Plastic Surgery News

A new study on cosmetic skin fillers conducted by Spanish researchers revealed that polyalkylimide implants may lead to potentially severe and adverse immune-related effects that appear months after the procedure was performed.

The research, published in a recent issue of the Archives of Dermatology, stressed that polyalkylimide implants are made to augment lips, cheeks, the forehead, and the lines that develop between the nose and mouth.

Researcher Jaume Alijotas-Reig, M.D., Ph.D. from the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and Autonomous University of Barcelona, and his colleagues have this to say:

Katherine Chen is a plastic surgery patient who posted a review about her experience on a website that encourages consumers to rate health-care providers. She did this when she got dissatisfied with her nasal reshaping surgery and even hired a malpractice lawyer and filed a complaint with the Medical Board of California.

Chen, 22, said that she wasn’t really nasty about her review. “I wasn’t nasty about it. But I posted a comment about what I went through. These web sites are useful. Doctors still have a lot of power.”

Chen, together with other consumers, was just expressing what she thinks about the current state of health care and the doctors who provide it. The presence of dozens of websites that allow people to rate and review their doctors have made this activity a lot easier. These websites operate in the same way online services help people find hotels or plumbers.

More often than not, patients who have unrealistic expectation will always be unhappy with their plastic surgery results. Especially when the patients brings in a photo of her favorite celebrity and tells her surgeon to make a her an exact clone, the plastic surgeon will always be at a disadvantage of not fulfilling her requests.

So how we deal with a disgruntled patient? Dr. Richard Goode of Stanford University School of Medicine says the best defense is a good offense. He is the author of the article, "The unhappy patient following facial plastic surgery: What to do?" which appears in the May issue of the journal Facial Plastic Surgery Clinics of North America.

Lawmakers in the state of California want a new legislation for regulating plastic surgery in order to ensure patient safety when undergoing plastic surgery procedures. This move has become evident six months after Kanye West’s mom died after liposuction and breast implant surgery.

California has been urging to regulate outpatient surgical centers. Since most of the procedures are now done outside the hospital, it is best to check whether the situation is best for a patient to undergo surgery. Lawmakers see the necessity to oversee plastic surgeon qualifications, accreditation of facilities and readiness of safety measurements.

A new technique is now employed to address nasal obstruction without changing the appearance of the nose. This technique is called Z-plasty and it is minimally invasive that can be used to treat internal nasal valve collapse. Unlike traditional rhinoplasty, Z-plasty relieves nasal obstruction with less recovery time, according to a research done by Rush University Medical Center.

Internal nasal valve collapse is one of the most common causes of nasal obstruction. Normally, this is addressed through an open nasal surgery or rhinoplasty. However, for those who are wary that the appearance of the nose might be altered, this traditional approach may not be the best.

Johanna Botta was to participate as Miss Peru USA at the Miss Peru Universe 2008 Pageant. However, due to a constant pressure from the organization to get plastic surgery,
Johanna left and did not join the event.

The pageant was held on May 1, 2008 and declared Karol Castillo as the winner.

The 2008 Miss Peru Pageant was allegedly sponsored by a plastic surgeon. With this, constant pressure was applied to the contestants to get plastic surgery. Johanna was urged to go under the knife to enhance her breasts and nose. She said that she has nothing against plastic surgery but she was dismayed by the fact that people are telling her to do it.

A new plastic surgery picture book for children is making a lot of buzz in the United States. The book was written by Michael Salzhauer, a plastic surgeon based in Florida. The book, entitled “My Beautiful Mommy” was aimed at four to seven-year-olds to help them understand what’s going on when their mommy goes under the knife.

Salzhauer, a father himself, stressed that most of his patients who come to his office are bringing their kids along. These patients were concerned about how to tell their children about their plastic surgery. He told Reuters, “This is for a specific consumer at a specific time in their life that is going to turn their household upside down for a couple of weeks.”

Americans who are not satisfied with their looks are trying to save money on their plastic surgery makeovers by going abroad. There has been a proliferation of cosmetic surgery tourism packages from exotic locales like Costa Rica, Philippines, Mexico, and Brazil. However, experts warn that cosmetic surgery tourism might result to patients spending more than they expect especially in terms of health and money.

Surgery practices overseas employ the help of travel agencies to attract potential clients from the United States and United Kingdom. Cosmetic procedures plus a vacation package is the common offer which includes your pick of operations for a little as half as the cost in the United States and tour itineraries like resort stays, and spa services.

Arm lift surgery is beginning to become a popular procedure among women. Excess fat and sagging, and also the hanging skin on the upper arms are common cosmetic issues and most women are trying to find ways to deal with these problems through cosmetic surgery.

Patients go through arm lift surgery or Brachioplasty in order to address the problem of sagging arms. According to the data from ASAPS, there were 21,870 arm lift procedures performed in 2007, an increase of 769% since 1997.

Dr. Daniel Morello, a board-certified plastic surgeon in White Plains, NY, observed that when liposuction first became popular about ten years ago, there was a decrease in the number of Brachioplasty procedures being performed. Today, liposuction is usually one part of the procedure.

A picture book aimed at helping children deal with their parents’ plastic surgery operation is about to be released this April 28. The book is entitled My Beautiful Mommy and was written by Dr. Michael Salzhauer, a plastic surgeon based in Florida.

Dr. Salzhauer has written the book in order to help parents explain to their children what happens before the operation and what happens after it. Through the book, parents can easily handle making their children understand the changes that transpire after their cosmetic surgery operations.

The author said: "More than half the women who come in for procedures bring their children with them and most parents go into denial about the surgery with regard to their children."