Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez explains why the recovery period for the Brazilian butt lift is 3 weeks. If you sit sooner than that it can prevent some of the fat grafts from surviving. Sitting during the recovery period is harmful to the new fat grafts because it exerts a tremendous crushing pressure, up to 400 pounds per square inch in some areas, on these tender cells and tissues. Even the areas that are not crushed are under such pressure that blood flow is shut off.
Cosmeticsurg Blog
Dr. Ricardo L. Rodriguez discusses Plastic surgery, Medicine, Stem cell research and more.
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Tom Cruise plastic surgery – Did he have it?
Just a few nights ago I was getting milk at the convenience store, and on the checkout line I saw another one of those countless celebrity Plastic Surgery magazine covers. This one caught my attention because it shows pictures of Tom Cruise with a very pronounced left lower eyelid bag, then poof!, its gone. Or is it? Therein lies the story of smiling, fillers, and what makes a person look younger.
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Botox addiction: the Brow lift is your Botox detox!
The Botox Detox procedure is the endoscopic Brow lift. The Brow lift not only permanently smooths the forehead wrinkles, but you get the added advantage that your upper eyelids become lifted to yield a longlasting, youthful, and refreshed appearance. The modern day brow lift or forehead lift is a two hour procedure done thru small incisions behind the hairline. An endoscope is used to lift the brow to a more youthful position. The procedure can be done under IV or twilight anesthesia in an outpatient surgical facility. Recovery is very quick- within one week you should be back at work. During the post operative week, you will have minor bruising which can be covered with makeup.
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What to consider when choosing between Moderate or High profile implants?
High profile breast Implants have a smaller base diameter so it preserves the appearance of a narrower chest, and you get more anterior projection from the same 400cc volume. High profile implants have a more up front look.
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How do I get more cleavage with my breast implants?
A lot of patients who come in for a Breast augmentation or a Breast lift with implants consult will usually make a comment about cleavage. Some patients don’t want “that fake look,” yet others specifically ask for “a lot of cleavage.” It helps when patients bring in pictures, because cleavage is one of those words that, like “natural look,” can have different meanings to different people. In this post I will talk about cleavage, and how it is related to surgical technique and patient anatomy.The word cleavage is derived from the word cleft. According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary… cleft : usually V-shaped indented formation : a hollow between ridges or protuberances The misunderstanding between plastic surgeon and patient comes from knowing which end of the “V” we are talking about. Does the patient want upper pole fullness, which is prominent at the upper part of the breasts? Does the patient want medial cleavage, which is breasts that are close together at the midline? Or is it both upper pole fullness and medial cleavage? The surgeon has two surgical methods to improve cleavage with breast implants.
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How to control postoperative swelling after Tummy tuck
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:
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Tummy tucks: How to reduce swelling and eliminate fluid collections (seromas)
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.
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What is the difference between a Tummy tuck and a Mini tummy tuck?
I get many patients who come into my Baltimore office requesting a Tummy tuck. The Tummy tuck will give a much flatter tummy, and if they get liposuction around the love handle area, a drastic reshaping of the entire midsection. But the biggest drawback is the scar. It goes most of the time from hip bone to hip bone. Invariably, I get the question, can we do a Mini Tummy tuck? The patient is hoping to get most of what she needs with a smaller scar and a less involved surgery. What is the difference between the Tummy tuck and the Mini Tummy tuck?
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Breast surgery: What type of scar do I get with different breast techniques?
I have been looking at some of the breast implant forums, and there are a lot of issues related to breast scars. It seems most surgeons use the Wise pattern, or Anchor scar, and some use the Benelli scar. A few surgeons use the Vertical scar or the Crescent scar. I use all of these breast techniques, except the Wise pattern scar. I feel that the Wise pattern technique makes unnecessary scars.
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Types of Breast augmentation incisions
What type of incision should you get for your Breast augmentation procedure? In addition to the implant size this is another very important decision that you need to make. It seems to me when I ask a patient whether they have a preference as to what kind of breast incision they want, the most common answer is that they want the type of incision that they have seen on a friend. Likewise, the second most common comment is “I don’t want such and such incision because somebody I know had one and it looks bad”. The truth is every type of incision has its pros and cons. Here is my explanation of the types of Breast augmentation incisions…
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Fat injections under the eye
What can one do for bags under the eyes? For many years, patients would come to me asking to remove the bags under the eyelids, saying the bags made them look old and tired. I usually recommended a standard blepharoplasty or Eye lift. That involves making an incision right under the eyelashes, lifting skin and the muscle that is right under the skin. I would then remove the fat. It was the standard solution but it had several drawbacks.
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Rhinoplasty: Chinese vs. Western version
In practical terms, for a Westerner, a Rhinoplasty usually means taking the bump out of the nose, making it thinner, and making it look straight from the side view. The Asian nose usually does not have a hump, but instead tends to be flat in appearance. Thus Asian patients ask for more projection. Surgeons enhance the nose by augmenting it with a silicon insert to get it to look “straight” from the side view. This enhancement eliminates the flat look. When the nose is remodeled with a silicone insert, it will make the nose look thinner. Surgery of the tip is also different because in the western patient one has to reduce the size of the tip cartilage and put sutures in it to narrow the shape. When using the silicon insert in the dorsum, the tip is usually pulled up and the shape of the nostril is refined as it becomes narrow and taller. In a few cases the tip cartilages may require sutures, but usually the procedure is simpler than in the western nose.
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DAO release – Lifting the corner of the mouth
“DAO” (Depressor anguli oris) release to lift the corner of the mouth. I have always been a fan of the lip lift procedure. There are many reasons why it’s preferable to fillers, but the most important one is that it looks so good and natural. The effect is best in the central part of the…
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Vertical breast reduction: less scars, better shape
I have been doing the Vertical Scar Breast reduction since 1989, having learned it in Nice, France, from Dr. Claude Lassus, a French plastic surgeon, who is the originator of the technique. When I left France, I started doing the technique at Yale, where I was a faculty member in the plastic surgery department. I presented the first scientific paper on the technique in the US in 1992 at the 25th anniversary meeting of the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.
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Breast augmentation: High profile implants create projection and fullness
Many times during a breast augmentation consult a patient will say to me: “I want to look proportionate.” In other words, the patient wants to make sure that a particular implant size will look right on her. The right proportion is determined by several factors. A good proportion is not only determined by the size…