, which controls about 51 percent of the stock, favors the measure.

Picking the partners for this match wasn't hard.The Cosmetic Center had been floundering after the death of its forceful founder, Louis R. Weinstein. Its growth was stymied, it was recording losses and the Savage-based hair care and cosmetic company was having difficulty with getting certain products.Along came Revlon Inc., displaying Prestige Fragrance & Cosmetics Inc., a wholly owned retail subsidiary it was ready to spin off.Prestige, with 197 stores in outlet malls nationwide, had been a useful outlet for excess Revlon inventory.

For the first time in history, the Roman Catholic Church has a pope from the New World, but liberal American Catholics should not expect Pope Francis to stray far from the old theology. Some things are excitingly different about this new pontiff. On matters of birth control, abortion, homosexuality, celibate priests and the role of women in the church, however, he is no revolutionary. When Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio stepped out on the Vatican balcony as the new pope on Wednesday evening, all he was required to do was wave and give a blessing.

Ace, a youthful Labrador, bounds across his lawn, fielding tennis balls and hurrying them back to his owner. His tail wags. His coat is thick and shiny. He barks with enthusiasm. To the naked eye, Ace is a strapping example of dogdom. Who would guess that he's had work done? An eye job, in fact. Ace is one of thousands of dogs who've had plastic surgery. A little nip. A little tuck. Eye lifts. Nose jobs. Exactly the sorts of procedures people get. But unlike cosmetic surgery for humans, dogs and cats aren't doing it to look better at their high school reunion.

Maybe the party is finally over. Meaning not simply the Grand Old Party, but more specifically the bacchanal of the bizarre and carnival of crazy to which it has lately devolved. So obvious has this devolution become that even Republican stalwarts have been heard to decry the parody of a party the GOP has become. Except now we see signs suggesting maybe a corner has been turned. There was, for example, that surprising bipartisan consensus on immigration reform, which one would have thought about as likely as a Ted Nugent concert on the White House lawn.

The owner-operator of a cosmetics company in Beltsville pleaded guilty Thursday to income tax evasion, prosecutors said. Bae Soo "Chris" Chon, 49, funneled revenue from Mirage Cosmetics Inc. into foreign bank accounts in Hong Kong and Seoul and understated his income on his personal income tax returns in 2008 and 2009, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland said in a statement. Mirage manufactured cosmetics at a facility on Tucker Street in Beltsville and then sold the products in the United States at chain stores, including Walgreens, Target and Costco, the statement said.

A 59-year-old Lochearn woman died Monday of a rare infection after liposuction surgery, and two other patients have also contracted infections, prompting health officials Wednesday to shut down the Timonium cosmetic surgery center where each was treated. Monarch Medspa officials are cooperating as Maryland and Baltimore County health officials investigate the source of the infections, which involve the same bacteria that causes strep throat. But the bacteria can be significantly more dangerous when infecting other parts of the body, sometimes causing shock, organ failure and even death.

Cosmetics firm Revlon Inc. says it is ending manufacturing operations in Maryland as part of a global reorganization that will eliminate about 250 jobs. The company refused to say Friday where its local facility is located or how many of the layoffs will hit there. The operation is not likely large — the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland hadn't heard of it and state economic development officials could find no record of it. Revlon has not sent state regulators a layoff-warning notice, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said.

Just as the critical Christmas shopping season was shifting into high gear in 1988, Louis R. Weinstein got some of the worst news of his career.The computer system for The Cosmetic Center, a discount retailer and wholesaler that he had started in his kitchen nearly 30 years earlier, crashed.The Savage-based chain couldn't track purchases at its nine stores, or ship popular items in timely fashion. Orders from longtime wholesale customers backed up, too.Sales nose-dived. Profits plunged. And following the financial chaos, Mr. Weinstein wiped out the entire management team, purging six executives.

A growing number of people looking for less invasive procedures than plastic surgery or Botox injections to do away with wrinkles and sagging jawlines are turning to the ancient Chinese-rooted practice of acupuncture. And they are starting to come to Laurel's Main Street for the treatment. Since late 2011, acupuncturist Janet Young, of Laurel, has offered facial rejuvenation treatments at the Neighborhood Acupuncture center in the 300 block of Main Street. A master's-degree graduate of the Tai Sophia Institute in North Laurel, Young said using acupuncture to slow the aging process is not a quick fix like Botox, which relaxes the muscles and provides immediate results, but it does work.