High quality women s reproductive health services

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Established in 1979, American Women's Services is proud to lead the way in setting a standard for women’s healthcare. We are fully committed to providing proficient, excellent women's reproductive health services in a professional, caring, and compassionate manner. AWS has locations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia Beach. We are able to provide the best care because of the extensive knowledge and experience that our doctors, health care teams and administration bring to their work. Our services are provided in private office settings to assure confidentiality and individual support for each woman.

Our services include:
• Abortion Services
• Gynecological Services
• Emergency Contraception
• STD and HIV Testing

We provide current and safe abortion services and specialize in non-surgical and surgical abortion. We also have full range of gynecology services including emergency contraception, prescriptions for contraception, diaphragm fittings, IUD/IUS placement, and tubal occlusion. American Women’s Services is an expert, service-oriented women's healthcare organization that respects women’s health care choices.

Our AWS physicians are experienced healthcare providers who are devoted to providing quality reproductive health care services for women. Our health care teams work in collaboration with the doctors in each office to ensure that every woman receives the information and counseling necessary to make important reproductive health care decisions. We strive to make every patient’s experience as personalized and smooth as possible.

For more information on our services or to schedule an appointment, please call us toll-free, at 1-888-ABORTION , 24 hours a day to speak with one of our professionals who can answer your questions and make an appointment for you.

Shape great looking eyebrows with tweezers

Tweezing is the most inexpensive way to remove unwanted hair. A pair of Tweezers will cost between two to five dollars, but the effect of a well shaped eyebrow through tweezing can be very astounding. Your eyebrow’s shape should go along with your brow bone’s natural line. The arch should come out to be the highest at the pupil’s outer corner. To know exactly where the brow should start, align a pencil straight up from the inner corner of the eye. To know where it exactly should it end, a pencil, held diagonally from the outer corner of the eye to the brow bone can help. The very first time you pluck your eyebrows, it could be painful. But after two or three sessions, you feel almost nothing. Eyebrows shape should have an arch. Ideally, it should be over the iris of the eye. Be careful not to overdo it; it should come out natural and conforms with your eye.

1. How To Pluck Eyebrows:

- Look and study your brows in the mirror.

- Pluck when your pores are open. Do your eyebrows immediately after a shower, or apply warm compress to your brow area to open up the pores. This will help in minimizing the pain that plucking can create.

- Apply a baby’s teething pain preparation. If you are plucking your eyebrows for the first time, it will be helpful to apply a baby’s teething gel, to numb the are so you can pluck with comfort.

- Be certain that there is enough natural light available in the room.

- Use a pair of tweezers that you can handle easily. Test that it can grip the hairs well, so it can pull the hair from the roots well, without slipping every time you pluck.

- Soften the hairs with a skin conditioner or moisturizer, so hairs can slide out easily.

- Brush the brows upward so you can see your natural arch and shape your brows from there.

- From time to time, stand back, take a few steps away from the mirror and examine your brows.

- Be conscious always of your eye’s natural shape. Don’t make a super arch if that is not naturally you. It will be very obvious and will give you a funny look. Make the arch as natural as possible.

- With an eye pencil, draw first the desired shape of your eyebrows before you start plucking.

- Focus your plucking on the stray hairs first. These are usually finer and will not be as painful to pluck. Also, they won’t give as much attention, in case you make a mistake.

- Note that you should only pluck the hairs at the bottom side of your brow. Never pluck the hairs at the top.

- First tweeze under the brow and pluck in the direction of the growth of the hair.

- Be sure to pull hair one at a time and close to the root.

- With your thumb and first finger, stretch the skin area tightly so you avoid pinching the skin, which can be painful.

- Comb the brows upward, using your eyelash comb, and trim off any hair extending beyond the brow bone.

- When finished, pat with tea bags to soothe the area.

2. Don'ts Of Eyebrow Plucking!

- Don’t pluck after you have applied lotion to your face. Plucking will open up your pores; lotion may instantly go in the skin and can contaminate it.

- Don’t use electric tweezers. It can be very dangerous.

- Don’t use tweezers for pulling out nose hairs.

- Don’t use alcohol after plucking, as this can irritate the eyes.

- Don’t dye your eyebrows, not only that it can cause severe eye irritation, it could also look bad.

- Don’t soak your tweezers in detergents or in plain water.

3. Tweezer Care:

- Always disinfect it with alcohol before and after each use.

- Always place a cap to protect the tips of your tweezers.

- Be careful not to drop the tweezers as this can dull and miss align the tip.

4. Choosing Tweezers:

When just starting, it will be wise to buy at least four tweezers of different materials, such as stainless steel, copper or plastic coated, so that you will know which ones will quickly tarnish. Stainless steel also do come in different grades. Note that the price of the tweezers does not affect its quality. Both expensive and affordable ones, performance wise, may have the same grip and the same tip that can function well. However, those with high quality materials will cost more, such as a high grade stainless steel. Pay attention to the tip of the tweezers; it should have a wide surface so that it can grip well. Test it to make sure it does the job. Whatever size of tweezers you choose, long, short, wide or narrow, it really depends on your own preference, on which tweezers you can handle best.

How much weight should you gain during pregnancy

If you're pregnant, you're very likely concerned about the amount of weight you're gaining, the effect it has on your body, even how difficult it will be to take off after your pregnancy. Your OB/GYN or midwife is your best source of advice about healthy weight gain during pregnancy, but there are general guidelines.

Depending on your weight at the start of your pregnancy, your doctor may tell you that a healthy weight gain for you is anywhere between 15 and 40 pounds. If you're underweight to start (a BMI of less than 18.5), 25 to 40 pounds is a reasonable weight gain during pregnancy. If you're overweight, he or she may suggest you stick closer to 15 to 25 pounds. Of that weight, 6 to 8 pounds of it is the baby. The rest is amniotic fluid, extra tissue and blood to nourish the baby (including the placenta), and the increased size of your breasts and placenta. You'll lose as much as 15 pounds of it WITH the birth (amniotic fluid, placenta and baby).

Any doctor will tell you that pregnancy is NOT the time to go on a diet. Your body AND your baby need the nutrients of an adequate, balanced diet to keep you both healthy. This doesn't mean that you should throw all your restraint to the winds and 'eat for two', though. Your body needs approximately an extra 300 calories a day to build a healthy baby. Those 300 calories should come from the same healthy variety of foods that your normal diet gives you. (You were eating a healthy, balanced diet, weren't you? If not, pregnancy is a great time to start.)

You can expect to gain weight along a fairly predictable pattern. In the first three months, you'll gain 2-4 pounds altogether. During the second trimester, you can expect to gain between 3-4 pounds a month (about a pound per week). During the last three months, you'll gain an additional 8-10 pounds. Your doctor or midwife will weigh you regularly, and may express concern over a deviation from this pattern. A sudden sharp weight gain, for instance, can indicate pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes.

If your doctor advises you to try to limit your weight gain during your pregnancy, be sure to choose a healthy diet that provides all the necessary daily requirements for vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Remember that a 'diet' during pregnancy isn't meant to help you LOSE weight, but rather to limit the amount of weight gained.

Regular exercise is also good for both you and your baby. You can maintain most of your daily activities, and if regular workouts were a part of your daily routine, then by all means keep them up. You'll feel better, and your body will be less likely to protest the extra weight with aches and pains. Do keep in mind that exercise during pregnancy shouldn't be overly strenuous, and that you should avoid activities with a risk of falling or injury. Also remember that your center of balance is different - it may feel awkward to do the things you usually do while you're carrying your little bundle of joy.

For specifics with regard to your own situation, speak with your doctor or midwife. If you're concerned about gaining weight, or feel that you're gaining too much, you can ask for a consultation with a nutritionist to help you design a healthy eating plan that will make sure the baby is well-nourished, and your concerns about your weight are met.

Why do stretch marks form

Inevitably, no matter how beautiful your skin may be today, you will develop stretch marks. Although painless, stretch marks are both unsightly and a potential source of embarrassment. For the most part, you are stuck with stretch marks unless you opt for expensive laser therapy or perhaps dermabrasion. But why exactly do stretch marks form in the first place?

Your skin is made up of 3 layers. The outer layer is known as the epidermis and its main purpose is to prevent foreign agents from invading your body. The second layer is the dermis and it is comprised of collagen and elastic fibers which combine to give your skin its smooth appearance. The last layer is called the hypodermis and it is mostly made up of fat and various tissues.

Stretch marks, also known as stria atrophica, form in the dermis layer of your skin. In fact, stretch marks are literally tears in the dermis. Now stretch marks should not be confused with scars, although they do appear quite similar when looking at them. Scars are made of fibrotic tissue which is simply not present in stretch marks.

As stated earlier, the dermis produces elastic fibers. These special fibers are what allows your skin to stretch—basically, they give the skin its elasticity. Stretch marks form when the skin grows faster than the elastic fibers can handle. Rapid growth weakens a skin’s elasticity and can actually break the connective fibers holding it together.

Now it is possible for stretch marks to form even when rapid growth is not present. This happens generally because of poor diet. Improper nutrition will deprive the body of the raw materials it needs to maintain healthy, elastic skin. Smoking is another factor that may cause stretch marks because it will also cause the skin’s elasticity to weaken. However, some growth will be necessary for stretch marks to form even when poor nutrition or smoking are factors.

Stretch marks are very common problems associated with pregnancy because this is a period of rapid growth for women. Any period of rapid weight gain will most likely be accompanied by stretch marks and they are common factors in obesity. However, it is possible for heredity to be a factor as some people have proven more prone to stretch marks than others.

The discoloring present with new stretch marks will eventually fade. Eventually, a stretch mark will appear almost identical to a scar. However, as stated earlier, stretch marks and scars are very different phenomena and caused by very different factors.

So, while stretch marks can be embarrassing and unsightly at first, the fact remains that they are painless. Many of us acquire these unsightly stretch marks as we lose our baby fat and enter into puberty and a period of rapid growth. Therefore, they are nothing to be overly self-conscious about because we all end up with them at some point. The best defense against stretch marks is eating a healthy, well-balanced diet which should keep the skin healthy and prevent periods of rapid weight gain.