Cosmeticsurgeon.co.uk - UK Cosmetic Surgeons

With inflation and job losses I know people are looking at ways to save money. I even asked Dominos if they had any 2 for 1 deals on last night’s takeaway pizza but you have to draw the line somewhere and this goes way way beyond. Our lawyer advised us to advise you not to try any of this at home before you have undertaken medical training or at least put the scissors in a jug of hot water first.

Injectable Treatment – Recycle that deep fat fryer waste oil.
DIY can take many forms, but the most extreme self plastic surgery I’ve ever heard is a case of a Korean woman who had been paying for plastic surgery for years, was forced into treatment for a mental disorder, but was able to find a surgeon who let her give herself her own injections. When she ran out of silicon she took to injecting cooking oil into her face.

Abscess - Roll up your sleeves and dig in
You are on a Round the World Yacht Race stuck in the middle of the ocean and you have an abscess on your arm. This was the problem Russian sailor Viktor Yazykov faced and if he did not do something quickly he was going to lose his arm. He did what we would all do and emailed an infectious disease specialist at the New England Medical Center who told him how to drain the abscess and he carried on his race finishing 10th. Rather you than me Viktor!

Mole Removal – This guy slices like a pro.
Apart from being a little furry mammal that has big paws and dig holes in our lawns they also grow on our skin. That looked a pretty big mole and to be even considering doing it yourself is insane and one of those things really are best left to the professionals. I wonder what he did with it…yeeeeeew!!!. I have a strong stomach and even I had to have two go’s at watching the actual slice.

WARNING THIS VIDEO IS NOT FOR THE SQUEEMISH AND MAY CAUSE YOU TO SEE YOUR BREAKFAST AGAIN

Ear Correction - Superglue has many uses, sticking body parts together is not one.
Using superglue was never going to be permanent solution for correcting prominent ears. Yes I sympathize with those who suffer from this, you must think everybody is going to flick them and have heard every big ears joke under the sun.  I have accidentally attached two fingers together with superglue whilst trying to squeeze the last out of a dried up old tube and it burst out the sides, but with enough hot water and chewing it will come undone. Your life must be very cruel to drive you to think that your bat ears are going to stop flapping with nothing more than a household glue. We have found worrying number of cases reported in medical journals of this going on and I guess as the recession hits a couple of dollars for a tube of glue versus several thousand dollars for surgery is an attractive option for some.

Brain Surgery - Just one question..Why?
We have all heard the expression “She/he is no brain surgeon” well this is taking it too far to prove a point. Heather Perry from Gloucester in England attempted to cure her chronic fatigue syndrome by travelling to the US for her “brain surgery” . It seems it all started following an email exchange with a guy in Pennsylvania who said he did his own. All we know is that it consisted of drilling two holes in her own head. It is said that a film crew filmed her DIY brain surgery but we have been unable to locate it (okay we didn’t try that hard to find it) To her surprise it all went wrong and she drilled too deep and needed to have emergency surgery to repair damage to severed membrane that protects brain tissue.

Tattoo Removal – Desperate people do desperate things.                                                     
No home DIY surgery kit is complete without power tools and an electric sander is a must for removing that “Bubba & Crystal Forever” tattoo.  It does make you wonder what other extremes people will go to rid themselves of their body art. Anyone for a wire brush and a sheet of sandpaper?

Chicken Bone Nose Job - All you need is a chisel and a KFC
Not many people will have looked in the mirror and thought “If only I had chicken bone for a nose I would be happy.” According to Dr David Veale who is a psychologist at the celebrity Priory Hospital in London the unnamed patient “pushed a chisel up his nose and then replaced the cartilage he had taken off with a chicken bone” and continued “These are people who can’t afford to go to a surgeon.” Did anyone ask if he calls it his nose or his beak?

Yacht photo by S Parker
Nose Photo by Leina Simpson

Cosmetic Surgery Flourishing Despite The Current Recession

BBC News is reporting that cosmetic surgery is still managing to hold its own despite the economic downturn, with the number of those going under the knife increasing as ever.

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) has released figures showing that the rise in procedures is much higher than expected, including a 1,000% rise in male breast reduction surgeries since 2003. It includes a 44% rise from the previous year and a total of 323 operations in 2008.

Unsurprisingly, breast augmentation procedures for women played a large role in the rise as well, with the amount of surgeries undertaken increasing by 30% in 2008 and a total of 8,000 operations.

But the amount of men undergoing cosmetic surgery has also been on the rise, as is consistent with reports to the same effect in October. As well as opting for breast reduction procedures to treat the effects of a condition known as gynaecomastia, men have also been going under the knife to receive ear correction surgery (otoplasty), eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) and brow lifts.

It seems that even as people’s wallets tighten, the demand for cosmetic treatments remains strong, with the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons referring to a number of possible reasons.

Rajiv Grover who is a consultant plastic surgeon for BAAPS as well as the Secretary in charge of the UK national audit of cosmetic surgery accounts for some of it, “There has been a dramatic rise in the number of procedures such as male breast reduction and brow lifts. This may be due to heightened media attention, which has allowed men to realise the positive outcomes that can be achieved.”

The results do not follow suit for liposuction, with figures down as well as those for women undergoing otoplasty, which Grover also refers to,

“It is also the first year since records began that we have seen a fall in liposuction and eyelid surgery, which may be due to the great number of non-surgical alternatives now available for those areas.”

The figures also show a 1.5% rise in rhinoplasty (nose job) procedures, a 30% rise in abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) procedures and a 1.7% rise in face/neck lifts. In 2008, a total of 34,187 procedures were carried out by BAAPS members.

This should not come as a surprise. Afer all we want to look our best while are living so why not when we are dead?

According to a Mr. Mark Duffey who runs Everest Funeral in the US this optional extra (do you want Botox with your cremation) is proving to be quite a hit with his more pruned clients.

According to quotes on the Metro web site Mark said  ”People used to say, ‘Just throw me in a pine box and bury me in the back yard’,”

“But that’s all changing. Now people want to be remembered. A funeral is their last major event and they want to look good for it.  I’ve even had people say (ED. i hope he means the living), ‘I want you to get rid of my wrinkles and make me look younger’.”

Source Metro

Tara Reid

From the goody two-shoes character she played in her breakout role in American Pie to an infamous unawares party girl on the reality show Taradise, a lot happened to Tara Reid, most of which we can’t explain. The rest can be summed up in two one word… BOTCHED. Extreme zoom ins show a nipple that looks like it had been chewed on and spit back out onto her chest and a belly resembling that of a walrus face.

Sharon Osborne

Sharon Osborne may be one of the only individuals on the list that has sworn off plastic surgery now that she has spent over $235,000 on procedures, even though much of the work was done after gastric bypass surgery left her saggy and flabby. I guess I can’t say which look would be worse.

Charo

It’s Charo’s signature phrase “Cuchi Cuchi” as much as her signature face that have made her an iconic celebrity actress and musician, but what ever happened to aging gracefully without slicing into your body. Charo hasn’t gotten the message.

Lil’ Kim

Lil’ Kim used to be tiny black rapper. Now I’m pretty sure she’s a bloated Latina after some face work and a skin lightening procedure.

Conseulo Sanchez

The worst cases of plastic surgery gone wrong are when the individual needed the procedure for correcting an honest medical problem. Conseulo sought the help of a plastic surgeon for a nose lift to help her breathe. What she got was a doctor operating without a license and a nose deformed and infected so badly another doctor later had to remove the bone.

Donatella Versace

I understand that Versace garments can be a little extravagant, a little glitzy, a little avant-guard, but Donatella Versace, the vice president of the high fashion Versace brand, has taken the meaning of having your accessories (in this case her face) match your ensemble way too far. She’s only 52 years old and her skin is practically orange and looking like it’s beginning to crack. Does her mouth look upside down to anyone else?

Jackie Stallone

Not that she really ever had her good looks going for her, which unfortunately got passed on to her son Sylvester, so some plastic surgery clean up might have seemed like a good idea for Jackie Stallone. After a botched underarm liposuction job and some surgeon’s take on a facelift, the woman who claims she can talk to dogs looks more like the bulldogs she communicates with.

Pete Burns

Not that you would recognize him without the multiple lip injections, cheek implants, and several nose shavings (Pete Burns is the lead singer of the band Dead or Alive made famous by their 80s single You Spin Me Round), but now he looks like something straight out of the underworld.

Amanda Lepore

Just as much as she is an icon in the transsexual world — she has modeled for MAC cosmetics and been the muse of surrealist photographer David LaChappelle — Amanda Lepore is poster child of how not to do plastic surgery. She’s had work done on almost every part of her body and has had about as many different types of procedures on her face as is physically possible: a -forehead lift, two eye-slant procedures, silicon injections, as well as having her hairline and brow bone reduced and three breast augmentations.

Hang Mioku

Uncovering a thrifty way of getting the same job done is always reason to celebrate, but, like most things, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Hang Mioku, a Korean woman, became so obsessed with plastic surgery that after she ran out of silicone from her plastic surgeon, she took to injecting her face with cooking oil. She is now completely unrecognizable to her family.

NHS plastic surgeons are dealing with an increasing workload since people who decide to go for plastic surgery in foreign countries come back with complications.

Leicester Royal Infirmary claims it has to treat nearly one case of a failed foreign cosmetic operation a month, which is double the amount of last year. Doctors raise concerns over increasing popularity of foreign operations, since patients are attracted by the opportunity to get a better deal. At the moment popular destinations include Eastern Europe, Asia and India.

Over last year, an emergency correction procedure has been requested by 10 victims of unsuccessful plastic surgery. Among the cases are five women who had paid thousands for breast augmentation procedures as well as people who went abroad for tummy tucks, nose correction procedures and facelifts.
 
NHS claims it currenctly charges around £5,000 and more for correction procedures. A woman from Leicester had to undergo reconstruction surgery in order to have a part of her nose removed after an infection had been discovered. The woman, in her 40s, has undergone five procedures so far in order to reconstruct her nose. The initial operation, performed in the Far East, cost her around £600, which is ridiculously cheap compared to around £4,000 she would have had to pay in the UK.

The woman, who did not want to reveal her identity, revealed: “My nose was broken when I was a teenager and as I got older it became more prominent. I didn’t plan it, but was going on holiday, anyway, and a friend said there were the best surgeons in the world where we were going, and it was cheap. So I went into a centre and was out in two hours. It began to smell funny and I went back a week later and was told it was okay.”

In four months later she finally booked an appointment with her GP, but antibiotics prescribed several times did not have any results. She had a part of her nose removed and reconstructed, which took a few procedures, and finally saw a plastic surgeon. “I was too embarrassed to tell anyone what happened and told friends it was an injury – even now they don’t know the truth,” the woman said.

Graham Offer, the cosmetic surgeon who performed the final operation, said: “The two main problems with overseas surgery is that it may be poor and with poor hygiene standards. There must be close follow-up after these operations so that if any infection does occur it can be picked up quickly and treated. I have seen cases where the infection has taken such hold a breast implant has started to come through the skin.”

“Emergency and reconstructive surgery can costs thousands per patients and currently the NHS is providing a safety net for these patients,“ said the surgeon. “We wouldn’t turn them away, but of course with something like breast implants, we can only remove them, we can’t replace them. “People should think very carefully before contemplating this surgery abroad.”

Experts have warned that although dermal fillers are categorized as non-surgical cosmetic procedures, it is still important to address only fully qualified and experienced surgeons to carry out the treatment.

Face to Face, a recent documentary shown by ITV, pointed out how important it is to find a fully qualified plastic surgeon after deciding to undergo a procedure involving dermal fillers.
 
As a rule, a medical doctor is considered qualified enough to perform cosmetic procedures after having spent six years in undergraduate and two years in postgraduate education as well as a further two years of plastic surgery experience, according to the British Association of Cosmetic Doctors (BACD).

Dr John Curran, who is a cosmetic doctor and the president of BACD, pointed out: “Without clear regulation it appears it is a ‘buyers beware’ market open to abuse. It is clear from the Face to Face documentary that the prescribing and administration of dermal fillers needs to be regulated.”

Dr Patrick Bowler confirmed how important it is that patients are only treated by a fully qualified medical doctor, dentist or nurse. He said: “Cosmetic dermatology must, no ifs or buts, be delivered in a safe medical environment by a competent, well trained healthcare professional who makes your interests as the patient his or her first concern. It may be cosmetic but it is still medicine.”

Many men would be happy for their spouses to undergo plastic surgery.

The researchers revealed that 16 per cent of the interviewed married men believed that their wife should have cosmetic treatments and 1 out of 10 thought their spouse should have botox injections.

Just under a third of the respondents thought that cosmetic surgery would stir things up in the bedroom and 23 per cent confessed that they would like their wife‘s body to be more like it was when they were younger.

The study, published by the Daily Telegraph, claims that men would like their wifes to undergo quite a variety of cosmetic treatments, such as liposuction, breast enlargement, breast lifting, teeth whitening and bum implants.

“It seems that a lot of men think their wives could do with surgery to enhance their looks, but looking young and gorgeous isn’t the be all and end all to a marriage,” the newspaper was told by  a representative of Opera North, which commissioned the project. He also said: “It’s particularly amusing that very few men would be prepared to do the same thing.”

A recent poll by online dating service Parship.com discovered that around a third of UK men would prefer a woman without very large breasts, as 31 per cent claimed they would not like to date someone whose breast size is bigger than a D cup.

Patients who undergo dramatic cosmetic procedures in order to shape their bodies and lose a lot of weight as a result are at risk of experiencing nutritional deficiencies.

Experts have revealed that patients are in danger if they do not consume the recommended food supplements. Many people who have shed a lot of body weight choose to have cosmetic surgery treatments to improve their looks and remove discomfort caused by excess flabby skin, which is a result of major weight loss.

According to a recent study published in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, surgeons should take extra care in diagnosing malnutrition before performing this type of cosmetic procedure. The recent study, which investigated complications in patients who undergo body sculpting procedures, has discovered that proper diet could significantly reduce the chance of complications, acelerate the healing of post-operational scars and bruises as well as boost the energy levels of the patient.

Dennis Hurwitz, one of the authors of the study, explained: “Body contouring procedures for massive weight loss patients are major operations with large incisions in many areas that demand a lot of the body during the healing process.” He said: “By carefully monitoring nutritional deficiencies preoperatively and supplementing the patient with the necessary nutrients, minerals and vitamins, I have seen a significant decrease in complications and improved postoperative healing.”

Body sculpting procedures, which include liposuction, is commonly seen as a significant way to help patients dealing with the consequences of dramatic weight loss.

A research has reported that botox injections can really make a positive impact on your skin.

The study was published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. It investigated the skin condition of two patients who had their wrinkles and fine lines treated with Botox injections, a non-surgical cosmetic procedure.

The research was of very small scale, but it was noticed that botox had caused positive effects on the quality of both the patients‘ skin conditions. The patients were monitored for a total of 7 years.

The participants did not notice any new wrinkles forming and enjoyed smooth, youthful and naturally looking skin. “I have found that with short-term use, expression lines still remain, but over the long term creases actually disappear, meaning the smoothing effect does not wear off when the botox does.”

Another way Botox injections are used in cosmetic surgery is stopping underarm sweating.

A new study has found that there are no bigger risks of complications for women who choose a package of plastic surgery treatments in order to tackle body problems after giving birth than people who undergo individual procedures.

Common procedures among young mums who want to recover the bodies they had before having a baby are tummy tuck, breast lift and liposuction.
 
A survey of 268 mums who have had cosmetic surgery after giving birth was carried out by Researchers at Marina Plastic Surgery Associates in Los Angeles. The researchers concluded that the amount of complications for undergoing several procedures at once was very close to that of individual treatments.

Dr W Grant Stevens, leading researcher of the study, cosmetic surgeon and founder of Marina Plastic Surgery, commented: “Mommy makeovers have a similar safety profile to individually-performed procedures while offering distinct advantages versus multiple surgical sessions.

“A tummy tuck, breast lift and liposuction are all common procedures for mothers looking to recreate their ‘pre-baby’ body. For a woman who wants to have plastic surgery after pregnancy, combining the procedures certainly makes a lot of sense.”

Moreover, based on the findings of the research, Dr Stevens concluded that combining cosmetic treatments procedures to be performed in one prcedure is unlikely to be any more risky for the patient and is usually cheaper and more convenient than having individual operations.