Monthly Archives: June 2011
Who Should Consider a Lifestyle Lift?
Photo Courtesy of Lifestylelift.com
A good candidate is someone who is motivated
Overall I think a good candidate for Lifestyle Lift is an individual who is motivated; motivated simply to make a positive difference in their appearance. Through the ravages of time, simply as we get older things change; we don’t look as good and refreshed and youthful as we did in our 20s and early 30s. Lifestyle Lift specifically addresses the major concerns, which is the lower part of the face, the jowls, the laugh lines, the marionette lines, the sagging, the fullness, the aging appearance issues. The best patient for a Lifestyle Lift is the individual who is motivated to look better. There tends to be an assortment of ages, all the way from late 30s to early 80s and each individual has unique anatomy and specific concerns. Nonetheless, addressing the major areas of aging in the lower part of the face provides significant improvement in one’s overall sense of youthfulness and looking better.
TLC for Skin Below the Chin
Article from The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
If you’re a woman of a certain age, a glance at your exposed chest may show that you need more than a pushup bra. Women in their fifties begin to show wear in exposed areas. According to the June 2011 issue of More magazine, “Your skin below the chin needs TLC.”
Nora Ephron, author of “I Feel Bad About My Neck” is not alone. Necks are frequently left unprotected with moisturizer and sunscreen. But, if you’re starting to look jowly, there’s a surprising and effective treatment for loose skin under the jawline. A plastic surgeon or dermatologist can skillfully inject Botox into the vertical muscles under your jaw, relaxing them so that they loosen their downward pull on the skin. Cost is $250 and up.
You may also have loose neck skin, sadly but aptly referred to as “turkey neck.” Tighten up before Thanksgiving with Thermage, a skin tightening treatment that uses radio-frequency energy to heat the skin’s deepest layers and stimulate collagenproduction. Cost is about $1,200. You can also boost Thermage effects with Fraxel, a resurfacing laser. If your knees are also sagging, the same skin tighteners used on the neck are also used to lift and tighten this hard-to-fix area.
Your chest, which is so evident in today’s scooped out styles, may be striated with lines and discolored with mottling. Mottling can be treated with glycolic peel laced with retinoic acid for about $100 to $200 a session. Pigment-targeting lasers will take care of your brown spots in about 3 sessions at $350 each. A hyaluronic acidfiller, such as Restylane, could even be used to plump up the lines in your chest for about $500 a treatment.
To prevent further damage, slather your chest with sunscreen, especially in the frequently-exposed clavicle area.
Celebrity Plastic Surgery: Lynne Curtin from the Real Housewives
Lynne Curtin from The Real Housewives
Are Steroid Injections Worth the Travel?
Photo from TheBeautyBrains.com
Brown123 asks:
“I’m from Alabama. I got rhinoplasty performed in Flordia 2 & half months ago. My nose is still very swollen. My doc told me I can come back to Flordia & get steroid injections or I can go to a local doc. He advise me that he feels that he’s a better doc than my local doc. But Florida is 14 hours away & I really don’t want to travel that far for shots. But this is my face & money isn’t an option. But I was thinking how hard could it be to perform shots. do u think the local doc could do the job?”
What is the Difference Between a Lifestyle Lift and a Mini Lift?
Image Courtesy of www.lifestylelift.com
clp1988 in Chattanooga, TN asks:
“What is the difference between the “Lifestyle Lift” and a regular “mini face lift” of the bottom half of your face?”
A Lifestyle Lift is a mini-lift. The definition of a mini-lift is a shorter dissection procedure. Traditional “old type” facelifts dissect all along the face, outward towards the cheekbones and the nasolabial fold laugh lines. This is called an extended lift and there are individuals that still utilize this technique today. But a mini-lift only dissects a short degree, perhaps to 3 to 5-cm outward and downward from the ear. The shorter the dissection the less surgery performed, the less discomfort and swelling and potential for fluid collection, bleeding or infection.
Mini-Lift Incisions Preventing from Pulling Hair Back
Ohiokat from Ohio asks:
My surgeon said I’d be able to wear my hair pulled back after my mini lift, as the sutures would wrap in and around my ears. Post surgery, I’ve found that the sutures also extend back from behind my ears into the hairline about 2.5 inches. I’m upset. Is this typical, to find that incisions were made beyond what was specifically described pre-surgery?
Photo Courtesy of RealSelf.com
The amount of incision performed behind the ears is variable depending on the operating surgeon. Some incision types such as a “S-lift” there are limited or no incisions beyond the postauricular crease. However it is more common to have incisions extend beyond the postauricular crease into the hairline or along the hairline. The distance traveled can be anywhere from a few centimeters to several inches. Overall there is a tendency for minimal inhibition for putting one’s hair in a ponytail many weeks after the surgery as the wounds tend to blend in and heal nicely. Essentially understanding exactly what type of procedure and incision to be performed is essential in the preoperative consultation. But it is common to have incisions going backwards from the postauricular crease.
How Do You Correct Too Much Fat Removed During Neck Lift
TJR in Savannah, GA asks:
“If you had too much fat removed from submental liposuction and it caused your muscle bands to show and indentations how would you go about correcting this problem? If you are a PS what would you recommend to fix something like this and what sort of reasonable expectations should a person have in terms of having a normal looking neck again? I am scared and upset so any insight would be appreciated.”
Correction of the described problem can be addressed in several different ways. Specifically it is important to really get an anatomical evaluation and overall sense of what the underlying issues are. It is not an uncommon problem/complication to have “too much fat removed in the neck area” as liposuction is a component of facelift surgery commonly. But also residual band laxity is also not too uncommon. Bands are the platysmal muscle bands that can remain lax after surgery.
A number of treatments are available including repeat platysmal band tightening. This will often times resolve the problem by itself. Other supplemental treatments include fat injections as needed if there is significant contour deformity. This procedure is less common than a simple platysmal muscle repeat tightening. Nonetheless this area can be addressed commonly and long term permanent problems is something not seen too often.
What is More Invasive..a Browlift or Upper Blephroplasty?
Andi P in Pennsylvaasks:
What is More Invasive- a brow lift or upper blephroplasty? hich is more invasive…a browlift or upp blephroplasty? Thanks!
Image Courtesy of cosmeticsurgeryforums.com
There are a number of different types of brow lift procedures. Most of the brow lift procedures would likely be categorized as more invasive than a standard upper blepharoplasty. Upper blepharoplasty is a simple procedure whereby skin and a small component of muscle is trimmed from the upper eyelid, sometimes with a small degree of fat removal. Essentially this is a simple procedure. A brow lift can be a little bit more complex. Coronal lifts and endoscopic brow lifts have moderate dissection components to them. More limited brow lift techniques such as transblepharoplasty, direct brow lift or lateral temporal brow lift have a bit less dissection/invasive requirements than the old-time traditional brow lift techniques. It is important to discuss the brow lift technique specifically with your surgeon.
Is the Improving Economy Causing a Rise in Cosmetic Surgery?
Article from The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
While many U.S. citizens are putting off visits to the doctor’s office, there is one sector of medicine that is seeing a surge – plastic surgery. According to medical experts who spoke at the Reuters Health Summit earlier this week, facial aesthetic procedures such as Botox injections are “beyond the peak pre-recession.”
David Pyott, chief executive of Allergan Inc., which makes Botox, remarked that sales of dermal fillers from his company are 20 percent higher than they were before the recession. Cosmetic surgeries hit bottom in 2009, immediately after the housing collapse that caused the large recession.
He added that the increase in demand for Botox could be seen in several different economic brackets, a trend which he believes “correlates with people’s confidence about the future, maybe how much money they have got on their credit card at the time.” Nowadays, visiting a board-certified plastic surgeon for a Botox treatment was similar to spending money on taking the family to a baseball game or small vacation, something that is also indicative of a rebounding economy.
Elective surgeries, such as gastric bypass, are also increasing in number. Weight loss surgery is not something typically prescribed by doctors, so individuals who choose to undergo these procedures likely feel that they have the financial security to do so.
“The bariatrics area is a good one because it shows there are people going back to work full-time, getting insurance, and having the ability to… pay the co-pays that a procedure like that would require,” said Jose Almeida, another representative at the summit. “So that makes us cautiously optimistic about the future.”
The bariatrics trend may in turn lead to more body contouring procedures such as body lifts which aim to reduce the amount of sagging skin that results from a weight loss procedure.
Lower body lifts can help eliminate skin hanging from the stomach and also flatten one’s belly. This will also help lift the thighs and define the buttocks. Typically, this procedure carries a three to four week recovery time, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
Arm lifts, neck lifts and buttocks lifts are all popular forms of surgery that can help with loose skin after weight loss. According to the article, elective procedures are most popular with the middle class and gaining in popularity with the economic rebound.
How Can I Correct This Naseolabial Fold Problem on One Side of my Face?
msmmi in sf in Pleasanton, CA asks:
2 months ago I had 4 qaud eye lift, brow lift, full facelift and lipo of the neck. I had some nasolabial folds before surgery, and the doctor assured me these procedures would correct the problem. However, the fold on one side is still there, and never seemed to get better. I feel the malar fat pad may not have been lifted as much as it should have been. I am not into fillers that don’t last, after spending all this money for a more lasting fix. what should be done?
Photo Courtesy of RealSelf.com
It is now two months after the procedure and there has been a number of procedures performed, including your eyelift and brow lift and facelift, liposuction and neck lift. These are a lot of procedures and even though it has been two months there is still some reasonable amount of healing that needs to occur. Most people desire resolution of all their swelling and healing problems by a week or a month, but essentially three and six months or more is required.
Therefore assessing the nasolabial folds is somewhat premature at this phase, but a number of things can be discussed at this time. Facelift procedures can soften the nasolabial folds, but rarely get rid of the significant concerns of the nasolabial folds. Fillers are the best answer. There are a number of fillers; the temporary ones are beneficial. If you are interested in a “lasting fix” then more permanent type fillers are helpful, including Artifill and Sculptra, as well as fat grafting. Fat grafting tends to be the best answer in many instances due to its reliability and the fact that it comes from your own body to begin with.
So the best answer to your question is to wait a little bit of time, at least three months if not six months, and assess things and consider fillers after that period of time. Fat grafting would be my first option, Sculptra would be a second answer.
Should a Patient with Botched Surgical Results, Be Required to Pay for a Revision Surgery?
msmmi in sf in Pleasanton, CA asks:
”Should a patient with botched plastic eye and brow lift be required to repay the surgeon for a revision?”
Photo Courtesy of RealSelf.com
Each individual plastic surgeon has his/her protocol in their office. Common protocols include not charging for a second procedure. Many offices and plastic surgeons require a facility fee. Less often full price is charged.
When it comes to the need for a revision procedure, which is a little bit different than “botched surgery”, repeat procedures are common. A certain percentage of patients who have a rhinoplasty or facelift surgery for instance, require touch-up or revision procedure. This can be in the range of 10 to 15% of patients sometimes. Due to the fact that this is not too uncommon, this possibility should be discussed prior to the procedure.
In the instance of a “botched” surgical procedure, a good trusted second party is needed to assist with defining the real true problems. A trustworthy second opinion would help to define whether there truly is a permanent complication or whether there is simply something else such as not getting the results that one desires, or a wound or swelling that should get better with time, etc. Going back to the primary surgeon, getting his/her opinion followed by a second opinion will best assess whether there is a true problem that needs fixing.
Commonly good ethical physicians will provide assistance for correcting surgical related complications at minimal or no charge. But there is no requirement to do so. Your best answer is to try to do the best you can with the primary physician/surgeon to see if he/she will provide correction of a true surgical complication at a reduced fee.
