Cosmeticsurgeon.co.uk - UK Cosmetic Surgeons

Most of us will have either considered, or will have undergone, some sort of plastic surgery. We will have had one nagging flaw or an insecurity which we felt needed sorting and we will have taken the necessary surgical steps towards correcting this imperfection. However, for some people, plastic surgery becomes more than a way of just correcting one or two minor faults; it becomes an entire way of life. This is certainly the case for Cindy Jackson, who holds the dubious record of having more cosmetic surgery than anybody else on the planet. But, far from being put off or quietened by her record-breaking number of times under the knife, she is now using her position to become a spokesperson and encourage more people to seek bodily perfection in the plastic surgery arena.

Jackson has offered advice to celebrities in the past, including surgery success stories like Sharon Osbourne and now she is turning her attention to regular citizens like you and me; her message is simple, that everyone and anyone should actively consider some form of surgical enhancement. She told Sky News:

“I’ve never met or been in touch with anyone who is totally happy the way they are”

She went on to tackle a big taboo in society that people, no matter what they say in public, are attracted to, and value highly, the concept of beauty.  She did say it was politically incorrect to make such a statement but her own good looks have given her “better chances” in life and she feels she has also gotten an “easier ride” because of her enhanced looks. Whilst this may be slightly true, it is certainly true that most people still value personality and contribution to society over mere looks. Where plastic surgery comes in is that it can help transform people’s confidence so that their personality shines through; if you feel beautiful, you will appear more beautiful and, for a lot of people, surgery is really the only way to correct not only physical flaws but mental doubts as well.

Jackson is well-known on the surgery circuit and is a veritable regular, having undergone nose-jobs, several facelifts, breast augmentation and liposuction procedures. Much of her body may now be unnatural, but her advice is down-to-earth and 100% real; if you’re unhappy with the way you look surgery offers you the chance to change yourself and change your life.

Plastic Surgery is a global obsession which cuts across all the age strata and yet, when you get down to the specifics of the different types of treatment, we all have stereotypical images in our heads of who we think has what sort of surgery. If you mention ‘facelift’ then one immediately thinks of an ageing Hollywood actress, perhaps in her 50’s or 60’s who is desperately trying to cling onto her career by fighting back against the ageing process. However, new advances and new techniques in the procedure mean that a younger and younger audience is now being attracted to the dramatic procedure.

New York-based plastic surgery practise Profiles and Contours have noted that a younger demographic are enquiring about updating their looks through one of the new variations on the face-lift.  Director of Profiles and Contours, Dr. Mark A Erlich has spoken out about the trend, saying that:
“What we’re seeing right now is a dramatic move away from the idea that a face lift is only effective for older or middle-aged patients. Younger women and men are finding out about newer, smaller-scale procedures, and they are taking advantage of these options to achieve results that look very natural and appropriate.”

Whereas it might have been the over 55’s who previously ventured into the world of facelifts, patients are now coming in who are in their 30’s or 40’s and who are searching for a more permanent way to turn back the clock.  One of the main reasons why such a younger audience is now being attracted to the facelift is that, with new procedures entering the market all the time, the recovery time needed is now nowhere near as grand as it once was. Younger people, who perhaps can’t spare the time which the retired older generation can, can now have facelifts and be back at work looking younger and more energised much quicker.

One of the new, speedier, procedures is called the ‘S-Lift’ and it uses small incisions to reduce the appearance of loose skin and muscle. Because it uses small incisions, recovery times are a lot shorter. As younger people flock towards facelifts perhaps some of the stigma and humour surrounding them will begin to evaporate and more and more people will see them as a more permanent alternative to Botox and collagen facial fillers; that will certainly put a smile on the cosmetic surgery industries face.

We have already reported that more and more men were going under the knife. The rise in metrosexuality and an increased pressure on men to attain physical perfection has meant that more and more males have been opting for surgery to give them the perfect abs, or pecs, or hairline. However, news has reached us that male plastic surgery has now begun to take over the realm of the face-lift. For so long, this procedure has been in the ownership of Hollywood women who want to keep getting the starring roles by turning back the clock on tired faces but now, according to one surgeon, men are getting in on the act as well.

Dr. Marco Faria Correa spoke out to the Jakarta Post, saying that:

“With changing standards of aesthetic surgery for men and more liberal attitudes, we see an increase in the number of men opting for cosmetic surgery.”

Men are already taking more care of their skin, having more expensive haircuts and, largely thanks to a new culture of male celebrity, are taking much more care over how they style themselves and what they wear; plastic surgery and facelifts seem to just be the next logical step on from this.   However, it isn’t simply vanity which is pushing men into more and more complicated, harsh and expensive procedures.

Men have always been competitive in the world of business and now this competitive streak has boiled over in the realm of cosmetic surgery.  Surgery is a way for men to carry on looking young and energetic and this can only be a good thing in the tiring and stressful world of business. Women have long known that, sadly, appearances count for a lot in this cynical world and it seems that now, for better or for worse, men are now catching on to this idea as well.  Whilst men are beginning to make their mark on the world of surgery, it is still women who dominate, with breast augmentation procedures constantly being the top of the surgery charts on both side of the Atlantic, liposuction is also a phenomenally popular surgery. However, as men continue to want to stay ahead and continue to chase ideals which they see on the billboards and in the magazines all around them, there is no doubt that they may well soon match women in terms of the number of them going under the knife.

As regular readers of this blog will know, the boundaries of cosmetic surgery are constantly being challenged and new procedures, techniques and inventions are emerging all the time and the industry is able to offer a much higher level of care and end results than it could a decade ago. 

We’ve seen new advances in laser treatments, new types of implants and even a drastic reduction in bruising and recovery times for some procedures. Well now there is another new advance to bring to your attention, this one being in the field of facelifts.

In the past, the traditional way of performing a facelift would be to “re-drape” the skin over the face in order to improve tightness, but this method is now used very rarely.  Advancements and new discoveries mean that surgeons now have a much more nuanced understanding of how the face is made up and, more importantly, how it ages and what changes the ageing process inflicts upon us.  Shorter scars and much more natural and balanced results are just a couple of the welcome side-effects of such advances. In the past, we might have joked that people who’ve had facelifts are easily identifiable but this is now not the case at all. The huge number of have-they/haven’t they stories in gossip weekly’s is testament to the fact that it is getting harder to determine who has or hasn’t had work done.

One of the main advances is that a procedure known as lipostructure has now become an integral part of the facelift procedure. Replacing the old “re-drape” notion, lipostructure involves removing fat from an area of a patient’s body and then using said fat to replace tissue which has lost its plumpness.  Areas where this can be useful can be sagging cheeks or tired-looking eyes and the overall effect is to create a much younger-looking, much more alert face.  The ability to provide youthful results without the re-draping technique means that facelifts are now looking a lot more natural. It is hoped that such an advance will tempt even more people to the ever-popular procedure. Some people still opt for non-permanent procedures, such as Botox or laser treatments as they are scared of the aesthetic results of a facelift. Advances such as this, and the ones which will no doubt come in the future, should go some way to allaying these fears.

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.

When people think of cosmetic procedures the most common thing that will come to mind are surgical procedures such as facelifts, breasts augmentations and liposuction.

However, there are a variety of other cosmetic procedures that will change your appearance without having to turn to surgical options. Many of these will involve chemicals and lasers that may be used to enhance the appearance of the skin, as well as treatments such as Botulinum Toxins, which are used to rejuvenate the face.

These can range from dermal fillers, which are used to get rid of wrinkles to non-surgical breast enlargements using something such as Macrolane TM breast enhancement. At cosmetic surgery consultants there are a wide range of non surgical procedures that are outlined on the website. Some of them can be considered here.

Starting with Macrolane TM breast enhancement, this a form of non-surgical breast enhancement which is becoming popular because as it will increase the cup size of the breast without causing scarring. Macrolane is a gel that is made up of a hyaluronic acid called Stabilized, Non-Animal hyaluronic acid (NASHA), which is actually created naturally within the body.

There are also various facial fillers such as Juvederm, a form of dermal filler that aims to iron out wrinkles by injecting the Juvederm solution into the relevant area. As a facial filler it can be used as an alternative to surgical procedures such as facelifts. Likewise Restylane is also used to iron out wrinkles and to enhance the lips, and other lines that might appear on the face. It is a gel that is injected to add volume to the skin.

Laser treatments include procedures such as Fraxel Laser, which is another way in which wrinkles can be treated. Fraxel Laser treatment involves lasers being shined onto the skin to treat relevant areas whilst avoiding the surrounding areas. It requires an anaesthetic before the lasers produce microthermal zones within the skin; these are tiny columns that are created to rejuvenate the cells found in the tissue.

Beyond the ones mentioned here, there are many other non surgical procedures, which are outlined on various other parts of the website.

At one point in time it seemed you couldn’t move without hearing stories about facelifts. Who’d had what done, who was about to have one, who very much needed one. But now the surgical zeitgeist seems to have moved away from the traumatic and expensive procedure and stepped towards a less-invasive set of alternatives. 

Injectable treatments are fast becoming popular as people feel the effects of the credit-crunch and opt for lower-costing alternatives which don’t require them to be absent from work for long periods of time.  In the trade they are known as “liquid face lifts” and they are certainly helping the industry to stay afloat as the recession takes its hold on every household in the U.K and around the world.

Dr. Dean Kane, a cosmetic surgeon based in Baltimore,  has commented that: “”Especially in today’s economy, many people feel that they need a bit of a ”lift” in their looks and their lives, but they want a flexible way to address just a few characteristics easily, quickly and cost-effectively.” This seems to sum up the ethos of why these treatments have become so successful. When everything else in the world seems so gloomy, people need something to pick their mood up which won’t cause them worry or anxiety. A facelift is a major procedure which takes a lot of planning, a lot of recovering from and overall adds unnecessary stress into the patient’s life. These non-invasive alternatives are quick, effective and, above all, cheap.

The most popular of these treatments is obviously Botox, but there are lesser known alternatives which are working wonders for patients.  Dermal fillers, such as Restylane and Juvederm can be used to smooth out the appearance of wrinkles and also plump out the areas around the eyes or the cheeks which may become sunken.  However, facelifts have not dropped off the radar entirely, there was a 1.7% increase in people have them in 2008 when compared to the year before. 

They may be a more expensive option, but they are more permanent and those women who have had success with these non-invasive alternatives often find themselves turning to facelifts as a more long-term solution.  As expensive surgeries and recovery times become luxuries most people cannot afford, however, it is likely that more and more people will be opting for Botox and Dermal Fillers and fighting back against ageing without breaking the bank.

‘Natural’ cosmetic surgery could soon be winning over silicone implants, botox injections and scalpels as the new technology is launched in Europe
 
This new method could mean that undergoing cosmetic surgery will soon be a lot less intimidating and even less painful. Moreover, practitioners of this method claim that the results achieved by the new treatment are much more natural even if only one procedure is performed.

The new cosmetic surgery, which is available in Austria, is based on using stem cells that are extracted from the body of the patient and have a unique ability to reduplicate. The cells can be used for implant-free breast enlargement procedures, facelifts and wrinkle reduction treatments and the results are claimed to last a lifetime.

A breast enlargement operation takes roughly eight hours. Prices start from 7,000 Euros (around £5,500).
Hormonal regeneration is also offered by practitioners of ‘natural’ cosmetic surgery. It involves adminstering hormones that are said to reverse the process of ageing.

It is claimed that hormonal regeneration can make the patient look 15 years younger as it results in a ‘radiant appearance’ and better overall health. The method is based on the assumption that premature ageing is a deficiency disease which can be treated.

Dr Heinrich, a beauty and anti-ageing expert from Vienna, said: “The enormous potential of new cosmetic surgery lies in the combination of these treatment strategies, Most cosmetic problems may be optimally treated this way, with perfectly natural results. You can’t tell the difference between a treated breast and a natural breast.”