Cosmeticsurgeon.co.uk - UK Cosmetic Surgeons

A common treatment for wrinkles, Botox is now being used as an acne scar therapy. Botox, which is a drug that is a derivative of Botulism bacterium, is being shown to reduce the appearance of facial pits caused by acne. It does this by causing the muscles around the scars to relax.

According to Monash University’s Greg Goodman, “If it happens to be that… Botox can help to… relax that area so it doesn’t have so much stress on the existing scar tissue.” He also stated that Botox is generally used in conjunction with dermal fillers. These fillers are injected into a person’s skin after the Botox treatment to smooth the scar tissues.

Professor Goodman also found that while he was reviewing the use of Botox in the treatment of acne scars, that the Botox did indeed help to reduce the look of acne scars. He has published these findings in the Journal of Cutaneous Aesthetic Surgery.

Since Botox was introduced in 1999, it has been widely used to assist in the treatment of wrinkles. It has since been found to help lessen excessive sweating, help those afflicted with cerebral palsy to relieve their muscle spasms, and to aid chronic migraine sufferers with their pain. In 2009, cosmetic surgeons began to use Botox as an acne treatment after determining it could prevent excess oil and sebum production in skin pores. This excess build-up is a primary cause for the appearance of acne on your skin.

Botox works by obstructing the brains signals from the nervous system to the muscles, thus making them relax. This relaxation of the muscles is what reduces wrinkles and acne scarring. There are side effects of the drug, as with most any other. According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, there have been 40 cases of unfavourable side effects in those who received the Botox treatment. Among those side effects, the most commonly reported were vomiting and fatigue. As with any cosmetic treatments, it is imperative that you discuss it at length with your doctor, to avoid complications and minimize the chances of adverse effects of treatment.

Every surgical treatment available has its own risks, no matter where you look. Weight loss surgery has gained media attention for the risks and side effects, but mostly the risks. One type of surgery is however, getting positive attention for being the least risky to undergo and just as effective. This is because the lap band is adjustable, removable, and doesn’t make irreversible changes inside the body and with organ tissue.

Dr. Michael Feiz M.D. is based in Beverly Hills and has safely performed a number of surgeries for the Lap Band. There is a great deal of success with giving patients permanent results without permanent modification to the inner organs. Dr. Feiz and his associate Dr. Misra have performed over 2,000 Lap Band surgeries without death and without infection or perforation.

Pre-op preparing requires a great deal of lifestyle changes and psychological changes. It is important that all potential patients undergo a few tests on their mental state to ensure they are a good person to get the surgery done on. Dr. Feiz says that patients should consider a number of things before taking the surgery on.

1. Changing your lifestyle is crucial to the success of the surgery. Healthy eating and exercise are a must if you plan to get the Lap Band. Without having this as part of your plan you will not be successful with the surgery. Weight loss does not happen overnight.

2. Choosing a surgeon that is qualified to perform the surgery is also a must. Patients need to know that their surgeon is certified, and has a good amount of surgeries under his sleeve. Without this patients put themselves at risk for perforation, infection, and other irreparable damages.

3. Look for a surgeon that provides a multidisciplinary approach to your treatment. You do not want to just get the surgery and be left alone. You need consultations, dieticians, and specialists that can help you on all levels of your journey. Weight loss surgery goes beyond the initial procedure and definitely requires lifestyle changes.

4. Being able to see your surgeon after the procedure is done is imperative to your healing and lifestyle. Being offered life long treatment is important, so that you can be involved in support groups, nutrition classes, and other programs under the surgeons recommendations for you.

High profile men have been seeking plastic surgery to prolong their careers and bring back their younger selves with small nip and tucks and non-invasive procedures like Botox. With these men enjoying the benefits of prolonged youth, many other business men have been finding plastic surgery helps in the workforce.

The average of male patients in Melbourne has risen from 10 percent ten years ago to about 20 percent currently. The men who received surgeries ten years ago were mostly in need due to medical reasons whereas the surgeries now are mostly cosmetic in nature. These procedures range from rhinoplasty and eyelifts to Botox and fillers.

Career advancement and preservation are sited as reasons for needing these facial enhancement surgeries and upkeep. Men are afraid of losing their jobs for looking “tired” or “worn down.”

A businessman who has reached the age of 61 had a neck lift to get rid of the dangling skin. He claimed the presence of the skin was disrupting his confidence which was hurting his ability to attend meetings and network properly.
Melbourne doctors believe divorce is also a factor in the rise in men who are seeking surgeries. The men have a need to make themselves feel attractive to the single community.

Many high profile men have claimed good genes rather than good surgeons when they suddenly appear to look a few years younger. Crocodile Dundee hero, Paul Hogan, claimed he had never had surgery or injections to make his wrinkles disappear.

Another handsome star who feared loss of career choices without finding a fountain of youth was Dancing With the Stars judge, Todd McKenney. He has talked candidly of his past ventures with the cosmetic surgeon. He states he has had Botox, pulsed light therapy and even Thermage treatments to tighten his skin and remove wrinkles.

The majority of men, famous or not, tend to be more private about their surgeries even if it is no longer a stigmatism to go under the knife.

Although, Australian figures for 2009 have not been reported, American figures for 2009 from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has about 26 percent of all nose jobs, or rhinoplasty, as being performed on men. Cheek implants were reported at 27 percent and eye lifts were at 25 percent. Lifts on the other parts of the face, forehead, 11 percent, and facelifts, 9 percent were much lower but ever increasing.

Botox, keep us looking younger, it is said to now help those who’s majority of life has been spent with excruciating headaches. But is it ok to give migraine suffering patients regular shots of botox around their necks, and heads?

What exactly is Botox, and where does it from?

Botulinum Toxin, (Botox) is a protein formed by the bacterium, Clostridium Botulinum. The toxin stops the brain from sending out chemical messages to the muscles, telling them to contract.

Preventing migraines with Botox?

About a decade ago, patients receiving Botox cosmetically, claimed it cured their migraines. The company that produced Botox, started advertising Botox as a treatment for migraines, shortly after the theory had surfaced.
With lacking evidence that the treatment was legit, the company was fined over $300 million for wrongful advertising.

What evidence is there that Botox is relieving migraines?

Afterwards, several trials came to the conclusion that the Botox treatment did not cure the chronic migraines. However, the Botox, did seem to reduce the number of days a person might have been affected by a migraine.

Is there enough evidence that Botox works?

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and US Food and Drug Administration agencies both permitted the treatment for sufferers of never-ending migraines, last year. There are still people that aren’t persuaded. Dr. Jes Olesen, neurologist, and the chief of Danish Headache Centre at Glostrup University Hospital, located in Denmark.

So why a dispute?

Olesen says, the majority of the participants were taking more pain medication then required. It was hard to tell if the participants had migraines, or pain pill overuse migraines. Also, it would be obvious to the experimental group that they received the Botox, instead of the placebo, because their facial images would change. This would corrupt the purpose of the experiment.

There are a few people that would have to disagree with Dr. Jes Olesen.

Neurologist, Sheena Aurora, says that chronic migraine sufferers, take pain pills normally, so the pills wouldn’t effect the trial. According to her, even a 10 percent increase can be a relief for the patients. Another Doctor says chronic migraines are very challenging to treat, and the critics of the trial aren’t helping the millions of migraine sufferers. He said the critics need to look at the larger picture.

Smoking can cause heart disease and lung cancer, but it’s most visible damage is towards the skin. Very often patients want to repair the damages smoking has done to their complexion. The recommended advice for the individual should be to quit smoking, which would result in the skin being able to repair itself. Age isn’t a deciding factor in the outcome of long-term smoking. By continuing to smoke, the problem will become more severe and harm any chances of reversing any skin damage. (Kate Moss is an example of the potential outcome, but the most notorious chain-smoker was writer Lillian Hellman, her wrinkles were infamous.)

By smoking, the toxic chemicals in the body are in need of vitamins, therefore, the brain reroutes all vitamins within your body away from the skin. Nicotine reduces the blood flow, resulting in less oxygen being received. The skin winds up deteriorating, turning dry and flaky, and becomes less durable. Since, collagen is no longer being produced the skin sags and wrinkles.

The damages are reversible if it’s not too severe. Usually within 6 weeks, the body’s high level of oxygen and antioxidants will benefit the skin. The smoker will definitely need a skin-care regime to assist the healing process.

The use of sunscreen (UVA and UVB), and face cream that contains vitamins (such as Vitamin A, C, and E) will help the process along. The face cream should contain an ingredient called peptides.

The diet should include plenty of colorful fruits and veggies; the body needs antioxidants and vitamins to continue to heal. Exfoliating twice a week will remove dead skin and increase the production of collagen. To treat wrinkles try either a laser treatment or chemical peel both will result in an increased collagen production.

When I was 16, smoking was considered harmless. After joining the navy, the addiction worsened. Smoking up to 20 cigarettes within a day became a normal routine. By the 70s, I reduced my cigarette consumption and quit by the age of 34. Even though smoking was a part of my life style for 20 years I stopped, and my skin looks as if I’d never smoke.

Body contouring is rapidly becoming the top cosmetic procedure of today. It involves tightening, toning and reshaping the skin. The amount of people having liposuction procedures have doubled in the past decade and the amount of tummy tucks has more than tripled. These procedures are in great demand today and thanks to these growing numbers technology is updating and improving more everyday.

Although liposuction and tummy tucks are the two most common forms of body contouring, there are many procedures for all problem areas of the body. Dieting and exercise sometimes may not help shrink those stubborn fat cells. When this is the case having a body contouring surgery is a great option. Liposuction is a procedure in which they remove those stubborn fat cells surgically. There are several different kinds of liposuction and it can help remove fat from thighs, upper arms, neck, hips and abdomen. The result of the surgery will be noticed immediately and the recovery time for the procedure can be quit fast. As the recovery progresses the results will be more dramatic. Those who are pretty close to their ideal body weight will benefit the most from this type of surgery.

Having a tummy tuck will remove excess fat and help restore weakened muscles. The results will be a firmer and smoother abdominal area. The surgeon will help to decide which procedure would be better, a complete or a mini tummy tuck. With a complete procedure an incision is made from hipbone to hipbone. A partial or mini procedure will result in a smaller incision and will benefit a patient who has more fat under the belly button. Both men and women can benefit from having a tummy tuck however woman should wait until they will no longer be pregnant again. It should not be used instead of weight loss but rather to compliment it. The abdominal area will be much firmer than with what can be achieved with exercising alone.

Body contouring can help you to achieve the body that you desire to have. Most of the time this just can’t happen with diet and exercise and it is a great option to have.

“We are getting to the age of robotics,” said Dr. Ricardo Meija at the annual meeting of the Florida Society of Dermatologic Surgeons.

Dr. Meija is referring to technology that would allow donor strip and follicular unit extraction to become a reality. Currently new technology is in the works for robotic hair transfers and even hair cloning. There is also technological work being done that would help new growth. All of this technology has been long awaited and would significantly change current obstacles in hair transplantation.

Already, hair transplantation technology has seen remarkable advances. In the past, it took three to eight sessions to reach a rate of 10-200 grafts, and resulted in an unnatural look. Now surgeons are able to accomplish a more natural looking hairline and more transplantation in fewer sessions. While 200 grafts per session used to be common, it’s now standard to accomplish 2,500 grafts.

Even more advances are on the way. In 2009, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved marketing for a new device called the Neograft Automated Hair Transplant System (Neograft) . The device works by utilizing rotating punches to make scores in the skin, and then a pneumatic suction device extracts the hair follicle within. The device can also implant grafts.

In addition technology for hair transplantation, other new devices that use low level light therapies for hair growth have been approved by the US FDA as well; the HairMax LaserComb for men and the MPE-90 Hair Growth Stimulation System for women.

There is also a lot of research being conducted on auto cloning and hair multiplication technologies. The technology would begin with dermal papilla cells or fibroblasts, and attempt to cause the fibroblasts to create enough hair follicles in a culture to replace an entire scalp.

TricoCyte is another cell based hair regeneration technology that uses the proprietary dermal papilla cell process. However, developers of the product aren’t quite satisfied with the product yet. Though many are crossing their fingers for it, as more than half of participants in a study for proprietary cell treatment processes showed significant hair growth up to a year afterwards. The study was conducted at Aderans Research Institute.

Needless to say, with all of the current developments in hair transplantation technologies, hair cloning is not far away from being a realistic option.

“How far out are we?” asked Dr. Meija. “I say 5-10 years.”

For many women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, the potential loss of their breasts through mastectomy, which is an oftentimes life saving procedure, can prove intimidating and daunting. However, a new and rarely performed procedure known as nipple sparing mastectomy, may allow some patients to keep portions of their breasts despite the presence of multiple breast tumours that are widespread throughout the tissue.

Iraqi national Basma Ali Sultan, age 47 is one of the recent patients who has undergone this rare surgery. After grappling with her diagnosis and consistent discomfort in her breast for over a year following her breast cancer diagnosis last march, the doctors in her hometown in Iraq informed her that her only option was to remove the breast in its entirety.

In an effort to explore other options that would allow her to keep her breast, Basma traveled to India and scheduled an appointment with Dr. Anil Heroor, who is currently a cancer surgeon at Fortis Hospital. During her examination Dr. Heroor determined that due to multiple cancerous tumours located in her left breast, the breast conservation surgery that is most often performed would not be applicable in Basmas case. However, he thought she would be an excellent candidate for nipple sparing mastectomy, which is a breast conservation surgery that is specifically designed to work around tumours that have spread widely throughout the breast tissue, and, for many patients, it may help to maintain nipple sensitivity.

Basma was discharged from Fortis Hospital in India this past January following her nipple sparing mastectomy, through which the doctors were able to save both the nipple and the areola, and reconstruct the remainder of the entire breast. As the breast cancer survival rates climb, more patients than ever before are becoming concerned with preserving their physical appearance. Doctors have found that this helps to encourage their self esteem and self image, and increases the patients confidence post-surgery.

For more and more women, this surgery in addition to other breast conservation procedures are becoming a feasible option in helping women maintain the body that they had prior to their breast cancer diagnosis.

A surprising amount of people in the UK receive some type of cosmetic surgery during the holiday season, according to new figures released this month.

It has been reported that there was a 45% rise in the number of people enquiring about cosmetic surgery, according to the figures.  It was reported that more and more people are turning to cosmetic surgery to rejuvenate their bodies and faces. During the holiday season, cosmetic surgery was at an all time high in the UK.

The cosmetic procedure leading this new trend was for breast augmentation surgeries. Breasts implants accounted for nearly 65% increase of the cosmetic surgeries performed, with a dramatically rise of 55% during the month of November. There was also a staggering increase in the number of non-surgical procedures as the holiday season opened and parties were plentiful, people wanted to put their best face forward. There was also a rise of 65% in the number of people enquiring about Botox injections with a 43% increase in other cosmetic treatments such as teeth whitening and they had 32% more enquiries about lip enhancement procedures, as compared to the previous month.

Both women and men made enquiries about non-surgical procedures as the Christmas party season got underway in the UK. In modern society the term “metrosexuals” has been used to define a newly identified segment of society, men who like to groom and use cosmetics and look good as much as women. The percentage of men who could be classified as “metrosexuals” accounted for nearly 41% of all Botox enquires in December.

It seems that cosmetic surgery options are growing popular with all segments of society. A spokesman for the Transform Cosmetic group, Shami Thomas recently commented on the reported increases in the trend of cosmetic surgery. Thomas remarked, “Cosmetic surgery sees seasonal trends and our call centre staff have been inundated recently with pre-Christmas enquiries. Thomas goes on to state that, “As we approach Christmas, attention turns to the upcoming party season and naturally women and men begin to look to improving their appearances to look their best.”

Following cosmetic surgery there is normally bruising and swelling in the affected areas. Standard recovery time is usually four to six weeks.