Body procedures articles

Plastic surgery doesn’t have to be painful. If you are having a cosmetic surgery procedure ask your plastic surgeon about pain pumps. These types of pumps use local anesthetics, not narcotics. Pain pumps eliminate pain, reduce nausea, and result in much quicker recovery. Watch my Cosmeticsurg blog to find out about why I think pain pumps in cosmetic surgery are great!

How do you achieve a flat stomach? Do you need more exercise or a Tummy tuck? Find out about the rectus abdominis muscle and how to perform a self examination of this muscle.

In Episode #3 of my CosmeticSurg Video Blog I discuss the difference between two types of liposuction: tumescent (suction) liposuction vs. laser/ ultrasonic assisted liposuction. If you are considering laser or ultrasonic liposuction you must watch this video to understand why these new technologies may not necessarily be as good as regular tumescent liposuction!

Explore Cosmetic Surgery and the Science of Beauty with Dr. Rodriguez in his CosmeticSurg Video Journal. In Episode 1, Dr. Rodriguez, a Yale trained Plastic Surgeon with 20 years experience, explains the significance of cannula size in the liposuction procedure. Find out which cannulas are considered the gold standard and yield the best results for liposuction.

Some of you may have read my posts on why I like to do Breast augmentation under IV sedation. I also do IV sedation for all major and combined procedures. Naturally, some patients are anxious because they don’t want to feel anything, but they are attracted to the idea of not undergoing general anesthesia. There is also some confusion as to what exactly is IV sedation. This is understandable because there are many levels of sedation. I will explain the different levels so you can make a more informed decision when discussing this with your surgeon or anesthesiologist. In cosmetic surgery, we often refer to the three distinct choices: local,  IV or General anesthesia.

In many plastic surgery forums I always see the question – ‘Can a tummy tuck can be performed with something other than General Anesthesia’? The good news is YES – you can have a tummy tuck with IV Sedation. Instead of general anesthesia, I use local tumescent anesthesia with IV sedation. This type of anesthesia is highly preferable compared to general anesthesia and I want to explain why. With General anesthesia , a machine is breathing for you and you have a tube down your throat or nose. With IV anesthesia you are breathing on your own and there is no tube in your throat or nose. Recovery from IV sedation is also much easier with IV sedation compared to General anesthesia. Most people experience much less nausea with IV sedation.

Dr. Rodriguez, a Yale trained Plastic Surgeon who has been practicing for over 20 years, gives his thoughts on Smart Lipo. With Smart Lipo, some damaged fat is usually left behind and the skin tightening is temporary.

The Body Lift procedure removes excess skin which occurs after weight loss. Dr. Rodriguez, a Yale trained Plastic Surgeon has been performing the procedure for over a decade. Dr. Rodriguez performs all his body lift procedures in his AAAASF accredited surgery center in Baltimore, Maryland . Instead of General Anesthesia, he uses Twilight Anesthesia which results in much less nausea after surgery and a much faster recovery. Dr. Rodriguez explains the body lift procedure in this video.

A Lower Body Lift, or Belt Lipectomy is the combination of a Tummy Tuck, Outer Thigh Lift, and Posterior Buttock Lift performed in the same operative session. The ideal candidate for Body Lift has excessive amounts of skin. Getting the best results comes from taking out the right amounts of fat and skin. It is not proper to take out too much skin or too much fat. I believe that the Lockwood technique provides the best method for excising precisely the right amount of fat and skin.

Dr. Rodriguez explains the technique he uses when Liposculpting the love handle area. The small nuances that a surgeon makes when Liposuctioning can make the difference between a good result and a great result. Read about it in his Cosmeticsurg blog

The size of the cannula used in tumescent Liposuction can make a difference in the surgical result. You are more likely to get a smooth result if your surgeon uses a thin cannula . Read about the types of cannulas from Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Body lift is a procedure which lifts and tightens the lower part of the body. The procedure is actually three separate procedures performed in the same operative session. The component parts of the Body lift are the Tummy tuck, the outer thigh lift and excisional butt lift. The average amount of time required for the Lower body lift procedure is 7-8 hours and it can be performed under general anesthesia or IV sedation. With the procedure taking so much time, you may ask “How safe is a Body lift?” Surgery has a variety of risks, but the choice of anesthesia for the Body lift can definitely reduce the biggest risk – the risk of pulmonary embolism, or blood clot to the lungs. With long procedures, 5-7% of patients develop pulmonary embolism with the use of general anesthesia. So, in order to completely eliminate that risk , I have been using IV sedation exclusively instead of general anesthesia for the past couple of years.

Dr. Rodriguez is offering a 10% surgical discount for members of the U.S. Military. Please note that discounts can not be combined with special promotions or already discounted surgery.

In my previous blog post about postoperative Tummy tuck swelling I talked about how the blood supply is disrupted to different degrees using the two different types of Tummy tuck techniques (standard vs. Lockwood). In summary, the more skin that is elevated and separated from the muscle layer, the more blood supply disruption you have. On this post we will address swelling of the tissues after Tummy tuck and why compression garments following surgery are important to reduce swelling. The body is made mostly of water, and there is a constant fluid leakage from the tissues balanced by reuptake of fluid into the lymphatic drainage system. When the lymphatic system is impaired, we get fluid accumulations. The fluid can accumulate between the tissues as interstitial fluid (like a soaked sponge), or outside of the tissues as a seroma (like a sac of fluid). It can also accumulate at some distance from the operative site, usually the upper thighs or legs. The drawing illustrates the various types of fluid accumulation following surgery. As you move from left to right on the illustration you have increasing swelling to result in these conditions:

Dr. Rodriguez explains how Abdominoplasty surgical techniques influence blood supply disruption and post-operative swelling, so let’s take a look at how that plays into reducing swelling and eliminating fluid collections.