Special offers for facial rejuvenation are the perfect way to reduce wrinkles and sagging skin, keep your facelift results looking their best, or enhance the results of a recent face lift at Atlanta double board certified plastic surgeon, John L. Leroy, MD, FACS office.
The process of planning plastic surgery can be a complex one. You have to decide on a procedure, a surgeon, a schedule, and more. Once you have chosen which procedure you want, there are sometimes decisions you’ll need to make about the details of your surgery, too. Breast augmentation is a perfect example. Beyond the choices listed above, you’ll also need to select your breast implants. As a double board-certified plastic surgeon who has been working with breast implants for over thirty years, I’m happy to provide some insight into the various types and sizes of breast implants.
Types & Materials
When surgeons and patients talk about “types of implants,” they’re really referring to the material that each breast implant uses. There are four primary options:
Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages of each type of breast implant. Saline implants can be filled and adjusted during surgery, allowing for a smaller incision and a bit more customization in sizing. Silicone implants, on the other hand, tend to feel more natural and exhibit less leakage in the case of a rupture. Cohesive gel silicone implants can also provide a slightly more youthful shape to the breasts.
Sizes
Along with picking the type of implant you want, you’ll also need to choose a size. While some plastic surgery patients say, “I want to go up two cup sizes,” breast implants are actually measured in “cc’s” (or cubic centimeters). There is no “standard” implant size—every patient needs to decide for herself what type of size improvement she’s looking for. A petite woman with an AA cup, for instance, may be happy with just 150 cc’s, while a taller woman with a larger frame who is starting at a C cup would see little noticeable change from that size of implant. However, I generally advise patients against going for the extreme. Breasts tend to sag much more with larger implants, making you more likely to want a breast lift at a younger age. Plus, just as women with naturally large breasts can experience back pain, shoulder pain, and other discomforts, women with very large implants may develop similar issues.
How to Choose
There’s no Cosmo-style quiz to tell you what size and type of breast implant you should choose (at least not a reliable one). There are a number of factors to consider, like your medical history, your aesthetic goals, your natural frame and current size, your existing breast tissue, your preferences for scarring, etc. This is why an in-person consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon is the only way to truly know which options are best suited for you.
Ultimately, plastic surgery (or any other cosmetic treatment, for that matter) needs to be customized for your individual needs and desired results. But here’s the good news—you don’t need to make any of these choices on your own. As a double board-certified plastic surgeon, I’m here to help you at each step of the way. To start discussing breast augmentation or any other cosmetic surgery, schedule a consultation with me. Or, for more plastic surgery tips, health news, and other information, follow me, Dr. John LeRoy on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
These days, it seems as if everyone is getting a little something injected for the purpose of looking younger. According to both the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the #1 most popular cosmetic procedure in the US is botulinum toxin injections (like Botox® and Dysport®), and #2 is dermal fillers (like Restylane®, Juvéderm®, Radiesse®, and more). Both of these treatments offer minimally invasive ways to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, and their immense popularity comes from their convenience (typically a 15- or 30-minute treatment with no downtime), consistently successful results, and suitability for nearly anyone. But, at the same time, the idea of facial injections sounds understandably scary to many patients. So, in truth, how safe are botulinum toxin and filler injections?
The safety of cosmetic injectables ultimately comes down to your provider. Cosmetic injections are true medical procedures, so it’s important to recognize the seriousness of feeling confident in the person performing them. If you’re receiving your botulinum toxin or facial filler injections from a qualified medical professional, such as a board-certified plastic surgeon, the side effects are expected to be very mild and temporary, and the risk of serious side effects is extremely low. For most patients, the side effects are limited to mild swelling and bruising, and they generally fade within a week.
However, your risk factors change dramatically when your injections are being performed by someone who is not properly qualified and educated. Serious side effects are often caused by the product being injected incorrectly or injected into an area where it shouldn’t be, such as into a blood vessel. While a board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in facial rejuvenation has extensive knowledge of your complex facial anatomy, so that they can inject the products into the precise areas for maximum safety and effectiveness, there are many people who deliver these injections without having the knowledge they need to do it correctly.
Another important factor in keeping your cosmetic facial injections safe and effective is ensuring that you are receiving the true product. Sadly, there are companies who produce counterfeit versions of popular products like Botox® and Restylane®. There are also versions of these products that are produced abroad and are not FDA-approved for safety and effectiveness. Reputable board-certified plastic surgeons will allow you to see the bottle before they perform your injections so that you know you’re getting the right product, and they have the experience to know not to use inauthentic products. However, when you go to a provider who is not qualified, you also increase the likelihood of getting an inferior or potentially dangerous product injected, as these people often do not have the authorization to purchase the genuine products.
While this article has focused on a single type of treatment, the same principle holds true for any cosmetic procedure—seeing a true board-certified plastic surgeon can provide you with excellent results and an extremely low risk factor, while getting treated by an unqualified provider is never worth the risk. If a price seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you’re ready to take the next step toward a safe and effective treatment with cosmetic injectables, schedule a consultation with me, Dr. John L. LeRoy. Or, for more plastic surgery tips, join me on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
The desire to look younger is nearly universal among middle-aged and older adults, although not everyone who wants to look younger actually takes concrete actions to make that happen. As a double board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in facial rejuvenation, I often see patients who have spent years considering a procedure, and have finally gotten that final push to go for it because they have a special event on their calendar—a wedding, a special vacation, etc. But in these cases, it’s important to plan ahead to make sure that, by the time your event approaches, your results have truly reached their peak, and this can take longer than some patients realize. When most patients think of their plastic surgery recovery time, they’re thinking about how long it will take before they can return to work, but that is simply one stage of the recovery process. In fact, even after you’re back at work, it can take significantly longer for all of the residual swelling, bruising, redness, and other effects to fully resolve. The chart below offers some insight into when that may be.
It’s important to realize that these plastic surgery recovery times are all very general. Each patient’s body heals at its own pace, and recovery will depend on a number of external factors as well, like overall health, skin care, following your pre- and post-treatment instructions, not smoking, and more. Ultimately, it’s best to come in for a consultation as early as possible, so that we can discuss your aesthetic goals and medical history in order to make a personal plan. To get your consultation on the schedule, give my office a call today. Or, for more helpful plastic surgery tips and the latest news, follow me, Dr. John L. LeRoy on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
If you ask mothers about the ways their bodies have changed after pregnancy, breastfeeding, and motherhood, most would give you the same general answer—”I love my children, and I certainly don’t regret having them, but I do miss my pre-pregnancy figure.” As much time and effort as moms spend on their children, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to restore the self-confidence you used to have. For many women, a “mommy makeover” is the answer.
A mommy makeover is simply any combination of multiple plastic surgeries intended to repair the effects of pregnancy and breastfeeding. In most cases, this involves a tummy tuck, liposuction, and some type of breast surgery. The tummy tuck addresses excess stretched skin from the pregnancy, as well as the common “pooch” in the lower abdomen that forms when pregnancy separates the muscles. The tummy tuck gives these muscles a slimmer, flatter contour, while also removing excess fat in the area and making the skin tight and flat across your new figure. Liposuction in a mommy makeover is often used to reduce stubborn fat from surrounding areas, like the love handles, thighs, or back. The breast surgery will vary, because pregnancy and breastfeeding can have different impacts on the size and shape of the breasts, but many women opt for a breast lift combined with either a breast augmentation or breast reduction.
While it’s not uncommon for a patient to receive plastic surgeries for different areas of their body over the course of several years, the difference with the mommy makeover is that the breast surgery, liposuction, and tummy tuck are all performed at the same time. This provides two distinct advantages:
As safe and doable as cosmetic surgery has become, it’s still a significant event that requires time, energy, a commitment to your health, discomfort during recovery, and financial planning, so if you’re going to have surgery, you want to make the most of your results. A mommy makeover is designed to do just this, because it addresses each of your primary cosmetic concerns at the same time rather than treating a solitary issue.
Mothers are the masters of multi-tasking, and that’s precisely what a mommy makeover does: if you’re going to be staying home and resting to recover from a tummy tuck, you might as well spend that time recovering from the breast augmentation and liposuction you’ve been considering, too. While a typical mommy makeover does have a moderately long recovery period compared to many other plastic surgeries (because it involves a tummy tuck), it’s significantly shorter than having three separate surgeries with three separate recoveries.
Mommy makeovers are designed for the purpose of tailoring an approach specifically for mothers, a group of people who tend to have similar cosmetic concerns and who need to keep their recovery time to a minimum without compromising their results. If you want to learn more about mommy makeovers and what yours might involve, schedule a consultation with me today. Or, for more plastic surgery tips and information about cosmetic surgery options, follow me, Dr. John L. LeRoy on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.