Cosmeticsurgeon.co.uk - UK Cosmetic Surgeons

Plastic surgeons at Advanced Aesthetics say that there are five main characteristics of an ageing face. When patients say that they look older there can be a variety of issues at play such as;

• Loss of elasticity, and muscle tone in the face
• Jowls and deep creasing in the nose and mouth areas
• Severe neck and face wrinkles
• A tired haggard look
• Less definition in the jaw and chin area

A face-lift works to tighten the skin from the eyes down and including the neck area. Surgeons will look at the five area above and depending on how sever they are they will customise a plan for the individual patient. There are a range of face-lifts available which include;

• A standard facelift-A complete facelift is often suggested if a patient has all five aspects of ageing with noticeable sagging skin and jowl area.
• A mini-facelift- If there is mild muscle tome loss with a general tired appearance a mini-facelift may be suggested. The procedure tightens and lifts the skin and works to address minor signs of ageing. Usually there is no work done to the neck area and is more suited to younger patients with less signs of ageing.
• Short Scar facelift- This is a variance on the mini-facelift often referred to as an ‘Extended MACS’. This procedure can be suggested for mild to moderate skin elasticity issues and signs of a jowl. It only treats the face, lifting the face up rather than back. It is less invasive and leaves fewer scars with a faster healing time.

A treatment plan is started during the consultation procedure where a surgeon can decide with the patient the best solution for their face.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of chin implant procedures carried out in the USA increased by 71 percent between 2010 and 2011, which represented a larger increase in popularity than breast augmentation, liposuction and Botox combined. The most significant increase was among people aged between 40 and 54.

Why are chin implants so popular?

An American plastic surgeon has claimed that social media and the increased popularity of video calling have increased the popularity of chin implants.

Dr William J Vasileff, from the Birmingham Institute of Plastic Surgeons, said that surgeons across Michigan have experienced a significant increase in the number of people seeking chin implant treatment, which they have attributed to an increase in video calling, which has prompted people to take notice of their profile and notice flaws in their appearance.

Dr Vasileff also said that people from the baby boom generation are eager to compete with their younger counterparts and are resorting to surgery to achieve more youthful, attractive looks. Chin implant procedures are particularly popular with male models, who are keen to have the treatment to produce a more chiselled look and a strong jaw line, which are incredibly popular in the world of modelling at the moment.

About chin implants

Chin implants are designed to increase the size of the chin; the procedure is also known as chin augmentation. Implants are placed under the skin in the chin to make the chin more prominent. The aim of the procedure is to balance the facial features and create a more attractive profile. If you have a small chin, for example, this may make your nose look bigger, so chin implants will help to bring the size of the nose into balance.

Dr Vasileff also noted that many patients are choosing to combine chin implant procedures with rhinoplasty, commonly known as a nose job. According to the Michigansurgeon, altering the appearance and shape of both the nose and the chin has a dramatic effect on the aesthetic of the profile, as well as the appearance of the face from the front.

Cleft lip or cleft palate is a facial disfigurement, which affects roughly one in every 600 babies. The difference made to a person’s appearance by a cleft lip can be dramatic or less problematic, and this equally applies to the health problems that can be caused by the condition.

What is a cleft lip or cleft palate?

A cleft lip or cleft palate can refer to a range of craniofacial defects (affecting the head and face). It can mean relatively innocuous defects such as a small ‘dent’ in the lip, to more obviously problematic disfigurements such as a groove, which continues into the roof of the mouth. Such issues can exist separately or in connection with other facial defects. Such defects can prove to be a challenge for patients due to the difference in their appearance, but more significantly, there are medical and health issues which can be caused, meaning that treating a cleft lip or palate goes beyond aesthetic reasons.

What health issues can be caused by a cleft lip and cleft palate?

The problems or issues for a patient’s health caused by a cleft lip or cleft palate can become quite serious. Since the condition primarily affects the mouth and nose, the effects are unsurprisingly most keenly felt in the patient’s bodily functions related to these areas. This means that suffering from a cleft palate can lead to problems with breathing, eating, and speech. Problems with breathing may lead to conditions such as sleep apnoea, and there is an increased risk of problems that affect the airways, including laryngitis and sinusitis. Hearing may also be affected – in fact, hearing loss is a common condition amongst those with cleft palates, and can indeed be progressive, meaning it gradually becomes worse. In addition, there may be psychological and social effects felt by those with cleft palates.

How can these problems be treated?

“Otolaryngologic [ear, nose and throat] evaluation is of paramount importance in providing adequate care for this patient population,” writes Dr. Laura Swibel Rosenthal in a recent study. The primary concern for treating cleft palate sufferers has to be ensuring that they can breath as correctly and easily as possible. This can be achieved through corrective surgery, although several stages of care may be necessary. In addition, since hearing loss is common, regular hearing tests are necessary to ensure that hearing does not become progressively worse. Other specialist doctors such as pulmonologists may be involved, as well as physical therapy and additional support such as social care or psychiatry.

Valentine’s Day is the day where people are reminded that it is important to show others how much they are loved. It has been promoted as primarily a holiday for couples and their are many gifts that couples exchange on this wonderful day. Some people stick with traditional gifts such as flowers, chocolate, and jewelry. But some are unique and they opt for things like cosmetic treatment packages. So, it is really possible to buy a sweetheart a set of dimples to enhance their smile.

Giving cosmetic treatment packages is actually becoming popular, with more and more people giving these gifts each year. The improvement in societies attitude toward cosmetic procedures is directly responsible for this. Society no longer looks down on a person for getting a procedure done to look better. The word vain is no longer associated with cosmetic procedures because most people really would like to look prettier then they are. Instead of feeling guilty about plastic surgery people are excited about it. Gitika Chopa, 28, a Delhi-based banker, was practically glowing when she found out about the gift her boyfriend planned to give her for Valentine’s Day. She told the India Gazette, “My boyfriend is gifting me a package that includes Botox and other therapies to help me get rid of wrinkles and other marks on my face. This is the most exciting gift that I have ever got because it will give me a new lease on life.”

The rush that surgeons are seeing near Valentines Day is not surprising to Manoj Kumar J. Manwani, cosmetic surgeon at Criticare Hospital in Mumbai. He told the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) over the phone, “This is a common thing. Every year we see an increase in the number of people going in for cosmetic procedures around Valentine’s Day because everyone wants to look good….We see more than 20 percent increase in women going in for cosmetic procedures around Valentine’s Day.”

Dr. Manwani also said, “Most common procedures are nose jobs and chin augmentation but one treatment that is really getting prominence nowadays is dimple creation. Not only girls, even boys are increasingly going in for dimple creation.” Dimples are created by making a shallow cavity inside the mouth. This cavity will cause the cheek to sink in at that point creating a dimple. The procedure takes only 30 minutes and requires a local anesthetic. For most people regular activities can be resumed immediately after the procedure.

Dimples enhance a person’s smile making them look cuter and younger. People who have always admired dimples on others can now admire them on themselves. 

There are many different types of cosmetic procedures and they are divided into two categories: surgical and non surgical. Surgical procedures include breast augmentation, liposuction, and tummy tucks. Non-surgical procedures include accent laser treatment, Botox, and collagen injections. A non-surgical procedure that is becoming more and more popular is chemical peels.

The Press Association reports that chemical peels have actually become more popular than face lifts. The number of chemical peels performed in 2009 was three times the procedures performed the previous year. The Harley Medical Group’s Obagi Blue Peel is a treatment which gets rid of blemishes, acne scars, uneven pigmentation, sun damage, and wrinkles. It has been called by some the ‘recessions facelift’ due to
the increased popularity of the treatments. Liz Dale, director of the Harley Medical Group, said, “Non-surgical procedures, which saw big growth last year, have continued to be a strong area for us and now account for 32 percent of all our business.”

Chemical peels are a skin resurfacing procedure, in which the top layer of skin is removed so that the body can replace it with new skin. The new skin will grow back without whatever problem had been on the old skin. There are three different classifications for chemical peels. There are light peels which are basically
exfoliants. Intermediate peels are good for fine lines and superficial hyper pigmentation from sun damage. Deep peels can remove deep lines, medium sized wrinkles, and darker pigmentation. Many people find that they do not need to get a face-lift and are happy to settle for a chemical peel which makes their facial skin
look fresh and young.

In the plastic surgery field chemical peels are indeed increasing in popularity but the most popular cosmetic procedure is still, by far, breast augmentation. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons reported that in 2009 there were a total of 8,565 breast augmentation procedures, in the UK. Studies done in January of 2010 also show that breast augmentation should prove to be the most popular
procedure in 2010. The Press Association reported that 75 percent of breast up lift patients in 2009 were mothers.

Undergoing a plastic surgery procedure can help to make a person look and feel young. Chemical peel are a way for some people to achieve this without a surgical procedure. The popularity of these effective yet non-invasive treatments has been increasing quickly and shows no sign of slowing.

Many people under go plastic surgery to help or treat a medical condition. Tumor removal is the most common cosmetic surgical procedure in this category and is performed on a variety of different tumors each year. Breast cancer survivors as well as some people who suffer from sleep apnea also have procedures done. Victims of disfiguring accidents usually need cosmetic surgery to return their bodies to normal and Connie Culp is such a person.

45 year old Connie Culp, of Union point Ohio, suffered a horrible disfigurement to her face, from a shot gun blast fired by her husband. The blast shattered her nose, cheeks, and the roof of her mouth. She lost one eye, much of the tissue in her mid face, and had to have a tube placed into her windpipe in order to breath. Her chin and lower lip, as well as her eyelids and forehead, were spared. After the shotgun pellets were removed, some initial surgery was done and then two months later she was able to visit a plastic surgeon.

She told Fox News that upon seeing her face, “He [Dr. Risal Djohan of the Cleveland Clinic] told me he didn’t think, he wasn’t sure, if he could fix me, but he’d try.” After 30 operations, where doctors took pieces of her ribs to make cheek bones and made an upper jaw from one of her leg bones, she was disappointed to find that she was not fixed. She was still forced to breathe through a tube and eat liquid foods.

Dr. Maria Siemionow then led a team of doctors to perform a facial transplant on Ms. Culp. In the 22 hour operation they replaced 80 percent of Connie’s face with parts from a woman’s face, who had just died. The procedure left her face looking much improved, though it sagged in places and was bloated in others. These features were necessary to help her facial nerves to reconnect to the new muscle and blood circulation to improve. Eventually, surgeons will be able to smooth these features out.

In the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery journal, Dr. Maria and some of her colleagues wrote, “We are pleased to report an excellent functional, psychological, and social outcome for our patient at eight months following transplantation.” The procedure was estimated by Siemionow to have cost between $250,000 and $300,000. Performing a dozen separate surgeries to accomplish the same affect could cost over $1 million.

Connie was very grateful for the successful procedure and is happy to be able to rejoin society without looking like a ‘monster’. Facial transplants are still experimental, with only a few having been performed around the world. This procedure is wonderful and could prove to help many victims of terrible accidents.

The new techniques available in cosmetic surgery allow for a wide range of changes that can be made to the face. Crow’s feet can be erased, wrinkles filled, and eyelids changed. The nose and chin can be sculpted in many ways, bigger or smaller, pointier of flatter. However, the best facial plastic surgery for wiping years off of a woman’s age is a procedure to make the lips fuller and poutier.

David Gunn, a scientist at Unilever, coordinated a research project which studied the possibility of full lips being a genetic factor. He discovered that the changes in lip fullness were caused more by genes than any other outside factor. A woman who has the genetic marker to get thin lips cannot prevent it from happening as she gets older. Keeping those full, pouty lips can only be achieved through cosmetic surgery.

The study analyzed the faces of nearly 400 women between the ages of 45 and 81, including some pairs of twins. Results showed that there were more than seven fold variations in lip thickness for the women over sixty. The lip thicknesses ranged from a mere 3mm from the top of the upper lip to the bottom of the lower lip, to a pouty 2.2cm. It was observed that the thicker her lips were, the younger the woman looked. Gunn was quoted as saying, “When we identified people who looked young for their age, we were struck by the difference in their lips.”

A woman can have thin wispy hair and wrinkled skin, but if her lips are full she will still look years younger than if they were thin. Fortunately lip augmentation can be a quick and easy procedure. There are a few different brands of injectable fillers that do not require surgery, some of which are temporary. Also implants can be surgically placed in the lips to create that fuller look. When a woman is deciding to have a lip augmentation it is important to find the procedure that is right for her.

In the media it is indeed obvious that the women voted to be the sexiest are predominantly full lipped. Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox and Scarlet Johansson are a few beauties who have those pouty lips. Women can increase their sex appeal and boost their confidence with a simple procedure to fill out their lips. In fact it is rumored that Fox herself underwent plastic surgery to make her lips more pouty.

Looking and feeling younger has finally become attainable. Women filling out their lips with a lip augmentation can peel some of those years away, creating a fresh young look.

Ashley Alongi has stated that she feels like a totally new person after having a breast augmentation. This might not sound too surprising since many people claim to feel fresh and new after cosmetic surgery, however this woman has a special story to go along with her statement.

Ashley was born with no breast tissue and went through life embarrassed by this fact. She spent much of her life trying to hide from everyone. She was disconcerted with her lack of breasts and never felt confident enough to pursue a relationship. Most women who undergo a breast augmentation want to increase the cup size of their existing breasts. Ashley wanted to increase the size of her non-existent breasts.

She told the Scottish Daily Record that she had always been hiding from her friends, family, and colleagues. She couldn’t go bra shopping with her friends because she couldn’t wear one. She wore baggy jumpers at school to hide the lack of breasts, because she feared being ridiculed and bullied. Her growing up experience was far from nice and would better be described as traumatic.

After finding that estrogen pills did not help her, she knew surgery was the only option she had. She had been told that she could get the operation on the NHS but upon seeing the waiting list of eight years, she decided to save her money waitressing and pay for a cosmetic procedure herself. At the age of 25 she was
finally able to save up enough money to climb out of the pall created by her less than 32AA breasts.

Her new 34DD boobs have been a huge blessing. She has more confidence than she had ever imagined possible. She loves to go underwear shopping and relishes wearing form fitting shirts. She is finally on the lookout for a relationship. She said to the Scottish Daily Record, “I am ready for love because at long last I love myself.” Her family has also called her ‘a new person’ since her surgery.

A new non-invasive procedure has been launched in Canada which looks set to shake the foundations of the cosmetic and plastic surgery industry. 

It claims to offer long-lasting results with minimal maintenance; as well as smoothing wrinkles it is also designed to plump up fallen skin which has lost its volume due to illness or the natural detrimental effects of the ageing process.

Known as Sculptra, the new kid on the block is said to work progressively by naturally stimulating the body to produce its own collagen (rather than simply injecting the collagen in as many non-invasive surgical procedures do). Three treatments over a two or three month period should, according to the company’s own press release, result in a natural and youthful look which could well be much more subtle than some of the treatments which are already on the market.  The director of the Toronto Cosmetic Skin Surgery Centre, Dr. Sheldon Pollack, has spoken out about the innovation, saying that: “The arrival of Sculptra is great news because it represents a unique niche in facial rejuvenation that yields smoother, longer-lasting results. “Sculptra has been used in the cosmetic dermatology field since 1999 in more than 30 countries. It’s a safe, long-lasting, non-surgical option for Canadians aged 40+ wanting to significantly reverse the effects of aging by several years.”
There are warnings of possible side-effects from the treatment but these are no different to the ones which are warned about when undergoing most procedures. At the site of the injections, there could be bruising, swelling, redness or mild discomfort and, of course, bleeding as the skin itself is being pierced by the needle. However, these are relatively minor side-effects on the road to a much more confident and younger-looking face.  Small papules may also develop around the area of treatment, especially in an over concentrated area, but these are often only visible if pressure is applied to the skin.

The anti-ageing non invasive treatment area of the surgery world is one of the biggest and, with the growth of new and innovative techniques such as this one; it is likely to keep on growing. As results become more natural, and the stigma around having surgery subsides, many more people are likely to take the plunge into looking younger. Would-be patients in Canada will certainly be excited by this news and the industry may see a profit boost as a result.

New research which has recently been revealed to the world is forcing plastic and cosmetic surgeons to throw out their old assumptions on how the human face ages and thus what the best types of treatments to fight back can be. 

Apparently, our face are made up of different fat compartments and these different compartments individually change with age and so how we are affected by the ageing process and which parts of our bodies are affected depends on how each of these fat compartments changes over time. Wow, you really do learn something new every day!

The lead author of the study which has revealed this new information, Dr. Joel Pessa, has spoken out about the new findings, saying that: “Contrary to popular belief, the human face does not age uniformly. We thought facial fat was one confluent mass that eventually got weighed down by gravity, creating sagging skin. However, we were shocked to find not only is the face made up of individual fat compartments but these compartments gain and lose fat at different rates.” Thus, all our old assumptions about how to keep our faces looking young and gravity-defying have to be completely reconsidered.  What the study does mean, at a base level for people like you and me who might be considering facial surgery is that certain areas which cause us trouble can now be pinpointed and treated more directly.  Injectable fillers will be able to be used on specific compartments of fat on the face and thus a more natural and effective way of fighting back against the ageing process will be achieved. This will be greeted well on both sides of the Atlantic, as the non-invasive surgery business is one of the biggest sections of the cosmetic and plastic surgery industry.  “This discovery will undoubtedly play a role in how we view aging and how we approach facial reconstructive plastic surgery.” confirmed Dr. Pessa.

The study could have further reaching consequences as well, with reports saying that it could even have reconstructive benefits for cancer or trauma patients. Facial disfigurements such as cleft lips may also be able to be approached differently. It would seem this breakthrough is going to be used in many different areas of surgery and will ultimately benefit and enormous number of people. In the near future though, it will help to fight back against the ageing process.