Cosmeticsurgeon.co.uk - UK Cosmetic Surgeons

January is a popular month for inquiries into plastic surgery. With the coming of the new year people begin to think about their goals for another year in their lives. The emphasis that society places on good looks, influences these goals and thus many people decide to look better in the new year. Dr. Richard Chaffoo, a triple board-certified plastic surgeon, said in a press release, “Most New Year’s resolutions boil down to one simple desire: to look and feel more like the person you want to be.” More often now, than previous years, people hope to accomplish this through plastic surgery.

Make Yourself Amazing (MYA) cosmetic surgery is a leading clinic in the UK. They reported that between January 1st and Jan 14, 2010 there was a 15% increase in enquiries when compared with the same time period in 2009. John Ryan, MYA Chairman, says, “January is a busy time for the cosmetic surgery industry. After the Christmas and New Year period people often start setting new goals or New Year’s resolutions.
These goals often include improving one’s appearance or completing a goal they never achieved last year. We get a lot of people coming in saying that they have been interested for a while but have never got round to arranging a consultation.”

The figures for enquiries showed that breast augmentation was the most sought after procedure. The number of enquiries for this procedure actually increased 21% over last year. Breast augmentation is followed by liposuction, breast uplift, nose reshaping, and tummy tuck, in that order. These numbers show that plastic surgery is continuing to grow in popularity and no end to this growth is in sight.

The GoodSurgeonGuide performed a study at the end of 2009 which revealed that women in particular are putting more emphasis on looking good in 2010. This study showed that 51 percent of the women surveyed expressed that they were considering having cosmetic surgery. Christina Clogg, co-founder of the guide said, “We were surprised that it [looking good] was more important to some than a more successful career or finding someone special.” Looking good has become a very important factor in society and women feel it more strongly than men. Women are expected to look young and pretty, so under going plastic surgery is an understandable extension of this ideal.

According to these surveys, 2010 will prove to be a very popular year for cosmetic surgery. People have become much more comfortable with having procedures done, and society has become much less judgmental of people who have had them.

Some of Britain’s leading cosmetic surgeons are out to get their own, insisting that new regulations are needed to rein in the out of control, unregulated, cosmetic surgery industry.

Bans on certain types of advertising and discount promotions are being suggested as a way to protect the public from dangerous procedures achieved with unapproved products by unlicensed practitioners.

With rampant advertising on the internet and other media sources some consumers liken shopping for cosmetic surgery to shopping for shoes or cars. Such promotions like “two for one deals” and holidays that feature a cosmetic procedure included, turn patients into shoppers and medical procedures into products. In a November 2009 interview with The Times, Nigel Mercer, president of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons insisted that quick and decisive action is needed to regulate the cosmetic surgery industry. Citing the lack of a regulating board, Mr. Mercer warned against the increasing availability of unlicensed “fillers” which are injected into the body and should be regulated like medicine. Mercer cites the fillers as only one of the rampant dangers of the increasing interest in cosmetic surgery.

As advertising methods become more sophisticated the consumer is bombarded with the idea that a cosmetic procedure does not have the same risks and complications as any other medical procedure. Some are also suggesting that physicians should be registered specialists in the field of cosmetic surgery in order to perform procedures, and not just general practitioners which is the standard now.

France leads the way in regulating cosmetic surgery advertisements in its total ban on all forms of cosmetic surgery.

Though France can regulate billboards and print media, the internet is still touting cheap surgeries and special promotions. With breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, face and neck lifts, and filler injections on the rise, concerns for patient safety seem to be dropping away as more and more unscrupulous cosmetic surgery providers scramble to get their share of the burgeoning industry.

Avid readers of this blog, and I know there are lots of you, will no doubt remember a story we reported a little while ago about a new breakthrough which could drastically reduce the amount of post-op bruising which plastic and cosmetic surgery patients have to endure.  Well more news has reached us which we feel we have to share with you or, really, we just wouldn’t be doing our jobs right would we? 

Well the Vbeam laser has now undergone a second medical test and, excitingly, it has been declared that it could help to reduce bruising by an average of 63%. This news will be widely welcomed by the cosmetic surgery industry as it will mean that, if faced with shorter recovery times, more and more people may decide to go under the knife.

The new study, wonderfully titled ‘A Simple Solution to a Common Problem’, has concluded that if the treatment is done for 24 hours after a surgical procedure, then the prior-mentioned reduction of 62% is achievable.  Dr. Edwin F Williams, one of the leaders of the study, has spoken out saying that:
“[With] just one treatment with the VBeam, our patients experience dramatic clearance of the injured blood vessels. We are excited to finally be able to offer our patients a safe and easy treatment of bruising that works.” This is a huge breakthrough as, after a surgery, many of us want to get straight out there and start showing off our new look or, more importantly in this current climate, need to get back to work in order to ensure that our employment is safe and secure. Lots of bruising, whilst not being aesthetically pleasing, can also be incredibly painful and debilitating and thus it will be hoped that this Vbeam will hopefully be rolled out soon and become available to the wider public.

The company behind the innovation, the Candela Corporation, was founded in Boston (the American one) in the 1970’s and is a manufacturer of a lot of technology used by surgeons and physicians.  This latest innovation will no-doubt bring them in lots of money but, more important than this, it will also help out patients and this is clearly the most important thing for the cosmetic surgery industry. If more people can have quicker recovery times then more people may well decide to go under the knife and thus the cosmetic surgery industry will keep on growing.

Permanent Cosmetic Fillers, rather than their semi-permanent siblings, could lead to more complications according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. 

It has been revealed that 38.5% of surgeons saw between 1 and 3 patients who experienced problems from permanent facial fillers whereas 81% reported that they didn’t see any complications with the non-permanent fillers such as collagen.  Normally non-invasive and semi permanent procedures are used as a stop-gap solution, or as a try-before-you-commit way of seeing what the results from more permanent procedures may be like. Treatments such as Botox are amongst the most popular in Britain and this news that there may well be more complications with permanent procedures will not be welcomed by patients or the industry.

A couple of key figures in the U.S Cosmetic Surgery industry have spoken out about this news.  Practising surgeon from Chicago, Julius Few has said that: “Permanent fillers present challenges, particularly for inexperienced injectors,” (this comment further reinforcing the fact that you should always go with a competent and experienced doctor for your surgery), before going on to say:
“In addition to potential complications that may develop years after injection, the challenge of a permanent, synthetic filler is the anticipation of aging changes and the need for outcomes that will not look unnatural over time. To date, fat continues to be the option closest to a permanent filler with a proven safety record.”

Roger Dailey, a practicing surgeon from Oregon, has also spoken about fillers, saying that:”Permanent fillers are very different than temporary dermal fillers, because the results from temporary fillers do diminish over time. Temporary fillers can then be placed in subsequent years in a customized fashion to adjust for the changes that occur with age in the surrounding untreated areas.” So it would seem that the choice really is between a procedure which carries more long-term benefits but higher risks or a semi-permanent solution which may be safer but one which involves having many more procedures over a long period of time.

Permanent and semi-permanent procedures are still the best way of fighting back against the ageing process and, as long as you ensure you are with a high-class and respected surgeon, then you should have very little to worry about. Of course there are risks with any surgery and you have to simply weigh these up against the benefits you hope to see.

There has always been a slight amount of snobbery about plastic surgery; jokes in the press and between friends about how obvious it is than a certain person has had a nose job, or how fake new breast implants look.

However, as more and more people in the U.K, and indeed around the world, decide to go under the knife, the demand for much more natural results is also growing.  Whereas speed and cost may have topped the lists of demands from patients in the past, subtlety is now one of the most important factors.

Dr. Andre Aboolian, a cosmetic surgeon based in Beverly Hills, has spoken out about the trend.  “Patients and women in particular are seeking a more natural look, especially for breast augmentation and revision surgeries,” he commented.  He went on to say that a natural look was becoming more and more important because of the vast differences between the varied types of women who were now seeking plastic surgery: “Each woman has a different shape – height, weight, type of curves, etc. In addition to the technique, it is also important to determine what type of implant will better fit her body type, based on volume, projection and width.” Other news stories have pointed out that nose-jobs can now be manipulated in order to suit a patient’s ethnicity and the fact that boob jobs can now also look much more natural will come as welcome news and may well encourage more women to undergo the procedure.

There are now two different types of implants which can be used in breast augmentation procedures, silicone and saline, which means that the chances of getting a near natural look are greatly increased. Breast augmentation surgery is still the most popular procedure in the U.K, and across the pond in the U.S as well. Some patients are perturbed when the ‘older’ silicone implants are suggested to them, but it is simply that they can sometimes provide better results than the saline implant, which is often used for women with smaller busts.  If subtle changes can be made, and women, and even men, can return to their day to day lives feeling more confident but not with any drastic changes being made, then it is likely that an entirely new wave of patients can be attracted to the cosmetic surgery industry. This can only be good news.

Over the last few years we’ve seen many different advances in plastic and cosmetic surgery which have meant that many more people are now able to undergo the procedures they want and enjoy much quicker, easier recovery times. Well, there may well be another revolution on the way which seems set to shake the very foundations of the industry.

According to the editor of Makemeheal.com, Lois W Stern, stem cells could be engineered in such a way which as would offer a huge helping and innovative hand to the cosmetic surgery industry.  Lipoaspirate, which is a product generally used for liposuction, could, according to Stern, by engineered into cells which can regenerate. It is hoped that such a move could lead to less invasive procedures for such major work as facelifts.   Stem cells always seem to find themselves in the news as they are a highly controversial thing to begin tampering with; essentially they are cells, found naturally in the body, which have the ability to grow new cells and even to change the type of cells which are being produced.

Recently, thanks to legislation pushed through by new U.S President Barack Obama, medical research regarding stem cells has become legal and Stern feels that this change to the law could well yield exciting and innovative breakthroughs.   The biggest changes seen could be in the sustainability of fat tissue implanted in the face; if the tissue were to last longer then this would reduce the need for complex and highly invasive procedures which can often take a long time to recover from.  Other possible innovations include manipulating stem cells to differentiate into fat cells, something which could have far-reaching consequences for the world of plastic surgery.

The world of stem-cells will always be a controversial one, for political and religious reasons but, if these new discoveries will help plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery as much as is being suggested then they should certainly be welcomed by an industry which is always trying to regenerate itself and come up with new and fresh ideas.  The numbers of people undergoing cosmetic surgery all around the world have dramatically increased over the last decade and this is due to the new treatments and the quicker recovery times which are now being offered. If these new ideas come to fruition then that can only be a good thing for the industry.

The recession has left all of us pinching the pennies and people are turning away from expenditures which cannot be considered essential. This has left many in the cosmetic surgery industry worried that people may put off having treatments until the economy picks up again.

The industry will gladly welcome the news then, that customers can actually get better value during an economic downturn. It is hoped this message, if put out correctly, will bring in more customers and help the cosmetic industry continue to grow.

The recession has in fact created a “buyers market” according to image enhancement coach Wendy Lewis.  She has suggested that those who want to go under the knife should do some “comparison shopping” in order to ensure that they are getting the best possible deal on their treatment.  It has also been suggested that shoppers may wish to try being slightly frugal, simply having a neck lift instead of a full face lift could save lots of money for potential customers.  Wendy Lewis went on to say that it was “an ideal time for men and women seeking to improve or maintain their youthful image to look at less pricey options”.

Her research has led her to state that more and more top doctors are offering much better value for money in an attempt to get as many new patients through the doors of their practises as possible.  The industry has not been entirely unaffected by the recession however. Lewis did point out that people who were regular Botox enthusiasts were leaving longer between injections. Not only was this saving them money but it was giving them the time to hunt out the best deals and bargains as well. Such tightening of purse strings is something which we can all learn from as we aim to come out the other side of the recession in a much stronger position.

Botox is the procedure which is probably most likely to survive the recession; it offers a cheaper alternative to face-lifts and is also much more widely available than it ever was before. Even dentists are getting in on the action, with one based in Scotland saying he has seen the number of his dental-practise-patients wanting Botox go up and up each year.  As the numbers on the financial graphs continue to droop and drop, the cosmetic surgery industry is hoping it can remain perky and water-tight and avoid the worst effects of the economic tsunami.

One of the major trends in the cosmetic industry over the last few years has been the startling rise in the number of brides-to-be deciding to undergo breast augmentations. 

The change in fashion in bridal wear from heaps of material and ruffles to slinkier, more body-con numbers, has led many women to realise that their flaws can’t be hidden any longer. Thus, like a bouquet, many women are now choosing to throw away their love handles and their low self confidence!

Many women have a dream of what their wedding will be like, normally from a very young age and the perfect physical form is normally one very important part of this dream.  Breast Augmentation can make a bride confident that she will fill out her dress and will look confident and stunning as she walks down the aisle.   One bride-to-be, Jackie O’Neil, took herself from a 32AA to a 32C cup before her dream wedding in Cyprus. She told the Daily Mail:  “Before the operation, I had no bust at all. It had always made me very depressed. There were lots of clothes I just couldn’t wear, like small summer dresses. “When I went for a consultation, I was a nervous wreck. But it had totally changed my life and given me confidence I just never had.” Jackie’s story is testament to just how big a change to your life a breast augmentation could make. Her wedding might have been slightly deflated if she hadn’t chosen to have the surgery and yet she battled through her fears and came out the other side much more confident, and much more married!

With breast augmentation’s constantly being one of the most popular cosmetic procedures in the world year on year, and with an estimated 6 billion pounds spent on wedding every year, it seems almost inevitable that eventually the two industries would collide in the form of bride’s boob jobs.  Like everything else to do with weddings, it seems that most women believe that the cost is ultimately worth it; they are probably right. It is a day which you will remember forever and, after the confetti has been swept up, the cake eaten and your drunk Auntie Mabel carried up to bed, you will be left with two things.  Firstly a partner to love and cherish, but also a new found confidence which will never divorce you.

Despite the difficult economic climate which we are all facing up to as we come towards the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, some companies are still managing to stay afloat and even improve their business.

One of these success stories can most certainly be seen as MYA, the Leeds-based cosmetic surgery company.  The company has reported a 25% increase in enquires for procedures at the beginning of the year compared with the year before.  The increase demand for MYA’s service seems to point to the fact that the cosmetic surgery industry may well turn out to be recession-proof; the 1224 enquiries received since the start of year seeming to back up this notion.

MYA stands for Make Yourself Amazing and there certainly seems to be an amazing story behind these figures posted in the most turbulent economic times seen since World War 2.  John Ryan, the company’s chairman, has said: “The recession is a real thing, but with cosmetic surgery people regard it as a priority in their lives and they will forego a new car or a holiday to get it done. People feel it gives them the boost they require in difficult times.” This seems to sum up the public’s reasoning; they might be feeling down about the economy but many people are choosing to alter their appearance in order to give themselves an extra lift or indeed to give themselves an advantage in the jobs market. Looking good now matters to young professionals more than it ever did in the past.

Breast Enlargements seem to be the most popular procedure with 62% of MYA’s patients opting for this option.  It is not just patient numbers that seem to prove that MYA is defying the recession. It recently created 12 new jobs in Leeds through the creation of a new patient booking system and it intends to spend £1million on a new advertising campaign which will also be the catalyst to the proposed opening of 6 new clinics throughout the U.K.  This story is only made the more remarkable when you consider MYA is only one company and represents only a fraction of the cosmetic surgery market. When all the industry was considered together it is likely that the figures would be even more amazing and be undeniable proof that the cosmetic surgery industry is not only going to survive the recession but is going to come out of it perkier, fresher and fabulous.

If you can’t afford that liposuction you really feel you need and just don’t have the time for less-invasive treatments before you jet off on your holidays or travel off to that all important social occasion then have no fear, something new is at hand which can help you attain your dream figure in just a matter of seconds. 

Yes it’s true; a new range of underwear aimed at combating cellulite has been unleashed on the U.K, just in time for summer!

The new range has been launched by John Lewis and, whilst it is certainly not a complete alternative to surgical and non-invasive cosmetic procedures, it is another helping hand for women who struggle to maintain their figure. The manufacturer of the garments, SCALA, says that the underwear contains special crystals which emit infra-red rays which, in turn, stimulate blood flow to the problem areas and help to “melt away” problem fats and toxins. It might all sound a bit “bifidus digestivum” but John Lewis appears to be behind it, with the firm’s lingerie buyer saying: “Between 80 and 90% of women have cellulite somewhere on their body which is why there is such a huge market for potions and lotions in the category.” It is hoped that this underwear can tap into this already saturated market by offering its own unique take on the cellulite issue.

It shouldn’t just be normal members of the public who buy the products, glossy magazines are full each week of celebrities who are apparently blighted by unsightly wobbles. The liposuction and new laser-lipo surgeries are big business for the cosmetic surgery industry but one doubts they will be too troubled by this new advance in underwear; the pants and other garments will only offer temporary solutions and surgery will still be the only solution for those who are seeking a more permanent solution.  Of course, body-con underwear is nothing new, it has been growing in popularity over the last few seasons due to the more figure-hugging clothes which have been coming down the catwalk; it is hoped the ‘science’ behind this new range from SCALA will help boost it above the competition.

However, underwear does not often look good with a skimpy bikini and thus if you’re wanting to look your best on the beach then a cosmetic treatment is probably the best solution to a happy holiday!