Plastic Surgery

Proper skin care is essential to maintain a youthful look. Excessive sun exposure and smoking can create premature aging as seen with loss of elasticity of the skin, thinning of the top layer (epidermis) and loss of the organization of the collagen layer of the deeper part of the skin. I compare good skin care to brushing your teeth daily, eating good food and exercising regularly. You need to get into healthy routines and not expect to just go in once a year to get your skin buffed or teeth cleaned. Proper cleansing, exfoliation, moisturizing and sun protection are essential.

This is the time of year that I see many patients for liposuction. As the weather starts to get better, the patients want to start trying on summer clothing. It is almost as if the plastic surgery business parallels the clothing industry! When the spring collection comes out, so do the patients looking for body contouring. The best thing for interested patients to do is beat the rush. Most plastic surgeons get busy in the spring, so if you are interested in shaping up for the summer, better get that appointment for a liposuction consultation soon.

Today I had the opportunity to use the ON-Q Pain Buster unit on 2 patients. This was the third and fourth patients that I have used it on. The ON-Q Pain Buster unit is a continuous infusion pump that instills a dilute amount of anesthetic (marcaine) into the tissues of the surgical site that helps with post operative pain. I have used the pump for 2 other abdominoplasty patients, both of which had significantly less pain than the average patient. To be clear however, there is a great amount of variability of post op pain among patients. Let’s face it, some patients are more sensitive to pain than others, but my brief experience with the ON-Q pain pump compares well with the experience of others practitioners. It is easy for my patients to use, there are no adjustments for the patient, they just carry the ‘bulb’ filled with the anesthetic solution. The abdominoplasty patients typically have drains in place anyway, so wearing this pump and small tubing does not seem to be a problem. On my previous patients, I removed the pump the same day that I removed the drains, which is typically about the time that the pain is decreasing and they need less pain control. For more information about the pump, you can go to www.AskYourSurgeon.com

Today I saw a patient, who started the consultation with a story about how he has had marital problems, his grandaughter was upset with him and he has been depressed about several other items. I spent some time discussing his plastic surgery needs, but ultimately I explained that plastic surgery will make him feel better about himself, but it will not solve all his problems. Sometimes I feel that the best service I can offer to someone with these issues is the feeling of hope that they can focus on themselves and help themselves look better and feel better, without the use of plastic surgery. These patients are not only grateful, but they often acheive better end results by improving self esteem and better health, which is more important that any surgical changes I can offer.

Rhinoplasty is a procedure to change the outside appearance of the nose. A thorough evaluation and examination of the nose along with the facial features will allow the surgeon to best design the future shape of the nose to balance with the rest of the face. I often have patients bring in photos of celebrity’s noses that they would like to look like, but that particular nose may not fit their face! The height, width and shape of the nose is important as well as the thickness of the skin. In addition, good balance of the nose can be achieved with the addition of volume in select areas that need to be built up, and remove bone and cartilage from areas that have too much. The best results in rhinoplasty, (and most plastic surgery procedures in my opinion), is when the final result has a natural look to it that fits the face. Board certified Plastic Surgeons understand this concept and strive to achieve balance in their surgeries. Obvious plastic surgery is never good plastic surgery.

Patients that come in to my practice often desire body contouring procedures and typically have some weight problems. My discussion usually focuses on the looking at one’s lifestyle to adjust daily habits. I had a patient that made a change to her daily breakfast habit from eating a bowl of cheerios (high glycemic food) with whole milk, to a high fiber type of cereal (kashi) with skim milk. With this change, she was able to lose 5 pounds in one month. this doesn’t seem like alot, but consider that she had to make minimal adjustments to her lifestyle and was able to improve her body and health! She later began a more inclusive dietary adjustment and exercise routine and lost over 60 pounds in one year. Not to mention, she has more energy, sleeps better and awakes in the morning more refreshed. We were able to perform minor liposuction to complete the contouring she desired.

Patients often ask me if they are ready for plastic surgery. My response, if there is something that is bothering them about the way they look, they should consider doing something about it. By seeing a board certified plastic surgeon, an individual will get professional advice on what is best for them. I often will refer my patients to the American Society of Plastic Surgery (www.plasticsurgery.org), where individuals can get plenty of information about various procedures, both surgical and non-surgical, as well as a search to locate a doctor in their community. I will post information on this site which will assist individuals in not only learning about the field of plastic surgery, but discovering whether a procedure is right for them.