Dr. Rose's Blog

Dr. Frankenstein 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:34:01 PST

Bizarre but true: plastic surgeon married a woman he didn't love and didn't find attractive but thought had "potential." He performed 8 operations and injected 1000's of dollars worth of botox and fillers to transform her into his ideal woman.

"Only AFTER £18,000 of cosmetic surgery did Reza, 48, fall in love with her."

Here are Before and After shots of her from topix.com. These images show how subjective our perception of beauty is because I don't find her transformation very attractive. And yet she was "created" to her husband's specifications. I'd like to see her face a little softer and prettier with less emphasis on the fake lips.

Her body is extremely toned and fit-looking but the massive breast implants make each breast bigger than her head. The doctor obviously has a comic book aesthetic.

And of course, the whole idea of their relationship seems pathological. Imagine marrying someone who didn't love you and wasn't attracted to you? Actually, I can't imagine it. And he says he loves her now that he has transformed her?!? I'm sorry but that isn't love; that's pride in creation.

Comic book girl superhero image from Comic Vine. Right hand image from http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26298019-5013016,00.html.

The original story appeared in British tabloid The Sun.

Returning to beauty and confidence

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:32:47 PDT

This is a very personal story for me. It's about my sister Nicola who is 5 years older than me. We both agreed that we would share her story in order to help others.

A few years ago, her life seemed to be on a downward spiral. She'd reached the point where she felt she had lost her looks -- makeup didn't seem to be working any more -- her face was perpetually sad, even when she was trying to smile -- and she was overweight and suffering a lot in her health.

This Before picture was taken in October 2007 after she had started having a few treatments here (she didn't allow herself to be photographed before that) but you can still see the bleakness she was feeling. She didn't make much effort with her appearance because she thought it was futile.

From a cosmetic perspective, I see volume loss in the lips, and sagging of existing volume so her eyelids are heavy and her cheeks are most prominent down at the level of her mouth. You may not see it well in this picture but she has a very uneven skin tone with dark pigment around her eyes and mouth and on her neck.

In the past 2 years, Nicola has undergone a few treatments -- generally when we needed someone to practice on as various staff were trained. She might get something done every 4 months or so -- I don't want you to think that she was getting botox and pixel laser treatments every week or even every month.

Now take a look at Nicola today. You'll immediately notice that her hair style is more flattering and that she has lost weight. I would argue that she made more effort with her hair and she had success with losing weight because she was feeling better about herself.

If we look in detail at her face, you can see a huge improvement in her eyelids. See how crepey the lids were in the Before shot? Her left eyelid was touching her eyelashes. Today she has contoured lids with lots of lid show. We tightened the skin of her lids by doing some Pixel laser and lifted the brows with Botox.

Look at her cheeks. See how the fullness has been lifted from where it was, down at the level of her mouth, up to the apples of her cheeks? The whole shape of her face is changed with an overall appearance of uplift, improving the jowls and jawline. Nicola had a SoftLift in August with Juvederm placed in her cheeks and in the marionette lines extending down from the corners of her mouth.

Of course, Nicola mouth looks bigger. Part of her SoftLift included augmenting her lips with Juvederm. Nicola and I both have thin upper lips that tend to disappear when we smile so we both like the way the lips augmentation prevents that.

The other thing we noticed is that the scar on Nicola's nose across the bridge has improved. This wasn't something that we actively treated. Nicola always looked on the scar as a symbol of surviving a near-fatal accident so she never asked to have it erased. However you can see how much it has smoothed out in the course of using medical grade skincare from Vivier and having Pixel laser treatments.

Another point to make about these 2 photos: Nicola was trying to make the same facial expression in both -- her pleasant expression. In the bad old days, every line in her face was downturned -- brows, outer corners of eyes, corners of mouth -- so her pleasant expression looked angry and sad. Now that those downturned lines are gone, she looks alert and positive even without a smile on her face.

These pictures show that you can get your face back without surgery, without having a surgical facelift. Nicola had a combination of non-surgical treatments including excellent skincare products, Pixel laser, IPL photofacial, injection lipolysis, Juvederm and Botox.

It took time for Nicola to achieve this level of improvement. However when you have gotten to the point that you think that the rest of your life is a downward spiral, how wonderful to see yourself improving month by month, instead of declining.

And this brings me to my final point: looking better makes you feel better about yourself. When you start seeing some improvement in yourself, you're more energized to do other things that will make positive changes in your life.

The path back to feeling positive and confident will be different for different people. If you're having trouble finding your path, start with your appearance.

Now is the time to erase signs of sun damage

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:54:16 PDT

Now that cooler temperatures have arrived and the sun has slipped behind clouds, our tans are fading. Our winter skin is showing all of the after-effects of the sun-brightened skin that we enjoyed in the summer.

When you look in the mirror, you're probably not seeing a smooth bright even-toned complexion.

You're probably seeing brown spots -- sun spots -- known by the medical term solar lentigos. Sun spots foreshadow worse damage to come in the future. And they contribute to aging your appearance now.

You may be seeing redness, ranging from a diffuse flush to patches of broken capillaries.

The surface texture of your skin is likely to be roughened. My skin used to be so rough from sun damage that I gave up on wearing makeup because it looked mealy on my skin. I needed foundation to even out my blotchy skintone but I couldn't get it to go on properly.

And of course, we can thank the sun for many of the wrinkles and lines on our face -- both from squinting against the sun and also from damage to the collagen and elastin in our skin leading to the network of fine lines that we see as we age.

When someone comes to see me about sun damage, my recommendations depend on the individual's age, goals and budget, as well as the company that the sun damage is keeping.

So the basic treatment that addresses specifically the brown sun spots is the Intense Pulsed Light treatment (IPL), also known as the photofacial. By strict definitions, this is not a laser although many people refer to it as such.

In the upcoming series of articles, I will address sun damage and the factors that influence my recommendations for treatment. Depending on the situation, I might recommend skincare alone, chemical peels, or fractionated laser or any combination of these treatments, with or without IPL.

There's method in my madness and I'm trying to tailor the treatment to best suit the individual.

Fix droopy eyelids without surgery

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:39:57 PDT

We often think of droopy lids as simply a cosmetic problem, but for sufferers they are more.

Not only do they have to put up with constant inquiries about their sleeping habits and apparent lack of energy, the lids actually press on the eyelids making the eyes themselves tired.

Nicola, our Director of Business Development is a case in point.

When she started working here in November her eyes were quite hooded (before picture, upper right). Since then she has had several pixel treatments and each time she is more and more thrilled with the lift she has regained (after picture, below).

"Instead of falling down like a curtain, my lids are following the contour of my brow bone. I look brighter, can apply my make up easier and best of all I don't suffer from the constant pressing on my eye balls that made it hard to work at the computer."

If you've been thinking about doing something with your lids, now is the perfect time to try out a Pixel treatment as part of our Summer Tasting Menu.

With little downtime and far less risk and cost than surgery it might be just the solution to your hooded lids.

This article is reprinted from our newsletter of July 2, 2009. Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking on the big pink button in the upper right hand corner.

Latest trends in bikini grooming from Europe

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:42:41 PDT

A lot of my bikini hair removal clients are still asking for a brazilian, meaning everything off.

That's why I was interested to read on this Irish blog that more and more European women are choosing a well-groomed triangle rather than baring all.

The latest stats for Harley Medical’s Dublin clinic reveal that eight out of ten gals getting laser hair removal for their bikini line now prefer a little more coverage - a classic V-shape, to be precise. And why is it called the Sicilian? Well, that’d be to do with the fact that its shaped like the home of the Mafia, fact fans.

I saw the same trend on La Mom, the blog of an American woman in Paris.

Both articles are pretty cute and the comments are hilarious.

It will be interesting to see if North American women continue to prefer the brazilian or make the switch to the "classic T."

Older job seekers: Make your age a non-issue

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:22:24 PDT

If you're jobless and aged over 55 years, you're probably having a difficult time being considered for a new job, let alone actually getting it.

The US Department of Labor's statistics published in June show that unemployment rates for those over 55 are the highest they've been since 1948, 7%. And older workers remain jobless for far longer than younger workers.

...unemployed workers 55 or older were jobless an average of nearly 30 weeks, compared with about 21 weeks for those under 55. That gap has widened during the recession: In 2006, it averaged only six weeks.

The prejudices that younger supervisors have against older employees include the fear that the worker is more likely to injure himself on the job, for instance by falling, more likely to require more sicktime and less likely to have new ideas or be up on new technology.

Many job-seekers are adjusting their resumes to exclude dates, and sometimes cutting out certain experience or qualifications that indicates age or over-qualification.

Another strategy is to erase some of the signs of aging in the face so the interviewer will accept you as 10 or 20 years younger than your actual age.

In our recent 10 Years Younger in Burlington program, we performed a variety of treatments to reduce signs of aging all on the same day on the winner and 4 runners-up.

Each treatment requires some healing time before you see the final results so doing all of the treatments on the same day meant that everything had healed 1 week later. All of the ladies who underwent the treatments felt that it was very tolerable to have light and laser treatments as well as Botox and Juvederm injections on the same day.

You can see the results for each one by clicking on their links: Margaret, Celeste, Kathy M, Kathy P and Christine.

For all the male job seekers out there, don't be put off that these stories are all about women. I have written about how celebrities are getting laser and filler treatments to stay looking young here and here, and I have also shown how restoring the cheeks can take 10 - 20 years off a man's face here.

The approach to the male face has to be quite different from the female face to avoid feminizing the features. My techniques for men are all directed at keeping you looking masculine, handsome and ageless.

I strongly urge you to come and see me at Advanced Rejuvenation so we can talk about your specific issues and the best treatments to make you look younger and more vital. Call 905-340-0401 for an appointment.

Joan Rivers, can we talk?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:26:22 PDT

I've been meaning to write about Joan Rivers for a long while now but, frankly, I had trouble finding a good quality photo of her before she had any plastic surgery done.

Joan is an excellent model for showing how our ideas about cosmetic medicine and surgery have changed over the years.

In the photo on the left above, Joan is in her early 50s and already had a facelift. Joan's now 76, so this was taken around 25 years ago, before Botox and hyaluronic acid fillers were available though collagen injections were available then. In a classic facelift, lax facial muscles were cut and shortened to tighten them up and excess skin was cut out and the remainder pulled tighter over the framework of the face.

With a classic facelift, you get the very high brows and the tight skin of the lower face. Her hairline appears well behind the ears and her eyes pull into a bit of a slant. It looks like the framework of her facial bones has the skin stretched taut over it.

This photo (right) shows Joan before the facelift. You can see that her brows were lower and drooping at the outer ends. Her lower face was fuller with the fullest part of her cheek was down near the level of her upper lip.

So, comparing these photos of Joan Rivers in her 40s and 50s, we can see that in earlier years, the thinking in plastic surgery circles about reversing signs of aging was all about tightening.

The more recent photo of Joan (top right) shows that our new ideas about looking younger are all about volumizing.

As we age, everything shrinks -- the bones and muscles of the face. The skin loses collagen and elastin and becomes thinner and more lax. The fat pads in the face shrink and move downwards -- that's why Joan's cheeks were fullest at the level of her upper lip in the earliest photo.

In the most recent photo of Joan, her cheeks are fuller than they were after the facelift. This is probably from injections of dermal fillers like Juvederm or Teosyal. The cheeks can also be volumized with Sculptra.

Her jaw is wider. They have built up the jaw either with surgical implants or filler or Sculptra.

Her nose looks smaller. I suspect that this is because the tissues around the nose have been revolumized rather than another nose job.

As we age, our noses appear to get bigger because the tissues around them are receding. When I do a Sculptra treatment, I make sure to restore the tissues around the nose so the nose goes back into proportion. I explain this idea in more depth with photos here.

She has dermal fillers like Juvederm or Teosyal in her lips to keep them looking soft and full, and in the lines from nose to mouth and mouth to jawline building up the tissues in this area and making them look more youthful.

In a lot of ways, Joan Rivers looks softer and more youthful now than she did 25 years ago. Sadly, she will always have the stretched-taut appearance of her brows and eyes from the earlier plastic surgery.

The stars who are hitting their 40s now are avoiding the characteristic facelift appearance by keeping the skin tight with fractionated laser treatments like our Pixel and maintaining the volume in their face with injectables.

In this day and age, you really don't need a facelift to look younger and better.

This article is reprinted from our newsletter of March 23, 2009. To subscribe, click on the big pink button in the upper right-hand corner.

Hot News: EWG 2009 Report on Sunscreens

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:05:54 PDT

Is your sunscreen working for you? Are you and your family truly protected from harmful UVA and UVB rays? Are any of the components of your sunscreen potentially harmful?

Now you can get the answers to these questions and more from a not-for-profit expert team called the Environmental Working Group (EWG). Their annual report on sunscreens was published online yesterday.

You can read it for yourself by clicking here.

Last year's report was harshly critical of many of the most popular brands of sunscreen, like Banana Boat, Neutrogena and Coppertone. The report stated that only 29% of sunscreens had UVA protection. The sunscreen industry is listening and this year 71% of products include UVA protection.

EWG ranks products according to effectiveness and safety.

Some sunscreen chemicals break down very quickly when exposed to the sun's rays so a compound that seems stable in the laboratory may be useless in the real world.

Certain compounds and/or delivery systems may be harmful. For instance, zinc oxide is an excellent and safe broad spectrum protectant in a cream or lotion form but could be harmful if inhaled so should not be used as a spray.

Wanna know what's on EWG's Top 10 List? Click here.

For your convenience, you can purchase the #1 Recommended Sunscreen Soleo Organics Sunscreen Organic chemical free sunscreen, SPF 30+, and 2 more recommended products: UV Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+
and Obagi Nu-Derm Physical UV Block, SPF 32 at our online store.

Our online store is certified Hacker Protected and Verified Secure for worry-free internet shopping. You can pay using VISA, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, PayPal, and Google Payments.

Be confident that the sunscreen you're using is effective and safe by choosing a product recommended by the EWG 2009 Sunscreen Guide.

Why did this woman almost die from botox?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:27:35 PDT

Front-page news: Botox injection nearly kills woman. Yesterday's Hamilton Spectator trumpeted the news.

Does this mean that everyone who decides to smooth out a few wrinkles is risking a brush with death? Not at all.

Let's look at what happened: Francine Giacomelli, a 25-year old woman who lived confined to a wheelchair because of severe cerebral palsy had botox injections into her thighs, hips and back to improve the function of those muscles and reduce pain.

Botox acts as a mucle relaxant, making a huge difference in conditions of severe muscle spasticity.

In this poor woman's case, she experienced side effects from the spread of the botox so that it affected the muscles that control the eyelids and her swallowing function. She will gradually regain control of these muscles when the botox wears off but it could take months.

What about botox treatments for wrinkles?

There's a vast difference between the way botox is used for cosmetic treatments and medical conditions.

Botox for cosmetic use is much more concentrated, meaning that it won't travel or diffuse any distance from where it is injected. We are targeting tiny facial muscles and we want the botox to stay put.

For medical conditions, particularly those involving large muscles, the botox is diluted so that it will diffuse into the muscle. This is a good way of dealing with large muscles but it carries the risk that the botox will spread beyond the target muscle to other areas.

The dose that we use for a tiny little facial muscle is much smaller than what is needed for a big gluteal or quadriceps muscle.

When I did our Fabulous Five in the 10 Years Younger in Burlington program, the most that I put into any one woman (targeting every single facial muscle that I wanted to) was around 75 units. Not one of these ladies experienced symptoms of the botox spreading to another area.

In contrast, a lot of these medical treatments for severe spasticity start at 100 units and go up from there. I don't know how many units this woman was given but an estimate for treating 3 large muscle groups, both left and right sides, would be a minimum of 120 units and probably a lot more.

Botox for cosmetic use in the face is very safe. There has never been a report of an allergic reaction or a death with true BOTOX® Cosmetic from Allergan.

Medical botox, on the other hand, carries risks related to the dose required, the size of the patient (the number of units per kilogram body weight is higher in children and small adults) and the part of the body being treated. However if you google botox and cerebral palsy, you will find countless reports of children and adults who experienced huge improvements in their lives, thanks to this new treatment.

I wish Francine a speedy and safe recovery.

6 Common Sunscreen Mistakes

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:28:02 PDT

It's that time of year again when we think about protecting ourselves from the sun. Before you go outdoors, make sure you're not making any of the following common mistakes with your sunscreen.

Not wearing sunscreen on cloudy or overcast days.

Damaging ultraviolet rays, UVA, stay at a pretty constant level all year round and all day. These rays penetrate clouds and glass. UVA causes the damage we associate with accelerated aging such as wrinkling and sagging of the skin.

Not applying sunscreen until you are outside.

How many times have you gone to the beach with the sunscreen in your beachbag and applied it after you're sitting soaking up rays? Apply your sunscreen before you leave the house so that you are fully protected when you walk out the door.

Forgetting to reapply sunscreen.

Manufacturers' instructions advise that you should reapply sunscreen every 2 hours. At the bare minimum, you should reapply after swimming or working out, and on your face, after eating.

Habitually missing a spot when you apply sunscreen.

After a vacation in the Caribbean where she meticulously used sunscreen to avoid any tan on her face, Laura came back with a brown stripe down the middle of her nose. She always applied sunscreen with both hands starting at the sides and working towards the middle but her hands never quite met, leaving a stripe unprotected. I've seen other people miss the hollow under their cheekbones or the upper lip.

Using sunscreen that is too weak.

If you are using the SPF as a guideline to how long you can stay out in the sun, you're probably underestimating your level of protection. SPF is tested under ideal conditions, using a lot more product than we typically use. It doesn't take into account activities that will remove the product such as exercise, swimming, physical contact, contact with clothing.

Protecting the face and forgetting the body.

Many of us get into a workday routine of applying sunscreen to our faces in the morning but leave the house with exposed and unprotected skin, such as the nape of the neck, the hands, the decolletage. It's a good idea to wear protective clothing and to apply sunscreen to all exposed skin. Remember to reapply sunscreen after you've washed your hands.

Special program happening at Advanced Rejuvenation

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:33:49 PDT

We are in the middle of a project that is so fun, so gratifying and so absorbing that I have not been writing on this site for a while.

Yes, that's right, it's time once again for 10 Years Younger in Burlington!

We had quite a number of applicants this year and every one of them deserved a 10 years younger transformation. It wasn't easy to winnow down the applicants to our top 10, and then to our top 5.

Once we had our top 5 applicants, we were really sweating bullets trying to decide who would be The One. Each applicant had a compelling story. Each applicant had a particular sign of aging that other people would relate to; we knew the correction of each individual's problem would create a transformation that would amaze our readers.

Then we received the most wonderful good news: Allergan, the maker of BOTOX® Cosmetic
and Juvederm, agreed to provide SoftLifts to all 5 women.

Once we had Allergan on board, it was a no-brainer for all of the participating businesses, Advanced Rejuvenation, Art in Hair, Beth Parojcic, Dr. Bekesch, Mia Boutique, The Ornatrix, and Sparkle 2 Go to provide various products and services for all 5 women. And our wonderful photographer, Melanie Gillis, photographed them all.

This has really been an exciting month for us, seeing 5 women transformed in their faces, their hair, their smiles, clothing style and internally as well. They have become fast friends, calling themselves The Fabulous Five -- and they really are fabulous!

Go over to the 10 Years Younger in Burlington site to check them all out. Join us on Friday May 29th at 5050 Restaurant (corner of Locust and Elgin in Burlington) at 7 pm to see them revealed.

Come and share this magical experience with us!

What the Pixel experience is really like

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:35:22 PDT

Here are Miss A's comments about her Pixel experience and the skincare products.

Based on the science and Miss A's experience, I think the HYDRAgel and TNS Ceramide Treatment Cream are ideal for comfort and rapid healing after the Pixel.

You can see Miss A's photos here.

I would like to thank all of you for the opportunity of having a Pixel treatment on my face and neck. This was one of the things on my "wish list".

Not really knowing what to expect was a good thing for me as I had a fresh and unbiased experience with this procedure.

First off, the procedure itself was not painful. The IPL treatment was more painful, and even that was not so bad.

The pain of the Pixel comes approx. ten minutes after the procedure is complete. I found that the lidocaine gel and the cool air is a must. The cool air felt really good while still laying down - approx. 5 min. worth.

After that, approx. 3-4 hours later the redness really comes out. My face felt very sunburned and sore.

I would strongly encourage the HYDRAgel! That gel is amazing! It cools and takes the sting away. It is very soothing and the nice part is that it does not ever sting, even right after the procedure. I found that the Cicaplast does sting for about 10 minutes after application and I'm not sure if I would like to use that again. The Ceramide cream is also very nice in combination with the HYDRAgel. I did not use the Ceramide cream on its own so I'm not sure if it would sting if used alone. However, since I put it on overtop of the HYDRAgel, I found that it added to the moisture level on my face and the two of them really made my face feel more hydrated and supple. On the other side of my face (left) I used the Vivier Redness Relief cream and although it did not sting, it still was not as soothing as the other side (right). My left side still felt a bit tight and sore with the Redness Relief cream, although bearable.

I found that the flakiness was most obvious 2-3 days after the procedure but even that wasn't very bad.

The next time I get a Pixel treatment done I would use the HYDRAgel and the Ceramide cream on my entire face and neck. Even now, one week later, I still like the way these two products make my face and neck feel. I will continue to use the HYDRAgel in my daily routine and the Ceramide until gone.

Thank you, once again.

Sincerely

A

Study on new skincare products used after Pixel laser treatment

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:16:18 PDT

This is what a Pixel fractionated laser treatment looks like from before (first image) to immediately after (second image) and day-by-day to the seventh day after the treatment.

We compared our standard skincare products on the left side of the face, with a new product from Vivier, HYDRAgel, and a SkinMedica product, TNS Ceramide Treatment Cream.

We chose the HYDRAgel for 2 reasons: 1) it is an excellent oil-free moisturizer full of hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B5 and glycosaminoglycans, and 2) our experience was that it didn't hurt on Pixeled skin.

The TNS Ceramide is designed to help skin heal after a Pixel. Ceramides are the specific fats on the surface of your skin. In damaged skin, you need to replace the ceramides to promote skin healing and prevent drying. The TNS line of products also contain peptides and vitamins that stimulate growth and help the skin to heal faster.

Immediately after the treatment, you can see some dark red patches where we did extra shots of laser for scars and wrinkles on Miss A. These are mostly on the right side of her face. She applied the HYDRAgel and TNS Ceramide to the right side of the face. At this point, her skin is feeling pretty sunburned; she doesn't look very happy, does she?

DAY 1: Twenty-four hours after the treatment and everything has settled down. Miss A's complexion appears darkened because she has so much healing and blood flow happening in her face. At this stage, you can comfortably apply makeup and cover everything.

At this stage, the skin is feeling rough to the touch. The roughness lasts 5 - 7 days and flakes off.

DAY 2 DAY 3
DAY 4
DAY 5

DAY 6
DAY 7: By 7 days after the treatment, Miss A's skin has healed. Notice how Miss A looked happier and happier as the week wore on -- this was her natural response to the treatment.

She now has new skin cells and new collagen in her skin, making her skin smoother, brighter, lighter and tighter. Her skin is more reflective, which is why it appears so white under the lights.

In the final image, I don't see a difference between the 2 sides of the face so you might think that the skincare products didn't make a difference. Don't forget that the right side of her face was worse to start with and received a more intense treatment. The fact that the right side caught up with the left side so quickly and healed so well suggests to me that the skincare products made a difference.

Boob Job Bandit: Doesn't she watch CSI?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 07:31:51 PDT

You may have heard about the Boob Job Bandit, a woman who purchased $12,000-worth of cosmetic services from 2 Newport Beach clinics using a stolen credit card.

Her stolen purchases included liposuction and new breast implants to replace an old set.

She has now been captured and it was the old breast implants that revealed her identity as 30-year old Yvonne Pampellone.

All implants have a unique identification number. This is classic CSI: unidentified DB (dead body) turns out to have some kind of implant, somewhere -- I've seen breast, cochlear, even intervertebral disc (that was the episode where the daughter killed her mother and disposed of her in the trash, I believe).

The CSIs check the number on the implant and, voila! They have the identity of the victim.

Same thing with the Boob Job Bandit. Her old implants have resulted in her being charged with identity theft, grand theft and commercial burglary.

She should have paid more attention to CSI.

Did she really think new boobs and a little less fat was worth risking a criminal record? The mind boggles.

What's wrong with Donatella?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:57:59 PDT

Donatella Versace is always making the lists for bad plastic surgery. What is she doing that is drawing so much criticism?

These images are from 1993 and 2007.

The first and most obvious problem is that her look hasn't really changed. Long bleached blond hair, thick black eyeliner and mascara don't suit her age and look dated.

The next problem is that the work she is having is not balanced. She gets a lot of filler in her lips, making her mouth look excessively large.

She has not had a sufficient volume restored to her cheeks so her mouth looks too young for the rest of her face.

She has had some subtle tightening of her neck and jawline, most likely a surgical neck lift. She has also had a brow lift.

Another problem is that her face and body don't match.

Her skin is leathery and saggy. She looks scrawny rather than slim. Her breast implants are out of proportion for her body size.

This degree of tanning is reversing any rejuvenating treatments that she has done to her face.

If Donatella stopped tanning and updated her look, she would get a lot more compliments.

(Top photos source here. (Bikini photo source here.)

This article is reprinted from our newsletter of January 21, 2009. To subscribe, click on the pink button at the top of the righthand column.

Trends in cosmetic medicine and surgery

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:13:51 PDT

The New York Times is saying today that cosmetic surgery procedures increased by 3% in 2008, compared with 2007, even with the recession.

What's interesting about the article is that they are lumping together both surgical and non-surgical treatments. In fact, it is the non-surgical treatments that are increasing and cosmetic plastic surgery that is declining.

Here are some numbers for surgical procedures:

Liposuction down by 19%

Tummy tucks down by 18%

Breast augmentation (boob job) down by 12%

Surgical facelift down by 5%

Here are the non-surgical procedures:

Laser skin resurfacing up by 15%

Dermabrasion up by 13%

Botox up by 8%

A lot of articles make the trend from surgical to non-surgical cosmetic treatments be primarily a result of economic trends but that is not the case.

Surgery is inherently risky. Every year, we hear of people dying after cosmetic surgery procedures like liposuction, tummy tucks and facelifts. And the recovery time after surgery is longer than after non-surgical treatments.

But the biggest reason to choose non-surgical treatments in my opinion is that you still look like yourself afterwards.

Invest in yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:27:56 PDT

Let's face it: how you look affects your success and your opportunities. In tough economic times, anything that gives you an edge is worthwhile.

Various studies have shown that if your looks are below average, your income will be 5 - 10% below average; if you're blessed with above average looks, your paycheque will be 5% above average too.

And it's not just about attractiveness; age and the appearance of age is becoming increasing important in the marketplace.

Nowadays we are seeing older employees working for younger bosses. If you look significantly older than everyone else, you may be subject to age bias. Younger co-workers and supervisors may think that you don't have any new ideas to offer or that you're not savvy about new trends and technology.

Whether a front-line worker or an executive, you may be subject to age discrimination. This article discusses perceptions of age bias among corporate executives:

An interesting finding is that 73.7% of executives believe they have lost a job opportunity because of their age.

So what are the solutions?

You can rework your resume to cloud how old you are. You can get coaching to help you learn how to avoid the pitfalls of acting your age. Or you can have treatments to help yourself look younger.

As the psychiatrist said to the plastic surgeon:

“Why spend years talking to a therapist about my self-esteem when I can spend two hours on your operating table and eliminate the issue altogether?”

My experience has been that erasing the signs of aging from my face has made me feel younger inside. It's a chicken-and-egg phenomenon: people started treating me as if I were younger and I started feeling younger, which made me act younger so people treated me as if I were younger.

We know that botox treatments relieve depression and stress.

Nowadays the treatments that erase the years from your face are widely available, safe, long-lasting and do not require surgery. The cost of the services is a fraction of what you would pay for a good facelift and the results are more natural-looking.

Don't spend any more time worrying about your looks. Come and get some help.

A Botox competitor is coming

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:02:23 PDT

Reloxin is another compound of botulinum toxin A, the active ingredient in Botox, that should be available soon.

The good news is that having a competitor for BOTOX® Cosmetic should help to bring down prices.

But if you're thinking that every Botox-injector is going to immediately switch over to the newer product, think again.

Reloxin doesn't behave exactly like Botox. The dose and volume injected has to be adjusted to achieve the equivalent effect as Botox. Many injectors may be unwilling to make the switch, preferring to stick to the tried-and-true to something new.

This article gives a pretty good overview of what many cosmetic doctors are thinking about Reloxin and Botox.

To my mind, this is the critical issue with Reloxin:

"[Reloxin] disperses a little more beyond the area of injection than Botox does," noted Dr. Robert Singer, chairman of the nonsurgical procedures committee of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. "Because it disperses more, there has to be a greater knowledge on the part of the individual doing the injecting to avoid problems like eyelid drooping, brow drooping and other complications."

For myself, I won't make a decision about Reloxin until I have had a chance to try it on a few people and see firsthand how it compares to Botox.

Less surgery, more medspa services

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:54:27 PDT

The Financial Post is reporting that people are turning to non-surgical cosmetic treatments in the current economic climate.

According to recent surveys by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), more patients are opting for non-surgical procedures instead of expensive surgery due to costs and the risks of taking time off work or away from a job hunt to recover.

There has been steady growth in the use of less expensive options, such as fillers and injectable treatments like Botox and Juvéderm. Of the doctors surveyed by the ASPS, 73% reported increased or stable demand for procedures like Botox, chemical peels and hyaluronic fillers. Fifty-nine per cent of patients surveyed reported that concerns about the economy have forced them to rethink plans for cosmetic surgery, with 27% looking into less expensive, non-surgical options.

One of the social forces that is keeping the demand for medical cosmetic services stable or increasing is the sense that looking younger and better helps in the job market and with professional success.

Of those surveyed by the ASPS, 73% believe, particularly in these challenging economic times, appearance and youthful looks play a part in getting hired, being promoted or winning new clients. Some patients are making direct connections between cosmetic procedures and professional success and, though the bulk of their clientele continues to be female, some doctors also report seeing more professional male patients in the last several months. Dr. Swift's male clientele now account for 12% of his business, up from 8% before the downturn. "They want to look youthful in the boardroom," he says. "They realize that it's a very competitive market and that if you look tired it appears that you're offering tired opinions or tired ideas." (Emphasis mine.)

I was talking to a Human Resources professional the other day who told me that she did think that looks matter in the current job market. She had observed in the last several years that the business people in Toronto have shifted to a younger-looking crowd. She wasn't sure if this was because fewer older people were working in the business district or the older people had had rejuvenating treatments.

In this day and age, aren't we lucky that we can have non-surgical treatments to look younger and fresher without breaking the bank or enduring prolonged downtimes?

Another man's Botox experience

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:05:55 PDT

Bryan McCourt is a 37 year old man who is not shy about describing the cosmetic medical treatments that he has had done in this interview from UK newspaper The Sunday Sun.

Bryan does regular skin peels, botox every six month and has had fillers injected.

The reporter described him as looking at least 10 years younger than his actual age.

Here are his comments about Botox:

Bryan says: “I’ve noticed a massive difference. I have had nothing but good results.

“The first time I had it done was for my crows’ feet around my eyes. After three days I thought this hasn’t worked but then after a week the crows’ feet had gone. It was amazing, to the point where my mates actually noticed.They have all had it done now.

“I have botox every six months now. I’ve had fillers too, which lasts a bit longer and I have had skins peels where they put on a solution on your face and after seven days the skin starts peeling and it takes layers off.

A man's Botox experience

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:34:00 PDT

More and more men are trying medical cosmetic treatments like Botox. As the competition becomes fiercer in business, men want to appear more relaxed, healthy and vital.

I came across this article from the British Times Online where a man describes his own experience of having Botox for forehead creases and frown lines.

Despite being in my early twenties, I found that I loved that frozen feeling. Being acutely aware of the ageing effects of the sun, booze and just about everything else I’ve enjoyed in my life, I’m less interested in turning back the clock than stopping it altogether. As with antiwrinkle creams, it’s good to start young as they work better as preventatives than curatives. Botox is no different. As its hold wore off, my forehead remained smooth. The lines had gone, and because I couldn’t move my brow for four months, I’d trained myself out of doing so, exempting me from wrinkles in later life (I like to think). And, being younger, those who didn’t know about my Botox jabs never suspected a thing. I merely looked rested, rather than like a cast member of Desperate Housewives.

I’ve recently gone back for more, after noticing two little frown lines had appeared. So, aged 27, Franklin gave me a few more shots to iron me out, persuading me to have just a tiny dose. “The muscles in your forehead aren’t huge like an older man’s,” she said, “so you won’t need much.”

Six months on, I still haven’t frowned and have never been asked if I’ve been “done”; people just think I’m nonjudgmental and get eight hours’ sleep a night. Who could want for more?

It's very important with Botox and any cosmetic treatments for men that you make sure that your practitioner does things differently for men and women.

For instance, with women, I strive to open up the eye area, lifting the brow and giving lots of lid show. This gives women a very pretty, feminine, refreshed look. This pattern of treatment would look effeminate on many men.

Botox is a great tool in the right hands, giving a relaxed look that is not frozen.

Home laser hair removal: Is it worth it?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:11:54 PDT

British Beauty Blogger put up a post here about a home laser hair removal system called Tria.

One of her first statements is this:

I’ve actually tried a Tria home laser hair removal machine, but due to my appalling attention span, quickly realised that I didn’t have the patience for it.

This is my concern with all of these home laser treatment units. Every one that I have looked at requires many passes over the same area and many more treatments than you would require with medical-grade equipment.

I remember when the epilator was all the craze (you know, that little handheld electric doohickey that yanked each hair out -- Ouch!). It was promised to make your legs stay smoother for longer ... yadda, yadda, yadda. However it hurt and it took so darn long and you had to keep cleaning out the rubber thingy that grabbed the hairs. I think I used mine maybe 3 times before I gave up on it.

Now the fad beauty equipment is home lasers.

Think about it: lasers are powerful and they can hurt and cause damage to important structures like your eyes. In order for the government to approve a laser for home use, the equipment has to be greatly reduced in power to make it safe.

Before you purchase this sort of equipment, you really need to ask yourself if you have the time and motivation to use the equipment for many hours before you see results.

And these things aren't cheap. British Beauty Blogger quotes a price of 675 British pounds. That's almost a grand in USD or $1200 Canadian. You can get a lot of hair removal in my clinic for that much money.

Don't get sucked into purchasing something that requires way more time and effort than you can put into it.

How to shop for Botox® Cosmetic

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:10:46 PDT

Here is an educational piece that we provide to people who are shopping for Botox. It outlines the factors people should take into consideration and the questions they should ask before signing the consent form for Botox.

We’ve created the following guide to help you decide on the best Botox® Cosmetic treatment option for you. We hope that by reading this guide you will find the provider who will give you the best value for your money.

Botox® is typically quoted as a cost per unit procedure. Depending on the treatment you choose, you may have as few as 10 (touch up) to as many as 200 units (Hyperhidrosis). A common treatment of relaxing the “11”s, the two vertical lines between the brows takes about 30 units for a woman.

Area prices for Botox® vary between $6 and $15 per unit. The obvious temptation is to find the cheapest provider but as you will see below, you may get more or less than you bargained for.

Make sure you understand what to expect from your Botox® treatment.
Be sure your expectations are realistic. You may find that the results you desire are better achieved with an alternative treatment.

At Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa, we focus on you and your needs. We respect your right and need to think about what you need and the schedule you wish to follow for your treatments. Proceed as quickly or as slowly as is comfortable for you.

Who will be doing your treatment?
At Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa all of our Botox® injections are done by our Medical Director, Dr. Rose Jeans. As a doctor she holds herself, and is held by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, to a higher standard of treatment than nurse injectors. Legally, only medical doctors and nurse injectors (specially trained Registered Nurses) are allowed to inject Botox®. All nurse injectors must practice under a doctor’s supervision. In practice, a supervising physician may never actually see their work.

When shopping for a Botox® provider, be sure to ask for the credentials of the person who will actually be doing your injections, not just the medical director who oversees them.

Some places cut corners by using RPNs (Registered Practical Nurses). Their medical training is limited and takes less than 2 years to complete. They may not understand the subtle geography of your face and deliver less than optimal results.

Dr Jeans, the Medical Director of Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa, has been a licensed doctor for 20 years. For eight years, Dr. Jeans worked in the Intensive Care Unit and in the Cardiac Surgery program, assisting with open heart surgery. She assisted in Plastic Surgery for over four years, and collaborated with a plastic surgeon on research projects and a medical textbook.

She is ideally suited to provide care in cosmetic medicine because her background in Internal Medicine has given her an in-depth understanding of how the body works and responds to treatments, and her surgical experience has given her excellent technical skills and anatomical knowledge.

Location
Beware of “deals” at gyms, hair salons or other nonmedical spa or day spa locations.

Fake “Botox” is out there. The photo above shows the hologram that is visible on real Botox vials. While the cost may be attractive, the risk certainly isn’t. Botox® is made from the neurotoxin that causes botulism. Used in trained hands, it is safe and effective. Allergan, the maker of Botox® Cosmetic, ensures that the dosage is consistent from one batch to the next. Whether you buy from one trusted provider or another, a properly reconstituted unit of Botox® will be the same.

The product is delivered freeze-dried to the provider. It is the clinic's responsibility to reconstitute it to the proper dosage to be effective. One of the ways that unscrupulous operators can increase their profits is to overdilute it. This means you may get results that don’t last very long or you may not get results at all!

Many providers lowball the price of their Botox® as a loss leader, just to get you in the door. Once you’re there, you can be subject to high pressure sales tactics to purchase more, and more expensive, treatments.

Guarantee
One way to protect yourself is to ask a provider what sort guarantee they offer with their injections.

At Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa, you’ll discuss your treatment options with our doctor. You will learn the pros and cons of varying the number of units and injection sites to get the results you want. You will know what results to expect and how long they should last. We guarantee that your treatment will be effective within the limits you have determined for your treatment, such as number of units injected, or we will do touch ups at no charge until we achieve that goal.

Rarely, due to a client’s unique anatomy, a Botox® treatment does almost the opposite of what was intended. For instance, instead of lifting the brow, it drops it. These results can’t be predicted.

Ask your prospective provider what their policy is in such circumstances. Many places tell their customers to wait out the 3 or so months it takes for the effects to wear off.

At Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa if such a situation occurred we would work with you to minimize the adverse effects and improve your appearance as quickly as possible. We’ve only had one client this has happened to, but our commitment to her satisfaction surprised and delighted her, even if her initial Botox® results didn’t.

What to watch out for
In conclusion, when shopping for a Botox® provider, look beyond the dollar price per unit in order to determine the best value for your money.

Don’t be pressured into doing more than you feel comfortable doing.

Be realistic in your expectations based upon a thorough discussion of your goals and treatment options with your provider.

Ask for the credentials of the injector who will be doing your treatments. Be sure you are comfortable with their level of training.

Go to a reputable, appropriately trained provider. Never get treatments done if you don’t know and trust who is doing it or what they are injecting.

Ask about their guarantee. Be sure you’re happy with and prepared for the risk you’re taking with your treatment.

Stress got you grinding your teeth? Here's help

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:46:33 PST

I came across this press release from a cosmetic surgery group in the UK called Transform. They are describing a 50% increase in the number of people requesting treatment for Bruxism, which is the medical term for excessive teeth-grinding.

Transform can reveal that it's Britain's men, aged 35-45, living in London who are most likely to request this treatment although its clinics have treated women too. Those patients have cited a rise in stress levels due to financial stress and job worries as the reason for their increased and unbearable teeth grinding. And their constant jaw-grinding has caused problems in relationships with partners kept awake by the noise.

Botox to Brutox Treatments

Gwen Davies, Head of Non-Surgical at Transform, comments, "Transform has been using Botox to treat chronic teeth grinding successfully. Brutox, as we're calling it, is very quick, straightforward and can be very effective. Most Botox patients experience noticeable improvement within two to three days of their first treatment.

Pain Relief from Botox

"And it's not just relief from jaw pain, tension and headaches, that our patients experience. Some are also noticing a dramatic change in the appearance of their lower face. The square, severe look softened into a more normal and aesthetically pleasing jaw line.

"Some patients have also reported a marked reduction in their general stress level as their grinding gradually comes to a halt. Breaking the habit of Bruxism allows patients to relax and enjoy life.

What's particularly interesting to me in the above quotation is that the treatment of a symptom of stress, that is the treatment of teeth-grinding, actually reduces the individual's stress level.

This seems paradoxical, almost a chicken-and-egg scenario.

I've heard of it anecdotally in other situations. For instance, people who have their frown lines treated with Botox don't seem to get as angry as they used to before the treatment.

And I reported on a study in a previous post where 10 people with established severe depression had Botox for frown lines and the depression resolved in 9 out of 10. And the 10th person experienced an improvement in mood, if not a complete resolution.

Our bodies work in mysterious ways, don't they?

Jenny McCarthy likes Botox

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Rose Jeans) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:22:38 PST

Jenny McCarthy is interviewed in Michigan Magazine and I found an excerpt on the Access Hollywood website.

She is someone I admire for her work on autism. The sense that I get of her in this interview is that she is comfortable in her skin. She doesn't apologize for where she's at and what she does or doesn't do. She knows what's important and what's not.

“I’m 36 – not that means I’m 100, but I just really like my clothes on now,” [ed.: explaining why she wouldn't do another Playboy spread] she said in a new interview with Michigan Avenue magazine.

But the star, looking fresh and glamorous in the mag’s six-page spread, stays in shape with Bikram yoga (the style of yoga in which the room temperature is heated up) and admits to the occasional touch of Botox.

“I love Botox, I absolutely love it,” she said. “I get it minimally, so I can still move my face. But I really do think it’s a savior.”

I think she looks great too.