Just for men: the latest in faking it

From the Sculptees website

Sometimes this blog can seem overly female-centric; but come on, I'm a female plastic surgeon. This blog is about plastic surgery, and the vast majority of plastic surgery patients are women.

But guys, this post is for you. We first heard about these innovative man-garments a little while back, but the NY Times Style section is hitting it up again.

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend without fear!

Friday Figure Fix: Boobs, boobs, boobs!

Photo courtesy of m_bartosch

Momentous day here:

1. Finally, a long-promised Friday Figure Fix post! And you thought I was just stringing you along.
2. According to Google, this is my 100th post. Amazing.

So, as you can tell from the title of this entry, there's nothing subtle about the subject matter. Everyone loves boobs, right?

Forgive my cavalier attitude, but as a female plastic surgeon who takes the matter very seriously and personally, sometimes you need to lighten things up a bit.

In previous Friday Figure Fix posts, we've covered just about every other major body part and "flaw", and now with Memorial Day Weekend fast on our heels, we can almost call it summer. You already know how to deal with the other anxiety-inducing bits unveiled by bikini season, now we have to face "the girls".

Breasts are remarkable appendages. We're mammals, so we've all got them, both men and women. In women, of course, the parts tend to be a little better developed - mammary glands, which serve an incredible function - producing milk for little ones. And of course, there is the aesthetic and sexual function of breasts.

Some women feel that their breasts are too small for their frame; others find that they are burdened by overly large breasts - headaches, neck and back pain, shoulder grooving from bra straps, skin irritation and rashes. And nearly every woman has been frustrated by the impossibility of finding a proper fitting bra.

Some women (and men, too) are born without a breast; others are forced by the diagnosis of cancer to have one or both removed.

Over a lifetime, breasts undergo quite a few changes; there is the joy of puberty, cyclical variations with menstruation, ups and downs with weight oscillations, growth during pregnancy, explosive engorgement with nursing, the stretch marks, droopiness, and deflation following child rearing, and the inevitable pull of gravity with aging.

Regardless of what you were born with, there is beauty within. Even after a lifetime of changes, many women are wholly appreciative of what they have; they have their fans as well.

But many women miss what they had before - or what they never had; besides, this is a plastic surgery blog, so we're going to discuss what to do with those boobs in the next few Friday Figure Fix posts.

Friday...

And you loyal followers thought maybe, just maybe, there would be another installment today... No such luck in the MPL world. It's not over yet, though, I promise. I have more facts, thoughts, and wild opinions to share with all of you, don't you worry...

A My Plastics Life Public Service Announcement

When I saw this article in the NY Times yesterday, it made me think of the presentation I give for the HealthTrust of Santa Clara to eager high school students about what I do as a plastic surgeon.

Sure, my life in plastic surgery is all about boobs and Botox - or some would think... I use the class period to reveal a little bit more about the wide, wonderful world of plastic and reconstructive surgery. The NY Times article talks a bit about the spills that professional cyclists endure, and part of my presentation describes dealing with the medical consequences of those accidents. In a few words: lots of stitches, metal plates and screws.

So the one thing I beg the students to remember from my talk? If you ride a bicycle, you need to wear a helmet. I can save your face, but first, the helmet has to save your life.

One student complained, But I had a friend who was wearing a helmet when he got into an accident, and the stupid thing cracked!

Exactly. Better the helmet than your head.

A day (or two, or three, or four) without the internet

Wow. Four and a half days involuntarily deprived of internet access makes you a discombobulated technological cripple. No email, no Google, no news, no way to print out directions to Mother's Day brunch, and most horrifyingly of all, no blogging...

Lucky for us, today AT+T figured out that our woes were the result of a malfunction at the central office and they "just needed to turn the switch on". That took four-plus days to figure out?

Despite our Luddite-like hiatus, the world of plastic surgery still managed to spin on its axis. And although I sometimes fear that my continued posting on this subject puts this blog dangerously close to transforming into a hateful plastic surgical rant, I have to believe that it's all about information and education. So enjoy, more frightening news, this time from our neighbors and colleagues on the east coast.

Friday, but not a Figure Fix exactly: Your moment of zen

A California poppy on top of Windy Hill

Sorry guys, you're going to have to be patient with me about this Friday Figure Fix thing. The column is slowly cooking in my head, and it will emerge fully formed at some point.

In the meantime, I was reading a new book called Drive, by Daniel Pink. It's interesting, a pop-business-culture examination of what motivates people. He opens one of the middle chapters with a snippet of poetry I've never come across before, but really enjoyed:

You need not see what someone is doing
to know if it is his vocation,

you have only to watch his eyes:
a cook mixing a sauce, a surgeon

making a primary incision,
a clerk completing a bill of lading,

wear the same rapt expression, forgetting
themselves in a function.

How beautiful it is,
that eye-on-the-object look.

- W.H. Auden

I love discovering beautiful things in unexpected places.

As plain as...

Photo courtesy of djcodrin

The latest issue of Elle landed in my mailbox a few weeks ago; buried deep in the back of the magazine, under the "BEAUTY: PSYCHOLOGY" section were a pair of articles about rhinoplasty.

The first one, titled "Pieces of You", discusses the author's regret later in adulthood regarding her surgery; she felt she had lost a vital connection to her father, whose proud nose she had inherited and chose to alter as a teenager.

The second article, "Mother, Mirror", takes a different point of view; this author tells how she came to terms with the unique shape of her nose, despite everyone else's unsolicited opinions and advice.

Plastic surgery, clearly, isn't for everyone. The CNN article briefly delves into some of the limitations of age; it raises the question of whether or not rhinoplasty (or any cosmetic surgery, for that matter) is an appropriate "graduation gift" for a teenager.

Even beyond the age issue, I think the decision to change the shape of your nose is one of the most difficult, for both the patient and the surgeon. The nose is such a key architectural element of your face, and it often carries a lot of cultural weight. Much of your nose's shape and structure is related to race and heredity. Some people want to keep some of those ethnic or familial nuances when they have their rhinoplasty; others are committed to eliminate all traces in order to obtain their concept of the ideal nose.

There is no right or wrong; it's a very personal decision and one that you have to live with for the rest of your life. It's as plain as the nose on your face.

Hold on - lush lashes for anyone?

Photo courtesy of djcodrin

The New York Times Style section has another interesting piece today, this time focusing on the explosive popularity of Latisse. For those of you who have somehow missed the Allergan-funded media extravaganza featuring Brooke Shields, Latisse is a medication that increases the length and thickness of eyelashes. As the article points out, Latisse is a prescription-only drug, but consumers and apparently physicians are finding ways around that stipulation.

As with a lot of medical discoveries, Latisse's usefulness for the "lash-challenged" was somewhat serendipitous. The drug, bimatoprost, was originally used and marketed by Allergan as a glaucoma medication; eye doctors noticed that their patients were growing longer, lusher lashes on the treated eye. Allergan moved to capitalize on that discovery, which now grosses them over $70 million a year.

The thing is, because Latisse is so "easy" and the perception is that it's "just" a cosmetic enhancement, it seems that not everyone is exercising the proper amount of caution with its dispensation and use. As with any prescription medication, not everyone is a suitable candidate, and there are benefits, risks, and known side effects with the use of Latisse.

Just as with all the other non-invasive cosmetic procedures, like Botox/Dysport and dermal fillers like Juvederm and Restylane, a qualified and experienced physician should do a full history and physical before determining if you are right for the procedure/medication.

This is what Dr. Weintraub and I do at Duet; call us conservative, but you are not just our client, you are our patient. We want you to look good and feel good, and I think that a little good old-fashioned doctoring helps achieve that. Even with something as "simple" and fabulous as Latisse.