Category Archives: Press Articles

  • 04 Aug 2024
    344 views

    The big, fat cholesterol debate

    This is probably not the most “original” topic I have ever written about, but for the sake of public “health and safety”, it is one that should probably be revisited, especially considering the number of younger patients I have seen with elevated cholesterol levels. The first question that is always asked by these younger patients Read More

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  • 04 Aug 2024
    346 views

    Restoring the true spirit of the family doctor

    In recent years, the mainstream media has portrayed GPs as harassed, harangued and over-worked individuals … often frustrated and tired, with little empathy or initiative to provide the best care for their patients. The bureaucratic, and in many ways restrictive national health systems, also appear to further fuel this growing divide between what patients expect Read More

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  • 04 Aug 2024
    340 views

    Resolving to be resolute

    So here we go once again! 2024 … New year, new resolutions. Let me see a show of hands who made them? And who has managed to stick to them so far? Well, don’t feel alone or discouraged if your planned resolution efforts have significantly reduced by now. According to Medscape, a study of health Read More

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  • 04 Aug 2024
    347 views

    The disease of “a thousand names” …

    Every century has had a name for it. Thomas Sydenham, in the 17th century, called it Muscular Rheumatism; in the 18th century, a new name emerged, Febricula, coined by Sir Richard Manningham; and in the 19th century, a more “medical” name was developed of Neuromyasthenia. In our century, each decade has had a name – M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) Read More

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  • 04 Aug 2024
    350 views

    Up in smoke…

    Smoking. A word, an action and a habit that has in recent years become the pariah of modern society, although smoking tobacco has not always been seen that way. From the millennia-old cultural custom of the sharing of a peace pipe, to the modern-day bleary-eyed, worse-for-wear sharing of a cigarette outside a club or bar, Read More

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  • 04 Aug 2024
    349 views

    Vitamin D – the sunshine vitamin

    There has been a question which a large proportion of my patients have been asking with an ever-growing frequency, and that is “How can my vitamin D be low if I am living in such a sunny climate?” A bit of a conundrum, yes? After all, it is the vitamin that we get from the Read More

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  • 04 Aug 2024
    335 views

    The story of life … and lemons

    We all know the phrase “when life throws you lemons, make lemonade”. But what if we don’t feel like making that lemonade? What if all we want to do is take that bag of lemons and beat the living daylights out of “life”, or better still, take that bag and barter it for that one Read More

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  • 04 Aug 2024
    449 views

    Telemedicine – beyond the confinement of the pandemic

    In our current world of instant and endless access to multiple sources of medical information, it is easy to think that we can all self-diagnose our ailments through a simple ‘Dr Google’ search. But can we really? Can we really replace the clinical experience of a physician with a simple algorithm? Can we afford to Read More

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  • 04 Aug 2024
    361 views

    Dra. Lisa Buddrus

    Dra. Lisa Buddrus is a specialist in Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, graduated at the University of Hamburg, with 15 years of experience and is part of the Luzdoc – International Medical Service team. Dr Lisas’s clinical activity focuses on “offering a holistic approach to orthopedic medicine with a focus on a thorough diagnosis and different Read More

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  • 20 Mar 2023
    7,894 views

    TO TOX OR NOT TO TOX … AND WHICH TOX IS RIGHT FOR ME?

    THE FULL LOWDOWN ON WRINKLE SMOOTHING TOXINS It has recently come to my attention that there is STILL a lot of misinformation regarding Botulinum Toxins being propagated by supposed “experts” in the field of aesthetics. Hence the decision to get the latest and up-to-date scientific-based evidence regarding what has been the most popular non-invasive cosmetic Read More

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  • 27 Feb 2023
    10,476 views

    Excellence and innovation in health services for over 40 years

    Luzdoc, in Praia da Luz, has existed for the past 43 years under the leadership and guidance of our founder, Dr Maria Alice, who has overseen the constant growth of this company. They have always strived to diversify and introduce innovative, up-to-date medical services that would be beneficial to their client’s health. With this philosophy Read More

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  • 03 Jan 2023
    7,131 views

    Resistência Antimicrobiana… e NATAL!

    Os antimicrobianos que incluem antibióticos, antivirais, antifúngicos e antiparasíticos são medicamentos usados para prevenir e tratar infecções em humanos, outros animais e plantas. A resistência antimicrobiana acontece quando os germes, tais como bactérias e fungos, desenvolvem a capacidade de vencer os medicamentos adequados para os destruir e, como não morrem, continuam a desenvolver-se. A presença Read More

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  • 15 Dec 2022
    6,690 views

    IT IS CHRISTMAS… AGAIN

    It has arrived, once more. Unavoidable as always! Even without us noticing, it always comes, every year, every winter, impossible to stop it… but who would want to? To be realistic, even if it would be great, people and reality do not change just because it is Christmas. Christmas is traditionally seen as a magical Read More

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  • 04 Dec 2022
    3,264 views

    Antimicrobial resistance

    Antimicrobials, including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics, are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and plants. Antimicrobial resistance happens when germs like bacteria and fungi develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them and, as the germs are not killed, they continue to grow. As a consequence, there Read More

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  • 12 Oct 2022
    2,149 views

    COVID-19 – AND SO, LIFE GOES ON …

    It is now probably fair to say that most of the world is moving beyond the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic response. “The world has never been in a better position to end the pandemic. We are not there yet, but the end is in sight,” said the head of the World Health Organisation. Read More

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  • 07 Feb 2022
    6,492 views

    New Year, New “Things”???

    After 5 years from the first one, my second book was published… even with the Covid pandemic, the surge of the new variant Omicron, the thousands and thousands of people that are infected, in spite of this and in the middle of all this. The main interest of “writing” is to communicate, to inform, to Read More

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  • 09 Nov 2021
    3,992 views

    More than Covid

    It is about time the World realised that life… and health… is more than Covid. And it depends on individual behavior. The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world in such a strong unexpected way, that everything will have to be rethought. It has had a severe impact on economy, society, psychology, education and on general health, Read More

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  • 22 Aug 2021
    8,476 views

    FREEDOM

    I have always believed that one person’s freedom ends where another’s begins. Freedom is not a one meaning word, there are several meanings but two are very important at this moment, political and social freedom: the freedom of the individual in relation to other people and to the state. Personal freedom actually ends where another’s safety begins. Safety Read More

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  • 18 Aug 2021
    4,198 views

    SCIATICA – WHAT TO DO?

    Most of us have experienced some form of back pain, and everyone will, at least once in their lifetime. Keeping active and mobile will allow for such symptoms to resolve naturally, over the course of a few weeks or months. But what if they don’t? For example, sciatica is pain, or an altered sensation, starting Read More

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  • 18 Jul 2021
    3,073 views

    ARE WE NEAR TO THE END???

    At this point, the pandemic is far from being over. Trying to understand how the Covid-19 pandemic ends, scientists look to the past, trying to see the future. We are approaching one and a half years of the World’s actual pandemic and people, all over the world, are asking themselves the same questions: How will Read More

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  • 13 Jun 2021
    3,947 views

    BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY

    BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic has forced Governments around the world to implement severe restrictions on human activity in order to control the spread of the virus. Even so, more than three million people have died. The pandemic has impacted almost every little corner of life, severely affecting global economies, Read More

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  • 21 Mar 2021
    3,393 views

    Times have changed… but Luzdoc goes on!

    Times have changed… but Luzdoc goes on! By Business Focus Luzdoc have always recognised that the ‘art’ of medicine is forever changing. Since their inception they’ve constantly strive to deliver the best up-to-date medical care available, living up to the team philosophy, and thus helping clients to attain, through good general health, the best quality Read More

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  • 11 Oct 2020
    6,499 views

    FLU VACCINATION in the times of Covid-19 Pandemic

    The prospect of a flu season during the coronavirus pandemic is frightening to health experts. What disease are you most concerned about catching this Autumn? Probably not the flu! More likely, COVID-19 is the worry on your mind. But the flu season is coming soon. In the northern and southern hemispheres, influenza outbreaks occur mainly Read More

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  • 13 Aug 2020
    3,120 views

    After this, therefore because of this

    Most patients, confronted with an illness, ask the question, “Why?” “Why now?” Or… even more anxiously… “Why me?” Despite these questions, they may already have arrived at their own theory of causation, very often involving temporal sequence. When something especially beneficial or harmful occurs, we want to know what caused it. There is the idea that Read More

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  • 16 Jun 2020
    6,273 views

    IMPORTANT NEWS – LUZDOC/MEDILAGOS

    IMPORTANT NEWS – LUZDOC/MEDILAGOS Aesthetic MedicineWE ARE BACK! These are extraordinary times we are living through, but we must adjust to a new “normal” with a new set of behavioral rules and health safety precautions. But we still want to help you to LOOK AND FEEL BETTER in the face of our current reality! With Read More

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  • 06 Feb 2018
    5,525 views

    New Year

    New Year… New Health??? Every new year we set about making New Year’s resolutions. Usually they are related to our physical health, going on a diet, joining a gym or drinking less. But what about our mental health? Stop silly resolutions A lot of people make strict and prohibitive New Year’s plans to lose weight, Read More

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  • 23 Oct 2017
    8,208 views

    Earwax!

    This is a very “popular” health issue amongst our clients and we generally have to reassure them that excess earwax is not as a result of poor hygiene!!! Also known as cerumen, it is a yellowish waxy material 60% of which is keratin, a protein from shed layers of cells from the skin lining. The Read More

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  • 26 Sep 2017
    7,440 views

    The Digestive System: Pharynx and Oesophagus

    So you have chewed your food into a bolus – what next? The pharynx (throat), a funnel shaped tube connected to the back of the mouth, receives the bolus and is responsible for passing it onto the oesophagus. When we swallow various mechanisms come in to play! Food is squeezed into the pharynx by the Read More

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  • 21 Aug 2017
    6,608 views

    The Truth About… Statins

    I have recently read, in a very well-known Portuguese newspaper, an article on the use of Statins, by a Portuguese Cardiology Professor, Dr. Fausto Pinto, who was the President of the European Society of Cardiology. Today, as I was thinking about a subject to write about, pop into my mind. As the Professor says… why Read More

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  • 15 Jun 2017
    6,072 views

    The Art of Ageing (dis)gracefully

    INTRODUCTORY NOTE:  Aesthetic Medicine, including the relevant aspect of Skin Agin, is becoming, each day, more important as HEALTH is considered as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. All of us, at Luzdoc, would like to to congratulate Dr. Joanna Karamon for having recently Read More

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  • 25 Apr 2017
    7,190 views

    The Denial… of Science!

    Do you believe in science? When you have people who do not know much about science and stand in denial of science that is a recipe for the dismantling of an informed society. Neil de Grasse Tyson, an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator, said that when he grew up, people relied on science to Read More

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  • 05 Mar 2017
    13,047 views

    The Importance of Occupational Health.

    Since Luzdoc came into being, more than 30 years ago, we have provided our clients with a personalised medical service of quality. In this context our Occupational Health services answer the needs and specificity of the business sector. Regardless of the obligatory nature of occupational health which our laws impose, the benefits of investing in Read More

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  • 18 Apr 2014
    9,664 views

    Is Prevention better than Cure?

    Please do not start thinking that you have heard enough about this prevention “thing”. So many times, that you do not need to read anything else about it, you know it all. Right, but definitely wrong. Wrong because most people might have heard all about prevention but, knowing is not enough, one needs to put Read More

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  • 18 Apr 2014
    10,053 views

    Blood Sucking

    BLOOD SUCKING, BLOOD LETTING …  AND THE QUEST FOR THE ELIXIR OF ETERNAL YOUTH Seems like all things vampire are all the rage at the moment; what with books and films like the “Twilight” series, TV programmes like “The Vampire Dairies” and “Trueblood” and now the latest catch phrase … the Vampire Facelift … but Read More

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  • 18 Apr 2014
    10,887 views

    The 10 Commandements of a Family Doctor

    It took me 10 years to realize that I actually enjoyed being a GP, or rather I finally recognized myself as having become a true Family Doctor. It was not an easy, believe me, it took a long time to get over the “inferiority complex” of having all of your Medical School friends  getting their Read More

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  • 18 Apr 2014
    15,953 views

    Man’s Best FrenemyMan’s Best Frenemy

    MAN’S BEST “FRENEMY”?? One of our members of staff just recently became the proud owner of a brand new puppy, courtesy of a now much loved other half. And the very next day, that same member of staff came in wailing and complaining about being cover in flea bites! Now we all know by now Read More

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  • 18 Apr 2014
    9,801 views

    Travel Medicine

    There are many things that you can do to prepare yourself and your family for travel. By being as prepared as you can be, you are setting yourself up for a great getaway that will minimize any unpleasant circumstances that sometimes arise with travel. The very first thing you must do is RESEARCH. You want to Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    20,935 views

    Nutritional Questions and Answers for Optimal Health

    Nutritional Therapy is the application of nutrition and health science to enable individuals to maximise their health potential.  It can also help alleviate a wide range of conditions and assist in the recovery from many ill-health situations.  SOME questions which may be apparent but previously people have not felt inclined to enquire about not realising Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    24,399 views

    Not Enough Time!

    Rush, rush, rush, rushing trough life is everybody’s problem (well, almost everybody). Even those who are not working seem to find a way of packing their days with “things to do” creating their own stress timetable as if they cannot resist being contaminated by the “rush virus”. It is pretty rare to hear someone say they Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    21,865 views

    Architecture, Urbanism and Health

    The World Health Day was celebrated on the 7th of April 2010 This year the World Health Organization has chosen as its theme “The influence of architecture and urbanism in health”. It could not be more pertinent. The habitation space is a very important health factor, both to promote it or to destroy it. It Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    24,323 views

    Health Concerns of a High Protein

    Protein is digested by enzymes situated in the upper part of the digestive tract only.  If there is an overload to these enzymes, undigested protein molecules reach the colon causing dysbiosis (A state of altered bacterial flora in the gut).  This putrefactive state can contribute to degenerative diseases later in life furthermore the undigested molecules Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    23,477 views

    A Life with a Purpose

    A Meaningful Life Protects Your Brain… And your Health A new study finds that having a higher purpose in life could protect against Alzheimer’s disease. A sense of higher purpose in life was found to be the most important psychosocial factor associated not only with less cognitive impairment and better psychological well-being, but also in Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    23,923 views

    Dr. Maria Alice

    Dr Maria Alice, the Managing Director of Luzdoc, was invited by Dr João Bacalhau, President of the Administration of the Hospital Particular do Algarve Group, to become one of the tree Directors in the Clinical Direction of the Group, which she has accepted with pleasure, as it is a return to a “friendly family” that, Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    24,094 views

    Influenza Virus

    1. INFLUENZA VIRUS: “THE FACTS OF LIFE” Influenza, commonly called “the flu,” is a viral illness that infects the respiratory tract of many animals, birds, and humans. It is divided into three types, namely A, B, and C. Furthermore, the differences between two specific proteins in the capsular wall of the influenza A virus provide Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    22,442 views

    Aging

    When I’ll get older, losing my hair… many years from now! What does it mean to grow older? During childhood, adolescence and young adulthood the typical “ambience” inside the mind is one of immortality and aging means nothing… it is not “your own thing”. Even though it’s a lifelong process it is not until the Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    23,455 views

    Silent Night

    Silent Night… Holy Night… Santa Claus is coming… to town… December is here again and, with it, all the usual joys of Christmas… There is a lot of confusion and controversy in people’s minds over the meaning of Christmas, in our personal lives and in the world. Yet only a few, if any, are willing Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    31,342 views

    Patient or Client?

    What do you prefer?…To be a patient… or a client? The word patient originally meant ‘one who suffers’, who has the “patience” to suffer. A patient is anyone who is ill or injured and in need of receiving medical attention, care, or treatment from a doctor or other medically educated person. Wrongly, there is the habit of Read More

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  • 29 Nov 2013
    24,475 views

    The Editorial – Travel Clinic

    With Dr Maria Alice Serrano e Silva at the helm since 1983, Luzdoc has continued to strive, on their clients’ behalf, to offer the best, most up to date services possible. One of these services is our new, dedicated Travel Medicine clinic, where we go through your whole itinerary, discuss relevant disease risks and advise Read More

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  • 26 Nov 2013
    20,957 views

    Treatment vs Cure

    TREATMENT vs CURE I am quite sure that I am not the first, last or the only doctor around who often gets very frustrated when they hear their patients saying “…but I felt better so I stopped taking them!”. Successful treatment of disease with prescription medicines requires consistent use of the medicines as prescribed. Yet Read More

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  • 19 Nov 2013
    10,742 views

    To Sue or not to Sue?

    TO SUE OR NOT TO SUE… the internet and liability A few days ago, a very interesting and rather thought-provoking article popped into my email inbox with the following title: “Chilling New Ways Patients are Suing Doctors”… hhhmm. The article was written in the context of the American  malpractice/liability landscape but it brought a couple Read More

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  • 15 Oct 2013
    11,048 views

    There’s a Rumbling in my Tummy

    THERE’S A RUMBLING IN MY TUMMY!!! On the 15 May 2012, the British Dietetic Association issued new evidence-based guidelines for the dietary management of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) in adults which I found most interesting. So I thought that as we come into summer and a lot of our eating habits change to accommodate the Read More

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