One question I always clarify: What is the labiaplasty procedure is designed to do? Does it enhance sexual experience, improve the appearance of the vagina, or both? Since the procedure is a type of ‘vaginal rejuvenation,’ there is a lot of confusion from the media as to what exactly the goal of the procedure is. Furthermore, many gynecologists equate vaginal rejuvenation mainly with sexual enhancement. However, for most plastic surgeons, the purpose of the Labiaplasty procedure is to improve appearance only. Let’s review the media sound bites from both gynecologists and plastic surgeons…
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…
Most patients seeking facelifts say that coworkers or family members tell them “they look tired” all the time. They then proceed to pull upward on their neck or lower cheeks mimicking the effect they want from surgery. To make a point, I sometimes cover my face and ask what color my eyes are. They always get it right (my eyes are brown). I then ask whether I have bands in my neck (I have one). Invariably they say they didn’t notice. So, what’s the point I’m trying to make? People make judgments about how old your face looks from your eyes, not your neck or jowls. There is a famous study where the picture of a woman was put on a screen. A subject looks at the picture. Behind the screen there is a camera that tracks the eye movements of the subject looking at the picture of the woman…
In all other branches of medicine, a treating doctor assumes that the patient has some kind of medical problem that the doctor has to fix or make better. If the patient experiences some pain, gets a big scar, or has some side effects, it’s an acceptable trade off because it’s for the patient’s benefit to attain…
The Liquid facelift. I first heard about it from Heidi Rebuck, a Juvederm and Botox rep from Allergan. “The Liquid facelift” is basically what I did with my male patient, using a filler with Botox, but I think these pictures of “The Liquid facelift” are worth a thousand words. Basically, the patient in the photo (courtesy of Allergan) had Botox to forehead and “crow’s feet” wrinkles around the eyes, with tissue fillers to the lips, nasolabial folds (folds that go from side of nostrils towards the corners of the mouth), and possibly under the eyes. The change is dramatic and substantial.
Many young women come to my office when they start noticing a little bit of ‘extra skin’ on their eyelids, or sagging upper eyelids. They have heard about Eye lifts (blepharoplasty), and how easily it can be performed- under local anesthesia. Naturally, they are very interested because the procedure is performed in the office and takes only 1-2 hours. However, the Upper eye lift is not an ideal procedure. I don’t think the results are as good as a brow lift. Furthermore, if too much skin is taken off, the eye lids will have a had time closing and the patient can suffer with dry eye syndrome. In fact, I usually prefer to perform a Brow Lift instead of an Eyelift in order to achieve a better result. The Brow Lift will elevate the brow to it’s youthful position, and in the process it will lift the upper eyelids. The result is a refreshed natural appearance.
I went to see Dr. Rodriguez on Sept 25th for Lip Advanta Implants and Sculptra. I was greeted by the nicest staff and made to feel very comfortable. I was more than briefed on every option that I asked about to ensure a confident choice in procedure. After my procedure, I was a bit terrified by the immediate effects of surgery (swelling), but the entire staff assured me that the swelling was completely normal.
At age 42 and years of dealing with the “Flat butt syndrome” I finally decided to do something about it. I was tired of my pants falling down, wearing tops that covered my butt, and wearing undergarments with butt pads. I hated the way my clothes felt on and the way I looked in them.
There are many ways you can get a Butt augmentation, but like everything in life, each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Some procedures are new and experimental, some have stood the test of time. The use of hydrogel for butt augmentation is a new approach. The technique is possible, but in my professional opinion, impractical for several reasons.
I recently had an inquiry from “Kim A” about abdominoplasty techniques. She asks whether the procedure is called a “U-M” Abdominoplasty or the “W-M” procedure? Well, the lettering can be pretty confusing. Unfortunately, there’s a big movement in plastic surgery to give procedures catchy names so that they can be given an aura of uniqueness. What I think is more important is that the patient understand his/her options so they can pick the procedure most appropriate for them.
Here is a question which I received from a reader who recently had a Brazilian Butt Lift procedure with another surgeon and was experiencing a bacterial infection: Dear Dr. Rodriguez, About Eight weeks ago I had a procedure adding fat from my flanks to my buttocks by my local plastic surgeon. I have been in discomfort ever since. My buttocks are red and swollen in both cheeks. One time every week the surgeon has been removing fluid that has accumulated in my buttocks. He has stated that he released an area in my buttocks that had a deep Cellulite indentation( he had a different name for this). He thought fluid was somehow accumulating in this area and would continue to remove this fluid whenever in go unbearable. I was in tremendous pain this week and went back to the office where he then told me he had gotten the results back from June 21st on the fluid he had collected and I have some kind of bacterial infection inside my body…
Patients have recently been writing about the safety of multiple procedures. I would like to address the subject of multiple procedures such as a Tummy tuck combined with a Breast augmentation. Like you, I am also concerned about the safety of doing multiple surgeries at the same time on the same patient. Fortunately, recent advances in pre operative, operative, and post operative management allow me to do multiple surgeries safely and effectively. Preoperatively, we screen our patients carefully with the help of Internal Medicine specialists to make sure our patients are fit for surgery. We also inform the patient so that any drugs or herbs that can cause complications are avoided.
Kae posted a very good question, because it helps understand how fat transfer works. The question relates to where you gain weight after a fat transfer: the donor area (where the fat came from, let’s say the belly) or the recipient area (where you put the fat in, let’s say the butt)? The short answer to the question is: YES, after the fat graft takes, you will gain weight in the recipient area. In the case of the Brazilian butt lift, the recipient area is the buttocks. If you took most of the fat cells from the donor area, you would gain very little weight in the belly. If you want to know the technical explanation for this, read on.
Most times, when doing a Brazilian butt lift, I end up using every last drop of fat I can get to get the best possible butt augmentation. This is because after the meticulous extracting procedure, only a fraction of the fat is suitable for fat transfer.A few patients, however, store a lot of their fat predominantly in their abdomen and flanks, with very narrow hips proportional to their body.I had always been very good at getting their waist as narrow as I could to highlight the buttock, but the hips remained untouched.
A few days ago I was seeing a patient who was thinking about having the Brazilian butt lift. Two things struck me about the conversation – One was the fact that so many patients are now requesting a procedure that is relatively new. The second was that I am doing the procedure more frequently on women of all ethnicities. As I was showing the patient my collection of pre op and post pictures I noticed quite a few Caucasians and Orientals. This makes me think that for whatever reason, there is a cultural shift going on about what constitutes an attractive figure.
