Cosmeticsurgeon.co.uk - UK Cosmetic Surgeons

Denise Hendry, a former footballers wife, had no idea going in that her liposuction surgery would lead to her death. Dr. Gustaf Aniansson performed the surgery in Lancashire in 2002, and she died in 2009 while having surgery to repair the damage done.

Dr. Aniansson punctured Mrs. Hendry’s bowel nine times during the surgery, and is still practising in Sweden, where he comes from. Now another woman has complained about his techniques there.

The official cause of death for Ms. Hendry was meningitis, caused by bacteria that spread to her brain from her stomach. Coroner Jennifer Leeming stated that inflammation of the brain and blood clotting from an inserted drain contributed to death with the meningitis. The original relatively simple liposuction surgery was performed by Dr. Aniansson near Preston, Lancashire at the Broughton Park Hospital. Between 2002 and 2009, she had many surgeries to repair the damage, and it was during the last of these, at the Salford Royal Hospital, that she passed away in 2009.

Mrs. Hendry and 15 other women from Britian sued Dr. Aniansson for over £750,000, and won their cases. The National Care Standards Commission described her botched surgery as resulting from clumsiness. Her lawyer has now tried to get in touch with authorities in Dr. Aniansson’s native Sweden, but so far nothing has been done. He says that they have forwarded all information to the authorities there, including the complains from 46 different women, and the successful cases of the 16 women who sued him. Medical reports were also sent to Sweden.

Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare representative Anders Sunesson says that if the information was given to them in 2002 something could have been done, but since it has been seven years the courts will probably say no. The problem is that Mrs. Hendry just died in 2009 from complications obviously arising from his botched surgery. Still, Sweden is investigating the similar claims from a Swedish woman that Dr. Aniansson performed breast and stomach surgery on. He did remove himself from the General Medical Council register of his own free will in 2003, which complicates matters a little bit. There is hope that these new claims from Sweden will take this doctor out of circulation for good.

The “Vampire Face-Lift” is also known as a procedure called Selphyl. It is an in office procedure that requires the patient have blood drawn from their arm and put into a centrifuge. The centrifuge then separates the platelets from the rest of the blood. The platelets are then injected into the face in the hopes that it will stimulate collagen production in the areas which are prone to wrinkling. This procedure is known as the “Vampire Face Lift” because of the way that it uses the patient’s own blood to make their face look younger and fuller.

Many patients prefer the Selphyl treatment because of they like the idea of using their own blood for a face lift rather than an artificial filler or neurotoxin. Although this procedure has been around since 2009 and over 300 doctors perform it, Selphyl has not been proven to actually stimulate collagen growth. The procedure, however, has still been featured on many shows and remains a hopeful candidate for more research as a possible procedure to replace the artificial anti-aging procedures used most commonly today. Many doctors believe that using natural materials for a face-lift can reduce the risk of bumps or other types of irregularities that artificial face-lifts can.

Even though the idea of a natural face-lift material is attractive, the Selphyl procedure has not been cleared with the FDA, even though there are certain doctors that have been rumored to claim that it has. People continue to pay 900-1,500 dollars for a half hour procedure that has no proven results. The lack of solid evidence on the Selphyl method, however, has not stopped doctors from claiming that it can reduce the visibility of early and mild signs of aging.

For now, the procedure is mostly used for people who are afraid to use neurotoxins like Botox and do not wish to go through a surgical procedure such as a fat transfer. The risks are incredibly minimal and the procedure is not invasive. Often Selphyl is paired with another face-lift procedure, so it is not entirely clear which procedure is actually doing the work. While the idea of Selphyl is a good one, there is still some research and science that still needs to happen before it becomes the next big beauty procedure.

Now that the economy is slowly recovering, the number of plastic surgery procedures is on the rise as well. In 2010, over 13 million Americans had cosmetic surgery performed on them, up 5 percent from the year before. As American Society of Plastic Surgeons President Dr. Phillip Haeck stated: ‘The economy is showing signs of improvement and, financially, things are a little better for people this year. As the aging population continues to grow, people are investing in plastic surgery procedures to help stay competitive in the workplace.’

During the height of the recession, plastic surgeons took a bigger hit than most industries. Dr. Jason Diamond explained that some surgeons’ business was down 50 percent, and they really struggled not to go out of business.

One area of plastic surgery that was never affected by the economy was injectables. Botox, used by many famous celebrities, remains a strong seller – over 11 million injections in 2010, up 12 percent from the year before. As Dr. Haeck explained: ‘Fat injections are up 14 percent…a patient’s own fat is being used in more creative ways to rejuvenate the face and body.’

Many people waited until the economy started to recover. Vicki Benko, 51, wanted to see how the layoffs were going to go at her company before getting the surgery done. She had a brow lift and had her upper and lower eyelids tightened, and is very happy with the results. ‘I look more rested, I look more energetic. It was a good investment’, she said.

There is also a rise in excess skin removal because of all the people who have lost weight in the last couple of years. Breast lifts, thigh lifts, upper arm lifts and lower body lifts are all more common now that the economy is starting to improve.

Elective cosmetic surgery is not the only kind of plastic surgery on the rise; people who have been injured are also getting reconstructive surgery more often — this sector has risen 2 percent.

As the economy improves, there is no doubt that all types of cosmetic and plastic surgery will continue to get more popular. Affordability is very important when it comes to elective surgery.

A couple’s attempts to make love ended quite shamefully mere weeks after the birth of their child due to the fact that the woman’s vagina had been changed so dramatically.  It wasn’t just their love life that she had been having trouble with. She had trouble wearing jeans and simply walking began to cause friction and pain. Soon afterward, the two went to a general practitioner who diagnosed her with a uterine prolapse. What this essentially meant was that her bowel could be felt just behind the damaged vaginal walls.The doctor offered her a hysterectomy, but this operation was refused. Because she felt so poorly about her own, body she and her husband began to drift apart.

She began researching methods of vaginal surgery when she saw an advert for a television programme about image problems. She contacted the producers right away and met a surgeon who told her that she would be able to benefit from labiaplasty and vaginoplasty. Because they could not afford to pay for the operations themselves, they took this opportunity immediately.

In a 90 minute operation in London, surgeons both reinforced the vaginal wall and placed her womb back in the correct position. She was then told to not have sex for the next six weeks. Although she felt tender, her body felt more complete than it had in a long time.She went on to say that it seems as if more women are having the operation because it is at last an issue that can be spoken about out in the open.

This type of case is quite rare because the labia usually does not cause medical problems. This typically only happens after a child is delivered and the mother needs to be sutured. There are plenty of women who want this operation that haven’t even had children. These women are simply looking for cosmetic surgery because they are not satisfied with the way that their vaginas look. Medical experts urge these women to look at this issue more realistically. The perfect-looking vaginas that they are looking at in magazines are probably aided by digital imagery. They may be searching for something that is not achievable. Experts will make the claim that there are no standards for normalcy in this situation. If surgeons do not see an immediate medical issue, they will not operate and patients are urged to see general practitioners for counselling.

Self-esteem and self-confidence are not ageist. They do not discriminate and the old and young alike are subject to low levels of self-worth. Sometimes they are the result of physical aesthetic imperfections, and correcting these imperfections surgically used to be a luxury reserved only for adults who could afford the costly procedures. However, there is a recent trend in teenagers and young adults seeking medical interventions for their unhappiness.

In the United States, plastic surgery procedures on young people between thirteen and nineteen years old has been qualified as “mainstream” and the spokesperson for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Dr. Frederick Lukash, estimates that almost three hundred thousands teenagers went under the knife in 2008. Those numbers have only increased in the following years.  Essentially, teenagers are hoping that the procedures will “cure” whatever issues they are suffering from but they should be warned that it is unlikely. This idea typically plagues the psyches of young women in the midst of development. They are excessively exposed to unrealistic depictions of perfection and define their worth in terms in physical ideals. Moreover, in the never-ending quest for societal approval, these imperfections are magnified, appearing both intolerable yet easily resolved with a breast enhancement or a rhinoplasty.

Plastic surgery for teens is not always wrong. Dr. Lukash has seen many cases where a teenaged patient’s quality of life has improved exponentially because of a procedure. But he warns that surgery on a teenaged patient should be the exception, not the rule. He wrote “The Safe and Sane Guide to Teenage Plastic Surgery” to aid parents and potential patients about the risks and concerns of surgery. If a teenager is seriously considering plastic surgery, they should first talk to a therapist. Low self-esteem levels could be the result of underlying issues and the opinion of a therapist could be beneficial before putting oneself through a painful and expensive procedure with an undesirable result.

Furthermore, if a teenaged patient decides to go ahead with the procedure, it is of the utmost importance that they seek out a board-certified plastic surgeon. Doctors should not be concerned with the money that the patient represents, but with genuinely improving their quality of life. A consultation is a two-way interview and the surgeon should not be afraid to turn a patient away if their expectations are not manageable. There are always risks with any surgery and it is irresponsible to take on such a risk without proper research and the guidance of qualified and trusted medical professionals.

Although plastic surgery is commonly thought of as being along the lines of procedures such as nose jobs or face lifts, this is far from the reality. Take the case of Harry Berger for example. When taxi driver Derek Bird shot into a crowded hotel in Cumbria last June, Mr Berger was among those shot. Because he was hit at close range, the damage to his body was extensive. He was hit in the hand and tricep. He also completely lost his bicep in addition to the arteries and nerves surrounding it. Plastic surgery techniques have been practiced in war zones such as Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Falklands and innovations in these techniques have enabled surgeons to perform miracles.

Within hours, surgeons were able to transplant veins from different parts of Mr Berger’s body to replace those that were extensively damaged. A few days afterward, doctors removed a section of muscle that ran between his hip and armpit and reconstructed his tricep and bicep muscles. A couple of months later, Mr Berger’s nerves were replaced.

Before the war in Vietnam, those with injuries to the arteries or veins that were as extensive as Mr Bergers would have most likely lost their limbs. What basically happens is that if you cut off a limb’s blood supply, you don’t have much more than a few hours to repair it. The reason that Vietnam was so different was that it was the first time that helicopters were deployed in battle. This meant that those who were wounded could be helped by surgeons in a matter of hours. Every new procedure that had been discovered this way continued to be practiced and expanded meticulously for every war afterwards.

The types of techniques that plastic surgeons use actually have their origins in operations used during World War I. Due to the intense trench warfare, field medics saw hoards of facial wounds. What essentially happened was that soldiers would look above trenches and get hit in the face by shrapnel, bullets or other types of debris. It goes without saying that those with mutilated faces would need new techniques to repair their injuries. It was a surgeon named Harold Gillies who discovered the procedures that enabled others to reconstruct facial features. These same procedures eventually evolved into the same modern cosmetic surgeries that everyone knows about today.

The cost of cosmetic procedures may double within just one year in Britain. An increase of lawsuits has caused many of the surgeons to raise the price of the procedures that they perform. Private plastic surgeons may even be forced to double the fees of these procedures to help cover the costs of legal insurance. Currently, most breast enlargement procedures in Britain cost about £5,000. If the price were to double, a simple breast enlargement procedure would cost up to £10,000. Face lifts would also cost more, rising from about £6,000 to £12,000.

The Cosmetic Surgery Today website stated warnings about the cost of these cosmetic procedures rising shortly after Penny Johnson started a £54million lawsuit against a plastic surgeon. She claims that the procedure was a botched operation and is completely miserable with the outcome. She says that her career and life was ruined due to this operation. Mrs. Johnson says the face lift left her with a droopy eye. Because she has trouble closing her right eye, she has troubles sleeping. Lawsuits like this one are negatively impacting the industry of cosmetic surgery.

Not only will the surgeons suffer, those who are looking to have cosmetic procedures done will also be discouraged at such high prices. The only people who win in situations like this are the lawyers who are making money off of all of the legal fees. As with all surgeries, cosmetic surgery has its risks as well. Before having any procedure done, a patient must sign their name to give consent for the procedure. Everything should be read before singing so that the patient is fully aware of the possibility of complications that may occur during or after the procedure.

With different legal claims like Mrs. Johnson’s, many practices in the UK may shut down. Every patient has the right to be protected during all circumstances and should be able to seek financial compensation if something is to go wrong. However, £54 million is a very drastic amount especially because a surgeons medical insurance only covers up to £10 million. When a judge awards a patient more than the £10 million that the surgeon is covered, there is a very high possibility that the surgeon will face bankruptcy. As a result of lawsuits like this, future patients will end up paying much higher fees for any procedure.

Most people who have received an invite to the upcoming Royal Wedding are fretting over what they’re going to wear to the event and shopping for the perfect dress and perfect pair of shoes.

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson isn’t fretting over what dress she’s going to wear to the event however, she’s fretting over what nose she’ll be wearing to the wedding. Supposedly the UK socialite is wanting to have a new nose in place before she watches the royal nuptials.

Although this may seem like a bizarre way to prepare for such a special event, Tara is defending her desire for the new nose by saying she wants a nose with a “straighter profile”, something that apparently wasn’t achieved by her last nose job, done due to damage from her previous cocaine habit.

Amazingly, she isn’t the only one planning surgery for big events. Whether it’s the Royal Wedding or tea time with the Beckhams, cosmetic procedures, whether surgical or non-surgical, are being seen more frequently, which is oddly timed when the conditions of the current economic climate are considered. Market analysts have estimated that in Britian almost 20 million adults want to have plastic surgery and although the number of procedures went down when the economy began suffering, plastic surgeons saw an increase of over 15 percent between the years of 2008 and 2010. The most popular cosmetic procedures currently being done are non-surgical.

“While we feel young on the inside, our outside may not look like we feel,” says plastic surgeon Douglas McGeorge. He says treatments increased in popularity because people live longer. Currently the number of treatments performed stands at 1.3 million, which means the number has risen 30 per cent over the previous two years.

Plastic surgery techniques and treatments continue to become more advanced and the results are becoming more satisfactory, also allowing patients to better predict the treatment’s results. Having plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes is believed by many to just be a lifestyle choice, and the the increasing numbers are proof of that.

The 2.3 billion market apparently sees face lifts and breast augmentations as the biggest trends, as reported in recent figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. There’s also been an increase in gynaecomastia treatments, proving men are having more procedures also.

McGeorge says that more than anything, plastic surgery is more “…about the patient’s wellbeing, not just the surgery.”

British citizens travel abroad in hoards of thousands every year for medical treatment. They are prone to cosmetic surgery and dental work.

Having said that, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons discovered that in 2009 there was a significant increase in the number of patients who have experienced complications after travelling overseas for cosmetic surgery.

When you think about the nature of cosmetic surgery, it’s not very hard to see why this happens. Cosmetic surgery involves complications and risks that may include bleeding, infection, thrombosis and vein clotting. Reputable surgeons are more likely to let patients know about these potential risks ahead of time and give them the opportunity to change their minds. Some of the longer operations such as the “tummy tuck” that require a general anaesthetic typically have higher rates of complication because patients lack mobility after the surgery.

Travelling overseas for treatment might be less expensive than undergoing surgery in the UK, but standards vary abroad. You might find an excellent surgeon for cheap but you might also find shady or poor quality doctors who charge outlandish prices. It may also be more difficult to research a surgeon’s record. The hospital might not even be up to your standards. Aftercare can also be a lengthy process and in many cases, complications won’t arise until patients have already returned home.

As of right now there are approximately 100,000 cosmetic operations conducted annually in the UK but the National Confidential Equiry into Patient Outcome and Death discovered that in 2010, many locations that were carrying out cosmetic surgery failed to both assess and care for their patients in a proper manner. It was found that more than half of the operating locations were equipped poorly. One fifth lacked any emergency readmission policy and monitoring throughout the procedure was insufficient.

Eight general practitioners in both the Western Cape and Gauteng are currently being monitored by the Association of Plastic and Reconstructive surgeons of Southern Africa. The reason being that they have failed to properly care for patients who experienced complications due to their malpractice. These patients have suffered from complications such as septic infections, bodily denting from liposuction and even different sized breasts and hips. The issue here lies in the fact that the Health Professions Council of South Africa is doing little to protect the public from these poorly qualified doctors who are offering cheap surgery.

One committee member of the Plastic Surgeon’s Association has stated that there are around seven general practitioners who are being carefully watched. Each practitioner is estimated to have an average of three or four complaints against them. There may be even more.

If you go to a qualified surgeon, the average price for a tummy tuck is somewhere around R32000. Breast implants or reductions cost about R28000 and 30 minutes of a liposuction is R14000. Doctors who lack the proper qualification for plastic surgery will often attract customers by undercutting the price to R7000 for half an our of liposuction.

There are many potential patients who will look around for the cheapest price before deciding on a doctor because they have to pay out of pocket for the operations. They will often not report complications and unless these problems are reported, then there is not much that can be done about them.

A general practitioner from Kempton Park was found guilty of unprofessional conduct in May for conducting a breast reduction and not recognizing the ensuing complications.

The acting CEO and registrar for the HPCSA has stated that if a practitioner is found guilty, the organisation will ensure that he or she will be given the appropriate penalty.

The aforementioned practitioner was suspended for one year from the register on the condition that he would cease to perform cosmetic surgery for at least three years.

Patients should be advised to verify that their practitioner has the proper qualifications and experience before having cosmetic surgery.