Cosmetic surgery Articles

Following surgery, in an effort to repair damage to your dermis, your body forms new collagen fibers – which results in a scar. This new scar tissue will look and feel different than the surrounding tissue. A normal scar will generally appear somewhat flat and pale and will typically fade with time. In fact, many scars eventually become undetectable to the naked eye. However, some scars follow a more disruptive path, and can even get worse as time goes on. When the body produces too much collagen in an effort to repair the damage it can result in a ‘raised’ scar. These are considered ‘bad scars’ or ‘adverse scar conditions’ and they can unfold following any incision, including an incision made during a Plastic Surgery procedure.

History is full of disruptive innovations: Just look at what e-mail did to the postal industry, the Ford Model-T to the transportation industry, and Wikipedia to the traditional encyclopedia. All three of these “disruptive innovations” revolutionized their respective industries via low-cost, democratic solutions. Luckily, we are at the forefront of an exciting disruption in the healthcare industry via Apple’s upcoming iWatch.

While much of our web site is dedicated to learning about cosmetic surgery and preparing for your procedure, we would like to talk about the recovery period following any cosmetic surgery procedure. In your pre-operative appointment, which usually occurs the week before your surgery, Dr. Rodriguez and the Surgical Coordinator will review your post op instructions. They will give you a description of what you should expect following your cosmetic surgery. Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez uses smart cell phone technology to keep in touch with his patients during the immediate post op period.

Patients often ask for post operative advice on the web. I think the web is a great information gathering tool, but in the post-operative period, it is not a good place to start. Why is this? Dr. Rodriguez explains why all of his post op patients are given his cell phone number following surgery.

For months, we have been hearing the debate on ways to reduce healthcare costs. Thus far, nearly everything introduced requires vast amount of government expenditures and seriously upsets people who actually like the health care plan that they currently have. It is astounding that THE most important way to lower health care cost rarely , if ever, gets discussed. So how do we lower health care costs? As the Governor of Minnesota would say—prepare to be dazzled.

Many surgeons state that they are ‘board certified’. But, in what specialty? More importantly, is that specialty an approved specialty according to the American Board of Medical Specialties, ABMS? Learn more about why Board certification in an approved ABMS specialty is important by watching Dr. Rodriguez’s Cosmeticsurg video blog.

What is the difference between IV sedation and general anesthesia? Dr. Hobelmann is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist who works with Dr. Rodriguez when he performs cosmetic surgery cases. Watch the video to learn why Dr. Hobelmann thinks IV sedation provides advantages over general anesthesia.

The use of IV Sedation with cosmetic surgery offers several advantages over General Anesthesia:

1. IV Sedation has less nausea than General Anesthesia
2. quicker recovery immediately following the surgery
3. dramatically reduces the risk of pulmonary embolism which is a major concern with General Anesthesia

Yale Plastic Surgery Residency was unique in that they taught via the Socratic Method instead of the Great Master’s Method used by other teaching programs. In the Socratic method you arrive at knowledge through a process of questioning and answering. The process stimulates logical thinking and illuminates ideas.

Five levels of anesthesia used in Cosmetic Surgery are:

• local anesthesia only
• local anesthesia with valium
• IV sedation moderate, also known as Twilight Anesthesia
• IV sedation with propofol- deep sedation
• General Anesthesia with a ventilator

Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez, a Yale trained plastic surgeon has been offering Virtual consultations for several years. Patients can discuss surgical possibilities with Dr. Rodriguez before taking the trip to Baltimore for an office consultation. Consultations can be performed in english, spanish, or french , as Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez is fully trilingual. Watch his virtual consult video and make your appointment now.

I have just come back from a two week trip to China. It was organized by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), and a group of us from all across the United States went and met with plastic surgery colleagues from Beijing, Guilin, and Shanghai. We visited military hospitals, public hospitals, private hospitals, as well as surgi-centers. China is in the midst of a great transformation. To give you a sense of how great the transformation is, Shanghai alone has…

Exparel is a long acting local anesthetic which is injected into the operative area at the end of the procedure. Like the pain pump, it focuses just on the operative area, and does not disseminate to the entire body like a narcotic does. The function of the Exparel is to numb the area of surgery so you do not feel pain. With cosmetic surgery, patients only need the one injection, and the pain control lasts for about 3 days. Similar to the pain pump, patients take fewer narcotics post operatively, because the pain is more controlled.

When my mother was pregnant, my dad said (or so I was told): “I will put a scalpel in his hands when he is born”. Now that’s a scary thought. Well, whatever… as my kids say. But I can tell you that my most early memories have to do with medical stuff. The earliest memory of a real event is at my grandfather’s hospital bed. It is my only memory of him. The whole place; however, struck me forcefully. It was quiet, whereas in Puerto Rico everything else was always noisy. The hallways were long and empty, whereas I was always floating in a family crowd, or a “herd”, as my daughter says. Looking outside I saw a courtyard with a fountain. Somehow I got the impression that in that place something big and hidden was happening and that it had something to do with me. It was awe inspiring.