Blog

Discount Pricing for Cosmetic Plastic Surgery

A day doesn’t go by in my practice where I don’t get requests for discount pricing for some elective cosmetic plastic surgery procedure. Whether it be by phone, e-mail, internet inquiry, or in a face-to-face meeting with a patient or a chance encounter out in public, the requests to do something for ‘free’ or Read More…

Non-Surgical Rhinoplasty Using Injectable Fillers

Infrequently, I will get a request for a ‘non-surgical rhinoplasty’, otherwise known as the use of injectable fillers to plump up certain areas of the nose. Injection of any of the commerically-available fillers such as Restylane, Juvaderm, Radiesse, or Artefill into a low-lying bridge area of the nose can certainly be done. This treatment Read More…

Plastic Surgery for Career Advancement

I got a call yesterday from a news agency from the East Coast who was doing a story on patients who undergo plastic surgery procedures for career concerns/advancement. Over the years, I have had a few patients who openly stated so although I suspect many more of my patients have had surgery for that reason Read More…

Injectable Spa or Home Parties – Are They A Good idea?

I recently had a patient who came to see me to get lipodissolve treatments. She stated that she was a perfect candidate for it. When I asked how she knew that, she said she had been injected last month at a party at one of her friend’s spa. Out of curiosity I queried further Read More…

What To Do With That Aging Neck

While there are many changes that occur in the face as we age, one of the most bothersome to many patients is the changes that occur in the neck. Progessive fullness of the neck, loose sagging skin, the development of vertical banding, the numerous horizontal wrinkles that appear low in the neck and the Read More…

The Unrecognizeable Problem in Plastic Surgery

I have come to learn over the years of a patient phenomenon of what I call…the unrecognizeable problem. While it is not quite that common for major surgical issues, it has become more evident in minor plastic surgery procedures and, in particular, with all of the new injectable treatments that now exist. It is when the Read More…

Risks of Plastic Surgery in the HIV/AIDS Patient

I have seen numerous patients over the years who are positive with the HIV virus, otherwise known as the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and probably some that had the virus but it was unknown to them or they did not disclose it. Thesd patients fall into two categories of procedural requests; those patients seeking typical Read More…

Cheek Implants and Fat Grafting for Facial Lipoatrophy

Facial lipoatrophy, sometimes referred to as facial wasting, is the loss of fat in the face usually in the cheek and temple areas. It is not necessarily loss of fat in all cases, in some it is simply that it was never there to start. It really represents a failure of adequate development of Read More…

Smoking and Plastic Surgery

Amongst the many adverse effects of smoking on the body is its detrimental impact on wound healing. This phenomenon has been recognized since the late 1970s when a correlation between smoking and an increased risk of wound problems in surgery was established. This is quite important in plastic surgery where large skin flaps area Read More…

Statistical Trends in Plastic Surgery

In the most recent copy of the Plastic Surgery News, the statistics for procedures were reported for 2007. The total number of cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were not really different from 2006 with more than 1.8 million procedures performed for 2007. The top five cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were breast augmentation (348,000, + 6% Read More…