Cosmetic and Plastic Surgeons

A lot of women that receive breast augmentation surgery with silicone implants will do so without even really thinking about what they have just had put inside of them. Which may bring them to the question, “What exactly is a silicone gel-filled implant?” Dr. Lyle Weeks, an El Paso plastic surgeon, answers this with, “A silicone gel-filled breast implant is an implant shell made of silicone elastomer (rubber) filled with silicone gel as opposed to being filled with saline. Saline implants also have a silicone elastomer shell.” Some women will find this out before their surgery, and that is the best way to go about it.

I found this on a Dallas plastic surgeon’s website while looking around for information on breast augmentation surgery. “There is no one implant-type or type of augmentation that is best for all patients, just like there is not one type of house or car that best suit everyone.” It’s reassuring to know that even if my body may not be the body of a typical patient receiving a breast augmentation that my results will be the same.

“As with collagen, “overfilling” is necessary to allow for fat absorption in the weeks following treatment.” I read this on the website of a College Station plastic surgeon. After finding this out about the fat transfer procedure I decided that it wasn’t as scary as I had previously thought.

I have been considering a breast augmentation and trying to decide between silicone or saline implants. That’s until I read this, “In the end there will likely be many more available breast implant choices for patients in the coming year.” on a Dallas plastic surgeon’s website. Now I have to consider waiting a while to see what else may be available to me.

I’m planning on receiving an ear pinning procedure in the late summer but I’m very worried about possible complications. I found a Dallas plastic surgeon’s website with some reassuring information. It says, “Occasionally, patients develop an infection in the cartilage, which can cause scar tissue to form. Such infections are usually treated with antibiotics; rarely, surgery may be required to drain the infected area.”

In the medical world, the fat-injection procedure is known as autologous fat transplantation or microlipoinjection. It involves extracting fat cells from the patient’s abdomen, thighs, buttocks or elsewhere and reinjecting them beneath the facial skin. Fat is most often used to fill in “sunken” cheeks or laugh lines between the nose and mouth, to correct skin depressions or indentations, to minimize forehead wrinkles and to enhance the lips.

Besides protruding ears, there are a variety of other ear problems that can be helped with surgery. These include: “lop ear,” when the tip seems to fold down and forward; “cupped ear,” which is usually a very small ear; and “shell ear,” when the curve in the outer rim, as well as the natural folds and creases, are missing. Surgery can also improve large or stretched earlobes, or lobes with large creases and wrinkles. Surgeons can even build new ears for those who were born without them or who lost them through injury.

When cosmetic ear surgery is performed by a qualified, experienced plastic surgeon, complications are infrequent and usually minor. Nevertheless, as with any operation, there are risks associated with surgery and specific complications associated with this procedure. A small percentage of patients may develop a blood clot on the ear. It may dissolve naturally or can be drawn out with a needle. Occasionally, patients develop an infection in the cartilage, which can cause scar tissue to form. Such infections are usually treated with antibiotics; rarely, surgery may be required to drain the infected area.

The first consultation allows you to meet with your plastic surgeon and staff to discuss your needs and concerns. You will learn about your surgery, the risks and complications, recovery time and look at before and after pictures. Your discussion with him or her covers all aspects of the surgery and you will discuss with him or her your expectations of the surgery. Your plastic surgeon will be able to examine your body and talk about the procedures necessary to meet your expectations.
During the consultation, you will be asked about the results you would like to achieve from abdominoplasty. This will help your surgeon to understand your expectations and determine whether they realistically can be achieved. He or she will individualize your treatment plan with you and discuss with you what type of abdominoplasty will give you your best results (ie. mini-abdominoplasty vs. full abdominoplasty vs. extended abdominoplasty).
You will have before pictures taken, which allows the physician to plan your surgery and also allows computer imaging to be done and viewed at a later date. After meeting with your surgeon you will have the opportunity to meet with the nurse and review pre-operative and post-operative care necessary for the surgery. You plastic surgeon’s assistant will discuss fees and schedule your surgery at a time convenient to both schedules.

A forehead lift or “browlift” is a procedure that restores a more youthful, refreshed look to the area above the eyes. The procedure corrects drooping brows and improves the horizontal lines and furrows that can make a person appear angry, sad or tired.
In a forehead lift, the muscles and tissues that cause the furrowing or drooping are removed or altered to smooth the forehead, raise the eyebrows and minimize frown lines. Your surgeon may use the conventional surgical method, in which the incision is hidden just behind the hairline; or it may be performed with the use of an endoscope, a viewing instrument that allows the procedure to be performed with minimal incisions. Both techniques yield similar results — smoother forehead skin and a more animated appearance.

An arm lift, also known as brachioplasty, is a surgical procedure to remove loose skin and excess fat deposits in the upper arm. With age, upper arm skin can become loose and flabby. Plastic surgeons will discuss brachioplasty with patients who want to tighten this skin and look as good as they feel. In some cases your plastic surgeon may suggest that liposuction be used alone or in conjunction with an arm lift to remove excess fat in the upper arms.

Eyelid surgery (technically called blepharoplasty) is a procedure to remove fat–usually along with excess skin and muscle from the upper and lower eyelids. Eyelid surgery can correct drooping upper lids and puffy bags below your eyes - features that make you look older and more tired than you feel, and may even interfere with your vision. However, it won’t remove crow’s feet or other wrinkles, eliminate dark circles under your eyes, or lift sagging eyebrows. While it can add an upper eyelid crease to Asian eyes, it will not erase evidence of your ethnic or racial heritage. Blepharoplasty can be done alone, or in conjunction with other facial surgery procedures such as a facelift or browlift.

Prior to the development of prosthetic breast implants numerous materials were trialed for the purpose of augmenting the female breast. Up until the 1950’s materials included autogenous fat and dermal grafts, fat injections, paraffin injections, insertion of glass balls, ivory, rubber, and terylene wool.4,5 These materials frequently led to infection, tissue necrosis and firmness of the breast. The autogenous materials were uniformly troubled by resorption. The 1950-1960’s saw the use of many other products. Free injections of hydrocarbons, petroleum jelly, silicone oils, vegetable oils and bees wax were tried and led to many problems including infection, granulomas, fistulas and breast firmness.4,5 During this same time many different types of sponges were developed hoping that soft tissue ingrowth would improve the biocompatibility of these products. Polyvinyl and polyether were the most common sponge materials (figure 2) others included silastic and Teflon. Unfortunately these products were complicated by many of the same problems and were discontinued.
The development of the silicone gel prosthesis in 1962 marked a very important new era in breast surgery. Since Cronin and Gerow6 first reported its use very few other materials have been used for breast augmentation. This is partly due to the success of silicone devices and also by the subsequent FDA regulation of medical devices that was started shortly after the development of silicone gel devices.

Dermabrasion is most often used to improve the look of facial skin left scarred by accidents or previous surgery, or to smooth out fine facial wrinkles, such as those around the mouth. It’s also sometimes used to remove the pre-cancerous growths called keratoses. Dermaplaning is commonly used to treat deep acne scars.

The skin over the abdomen area can become stretched out after childbirth or weight loss. This skin does not retract to its original tightness and can be loose and saggy. The abdominal muscles also have stretched out and have not regained their normal position, giving the appearance of a “pot belly” no matter how many sit-ups a person does. An abdominoplasty or “tummy tuck” will correct both of these problems. The excess skin is removed and the muscles are tightened to firm up the abdomen and provide better contour.

Blepharoplasty can correct drooping upper lids and puffy bags below your eyes. These are the features that make you look older and feel more tired than you are, and may even interfere with your vision. However, it will not remove crow’s feet or other wrinkles, eliminate dark circles under your eyes, or lift sagging eyebrows. While it can add an upper crease to Asian eyes, it will not erase evidence of your ethnic or racial heritage. Blepharoplasty can be done alone, or in conjunction with other facial surgery procedures such as facelift or browlift.

The saline implant has an exterior sack made of solid silicone, which is filled with a sterile saline solution — like the salt-water solution that is administered for intravenous fluids. One of the advantages of this solution is its safety. Should the implant for some reason leak, the saline just gets absorbed by your body, as would the intravenous fluids used during, and after surgery. Yet another advantage of the saline implants is a very low infection rate, which is usually less than one to two percent.

# A man or a woman whose face and neck have begun to sag but whose skin still has some elasticity.

# Whose patients bone structure is strong and well defined.

# Most patients are in their forties to sixties. But a face lift can be done successfully on people in their seventies or eighties.

# A face lift can make you look younger and fresher and may enhance your self confidence in the process. But it can”t give you a totally different look, nor can it restore the vitality of your youth.

Patients of all ages may desire improvement in the fullness or bulk of the vermilion (the red part of the lip). Several techniques are available to reproduce fullness of the lips. These include augmentation (Alloderm and Softform/UltraSoft) and fat injections. Each patient must be evaluated on an individual bases to determine which technique will work best for their desired results.

Lip Augmentation is a procedure most people wouldn’t think of, but to some people it is very important. Has anyone had experience with a lip augmentation they would like to share?

Women with very large, pendulous breasts may experience a variety of medical problems caused by the excessive weight-from back and neck pain and skin irritation to skeletal deformities and breathing problems. Bra straps may leave indentations in their shoulders. And unusually large breasts can make a woman-or a teenage girl-feel extremely self-conscious. A board certified plastic surgeon can answer any questions you may have about reduction mammoplasty surgery.

For the most part, the operation is done on children between the ages of four and 14. Ears are almost fully grown by age four, and the earlier the surgery, the less teasing and ridicule the child will have to endure. Ear surgery on adults is also possible, and there are generally no additional risks associated with ear surgery on an older patient.

Gynecomastia is a medical term that comes from the Greek words for “women-like breasts.” Gynecomastia or male breast reduction is actually quite common and may affect only one breast or both. There is no known cause in the vast majority of cases, and surgery is the only known physical remedy. In cases of obesity, weight loss can alter the gynecomastia condition, but for many it will not eliminate it.

Chin surgery, also known as mentoplasty, is a surgical procedure to reshape the chin either by enhancement with an implant or reduction surgery on the bone. Many times a plastic surgeon may recommend chin surgery to a patient having nose surgery in order to achieve facial proportion, as the size of the chin may magnify or minimize the perceived size of the nose. Chin surgery helps provide a harmonious balance to your facial features so that you feel better about the way you look.

An abdominoplasty can help individuals restore a thinner and fitter looking contour to their bodies. The tummy area is made smaller to better match the body of the patient. Board certifed plastic surgeons accomplish this by removing excess fat and skin in the abdominal area and tightening the underlying muscle tissues. This not only helps to restore the physical appearance of the patient, but also restores self-confidence and respect to the patient.

Liposuction (lipoplasty) is particularly well-suited for women and men who are of relatively normal weight but have isolated pockets of fat that cause certain areas of their body to appear disproportionate. These localized fat deposits may sometimes be an inherited trait and typically do not respond to dieting or exercise. Liposuction is often the only way to eliminate them.