by Dr. Joseph Grzeskiewicz
Do you love facial fillers, but hate the pain? We have good news! Gone are the sharp-tipped needles that can hurt and puncture blood vessels. We now use a new blunt-tipped device to inject Juvéderm®, Perlane®, Restylane®, Radiesse®, and Artefill® and help you restore volume in your face.
Until recently, needles with sharp tips were the only way to deliver injectable fillers. The sharp tips can scratch and puncture blood vessels, causing pain as tissues are penetrated. It also limits the injector’s control, which can cause irregular placement of the filler. The blunt-tipped device (called a cannula) avoids most or all of these issues.
You’ve invested a lot of time, money, and emotions into your cosmetic procedure. You’re past the initial healing process and are now ready to show off your new look, whether it’s a nose job, a tummy tuck, or a breast augmentation.
Congratulations—the hard part is over. Now comes the easy, but no less important, part: enjoying and protecting your results.
Here are some tips to help you keep your results looking great for years to come:
- Johan E. Brahme, MD
Greetings,
Feel free to comment below and/or ask a question… we are always here to help!
Sincerely,
Johan E. Brahme, MD
Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
Permanent link to this post (64 words, 1 image, estimated 15 secs reading time)
If you’re like many people, you don’t have thousands of dollars in cash for elective surgery. Credit cards remain an option, but you’ll be tying up your available credit, so a monthly payment plan (like your house or car payment) might be a better option.
Of course, you can always save up for the procedure, but that can mean waiting months or years to get the change you want now. Once you’re mentally prepared to have a procedure, it’s hard to wait! Plus, who doesn’t want to enjoy the benefits of a new look now?
Wonder how might you feel after plastic surgery? Here’s a chart of typical emotional ups and downs patients may experience in the weeks between surgery and full recovery. Enjoy!
Use this code to embed this image on your site:
If you’d like to link to this blog post, please use this URL:
http://www.ljcsc.com/cosmetic-surgery/how-will-you-feel-during-plastic-surgery-recovery/
Permanent link to this post (64 words, 1 image, estimated 15 secs reading time)
All reputable cosmetic surgeons have “before and after” photos—a portfolio of their work. While selected photos may appear online, additional images are presented during your consultation visit. Make sure you get an opportunity to study the photos that specifically relate to you and your chosen procedure.
Before and after photos are your best measure for determining whether or not a cosmetic surgeon is right for you. You want more than just proof that the doctor has performed the surgery before. Here are five things to look for when trying to decide to place your trust—as well as your body, breasts, or face—with a surgeon:
by H. Michael Roark, MD
Dr. Michael Roark
If there are aspects of your appearance that you are considering altering, you may have considered plastic surgery. The first step in finding a plastic surgeon is deciding what changes you want to make to your appearance. Choosing the right plastic surgeon is dependent on what procedure you are considering. Identifying what results you want is far easier than finding the best surgeon to perform the task.
by Johan E. Brahme, MD
Dr. Johan Brahme
There is an emerging new area in plastic surgery: Feminine Genital Rejuvenation. This field is achieving mainstream popularity as an option for women seeking enhanced genital aesthetics and function as well as improved comfort. As word began to spread, numerous patients requested my help with these delicate and intensely private aspects of their bodies and lives. I responded by looking for a way to help, which lead me to special training in this area of plastic surgery. Like other areas of cosmetic surgery, it is a joy for me to see women who were previously suffering emotionally and physically become happy and pain-free.
by Joseph L. Grzeskiewicz, MD, FACS
Joseph Grzeskiewicz, MD, FACS
Every now and then a new invention comes along that I wish I’d invented. So it is with the Keller Funnel. I have been using this new breast augmentation device for about a year. It is an amazing advancement in breast augmentation surgery. In addition to the improvement in my surgical results, two of the things that make it so amazing are its simplicity and ease of use.
by Johan E. Brahme, MD
Dr. Johan Brahme
A recent article in the blog “mashedplastic” (link below) explores the unique features of facial aging. We used to think that all components of the face (cheeks, chin, jowls, neck, eyes, and forehead, etc.) aged in a uniform, predictable manner.
However, in reality what we are finding is that is that in some people the neck tends to age more than the eyes, or the cheeks tend to fall more than the forehead. The cause of this is poorly understood but may relate to genetics. It is only reasonable to suspect that if your mother or father had a “turkey neck” you may be at risk for this as well, if you look like them to begin with.
This is a preview of
Facial Aging: “Piece by Piece” or “The Whole Enchilada”
.
Read the full post (346 words, 1 image, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)
Lori H. Saltz, MD
I have always been lucky enough to have long eyelashes. Yet when Latisse became available, I thought “why not make a good thing even better?”
If you’re not familiar with Latisse, it is a prescription treatment that helps eyelashes grow longer, thicker, and darker by applying a thin line of the product to the upper eyelid, at base of your eyelashes.
Remember the old song lyric by Crystal Gayle, “Don’t it my my brown eyes blue”? This made me think about a topic that many of my patients ask about… “Will using Latisse make my blue eyes become brown?” In a word, no, and the reason is simple.
Is there a “right age” to begin having plastic surgery? That’s something 26-year-old Jessie always wondered. Spending most of her youth and young adulthood playing sports, Jessie described herself as having a body that never made her feel very feminine. “I had this strong, athletic build combined with a very flat chest. I hated that.” Jessie recalls being in high school and imagining one day she would have a breast augmentation to make herself feel better about her body.
This is a preview of
“The surgery didn’t just change my appearance; it changed how I felt inside”
.
Read the full post (629 words, 1 image, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)
Christy knows what a struggle it is to lose weight. In 8th grade, just when life is beginning to throw so many challenges at you, she weighed 225 pounds and wore a size 22. “I’m a southern girl from Alabama and grew up loving food. When I was a teenager, I moved in with my grandparents and started to become aware of how unhealthy my weight was. My grandmother sent me to nutrition classes and I lost some weight.”
This is a preview of
Patient appreciates having a surgeon that is “truly looking out for my best interests”
.
Read the full post (713 words, 1 image, estimated 2:51 mins reading time)
There seems to be a point when the face or body in the mirror feels out of sync with inner feelings or desires. Julie remembers experiencing those exact emotions. “I’m realistic. I wasn’t wanting to look 20 years younger, but I knew that my face wasn’t representing the real me.”
Like many patients, several years after her first laser procedure, Julie decided that tightening the skin on her face would enhance her appearance. She didn’t have to go far to find the perfect plastic surgeon for her surgery. Julie consulted with board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Joseph Grzeskiewicz (“Dr. G”).
Dr. Brahme
Artefill® is one of the most exciting products to ever hit the injectable market and it has just landed at La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre.
Artefill is a completely different type of filler from what is currently on the market. It is the first FDA approved injectible dermal filler that gives you the longest lasting wrinkle correction available.
This product is a unique combination of purified bovine collagen gel, tiny synthetic microspheres (polymethymethacrylate, commonly known as PMMA) and lidocaine (anesthetic agent).
Joseph Grzeskiewicz, MD, FACS
You’ve no doubt heard the term “board certification.” The problem is, if you’re like most people, you still don’t really know what board certification really means. A recent survey was conducted by The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) asking people what factors they consider to be the most important when choosing a doctor. The top two were:
However, 60% of respondents incorrectly believed that a physician must be board certified in order to practice medicine. Even more astonishing, 45% of respondents acknowledged that they never check to see if their physician is board certified (nor presumably do they understand why it’s important to check).
Breast Augmentation
What Size Is the Right Size?
Since plastic surgeons began doing breast augmentations in the late 1960s, two questions have always dogged both prospective patients and their surgeons…
- As you consider breast augmentation, which size implant will give you what you want?
- And how do you communicate that to your surgeon?
Dr. Brahme
We all know that a “C” cup varies with different Bra Manufacturers. So what we need is communication which is visual, so you can show us what you want and then we can deliver a surgical result that is what you expect.
This is a preview of
Dr. Brahme, Breast Augmentation – “What size is the right size?”
.
Read the full post (554 words, 1 image, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)
The first silicone breast implant was developed in 1961 by two surgeons (Cronin and Gerow) from the program where I was trained in Houston, Texas. Since that time, millions of women have been extremely satisfied with a simple one hour procedure.
Currently, women have many options with respect to their breast implant procedure (incisions, above or below the muscle, size of the implant and saline vs. silicone), with one of the most important decisions you must make is whether you prefer a silicone gel or saline (salt water) filled implant.
