Stephanides Plastic Surgery Blog

What To Expect During a Plastic Surgery Consultation

2015-12-04T10:22:00.001-08:00

Before booking any sort of plastic surgery procedure, one must first have a consultation (or two) with their surgeon. A consultation is your one-on-one “getting to know you” time with your doctor. To get the most of your cosmetic surgery consultation, use your time wisely. Ask questions, come prepared, and get to know your surgeon. Dr. Stephanides offers complimentary consultations. He enjoys getting to know his patients and giving them a chance to know him.

We often get asked “what should I expect during my first consultation?”, and this is a perfect opportunity to answer that question for you!

What will happen during the consultation?

Dr. Stephanides will spend the consultation giving you a better understanding of the surgery in which you are interested. He will go over how the surgery is performed, the differences among the techniques, and what is the best surgical option for you. Dr. Stephanides will also give you information about the facility he operates at in Nashville,Tennessee.

After your time with the doctor is complete, a member of his team will go over the pricing and payment options the office offers, and let you know how to proceed if you wish to come in for another consultation or book surgery. There is no pressure to book a surgery during the consultation. Dr. Stephanides wants his patents to feel comfortable, prepared and well informed before surgery and that’s what the consultation is all about.

What should I bring with me?

Our office does not require you to bring anything specific with to your consultation. However, it is helpful to bring a list of medications you are taking and drug allergies that you are aware of. If you have specific questions, feel free to write them down and bring them with you. It is perfectly okay with us, if you would like to bring a friend, partner, or spouse with you to your consultation.

What questions should I ask the doctor?

Dr. Stephanides will do his best to answer any questions about the surgery, pre-op, post-op and everything in between. However, as with any plastic surgeon, there are always a few questions that are important to ask:

Are you board certified?

Is the doctor familiar with this type of surgery?

What type of anesthesia will I receive?

What will my recovery be like?

Am I a good candidate for this procedure?

How long will the consultation last?

Dr. Stephanides does not like to keep his patients waiting. Expect to be brought back within minutes of your arrival. The consultations last about an hour. The time may be shorter or a bit longer depending on the depth of the procedure. Do not worry about feeling rushed. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask the doctor. You are his number one priority and he wants you to feel satisfied and at ease when you leave your consultation.

Have any more questions for the doctor? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

IS IT A MATTER OF SEASONS?

2014-07-14T07:32:00.002-07:00

I was at a restaurant the other day and there were four guys sitting at the table right next to ours. They were talking about soccer teams, for what seemed like all night! I was not eavesdropping on their conversation but they were pretty loud. It was unbelievable. Like nothing else mattered in the world. We were at the restaurant for about 3 hours enjoying our meal, and the guys were … well, all about football. The US team did this, and the Brazilian team did that, and what about so and so player playing in the Argentinian team and so forth.

The next day I went to have my nails done and all the TV screens in the room were showing the “Germany-France” game. And that’s when it hit me! There is a soccer season, a basketball season, a strawberry-picking season … is there a season for plastic surgeries?

It would seem that there is not, as people have plastic surgeries done throughout the year and wherever you go, whichever party or gathering you go to, there is always someone talking about plastic surgery. But I could not leave my question unanswered and rest assured with this vagueness. So I researched it!

And voila! Yes, there is seasonality in plastic surgery. Not in terms of whether one visits the plastic surgeon or not, but instead it is a matter of which procedures are performed at particular seasons. It was fascinating and exiting to see that. I had never thought about it before.

So when is the best time of the year to have a surgery performed?

Well, it seems that during the spring, and especially between April and June, breast augmentation, body contouring, tummy tuck and liposuction are the procedures of choice. Reason being that we start thinking about the horrifying time of putting a swimsuit on! And of course when we do go ahead to try the ones from the year before, seeing the extra fat that was not there last year, gets us panicky and off we go to the plastic surgeon to take care of that. Needless to say that we realize that we would look so much better if we actually fill the top part of the bathing suit and ask for breast augmentation as well. Of course, if we are at the stage of our life when everything goes south and gravity takes over, then we might throw a breast lift in the menu as well.

The summer, meaning July and August, is a bit slower and only minor procedures are performed … however this also depends on our vacation time, because we could utilize that period for recovery, without having to take time off work. It will also depend on when we actually schedule our holidays because if we actually plan them for the beginning of the summer, then we might as well have our procedures done right after we get back.

The fall, which in plastic surgery terms runs from September through December, is the preferred time to have facial surgery, ranging from a facelift, to blepharoplasty or rhinoplasty. Wearing scarves or using heavier makeup is easier when it’s colder, than in the middle of summer when the temperatures are ski rocketing. Having said that, procedures such as breast augmentation, liposuction, tummy tuck and mastopexy are not excluded from this period. It is a great time for these type of procedures too, as this gives enough time for all swelling to go down and for the final result of surgery to be eminent … and all this for the next bathing suit season! Plus bandages and dressings can be covered up much easier in layers of clothes and sweaters than tank tops and shorts, which are warn in the warmer months.

Naturally the week between Christmas and New Years could be perfectly used for any procedure and its recovery, so instead of going skiing in Denver you might as well use that time off work to have just about any type of plastic surgery. Mid December through March is really the “all procedures go” time of the year.

Whichever time period you choose, just make sure you give yourself enough time to recover. Your board certified plastic surgeon will be able to give you exact recovery times and what to expect at any given time post your surgery. So act accordingly and plan ahead.

THE ART OF CHANGING WITH EXPERIENCE

2014-07-07T08:18:00.003-07:00

My grandmother used to tell me that there are only two kinds of people who don’t change their opinion, and these are the crazy and the dead!!! Being a kid and totally inexperienced with life when she was telling me this, I couldn’t really realize what she was saying and what she meant. But as I was growing up and I was adding experiences in my bag of knowledge I could only kneel to her grand and wise words.

These words of hers came to mind again last week when I was talking with Dr. Stephanides about the various procedures performed at our office. I was basically asking him what distinguishes a plastic surgeon from the next one down the street, or in a different state. It seemed to me that a liposuction is a liposuction and a facelift a facelift from whichever angle you look at it. And that’s when he started talking and opening up to all that he calls: “aces in his sleeve”.

He was basically explaining how he had done certain operations when he started off at Stanford University Medical Center, so many years ago, but that the procedures, with the “same name,” are now different. Not meaning that a liposuction is no longer a liposuction … not at all. What he was really saying is that plastic surgery is really a form of art, an evolution, and the surgeons get better and better with each time they go in the operating room. A surgeon who loves what he does and is devoted to his patients will dedicate his life to improving each technique, both for the sake of the procedure itself, making it easier, smoother, safer and more efficient, but also for the sake of the patients, making the operations less painful, with a shorter down time and improved results.

I thought that this was really a natural process of progression in any profession … I couldn’t be more wrong! Dr. Stephanides told me, and I must admit that at the end of our conversation I was utterly convinced, that since the goal of each plastic surgery procedure is to get the best possible results with the highest patient satisfaction, a surgeon needs to be flexible enough to tweak the traditional methodology in such a way as to raise the level of patient gratification and procedure outcome. He also said that of course there is a fine line between tweaking for improvement purposes and modifying so much that it actually becomes experimentation.

Dr. Stephanides said that the traditional methods are wonderful, as a basis for starting with operations, but as knowledge accumulates over the years, each surgeon must tender to the needs of each individual patient and even though sticking to the traditional methods found in every plastic surgery textbook is safe, it seems that simply bringing “average” results is not the ultimate conclusion. Flexibility is a must and being rigid to certain ways for the sake of the traditional methods is not desirable, for this will not bring ideal results.

Summing up, it seems to me that the best way to go about deciding who will hold the scalpel while you are under anesthesia is by visiting and interviewing more than one surgeon … the same way you would act had you wanted to buy a dress! You don’t simply try one … right?

THE BULL MUST DIE …

2014-06-30T08:14:00.001-07:00

In Spanish-style bull fights, or “corrida de toros” as they are called, there are three matadors (bullfighters) and each fights two out of a total of six fighting bulls with the use of thrusting capes. These bulls each weight at least 1300 lbs and are at least four years old.

Well, a few days ago, a friend, Tom, was describing this amazing ritual that is practiced in Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Southern France. In Greece, we have a similar sacrifice with the killing of the Minotaur, which is actually symbolic of a bullfight. Anyway, Tom was in Venezuela and had attended a “corrida” and at the end of it all, he was so intrigued by this spectacular tradition, taking place in an arena that he had to go and talk to one of the matadors. He asked him how he felt about killing the bull and the blood that is involved and the matador simply replied: “The bull must die…”

When Tom was describing his experience, I could see a spark in his eye, the spark that you see when people actually feel what they are talking about and you can sense their blood pressure going up … I was looking at him with fascination, but the anger and fury that was being emitted through his expressions and words made me think of the annoyance we feel about our selves when we are on a diet, we lose control and end up eating whatever is in front of us at the moment … and then we regret it but … it’s too late. The calories are already consumed and being absorbed by the body, being turned into fat!

So how do we fight the bull? How do we insert a barbed wooden decorated stick into the bull’s neck muscle to take his life away? How do we destroy the demon inside which causes the food cravings that make us want to kill for a piece of chocolate?

Primarily, we need to start by understanding the demon and the many reasons that make us crave different foods. And here it is: sometimes we crave a particular food for comfort or a means of escape, other times we use food as a way to get quick energy or we have become addicted to a food for a number of reasons. However, we may also crave what our body most needs. Food cravings can be the body’s way of trying to correct a chemical imbalance or point to a lack of vitamins or minerals. Lastly craving certain foods may indicate a weakness in certain glands, such as the pancreas, the adrenals or the thyroid.

But here’s a bit more that you may find interesting and ... helpful:

Evolution predisposes the body to crave high fat, high sugar foods. When food was scarce, the body wanted food that was packed with calories or food that could be used quickly for energy. Pleasure chemicals, like dopamine, are released in your brain when you eat high fat, high sugar foods. This is why eating chocolate and ice cream actually “feel good.” The body responds positively to this chemical release.

Kicking a food habit can be more difficult than kicking cigarettes or drugs. Cutting a food from your diet is not easy—especially because you cannot give up eating. What do you do? Realize you may need to give up your food more than once. Let people know what you are doing to help yourself in avoiding temptation. Substitute other naturally sweet foods. Until refined foods became plentiful, most people satisfied sweet cravings with cooked carrots, a sweet potato, or fruit. Usually sugar cravings diminish in three to five days after elimination. Realize that food cravings do lessen over time.

A craving for sweets may indicate a lack of minerals in the body. Are you craving sweets all the time? Your body may be looking for more minerals. If sweet cravings are especially difficult for you, try adding trace minerals to your diet and look at what happens!

People with an overgrowth of yeast in their intestines often crave sugar. Yeast that lives in the intestines feed off simple sugars and an acid environment. Eliminating sugar and overripe fruit from the diet while eating more vegetables, makes the environment less hospitable for yeast and can decrease sugar cravings.

Hidden ingredients may be the cause of your cravings. Read the ingredient list on the label of your favorite “healthy” snack. It may look as if you are getting more energy from all the B-vitamins in a product, when the real source is the caffeine listed as an inactive ingredient. Oftentimes sugar, caffeine, or other chemicals are added to foods to keep you coming back for more.

Craving salty foods may indicate low adrenal gland function or low thyroid function. Salt regulates water retention in the body through the kidneys and adrenal glands. It is high in iodine, which is a mineral needed for thyroid function, therefore If you are craving salt, it may be your body asking for more iodine or potassium, or pointing to a fluid imbalance.

You may crave a food to which you are allergic. Your body often develops sensitivity to food items you eat everyday for years. Food sensitivities can lead to symptoms similar to allergies.

Part of optimal health is being free of food cravings and addictions. This does not mean you can never have another piece of chocolate, but it does mean asking yourself: What part of me is craving this food? Why am I craving it? When you eat a food you are craving for, ask if the craving goes away or gets stronger. Who is in control? The food or you? And when you do answer these questions, and inevitably manage to control your cravings, then … you have successfully killed the bull!!!!

BIKINI TIME …

2014-06-23T07:55:00.003-07:00

It's Sunday and time to write another article for the blog. I'm trying to think of what to write and everything and anything passes by my mind, in order to find something suitable. I try to think of something that will inspire me and I try to reminiscent on what happened last week … Then, I start looking around, it's partly cloudy and partly sunny. I am thinking about putting a bathing suit and sunbathing but … what do I wear?

I skim through swimsuit websites to see what's trendy for this summer and realize that the look is becoming increasing more revealing and more skin is showing. The bottoms are called "Brazilian" and the more I look at them the more I contemplate a possible move to Alaska …at least for the summer! I do realize that the women presenting the swimsuits are models … but something happened to them … they seem to have not only bigger breasts but they also have bigger buttocks as well.

And of course, my inquiring mind wants to know, thus I drop these websites and start researching the trends in plastic surgery! Voila! Buttock augmentation or gluteal augmentation, buttock implants, or Brazilian butt lift. Any way you name it, it boils down to one thing: the procedure intended for men and women who would like more curves which augments the shape of a person's buttocks providing a more shapely rear profile. So now, not only do we have Brazilian bottoms in a bathing suit, but also we have Brazilian buttocks to go with them. Nice!

How is that possible? Easy … via the use of silicone or polymethyl-metacrylate (PMMA) implants which are placed either under or on top of the gluteus maximus muscle, through an incision in the midline between the buttocks or by an incision made underneath the buttocks, via hydrogel injections (which are not approved for use in the US) or via fat injections. This requires that excess fat is removed from another part of the body, typically around the abdominal area, the hips, or the thighs, and once this fat is purified and liquified, it is re-injected into the buttocks. Sounds easy, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, even though it is generally speaking easy, inserting a foreign body (silicone implants) or other material injections comes with a plethora of complications making this a risky cosmetic surgery. Complication of foreign bodies other than the patient's own fat may include: the risk of infection, seromas, nerve and/or muscle damage, mal-positioning or slippage, and thus asymmetry or disfigurement, if you opt for the more permanent volumizing provided by the implants.

Fat transfers seem to be the safest way to increase volume. Even with fat injections, the fat injected that remains after a year varies.

So … my question is: Is this really worth it? In my mind, re-injecting the fat from a very precise liposculpting procedure, by a skilled Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, will do the trick!

SUMMER, DIET AND … BODY ODOR!

2014-06-02T13:38:00.001-07:00

This article touches on a subject that's quite sensitive to many people: body odor. Here, we explore the link between the foods we choose to consume and the odor produced by our body – yes, there is a direct correlation. With all the hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year on personal care products and deodorants, I'm amazed there's almost no discussion about reducing body odor by changing our diet. In fact, when I've mentioned this subject to some people, they looked at me in bewilderment. They ask questions like "What do you mean; our foods control our body odor? Body odor is genetic!" Thus, what we need is a crash course in the underlying causes of body odor. We'll call it “The Fundamentals of Offensive Personal Odors”, or just “Body Odor 101”, for short.

Lesson number one in “Body Odor 101” is that what comes out of our body reflects what we put in. Body odor is something that's strongly affected by what's being emitted by our sweat glands. And remember, armpits are designed to sweat. I know that may sound insanely simple, because everybody knows that armpits sweat, but I'm saying that armpits are supposed to perspire. (Remember the saying: Horses sweat, men perspire, women glow!!!) Yet people go to great lengths to prevent their armpits from sweating using deodorant products.

But there's more to it than just cooling your body temperature through perspiration - another function of the sweat glands in our armpits is to excrete toxins from our body. This is why sweating is an important part of maintaining optimum physical health. We have to give our body a chance to get rid of various toxins through a variety of metabolic processes. Those include urination, passing fecal matter, exhaling carbon dioxide and other toxins through the lungs, and, of course, eliminating toxins through the skin. The skin, remember, is the body's largest organ.

Our armpits, then, actually have an important health function; getting rid of toxins. That's why we need to keep them open and unclogged by deodorant products. Sweating is good for you.

But … what about the odor? Where does that really come from? The real cause of armpit odor is the intentional excretion of horrible toxins that our body is trying to get rid of. And by using deodorant products, we block the exit door and force these toxins to stay in our system!

The way to eliminate body odor therefore is not to mask it with deodorant products, but rather to clean up our body from the inside out. In other words, if our armpits have a horrible raunchy smell that's an indication that our diet needs some adjusting.

Many deodorants and antiperspirants are made with aluminum, in order to halt the perspiration of our sweat glands, and this aluminum is suspected of accumulating in the nervous system and ultimately contributing to nervous system disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. When we give up red meat, junk foods, fast foods and other dietary “atrocities”, we will no longer need deodorants!

Foods that make us stink!

Let's take a closer look at the causes of body odor. Which foods really cause body odor in the first place?

Red meat is the number one cause of body odor. It causes stagnation in the body. It actually putrefies in the digestive tract and releases all sorts of toxins into the bloodstream, through the large intestine. I've noticed that people who consume a large quantity of red meat on a regular basis tend to have much stronger body odor than those who avoid it. Overall, if you find a healthful vegetarian and put them side by side with a heavy meat eater in a sniff test, I'm confident your nose will lead you to the conclusion that the meat eater is the most offensive of the two. It's weird science, yes, but we are talking about a strange subject to begin with!

As far as other foods go, that cause body odor, we have to talk about manufactured foods, those lacking fiber, made with refined white flour, added sugars, hydrogenated oils and other processed ingredients. These are the big culprits. When we eliminate these from our diet and shift to a more healthful diet, made of whole grains, massive quantities of leafy vegetables, fresh fruits, soy products, super greens, lots of sprouts, raw nuts and seeds, healthy oils and other similar healthful ingredients, our body odor will all but disappear in a matter of weeks.

That's because a plant-based diet is an internal deodorizer. It's true: the chlorophyll and other phytonutrients will cleanse us from the inside out. Some of the best foods for that include: parsley, cilantro, celery and all mint species. The aromatic herbs are also excellent; sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and so on.

As a sidebar to the body odor discussion, all the things that come out of our body are strong indicators of our current level of health, as well as what adjustments we need to make in order to be healthier.

It's very easy to smell our own armpits and get a sense of what's going on. Try going 24 hours with no deodorant. If you can't stand the smell from the outside, just imagine what your body smells like on the inside! Maybe it's time for some changes in your diet, don’t you think?

BUT FIRST … LET ME TAKE A SELFIE …

2014-05-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

… as the song by The Chainsmokers says! And it seems that nowadays, whatever we do, wherever we are, we have to take a selfie!

What is a selfie? Well, the Oxford Dictionary defines it as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and loaded to a social media website”. On November 19^th, 2013, they even went ahead to announce selfie as their international Word of the Year 2013. The Word of the Year is a word (or an expression) that has attracted a great deal of interest during the year to date. The Oxford Dictionaries’ editors conducted language research revealing that the frequency of the word selfie in the English language has increased by a staggering 17,000% since the same time last year.

So where does that leave us? What does this mean? Is technology taking over and we are victims of trends? Have selfies influenced our existence? Thinking about it, I was actually reading the TIMES the other day, and it said: “As tweens and teens try to form their identity, selfies serve as a way to test how they look, and therefore feel, in certain outfits, make-up, poses and places. And because they live in a digital world, self-portraits provide a way of participating and affiliating with that world.”

Having read that, actually scared me … I got to realize that selfies can actually be influential in molding the sense of self … something that a few years ago we would do by reading books, searching the web, listening to the news, watching people and interacting with them, and even following fashion trends … but this … this gadget/camera we have in our hands is actually taking more control of our “being” than anything else in history.

But it seems that I’m not the only one inquiring about the effect of selfies! A survey conducted by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is actually coming out saying that the selfie culture is actually even changing the cosmetic surgery numbers and shifting the trends. The survey found that 30% of the facial plastic surgeons surveyed saw an increase in requests for procedures due to patients being more self aware of looks in social media and that a great number of patients were dissatisfied with their own image on social media sites. This is really having a poll on self-confidence with people needing to hold a microscope up to their image and self-critique it. Even if these pictures are taken from our most flattering angle, they still may have lighting issues and they may still force us to see whether we are comfortable … within our skin! After all, these images, uploaded in the social media sites, are the “first impressions” given to other young people, potential romantic partners and even employers!

The outcome? A 30% increase in “changing appearance” procedures performed on younger patients, when prior the selfie-era, the facial procedures where mainly performed to prevent or erase the visible signs of aging. And now you may ask: What are the “changing appearance” procedures? Well, they include, but are not limited to otoplasty, rhinoplasty, mentoplasty, cheek implants, lip augmentation, scar revisions, and so on.

Otoplasty, also known as ear surgery, will get rid of protruding ears that may have given us the cruel nicknames of “Dumbo” or “Mickey Mouse” from our beloved classmates! This surgery can offer a real emotional boost in addition to its cosmetic benefits.

Rhinoplasty, also known as nose surgery, will enhance the appearance of the nose, a part of our breathing system that unfortunately sits right in the middle of our face and has a great impact on our appearance. With proper analysis, realistic patient expectations and the skills of a qualified and board certified facial plastic surgeon, rhinoplasty is a very rewarding procedure, which makes a huge difference in overall facial harmony.

Mentoplasty, also known as chin surgery, will help give balance to the face and create a major part of one’ s profile, especially if the procedure is done on a “weak chin” which obviously is not an asset. This procedure may take one of two routes: chin augmentation or chin reduction. The augmentation is achieved with the help of chin implants available in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, while the reduction sculpts the bone to a more pleasing size.

Cheek implants add aesthetically pleasing definition to the face improving the contour of the middle of the face creating higher and more prominent cheekbones. The size and contour of the cheek implants to be used will be determined by your plastic surgeon and custom fit to achieve the most natural looking results.

Lip augmentation is basically a cosmetic procedure that can give fuller and plumber lips but can still change the overall balance of the face and give … better selfies!

Scar revision is needed when the skin is injured from a cut or tear and the body heals by forming scar tissue. These scars may range from being nearly visible to very obvious and disfiguring, often times acting a reminder of the traumatic experience associated with it. There are various surgical techniques used in scar revision and it really all depends on the scar, where it is located and how it looks. A visit to your plastic surgeon will give you all the options available for this revision surgery and may be even a bad memory erasure!

And now that I’m done with the article … let me take a selfie!!! NOT!!!

Works cited:

1) http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/06/why-selfies-matter/

2) www.webmd.com

3) www.aafprs.org

4) www.plasticsurgery.org

TOP 10 NUTRITION MYTHS

2014-05-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Reading articles and research papers on plastic surgery and dealing with procedures all day long, does not mean that I can disconnect myself from remembering that plastic surgery and nutrition are closely related … However many surgeries one undergoes, if the lifestyle and nutrition habits are not there … it will all seem like a lost cause and at some point we will need to start over if we don’t adopt what’s right! Thus, here I present some of the top nutrition myths that will help you maintain what you get after surgery.

1. Sugar Causes Diabetes.
This is probably the most common misconception about diabetes. Yes, if you have diabetes, you need to watch your sugar and carbohydrate intake to properly manage your blood sugar levels. However, if you do not have diabetes, sugar intake will not cause diabetes. So far, a diet high in calories, being overweight, and an inactive lifestyle are the main risk factors for Type 2 Diabetes.

2. All Fats are bad.
The fact is we all need fats. Fats help nutrient absorption, nerve transmission and maintain cell membrane integrity … just to name a few functions. However, when consumed in excessive amounts, fats contribute to weight gain, heart disease and certain types of cancers. (Like you didn’t already know this!!) Not all fats are created equal though. Some fats promote our health positively while others increase our risk for heart disease. The key is to replace bad fats (saturated fats and trans- fats) with good fats (monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats) in the diet.

3. Brown Sugar is better than White Sugar.
The brown sugar sold at the stores is actually white granulated sugar with added molasses. Yes, brown sugar contains minute amounts of minerals. But unless you eat a gigantic portion of brown sugar everyday - the mineral content difference between brown sugar and white sugar is absolutely insignificant.

4. Brown Eggs are more nutritious than White Eggs.
Eggshell color can vary but it has nothing to do with the quality, flavor, nutritive value, cooking characteristics or shell thickness of an egg. The eggshell color only depends upon the breed of the hen. According to the Egg Nutrition Council, "white shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and white ear lobes and brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes. There is no difference in taste or nutrition content between white and brown colored eggs".

5. Avoid seafood to lower blood cholesterol
I can't believe that this myth was even created. As a matter of fact, cholesterol found in seafood has little effect on blood cholesterol in most people. Saturated fats and trans- fatty acids are the most important factors that raise blood cholesterol. Saturated fats are found in most pre-packaged and processed foods containing shortening or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Trans-fatty acids, on the other hand, are also found in packaged snack foods, deep-fried foods or firm margarine containing hydrogenated oil. Those are the evils … not shrimp, crab and lobster!

6. Avoid carbohydrates to lose weight.
The key message that many Low Carbohydrate Diets convey is that carbohydrates promote insulin production, which in turn results in weight gain. Therefore by reducing carbohydrate intake, we will lose weight. Many low-carbohydrate diets actually do not provide sufficient carbohydrates for the body for daily maintenance. Therefore your body will begin to burn stored carbohydrates (glycogen stored in the muscles) for energy. When your body starts burning glycogen, water is released. Therefore the drastic initial drop of weight, especially at the beginning of a low-carb regime, is mostly the water that you lose as a result of burning glycogen. Further, these diets are often calorie-restricted! Actually, to lose 0.5 kg (1lb) a week, you only need to eat 500 calories less per day in your normal diet. Therefore, whatever you eat, you will lose weight if you decrease your caloric intake to less than what is needed to maintain your weight.

7. Avoid nuts as they are fattening.
Yes, it's true that nuts are quite calorically dense. 15 cashews, for instance, deliver ~180 kcal! On top of that, it is very tough not to over-eat these tasty snacks. If you can restrain yourself from overeating them, nuts can be a part of a healthy diet. In fact, nuts are high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (the good fats) as well as plant sterols, which have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol. Thus, instead of simply adding nuts to your diet, the best approach is to eat them in replacement of foods high in saturated fats.

8. Eating for 2 is necessary during pregnancy.
Energy requirements vary among individuals. Unfortunately, pregnancy is not the “ice-cream-free-for-all,” as we would like it to be. It is generally recommended that pregnant women increase their daily intake by 100 kcal in the first trimester and 300 kcal in the second and third trimester. For instance, an extra snack before bedtime consisting of a fruit, a serving of non-dairy milk or sheep’s yogurt and a few biscuits is often enough.

9. Skipping meals can help lose weight.
Many people think that by skipping a meal, they eat less food and therefore it's effective in helping them lose weight. However they fail to recognize that our bodies do not operate this way. If we skip a meal, our body will think that we are in a starvation mode and therefore slow down the metabolism to compensate for this. We then tend to overeat at the next meal. Nice one eh? What’s even worse is the fact that often times, skipping a meal results in an increase in total caloric intake than if we just ate more frequently throughout the day. A better approach is to eat smaller frequent healthy meals and snacks to keep our blood sugar balanced. Haven’t you ever wondered where thin people, who snack all day long, put the food they consume? Well … they “put” it in their regions sewer … because, the small frequent meals make the digestive system work more efficiently and this results in more regulated bowel movements … I’m sure you understand what I’m saying.

10. Red meat is bad for health
I often hear people saying that they do not eat red meat. When asked why they don't and what do they consider to be red meat, the answers vary dramatically. It is true that some studies linked red meat with increased risk of heart disease, partly due to the saturated fat content. In fact, even chicken can contain as much saturated fat as lean cuts of beef or pork. For instance, a serving of sirloin beef or pork tenderloin has less saturated fat than an equal serving of chicken thigh with skin. It is true that poultry, such as chicken and turkey, is naturally lower in saturated fats - it is only true IF you do not eat the skin. Instead of excluding red meats, choose leaner cuts of beef and pork. For beef, choose eye of round, top round roast, top sirloin and flank; for pork, choose tenderloin and loin chops. Ok, ok … it’d be best if you turned vegetarian and avoided animal products altogether … but for those … carnivores among you, I have to bust this myth as well.

MOTHER’S DAY … 100 years old!

2014-05-13T10:42:00.003-07:00

I am not up there, at the 100s, even though sometimes I do feel that way, but I still love Mother’s Day and know all of its history. I got to appreciate this day more when I gave birth to my daughter and the name “mother” suddenly acquired a completely different and heightened meaning!

This year, I had to spend it away from my daughter … the pleasures of a college education (!)… and it hurt. After all, when U.S. President Woodrow Wilson officially set aside the second Sunday in May in 1914 for the holiday, it was meant “to celebrate the best mother you've ever known—your mother—as a son or a daughter", which basically means that you (as a son or daughter) would go home to spend time with your mother and thank her for all that she did. Don’t get me wrong … I did get my “thank you mommy” from my daughter – who actually does not have to wait for Mother’s Day to tell me how much she loves me and appreciates what I’ve done … but … she did not “come home” … she couldn’t! And I felt so awkward …

I did however had a good look at myself … twenty years after having earned the name “mother” and I could very clearly see why the marketing term “MOMMY MAKEOVER” was born. It is really not a surgical term, as it involves multiple plastic surgery procedures, but the wanted outcome is one: the restoration and improvement of the bodies of mothers postpartum (or post-pregnancy).

The package includes procedures that refresh the body and allow us mothers to bring back the body we had before pregnancy and before we actually set ourselves as second-in-line (sometimes even third or fourth or fifth…) since dedicating our lives to nurturing our children. It’s a way of saying “thank you” to ourselves, for a change.

So looking at our bodies, we know we need to fix the sagging boobs that became enlarged and bloated during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and then kind-of emptied out and …went South! A breast lift is really the answer to that, but since there was the “emptying out” as well, a combined breast augmentation brings back the youthful bust we had and allows us to rid ourselves of the “required” unwire bras and thick straps that hurt our shoulders. A good way to see whether you actually need a breast lift, which reshapes and raises the sagged breasts, is to put a pencil under your breast and see if it stays there. If it does … then a breast lift is your option. If you have also lost a significant amount of volume from your breasts and have extra skin that needs “tailoring” then a breast implant can be inserted at the same time as the lift, resulting in both an increase in the volume and firmness.

Ok, and the breasts are raised and moved back to the correct position (not mid belly anymore!) but now, we can actually see our tummy, which took the worst toll from the pregnancy … that’s where our treasure was growing, and realize that we have loose skin we have no control over. We are determined to get rid of it, watch what we eat and hit the gym five times a week, doing abs over and over …and over. Nonetheless, the skin is still there, reminding us of our gems, our pearls, our children … but making the good old flat-tummy times seem like centuries ago. Here is where the tummy tuck comes in place. Abdominoplasty, as it is more scientifically known, is the procedure that removes the excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen, tightens the muscle of the abdominal wall and reduces the appearance of a protruding abdomen, removing unsightly stretch marks at the same time! Wow! Nice one!

Since we are under the observant eye and expertise of our skilled and board certified plastic surgeon and under general anesthesia, we might as well go ahead and have some liposuction done, in any areas that could possibly need it.

… at the end of the day, the outcome is … “THANK YOU MY BEAUTIFUL MOMMY! You look gorgeous! I wish that I look as good as you when I get to your age!”

LIVING IN A PHOTOSHOP WORLD …

2014-05-05T13:09:00.005-07:00

While at the hair-dresser’s or the barber’s, waiting at the doctor’s anteroom, or at the car-rider line, I flip through magazines … not necessarily reading the articles, but definitely looking at the photos of people, particularly those of celebrities, who always look so fabulous! I am often times jealous of them … with their flawless bodies and their beautiful ageless faces! It’s amazing and even miraculous that they manage to look so stunning at any age, at any occasion and with any outfit … and then I remember the “magic” of Photoshop! I was told some time back that this process of fixing everything imperfect is called “retouch”. Actually, photo retouching is “the treatment of a photograph to remove dust spots or blemishes, or to adjust or remove unwanted elements of the image, or add new elements to an image.”

Ok, these celebrities have the benefit of having their bodies and faces retouched so all their photos look remarkable, astonishing and immaculate. Whether their photos are taken in a pre-organized setting or they are selfies, before being posted or printed anywhere, magazines, social media sites, etc., they are always “fixed”. Their cellulite disappears, their stretch marks vanish, their tummies are “tucked”, their wrinkles are faded away and all imperfections … evaporate! Need I say more about these photos?

The question is what do we do? What about all of us who do not have the luxury of having a mobile photo-retouching-Photoshop-expert 24/7? Do we stay looking at ourselves in the mirror and remain unhappy with the image reflected back? Do we vow to accept that “person” looking at us from inside the mirror or do we do something to change the “imperfections?”

Well … I am a fighter, thus I always look at my options, and here I have made a list of the possible plastic surgery procedures that help improve “thy self” … not momentarily, as photo retouching does, but more permanently!

FACELIFT – A facelift (technically known as rhytidectomy) is a cosmetic surgical operation to remove unwanted wrinkles by tightening the skin of the face. It can not stop the aging process, but it can “set back the clock” improving the most visible signs of aging by removing excess fat, tightening underlying muscles, and re-draping the skin of the face and neck. At the end of it, you look at yourself and you recognize the face … it’s the one you’ve lived with for the past years and not the one that suddenly creped up on you overnight … you know what I’m talking about … the one with the wrinkles!

BLEPHAROPLASTY – This procedure, also known as eyelid surgery, removes extra fat and skin from the eyelids. Droopy eyelids can make you look older and can impair vision. Blepharoplasty corrects these problems but also removes puffiness and bags under the eyes that give a worn and tired look. Although the change most of the times is not drastic, the procedure gives the patient a more rested and refreshed look.

RHINOPLASTY – The term rhinoplasty is derived from the German “rhinoplastik” which means: “changing the shape of the nose”. Some people are unhappy with their nose they were born with or with the way their nose has changed with aging. Others request the surgery due to an injury that may have distorted their nose and for others the goal is improved breathing. Whatever the case, since the nose occupies a central position on the face, its size and shape has a great impact on an individual’s appearance and it’s really a play between bright areas and shadows.

BREAST AUGMENTATION – This surgical procedure is used to enhance the size and shape of a woman’s breasts for reasons that include the enhancement of the body contour of a woman who, for personal reasons, feels that her breast size is too small, the correction of a reductions in breast volume after pregnancy, and/or to balance a difference in breast size. Chose and pick, whatever the reason, this procedures boost self-confidence and improves body image.

BREAST MASTOPEXY – Over the years, factors such as pregnancy, nursing, and the force of gravity, take their toll on a woman's breasts. As the skin loses its elasticity, the breasts often lose their shape and firmness and begin to sag. Breast lift, or mastopexy, is a surgical procedure to raise and reshape sagging breasts - at least, for a time. (No surgery can permanently delay the effects of gravity and everything on our bodies moving south!) Mastopexy can also reduce the size of the areola, the darker skin surrounding the nipple. If the breasts are small or have lost volume, after pregnancy, breast implants inserted in conjunction with mastopexy, can increase both their firmness and their size.

LIPOSUCTION – This procedure can help re-establish the curves and sculpt a thinner body, by removing the deep layer of fat from areas genetically predisposed to accumulate fat. Patients that are not overweight, but still have "stubborn" pockets of fat, are the best candidates for liposuction. Liposuction techniques may be used to reduce these fat deposits in the thighs, the hips and buttocks, the abdomen and waist, the upper arms, the back, the inner knee, the chest area, the cheeks, chin and neck, and the calves and ankles. A healthy lifestyle is an absolute must for anybody contemplating having liposuction, as without it patients can still gain weight, with the remaining fat cells enlarging – more evenly throughout, but still they can enlarge.

TUMMY TUCK – Abdominoplasty, known more commonly as a "tummy tuck," is a procedure to remove excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen, and to tighten the muscles of the abdominal wall. The procedure can dramatically reduce the appearance of a protruding abdomen, and remove unsightly stretch marks that resulted from pregnancy and/or weight gain. A tummy tuck restores weakened or separated muscles creating an abdominal profile that is smoother and firmer. Sometimes liposuction alone can produce the desired results, but sometimes skin removal along with the tummy tuck is necessary.

BRACHIOPLASTY – This surgical procedure removes fat and excess skin hanging from the upper arm. For people who have had a dramatic weight loss or who simply want their arms to look shapely, a brachioplasty can help.

Ok, now that you’ve seen what the options are, you can actually fight the “demon” in your mirror … throw him overboard now and forever. It’s all a matter of choice … and forget about Photoshop altogether!

Works cited:

http://agrilife.org/communications/services/copy/terms/

http://www.stephanidesplasticsurgery.com

http://www.aafprs.org/patient/procedures/rhinoplasty.html

http://www.plasticsurgery.org

A LITTLE HISTORY AND SOME FUN …

2014-04-28T09:58:00.002-07:00

Even though you may not be interested in getting plastic surgery done, it is still a pretty complex topic that is fairly captivating. Let’s explore it and look at some facts worth learning … or remembering!

Plastic surgery does not mean artificial or fake. On the contrary, “plastic” is derived from the Greek plastikos, meaning “to mold” or “give form”, and the term “surgery” is derived from the Greek kheirourgos, from kheir - “hand” + ergon - “work.” So basically plastic surgery has nothing to do with the use of synthetic or plastic materials; it means molding or shaping with the hands.
Plastic Surgery has been practiced for over 2700 years, since about 600 B.C., with the first recorded “nose Job” found in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts. It is said that physicians would reconstruct noses by cutting skin from either the cheek or forehead of the patients and then twisting the skin, side out, over a leaf of the appropriate size, and sewing it into place. Two polished wooden tubes would then be inserted into the nostrils, during the healing process, in order to keep the air passage open.
By the first century B.C., Romans were practicing various forms of plastic surgery to repair noses, eyes, lips, and teeth. Roman physician Cornelius Celsus (25 B.C.- A.D. 50) also describes procedures such as circumcision reversal and even breast reduction in men. Another popular procedure of the time, was scar removal, particularly on the back of patients, as these scars were marks of shame, suggesting that the patient had turned his back in battle, or worse, that he had been whipped like a slave.
Then, during the Middle Ages, plastic surgery was typically deemed pagan and sinful and the power the surgeon had over the body, were akin to magic.
During the Renaissance, when plastic surgery became popular, surgeons took skin grafts from various donors, such as a neighbor’s pig, to create a nose for example, but when that shriveled up and fell off, they concluded that the flesh was “sympathetic,” meaning that the graft died when its original owner died. Most of these surgeries were also performed in barbershops.
The “father of modern plastic surgery,” Italian Gaspare Tagliacozzi (1946 – 1599), in his textbook De curtorum chirugiau, notes that there was an increase need for nose operations due to duels and street fights and also due to the pervasive outbreak of syphilis. He used a “virtual” nose, but it could also fall off, if the user blew too hard.
In 1794, British surgeons witnessed an Indian bricklayer repair the nose of a British cattle driver who had his nose and hand cut off while a prisoner. The surgeons then brought the procedure back to Europe where interest grew rapidly.
Karl Ferdinand Graefe (1787 – 1840) coined the term “plastic surgery” in his 1818 text Rhinoplastik. He was also the one who gave the nose reconstruction procedures the name “rhinoplasty”, in an attempt to make it more similar to other procedures and remove the moral stigma associated with it.
On November 24^th, 1893, we have the first modern breast augmentation in Heidelberg Germany, by Vincent Czerny, on a 41 year old singer. The patient had a fatty growth (lipoma) on her back, which was harvested, removed and transplanted to her breast, after the removal of a growth.
Plastic and Cosmetic surgery, as we know it today, has many of its roots in World War I, since the overwhelming number of invalids and disfigured victims forced the surgeons to improvise and experiment. This developed innovative and new plastic surgery techniques that are used until today. As a matter of fact, the injection of liquid silicone to plump out legs withered by polio was used at that time in Japan, which brought forth the injection of the same silicone to breasts. Also, surgeons who served in WWI established the American Association of Plastic Surgery, in 1931, and helped limit unregulated plastic surgery.
World War II helped build on that knowledge, advancing Plastic Surgery techniques, including building of entire limbs, extensive skin grafts, microsurgery, antibodies, and increased knowledge about tissue health. These procedures were mandated in Nazi Germany and enabled the “too ugly” soldier to become a “real” soldier, and increased the performance of Benito Mussolini’s Italian soldiers, by correcting drooping eyelids.
The modern age of breast augmentation began in 1962 with the implant of silicone gel-filled prosthesis by Doctors Cronin and Gerow.
Dr Yves-Gerald Illouz, developed liposuction as we know it today, using blunt cannulas to remove fat, in France, in 1977.
In 1988, US President Bill Clinton signed a bill, which required insurance companies to cover the cost of reconstructive breast surgery for women who had undergone mastectomy.
And some fascinating numbers: a) Two thirds of plastic surgery patients are repeat patients, b) men account for only 9% of the total plastic surgeries, c) over the last 15 years cosmetic procedures have increased by 457%, d) nearly 10 billion dollars are spent annually on cosmetic procedures, and e) the most popular performed procedure is Botox (botulism toxin).
Lastly, some interesting procedures: a) the voice lift, b) pectoral implants for men, c) dimple fabrication, d) calf implants, e) toe tuck, and f) toe shortening.

ISN’T YOUR BODY WORTH PROTECTING?

2014-04-21T08:14:00.004-07:00

We live in a preventative and protective society. We protect our homes with burglar alarms, guard dogs and bars on the windows. We protect our cars with high-tech alarm systems. We protect many of our personal belongings – our laptop computers, our musical instruments, our cameras and our cell phones – with protective cases. We protect our money by investing it in banks and savings bonds. Our law books are filled with laws that protect our reputations from libel, our economy from monopolies, our borders from illegal aliens, our ability to think, speak and write freely and our rights to education and jobs.

There is only one thing that we as a society overwhelmingly fail to protect: Our bodies. Everyday, people suffer and die from diseases that are largely preventable. These diseases – heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer's disease and depression – are often a result of our diets and lifestyle. We can control our relative risk of developing these diseases and, more often than not, we make the choices that increase our risk.

We smoke, filling our lungs with nicotine and other harmful chemicals, even though we know that smoking increases the risk for nearly every fatal disease plaguing our society. We overeat until we are obese, again increasing our risk of developing these common diseases. We eat foods that we know are bad for our health. Why? We wouldn't dare put a fuel in the gas tanks of our cars that we knew would damage the car, in place of gasoline. Yet, we're perfectly willing to damage our bodies with fuels not meant for us.

As far as our material and our economic possessions are concerned, we will go to all ends to protect them. We act proactively and prevent damage or ruin before it happens. Yet, our population has a general inability to think proactively about our health. We make decisions that negatively affect our health and then, when all these negative decisions finally add up to a disease, we wonder why we have to suffer. We ask, "Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this?"

The healthy attitude:

A fundamental key to healthy eating is to eat a variety of foods. This ensures your body has enough nutrients to function. Nutrients are the substances in food that provide your body with energy and the ability to grow, maintain itself, and repair damaged tissue. Nutrients are divided into six categories: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water. Although not considered a nutrient, you also need fiber for good health. Your body requires different amounts of each nutrient because they all have a special function. While it is rare for a food to only contain one nutrient, the easiest way to ensure you receive all you need is by eating a variety of foods within and among the major food groups. Try to select foods from each of the food groups daily and vary your choices within groups from day to day. Different foods within the same food group contain different levels of nutrients. For example, among the fruits, strawberries are especially rich in vitamin C, while cantaloupes are rich in vitamin A. Eating a variety of foods from each food group everyday promotes:

An adequate intake of essential nutrients
Moderation in the consumption of fat, salt, caffeine, and alcohol.
The positive and pleasurable aspects of pleasurable eating by exploring a wide range of foods varying in color, flavor and texture.
The use of foods and cuisines enjoyed by different ethnic and cultural groups.

As the adage goes, “variety is the spice of life”. Even if you eat beans frequently, you can enjoy pinto beans in Mexican burritos today, garbanzo beans in Greek salad tomorrow, and baked beans with barbecued chicken on the weekend. Eating nutritious meals should never be monotonous. Remember, eating a variety of foods does more than add excitement to eating; it helps ensure all essential nutrients are consumed! It prevents boredom and keeps your body stimulated to perform. Just like cross training with an exercise program does, eating a variety of foods keeps your body stimulated. For some folks, enhancing the variety in their diet is a key strategy for weight loss! Balance the foods you eat with regular physical activity to help you achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.

Thus, be kind to your body! It’s the most valuable of your possessions!

Photo sourced from: http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/12240090

GREEN LIGHT OR RED FLAG?

2014-04-14T07:22:00.001-07:00

I always try to keep up-to-date with what is going on in the world, in regards to Plastic Surgery, and in one of the articles I was reading, a phrase caught my attention. It said: “… the surgeon can only affect how the world sees you, not the way you really are.” It got me thinking as to what that meant exactly, but somehow I interpreted it as referring to the expectations we have from a cosmetic procedure done, whether it be on our face or body.

It is true that post-op, plastic surgery patients generally report a boost in self-confidence, self-esteem and enjoyment of life, an enhanced feeling of health and a diminished feeling of anxiety … but it will not transform you into someone else, improve your social life, or the way you look at the world. Plastic surgery, for example, will not save a marriage – neither will having a baby, or buying a new house, for that matter. But you do realize what I’m saying. Cosmetic surgery can help people take pride in their appearance and enhance their day-to-day outlook on life, but it cannot turn a homely housewife into a drop-dead beauty queen running down the catwalk in a Miss America-type pageant.

And it’s true that most of us have something we don’t like about our appearance, and want to change it, … nonetheless, these issues may be solved with a procedure, giving us a GREEN LIGHT for plastic surgery! There are those though, who are able to function well in society, but remain secretly obsessed by their “horrible nose”, their “hideous acne”, or their “revolting hair”, sneaking constant peeks at a pocket mirror, or spending hours at a time redoing makeup or in front of a full-length mirror. However, there are people who are suffering from Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD - a body-image disorder characterized by persistent and intrusive preoccupations with an imagined or slight defect in one's appearance), which causes them to be obsessed by their perceived flaws in their appearance, and it gets them thinking about these flaws for hours and hours each day, inevitably interfering with their lives, to the point where they simply disintegrate. As Katharine A. Phillips states in her book The Broken Mirror: Understanding and treating Body Dysmorphic Disorder, this disorder may afflict as much as two percent of the population, or nearly five million people. People with BDD can’t control their negative thoughts and don’t believe people who tell them they look fine. Their thoughts may cause severe emotional distress and they do tend to avoid social situations, while concurrently they try to isolate themselves in order to keep their flaws hidden.

BDD drives sufferers to have numerous unnecessary plastic surgeries to correct imperfections, but they never find satisfaction with the results. A great example is Jenny Lee, who was also a guest at the Oprah show for the number of plastic surgeries she has done: 59 in total! When Lee was questioned about how she feels about herself after her plastic surgeries, she replied: "When I look at my reflection, I still don't like what I see. I'm trying to grow to accept what I see... If I could be just OK with it -- just OK -- I would be very happy." Oprah on the other hand said that this woman really looked like a real-life Barbie doll! This is precisely the definition of BDD and consequently a RED FLAG for plastic surgery! So as you can tell: “… the surgeon can only affect how the world sees you, not the way you really are.”

What it boils down to is the fact that it really is a plastic surgeon’s responsibility to assess a prospective patient’s reasons and expectations from a procedure, before agreeing to operate. That having been said, the best outcomes will be for the patients who take personal responsibility for their own reasons and expectations. So, while you’re making up that list of questions to ask your surgeon, make sure you are also taking the time to ask yourself the important questions.

Works cited:

http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Broken_Mirror.html?id=Nok4aaWIWAYC

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/jenny-lee-oprah-plastic-surgery_n_3636939.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dysmorphic_disorder

MATURING MEN, AGING WOMEN

2014-04-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Margaret Thatcher once said: “In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.” At the time, I did not understand what she was talking about, nor did I realize the fact that she was actually using gender stereotypes. It just sounded funny to me! Coming to think about it though, it does bring to the surface a certain mentality that we, as a society, tend to associate with. And this is the fact that we are inclined to use stereotypes in our everyday living.

Gender stereotypes are simplistic generalizations about the gender attributes, differences, and roles of individuals and/or groups. Stereotypes may be positive or negative, but they rarely communicate accurate information about others. Nevertheless, when it comes to gender, double standards are alive and well.

You are probably wondering where I’m taking this… Well let me tell you! If a man has a messy home, then he really has more important things to do, while a woman with a messy home is, plain and simple, lazy! If a woman is blunt and assertive, speaking her mind, she is deemed bossy, aggressive and arrogant, while a man is simply showcasing his executive leadership skills. Men like to talk in a polemical way, whereas women’s talking is milder. Women can’t work on technical things and are not good at “hands on” projects, men separate their lives into compartments and work on one at a time, women become nurses, men become doctors … And it goes on and on, as these inequalities arguably exist because it is common practice for people to judge men and women’s behavior by different standards. Even television, books, comic strips and movies are all abundant sources of stereotypes characters, with Homer Simpson being the biggest example of the American stereotype as perceived by the world.

These stereotypes however, also exist in terms of appearance. Wrinkles on the forehead of a man present “great thinking” and “maturity”, while for women, it simply means they are getting old! Women who have a few extra pounds, fullness in the thighs or around the stomach, will never show up in a TV commercial or a magazine, while no restrictions apply to an overweight man.

Which reminds me of another example: hair color, which actually presents an interesting distinction between men and women. When a woman encounters a “Silver Fox” (an older man with gray hair), she finds him sexy. Gray hair does not imply the man is unfit, physically or emotionally. It implies wisdom, maturity, experience and stability. Put gray hair on a woman and she is not going to be sexy, no matter who she is. Hair coloring is something completely acceptable and even expected for women. If she allows herself to gray naturally, she is not concerned about being attractive, therefore, why should men be attracted to her? Now, if men color their hair, people see it as silly and vain and it is also seen as a display of low self-confidence. Take George Clooney, Pierce Brosnan and John Slattery for example. Their silver locks distinguish them by giving them a mature, sophisticated, smart look … but take a woman with gray hair and she immediately falls in the category of “not taking care of herself, frumpy”!

But it does not stop there … the great advantage men have over women is that our culture allows two standards of male beauty: the boy and the man. The single standard of beauty for women though, dictates that every wrinkle, every line, every gray hair, is a defeat. And it is true that no boy minds becoming a man, while even the passage from girlhood to early womanhood is experienced by many women as their downfall, and all women are trained to continue wanting to look like girls: young and fresh. We tend to glorify youth in women … and when certain parts start … well, “heading south”, we also tend to see that as a sign that the whole person is out to pasture!

It is unfair, but the aggravating truth is that older men can remain desirable without spending a single cent on botox, lifts, plucks and tucks. But this also explains why 95% of the patients at a plastic surgeon’s office are women, looking for facelifts, liposuctions, abdominoplasty, breast surgeries, etc.!

IT’S NOT ALWAYS YOUR FAULT …

2014-03-31T13:11:00.002-07:00

We diet, we exercise, we struggle, we choose our foods wisely, we are very conscious of our habits … and still we don’t lose all the weight we want to, or even if we do, we gain it all back in a flash. We start believing that we did something wrong, and we go at it again, this time with a starvation, easy-fix diet, only to go down a few pounds and then put it all back again, and again. It reminds me of a comic strip I read some time ago in a newspaper, which said: “I keep losing weight, but it … keeps finding me!” It may sound funny, but for those of us who have been down this path, it’s nothing but amusing … it’s actually very frustrating.

Well, today I decided to talk to you about the hidden “devil” in our bodies, who sometimes has more control over our bodies than we do … It’s name is METABOLISM!

Metabolism refers to the countless chemical processes going on continuously inside the body that have the purpose of providing energy for the vital activities and processes and allow life and normal functioning. These processes require energy from food. The amount of calories your body burns, at any given time, is regulated by your metabolism. Moreover, the body's metabolism, is governed by hormones, which are chemical messages secreted by the glands of the endocrine system and the nervous system, and it can be upset by a variety of events, including genetic disorders and hormonal problems.

The metabolic rate (or total energy expenditure) is the rate of energy production and expenditure at a given moment, and it’s divided into three states:

· Basal metabolic rate (BMR) - the amount of calories burned at rest and contributes 50 - 70 per cent of our energy needs.

· Energy expenditure in physical work - the amount of calories burned during movement and physical activity; it contributes at least 20 per cent of our energy needs and it is also known as the “thermic effect of exercise”

· Energy expenditure associated with eating, digesting and metabolising food - also known as the “thermic effect of food”; it contributes about 5 - 10 per cent of our energy needs.

The first two states are proportional to body weight. A person with a high body weight has a relatively high BMR because of a larger amount of muscle required to carry the larger body. This person will also have a higher rate of energy expenditure in movement activities, such as walking and most physical work. The opposite is true for a person of low weight.

Now, all is “fine and dandy”, you may say … “enough with the scientific jargon” … you may continue to say … and I don’t blame you … so here’s what it boils down to … the factors affecting our BMR:

· Body size - larger adult bodies have more metabolising tissue and a higher BMR.

· Age - metabolism slows with age due to loss in muscle tissue, but also due to hormonal and neurological changes. Beyond maturity there is a gradual fall in BMR per kilogram (2.2 pounds) body weight of about 10 per cent per year.

· Growth - infants and children have higher energy demand per unit of body weight due to the energy demand for growth and the energy demand for maintenance of body temperature.

· Gender - generally, men have faster metabolisms than women because they tend to be bigger and have less body fat – the battle of the sexes continues!

· Genetic predisposition - the metabolic rate may be partly decided by a person's genes – blame it on your parents!

· Amount of lean muscle tissue - muscle burns calories voraciously – “couch potato-ing” is not an exercise!

· Amount of body fat - fat cells are sluggish and hardly burn any calories at all; they need next to no energy to maintain themselves.

· Hormonal and nervous controls - BMR is controlled by the nervous and hormonal systems; hormonal imbalances can influence how quickly or slowly the body burns calories.

· Dietary deficiencies - for example, a diet low in iodine reduces thyroid function, which slows the metabolism.

· Environmental temperature - if the temperature is very low or very high, the body has to work harder to maintain its normal body temperature, thus increasing the BMR – don’t blame me if I move to Alaska and then to Equator!

· Infection or illness - BMR increases because the body has to work harder to build new tissues and to create an immune response.

· Crash dieting, starving or fasting - eating too few calories encourages the body to slow the metabolism to conserve energy; BMR can drop by up to 15 per cent. Spontaneous activity is also reduced, achieving a further 15 per cent reduction in energy expenditure. These two combine to reduce energy usage and to conserve life. There is also loss of lean muscle tissue, which further contributes to the drop in BMR – remember this next time you go on a crash “magic” diet!

· Amount of physical activity - hard working muscles need plenty of energy to burn. Regular exercise increases muscle mass and 'teaches' the body to burn calories at a faster rate, even when at rest – flipping channels is not an exercise either!

· Drugs - some drugs, like caffeine or nicotine, can increase the BMR.

So remember:

The metabolic rate is influenced by many factors, including age, gender, muscle-to-fat ratio, amount of physical activity and hormone function; some of these you have control over and may alter, but some you can’t, … so you are not always to blame! Therefore, when you actually decide on liposuction, tummy-tuck or any other “weight decreasing” or “body contouring” surgical procedure … you shouldn’t feel guilty!

CHANGING OUR LIVES WITH BREAST AUGMENTATION

2014-03-24T18:59:00.002-07:00

Some consider it petty, some fake, some a must, others blame it on the pressures of society, and yet others believe that “extraordinary” women should be recognized for what they do, not what they look like. But is it really all about looks? Is it just a matter of changing a woman’s anatomy for attention? Did Timmie Jean Lindsey, a mother of six and the first woman to ever get silicone implants, in 1962, get them to become someone different? All these questions made me curious about why women opt to go under the surgical knife to get a “boob job”.

Well, as each and every woman on planet earth is different, so are the reasons for surgery. But it seems that the reasons that compel women to have breast augmentation, or enlargement surgery, range from cosmetic to medical and it really all depends on the underlying needs that are being addressed. However, I believe that I can put all the reasons in four broad categories.

Reasons for seeking a “boob Job”:

1) The first and most obvious it seems, is the need to have bigger breasts. Breast augmentation is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic surgery procedures, and it is found via numerous studies, that breast implants help boost self-esteem, body image and increase sexual satisfaction. When a woman is flat chested, she may feel “less of a woman”, as one of the aspects that distinguishes men from women, the breasts, are underdeveloped (micromastia) and undefined. It is true that breasts help a woman look more feminine and they add to the body image, as perceived by both women and men. Bigger breasts help a woman feel more confident, happier at shopping sprees, and in a bikini at the beach, and more contented with their body proportions. This procedure contributes to “I am more of a woman” feeling, which adds tremendous power, strength and security to women. It is my opinion, that this is a much healthier attitude towards life.

2) I believe that there are two stages in a woman’s life, in regards to her body: pre-pregnancy and post-pregnancy! Oh, yes! During pregnancy, everything is pulled, enlarged, stretched, distended, increased, inflated, bloated … you get my drift, beyond recognition! And after this beautiful and incomparable period in a woman’s life, she suddenly looks at her body and … screams from fright! It’s like watching a horror movie. Of course we have our kids to show for, and point that the changes were due to the gazillion of pounds gained while giving life to our kids, but the truth remains: we want to restore our pre-pregnancy body and feel like ourselves again. Thus we look for mastopexy! This is the procedure where the sagging breasts are raised. In other words it means the correcting and modifying of the size, contour and elevation of the breasts.

3) A third and fairly common reason that may drive us to have breast surgery is the unevenness of our breasts – having one breast larger than the other. Breast augmentation, in this case, has the ability to give balance to the breasts, making them more symmetrical in appearance: a process that helps boost self-esteem and body image. It makes life so much easier, as does clothes shopping of course! We rid our selves of the buggy or oversized tops and feel more confident in all clothes. We don’t need to hide anything anymore.

4) Mastectomy is the last reason that gets us to have a boob job, this time not for breast augmentation but for breast reconstruction. This is not so much for cosmetic reasons, but it is mostly part of the recovery and healing process for victims of breast cancer. It helps them regain part of their lives, a part that was lost in the cancer treatment.

No matter what compels us to get breast surgery however, it is important for any woman to make the choice herself, not to be bullied by societal trends or media images, and the final verdict has to be given by the plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons whose experience and knowledge can guide us correctly.

SHOULD WE DENY APHRODITE?

2014-03-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

It’s really fascinating … when we think of beauty, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty comes to mind, and when someone mentions the name Aphrodite, we immediately think of beauty. She is indeed a universal symbol of beauty and the variety of sculptures used to depict her, not only testify to her enduring importance, but also prompts us to consider her significance in the portrayal of beauty.

Aphrodite, born from a union between Heaven and Earth, according to Greek Mythology, captivated the beauty and love of the universe, and was really what we call a “femme fatale”. She is comfortable and feels provocatively “at home” in her body. Other females embodying her archetype include Egyptian Cleopatra, Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor, from the past, and Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Monica Bellucci, from the present. But what do all these women have in common? Other than the fact that they are all drop dead gorgeous … they all have curves! Their waste to hip ratio, (WHR), which by the way makes women irresistibly attractive, is O.7.

According to evolutionary Scientist, Devendra Singh, from the University of Texas at Austin, a WHR of 0.7 (meaning that the hips are almost 1.5 times larger than the waist) is what makes male brains tick and they are subconsciously forced by their evolutionary programming to actually receive a signal of fecundity and produce the ultimate verdict: Attractive! Let’s also have in mind that all the winners of the “Miss America Contests” from 1920 until 1980 had a WHR ranging from 0.72 to 0.69.

A starved Barbie will not get you the best catch in town, or the name “sex bomb”, even though it might get you a job as a model. For this type of career, Sheli Jeffry, a scout for Ford, one of the world’s top model agencies, while searching for beauty, says that the right body type is “Thin … you know, the skinny girls … the ones that are basically hangers for clothes.”

Therefore, speeding through all the body types, from Aphrodite’s to the model-type hangers, and everything in between, women seem to feel incapable of “measuring up” to the ever-evolving image of feminine beauty. So … should we deny Aphrodite and reconstruct her to match today’s beauty standards? Let’s invite her to the plastic surgeon’s office, along with her beloved Adonis, for an initial consultation, and find out what her complains would be and what could actually be altered to make her a Goddess of Beauty for 2014 …

Of course, knowing that there are many qualified Plastic Surgeons who are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery in the US, and the fact that each one will come up with a variety of ways in dealing with specific patients’ concerns, we present some of the possible recommendations that may arise during the initial consultation.

Aphrodite’s body proportions:

We have a beautiful woman with normal curves, but she is the typical present day patient visiting a plastic surgeon’s office. The advances of body contouring techniques, which are common practice today, are partly responsible for this trend of women seeking a slimmer and more athletic look. Following this trend, and with Aphrodite in the office, the plastic surgeon still has to evaluate and treat her, and give her all the possible options to help her fit in to the current standards of beauty and the ideal body, regardless of her title: “Goddess of Beauty”.

Aphrodite’s face:

Nose: the angle between the upper lip and the base of the nose looks about 90^o, while the ideal angle stands at 95^o. This could be addressed with rhinoplasty to rotate the tip and bring down the dorsal hump (top part of the nose).

Jawline: there seems to be fullness right below the jaw and the chin, which would be solved with a small amount of liposuction.

Ears: she seems to have an ear deformity, which could be addressed with an otoplasty.

It is difficult to comment on her cheeks, eyes and chin projection due to the angle of the painting … so she gets away with that!

Aphrodite’s body:

She seems to have more than a half-inch pinch throughout her abdomen and love handles. The fullness in the abdomen could be partially caused by muscle laxity and not just body fat (lack of gym hours!). She would be a perfect candidate for upper body liposuction and perhaps a mini-abdominoplasty through a small incision in the bikini line (don’t want the line to show when she’s at the beach!) It’s hard to comment on her breasts but if she has any interest in perfecting her body, she would also consider a breast augmentation.

Aphrodite’s thighs:

Unfortunately, the curves on the female body have become out-of-fashion and banal; therefore Aphrodite would be self-conscious to wear short skirts or hot pants, due to the fullness of her thighs. Straight lines are the trend nowadays which gets her being in great need of a thigh liposuction, for a slimmer and more even look.

Aphrodite’s knees and lower legs:

Perhaps liposuction would give her a slight improvement but her surgeon should proceed with caution, as this is a difficult area to work on. There isn’t much room for error as some important structures lie below the subcutaneous fat.

The patient needs to visit the plastic surgeon in person for further evaluation of this part of her body.

Chopped, pulled apart, cut into pieces, criticized, reinvented or reconstructed, the point remains the same: Aphrodite will always be the Goddess of Beauty! And each one of us will remain goddesses and unique in our existence, no matter what we look like, no matter what the trends of the era we live in are, and no matter what anybody says. At the end of the day, who we are, what we would like to change on our bodies, and what we actually go ahead and ameliorate or alter, is only based upon our own view of what beauty is! And … this is how it should be!

The painting chosen is oil on canvas and it is called Venus and Adonis, painted in 1614, by Dutch painter, draughtsman and printmaker, Hendrick Goltzius. It is found in Munich, at Alte Pinakothek. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hendrick_Goltzius

http://psycnet.apa.org/?&fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.293

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/enigma-beauty/

BLUE ZONES: THE PLACES WERE PEOPLE FORGET TO DIE!

2014-03-09T12:30:00.002-07:00

You are probably wondering why I’m writing this article and what’s it doing in a “Plastic Surgery” blog. Well, the answer is pretty simple really, if you think about it. Whatever we do to our bodies and faces, if we can’t maintain it with proper nutrition, it all goes down the drain. Right? Is the answer found in the “Fountain of Youth”, one of history’s long sought-after mysteries or should we look for answers amongst the people who live longer and healthier lives? I believe that the trick is actually there!

What are blue zones?

Blue Zone is a concept used to identify a demographic and/or geographic area of the world where people live measurably longer and healthier lives, as described in Dan Buettner's book, "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from people who lived the longest." Several of these blue zones exist, and in each of these places people living to 90 or even 100 years is common. And they aren’t just living long either – these people are living healthy – without medication or disability.

The five blue zones are:

· The Italian island of Sardinia

· Okinawa, Japan

· Loma Linda, California

· Costa Rica’s isolated Nicoya Peninsula

· Ikaria, an isolated and beautiful Greek island in the Aegean Sea

What’s their secret?

Cutting to the chase … their secret is really no surprise. It’s their lifestyle! And the right lifestyle can have a dramatic impact on longevity and health. It is a matter of waking up and realizing that the gift of a long and healthy life is already in the hands of each and every one of us. The aim though should be to … keep a good grip on this gift and never let go. It’s a matter of choice!

How to create your own Blue Zone?

Follow the 9 lessons learned from the inhabitants of the Blue Zones and create your own “Fountain of Youth”:

1. Move naturally – no need to run marathons or pump iron, simply work around the house and garden, walk, cycle etc. In other words be active.

2. Know your purpose – give yourself a reason for waking up each and every morning but creating dreams, building upon them and pursue them with passion.

3. Kick back – say goodbye to stress and slow down. Easier said than done for most, but there is a way. Take a nap in the middle of the day, go to happy hour after work, meditate, take a few deep breaths, go on vacation whenever possible …

4. Eat less – food is there to keep us going, not to stop us altogether. Huge meals will only bring us down. The 80% rule states that we should stop eating when we are 80% full. Also, 80% of the food we eat now is to keep us going, the other 20% is to keep our doctors going!

5. Eat less meat – The less meat we eat, the better off we are. In the US there is a tremendous overconsumption of meat. Basically, the Mediterranean Diet is the one to follow, with beans being the cornerstone of most centenarians. Thus opt for vegetables and more “live” foods, rather than processed ones.

6. Drink in moderation – “Is it WINE-o’clock yet”? Have a glass or two of red wine every day.

7. Have faith – denomination does not matter at all, but attending faith-based services seems to do. So, feed your soul, not just your body.

8. Power of love – put your family first.

9. Stay social – build a social network that supports healthy behaviors and consciously choose to “associate with the right people”, as Dan Buettner says!

The final lesson:

We create our own destiny … thus choose wisely!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zones

http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/20/blue-zones-places-in-the-world-where-people-live-to-100-and-stay-healthy/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/03/longevity-health-fitness-happiness/1677425/

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/happiest-places/blue-zones/

THE ROADPATH TO A FACELIFT

2014-03-01T22:28:00.000-08:00

When Dr. Stephanides asked me to write about the reasons that compel us to have a facelift, it got me thinking. As always, I tried to research the topic, finding all the possibilities that exist, and then having compiled all the information, I would sit and write the piece. But this was entirely different. However much I read, however much I gathered, I could not detach myself from the topic. For the first time in my writing years I found it impossible to see the big picture and act as the third person or the observer … I am too involved in this. Allow me to explain!

Being in my mid-40s, and having already gone through the shocking mirror moment, where I actually looked and looked and kept looking at the mirror, in an attempt to find the vibrant image I was used to seeing in the mirror, I realized that I was not a happy camper. That moment felt just as if someone had ripped off all my self-esteem and my confidence. Of course, it is said that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” but … being the “beholder” myself, and being my own worst and strictest critic, I was not looking at “beauty” anymore. I was faced with the reality, I guess, that we do grow older and age comes accompanied by … unwanted side effects, if I may use that phrase. And it’s not that I was thinking about impressing others … not at all, it was all about me, impressing me … and at that point, I was failing miserably.

Instinctively, the old: “fight or flight” reaction, creped up on me. However, knowing that I’m not a quitter and never was, the: “fine, I’ll stay miserable reaction” was not something I could do. It was a matter of sitting and having a conversation with myself, in order to actually figure out the next steps …

And here are all the thoughts that went through my mind:

… I need my confidence back

… I do love and admire my inner self, thus I need to act for my inner self

… I am at the stage where the “nest” is empty, with my daughter at college, thus I have all the freedom I want and need

… I am through with my 24/7 obligations as a mother – no need to babysit anymore, no car rides … my daughter has spread her wings and is on her own path to the creation of her life …

… I have dedicated myself to my daughter for the past 20 years, so now it’s the time to look at me, for a change

… I may be going through mid-life crisis but then again I may not

… I have been divorced for quite a long time now, with a partner, and happily so, but maybe I need to “refresh” myself - not the relationship but me!

… Other friends of mine have done something for themselves, even if they were in a long, happy marriage and wanted to feel and look younger or were divorced and thinking about getting out “on the market” again.

… I need to act now, before it’s too late, and prevent, or at least slow down, the stages of aging. I need to be proactive!

… I don’t want to change me or alter my natural characteristics. That’s not what it’s all about. All I want is to re-create my younger me … be able to look at the mirror without scaring myself and running away like crazy

… I’m not over exaggerating, I’m not freaking out, I’m not losing it, and I don’t believe in the “one size fits all” approach to life, but I need to act, and I need to do it now

… Do I have valid reasons? Oh yes, all my reasons are valid … and I’m ready to “face it” … I need a FACELIFT.

Ok, this is it … Dr. Stephanides asked for an article on facelifts. And what does he get? Well, a person wanting and being ready for a facelift.

Sorry Doc!!!

Image from:
http://www.deceptology.com/2013/11/whats-happened-to-this-womans-beautiful.html

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF THE PLASTIC SURGEON

2014-02-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

From wrinkles on the forehead to the tips of the unsightly toes, there is a plastic surgery procedure – whether cosmetic or reconstructive – that can literally change any aspect of a body. Procedures exist to change the shape of the face or the body, to reverse the signs of aging, and to alter a person’s weight.

And it is true that even though plastic surgery has been around for thousands of years (mainly to repair injuries), in recent years, it has become very common, both due to the huge advances in the field, but also because a lot of people are not happy with their appearance. Information on each procedure, the expected outcome, possible side effects, down time, duration of procedure, anesthesia suggested, the steps followed, etc., can be found by a simple web search.

There is a plethora of information that may be used for guidance … but the key player is one and only: the plastic surgeon. There are 6-7000 plastic surgeons in the US alone, and if other related specialties, which focus on plastic procedures, are included, then the number skyrockets to 60,000. Could they all be the same? Do they all perform the cosmetic procedures identically? The answer is simply: NO.

The procedures may be common, the steps followed the same, but the knowledge, the experience, and the personal tricks-of-the-trade developed over time, of each surgeon differ. Therefore, when you do visit a website for information, make sure you also visit with the plastic surgeon and see what “aces” they have up their sleeves. Most of the times, they have special skills or “secrets” that will not show up in a website, purely so that they may not be copied or replicated, but which give the surgeons the personal touch and the uniqueness they possess. Nonetheless, they are the ones qualified to tell you what your options are, whether you are a good candidate for a particular surgery, and ultimately give you the possible realistic expectations.

Finally, it is very important to take into consideration the individuality of the surgeon, his personality, his attention to detail, his finesse, his artistic capabilities and tendencies … because after all, plastic surgery is a form of art; only the medium is YOU!

TRENDS IN PLASTIC SURGERY FOR 2014

2014-02-20T08:47:00.003-08:00

The quest for perfection is keeping strong with no signs of slowing down. According to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), cosmetic surgery procedures went up by 17% in 2013 as compared to 2012, while The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) shows a 5% increase from 2011 to 2012 in the US. (No data is available as of yet for 2013). The top procedures in both countries were:

Breast augmentation
Eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty)
Face and neck lifts
Breast reduction
Nose jobs (rhinoplasty)
Liposuction
Tummy tucks (abdominoplasty)
Fat transfer operations
Brow lifts
Ear corrections (otoplasty)

Procedures on the rise, and trending in 2014, include both those for the face and the body, and the general request is based on minimal down-time, minimal recovery and the best possible natural-looking results. This is inevitable as with the advances in technology, procedures are becoming more convenient, less invasive and more effective.

Is there a trend among various age groups though?

ASPS states: “the most popular cosmetic surgeries can be broken down by age group” and that “some procedures are consistently popular with certain age groups”.

Age group 13 – 19: nose reshaping (rhinoplasty)
Age group 20 – 29: breast augmentation
Age group 30 – 39: liposuction
Age group 40 – 54: eyelid and/or brow lifting
Age group 55+: facelift

What are we seeing for this year?

It seems certain that old habits die much harder than others – especially when it comes to beauty, but as the industry evolves, so do the trends, in an attempt to stay in sync. So, here’s what’s trending for 2014:

Facelifts top the list with couples opting for this procedure together
Breast surgery (augmentation, reduction, and/or lift)
Chin implants (the procedure adds definition and balances facial features)
Tummy Tucks (it takes away loose skin and tightens up the abdominal muscles)
Brachioplasty or “Bingo Wing” Surgery (removes excess, aging skin from the upper arms)

http://baaps.org.uk/about-us/press-releases/1833-britain-sucks
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/press-release-archives/2013/14-million-cosmetic-plastic-surgery-procedures-performed-in-2012.html
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/july-2013/popular-plastic-surgery-procedures-by-age.html

Welcome

2014-02-13T22:09:00.001-08:00

Thank you for visiting our blog page. There is a lot of information on the internet about plastic surgery procedures allowing potential patients to understand what is available for them. The before and after photos featured on the websites show ideal candidates for that particular procedure. A visit to the plastic surgeon's office will allow the patient to obtain more information about a specific surgery. At that time the surgeon can verify that the patient is a good candidate for that procedure and provide more details on expectations, recovery and costs.

In order to obtain optimal results, surgeries are modified and customized for the specific patient. There is significant variability in the human body and most of the times there are multiple choices with only one that is ideal for each patient. The purpose of this blog is to provide some additional information that is difficult to discover online.