Posted February 26, 2012 in Beauty, Blog, Plastic Surgery in the News, Ulthera, Uncategorized
“At age 50, everyone has the face he deserves.”
~ George Orwell
It may be true that at age 50 everyone has the face that they may deserve, but if you believe that you deserve better, come see us at Persky Sunder Plastic Surgery!
50% of Americans want and are willing to undergo treatments for aesthetic improvement. Plastic surgery treatments are a $10 billion/year business. Most of us agree with Billy Crystal, “When you look marvelous you feel marvelous!”
On February 24, 2012 ABC’s 20/20 with Barbara Walters as host aired, “The Cutting Edge…YOUNGER THAN EVER”, an hour show about the hottest new ways to take 10 or more years off. The emphasis of the program was cutting edge technology without the knife. The first segment plastic surgeon used the old phrase, “Heal with steel” (referring to surgical blades), while he himself was sporting some prettyobvious signs of Botox use on his face (think droopy lip and Botox forehead lumps). While performing a “minimal” facelift on a 51 year old woman, he used Ulthera ultrasound on the face as well (cost-$35,000). I might have treated this patient alittle differently for a lot less money with Ulthera alone followed by Sculptra for facial volume replacement (cost-$7,500).
My colleague, Doris Day, MD, an excellent Manhattan cosmetic dermatologist and author of “Forget the Facelift”, treated a woman with Ulthera. Dr. Day, who’s Sirius radio show Dr. Persky has been a guest on, left out the fact that it was Dr. P who convinced her to incorporate Ulthera in her practice after his explanation of the benefits, safety, and effectiveness of Ulthera technology. Her patient described the ultrasound treatment , “…it felt like a million needles…it hurt!” Once again “yes, Ulthera works, yes Ulthera hurts!” With properly administered local anesthetic the treatment is actually quite tolerable. Dr. Day topped off the patient’s treatment with Fraxel restore to improve skin tone, texture , and color (another technology available in our office). Liposonix, the newest fat zapping machine was used on two patients. Liposonix also uses focused ultrasound energy to target abdominal fat. The technology appears to be effective, but there is quite a bit of bruising, and the treatment is reportedly very painful.
The next segment of the show was about a surgeon who has operated on his own teenage daughters. He has done rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, and even Botox injections. He also did a facelift and breast augmentation on an 83 year old woman. Patient choice and artistic vision were not demonstrated in this vignette.
Breast augmentation is the most popular plastic surgery procedure, yet ironically breast reduction is the most satisfying operation for patients.
“Bro-tox” and the increase of plastic surgery acceptance among men was featured. Plastic surgery in men has increased over 100% since 1997. The 5 most popular male plastic surgery procedures are 1. Liposuction 2. Nose Job 3. Eye Lids 4. Breast Reduction (of “man boobs”) and 5. Hair Transplantation. Botox injections are by far the popular non-invasive male aesthetic treatment.
Surgical leg lengthening by 6 inches over 3 months was featured. The leg bone is fractured, a telescopic implantable rod is placed in the fractured bone, and expanded by a millimeter at a time. OUCH, not for me!
My colleague, Julius Few, MD, FACS who practices plastic surgery in Chicago was featured in the next segment about plastic surgery in African American patients or those with skin of color. Though blacks make up only 8% of plastic surgery patients, there is an increasing trend in black aesthetic procedures. Other black physicians were shown injecting at a Botox party, and using fat transfer to increase the size of the buttocks (not to be confused with Botox!)
The final segment was with Joan Rivers, the reigning Queen of Plastic Surgery. I will summarize Joan’s interview in a future entry. For now I will leave you with one of her quotes, “Looking 50 is great…if you’re 60!” Be well.
Dr Michael Persky and Dr. Sarmela Sunder are located in Encino, California and Beverly Hills, California (The Lasky Clinic) but service all of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Including, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Brentwood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Westlake, Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and more. Please subscribe to our blog by clicking the link above, right. Thank you!
