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Posts from the ‘cosmetic surgery’ Category

How you prepare for Breast Augmentation

By Mayo Clinic Staff
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Initially, you’ll consult with a plastic surgeon about your preferences for size, feel and overall appearance of your breasts. The surgeon will describe specific types of implants — smooth or textured, round or shaped like a teardrop, saline or silicone — as well as options for surgical techniques.
 
Review any documentation carefully, and keep copies of all pertinent information for your records.
 
Before you decide to go ahead with surgery, consider some important factors about breast augmentation:
 
Breast implants won’t prevent your breasts from sagging. To correct sagging breasts, you might need a breast lift in addition to breast augmentation.
Breast implants aren’t guaranteed to last a lifetime. Implant rupture is a possibility. Also, your breasts will continue to age after augmentation — and factors such as weight gain or weight loss might further change the way your breasts look. Any of these issues might lead to additional surgery.
Mammograms might be more complicated. If you have breast implants, in addition to routine mammograms, you’ll require additional, specialized views.
You might need routine MRI scans. The Food and Drug Administration recommends monitoring silicone breast implants with routine MRI scans every two years, starting three years after the initial implant surgery.
Breast implants might hamper breast-feeding. Some women are able to successfully breast-feed after breast augmentation. For others, however, breast-feeding is a challenge.
Insurance might not cover breast implants. Unless it’s medically necessary — such as the need for implant reconstruction after a mastectomy — breast augmentation isn’t covered by insurance. Be prepared to handle any expenses that accompany breast augmentation, including related surgeries or future imaging tests.
You might need additional surgery after breast implant removal. If you decide to have your implants removed, you might need a breast lift or other corrective surgery to help your breasts maintain an aesthetically pleasing appearance.
If you decide to have the surgery, you may need a baseline mammogram ahead of time. Your doctor might adjust certain medications before the surgery as well. For example, it’s important to avoid aspirin or other medications that can increase bleeding.
 
If you smoke, your surgeon will ask you to stop smoking for a certain period of time before the surgery.
 
Arrange for someone to drive you home after the surgery and to stay with you for at least the first night.

The Knifeless Facelift

“The LazerLift is the first procedure that tightens the facial skin and underlying supporting tissues without a scalpel,” says cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Bassin. “Using a new fiber-optic laser device, the LazerLift tightens and smoothes the skin from the inside out, safely and effectively. The LazerLift is done with the patient awake, with no stitches and no scars,” says Bassin.

Read more

Breast Reduction Scar Treatment

There’s more than one type of incision (and more than one type of scar)

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“Breast reduction, which is done to reduce the size of a woman’s breasts, usually includes removing skin and/or the breast tissue beneath it,” Gordon Lee, M.D., a plastic and breast reconstructive surgeon at Stanford Health Care, tells SELF. There are three incision types to do just that. Which one your surgeon chooses largely depends on how much excess skin and breast tissue needs to be removed. If you only need a small amount taken out, there’s the circumareolar incision—also known as a doughnut incision—which involves cutting around the areola and removing some of the surrounding excess skin. If you need to remove more loose skin and tissue than that, the next level up is the lollipop incision, which leaves a scar around areola and a second scar that goes straight down from the base of the areola. “When you sew it together, the final shape is like a lollipop,” says Lee. For more extensive reductions, there’s the Wise pattern, which has the same two incisions as the lollipop and an additional scar that runs along the underside, or crease, of the breast, creating a scar that resembles an anchor. In some cases, surgeons also tack on liposuction to help reduce breast tissue.*

During the formation of scars, the epidermal layers of the skin will produce high levels of moisture in an attempt to hydrate the scar site. However, most of this moisture evaporates once it reaches the stratum corneum, or upper layer of the skin. This moisture loss triggers keratinocytes in the skin to produce collagen. Left unchecked, excessive collagen production can lead to abnormal scarring.

Silicone Gel Sheeting in procedure specific configurations fully encapsulates the scar site, meaning that it completely covers the treatment site for even distribution of necessary moisture (hydration), and maximum exposure to oxygen. Although the entire site is covered, silicone is semipermeable, allowing oxygen to enter while maintaining necessary moisture. This is called “homeostasis,” otherwise known as an ideal healing environment.

Epi-Derm Silicone Gel Sheeting, provided by Contemporary Design Inc. is an ideal healing environment at the stratum corneum signals keratinocytes to scale back the production of collagen, thereby preventing abnormal scarring.

*http://www.self.com/wellness/2016/03/8-things-women-should-know-about-breast-reduction-surgery-but-dont/

My Beautiful Mommy

my beautiful mommy

Dr. Michael Salzhauer, a renowned plastic surgeon, wrote My Beautiful Mommy to help patients explain their transformation to their children. The story guides children through Mommy’s surgery and healing process in a friendly, nonthreatening way.

Through vivid illustrations and straightforward dialogue, My Beautiful Mommy explains a parent s physical transformation in a breezy, child-friendly manner from a young child s perspective. You and your child will follow along as Mommy goes through her plastic surgery experience and learn how the entire family pitches in to help Mommy achieve her beautiful results.

If you are a mother with young children and thinking about having plastic surgery – this book is a must have.

Undergoing a plastic surgery procedure can be an exciting and stressful time for you and your family. After you ve picked a board-certified plastic surgeon and a surgery date, take a few minutes to read through this book with your child.

This book will make your plastic surgery experience more understandable to your little ones.
Information For Parents: Plastic surgery has become extremely common among mothers with young children. In 2007 more than 400,000 women with young children underwent elective cosmetic surgery in the U.S. alone.

As any parent will tell you – children are very perceptive. It is nearly impossible to hide a plastic surgery transformation from your children. In my years of experience, trying to do so adds additional and unnecessary stress for both parent and child. Throughout the process young children can become confused.

During the initial consultation they may ask themselves questions such as Why is Mommy going to the doctor? Is Mommy sick? If these questions are not addressed, the child will often imagine fantastical scenarios to fill in the gaps of information they are lacking. This phenomenon becomes more pronounced after the surgery.

Once mommy is home and the child sees that mommy is bandaged and bruised, they can become even more worried and inquisitive. Finally, when the bandages come off and mommy looks somewhat different, their confusion may lead to responses that adults may find inappropriate or hard to understand.

This book is designed to explain to your child what to expect – from the initial consultation to the final result. It is recommended that you read this with your child (and spouse) at least three times during the plastic surgery process: once prior to the initial consultation (if they will be coming along), once more prior to the surgery, and then again during the post-operative healing phase. Encourage your child to ask questions as you read. Answer them in an honest and straightforward manner in language they will understand.

If you follow this advice, you will be able to calm your children’s fears, address their concerns, and help your family to sail easily through the plastic surgery experience.

The review on this one is still out.  My very smart grown daughter often shares my shortcomings and the things I have done to damage her and make life less than perfect.  Yes she also speaks of the good stuff, but that seems less memorable.  Per chance this book is one of those moments that may define you. One’s definition of beauty is often informed by their mother and what she does and doesn’t like about herself. Those vulnerable years between girlhood and womanhood shouldn’t be spent wondering if my mother’s complaints about her own shortcomings (short or nonexistent eyelashes, saddle bags, crow’s feet) wouldn’t suddenly be the only things you inherited.  Think about it.

 

 

bioCorneum®+ 1st and only quick drying silicone gel scar treatment with SPF30 cleared by the FDA.

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bioCorneum®+ is now available and value priced at Contemporary Design, Inc.  The invisible protective barrier is breathable, flexible, waterproof, and the only silicone scar gel that provides protection from the sun.

bioCorneum®+ binds with the stratum corneum (the outer layer of skin cells) to protect the underlying tissue against chemical, microbial and physical invasion of the scar.

bioCorneum®+ hydrates the scarred area and creates an environment which allows the scar to mature through normal collagen synthesis cycles and improves the physiological and cosmetic appearance of the scar.

Sun may hamper proper healing of scars and the SPF 30 UV protection ingredients in bioCorneum®+ may protect the maturing scar from the darkening effects of sun exposure, a feature unique to bioCorneum®+ as it is the only patented silicone scar treatment of this kind.

 

Plastic surgeons spur shatterproof windshields

CDI - History of Plastic SurgeryDuring the 1930’s Doctors concerned with the number and the severity of facial lacerations due to car accidents and the broken glass involved in those accidents lead to the development of the shatterproof windshield.  A group of plastic surgeons and emergency medical physicians approached a consortium of companies, and shatterproof windshields were born.

 Thanks in part to their lobbying efforts, shatterproof glass became a mainstay in all car windshields. And plastic surgeons didn’t stop there: Dr. Claire Straith, a member of the newly formed American Society of Plastic Surgeons, met with automobile manufacturers in 1934, leading to the development of numerous safety considerations for automobile interiors.

 

Is Bigger Better?

You know you’ve thought about it.  When  it comes to breasts…Is Bigger Better?

THE 24-HOUR BOOB JOB

If you could try out life with bigger breasts for a day, would you do it? Liz Krieger checks out the controversial new lunchtime lift.

By Liz Krieger

THE 24-HOUR BOOB JOB

Cinderella’s fairy godmother turned a tattered dress and a pumpkin into a shimmering gown and a lavish ride. Remember, though, there was one catch: The makeover lasted only until midnight. With his InstaBreast technique, Norman Rowe, a New York plastic surgeon, is playing fairy godmother to women temporarily seeking larger, fuller breasts, but his handiwork also lasts for only one night. In about 20 minutes, you can go from flat-chested to cleavage-proud.

Rowe’s method is remarkably simple: He designates a site at the edge of each nipple, and after the area is anesthetized, he injects about a half-liter of sterile saline solution—essentially salt water—into the patient’s breast tissue. He maneuvers the needle at various angles to different areas, expanding each breast until it reaches the desired fullness. The saline is gradually absorbed into the bloodstream, with the full effect lasting about 24 hours. (Rowe says that saline is considered perfectly safe; it’s the same stuff you would get in an IV if you were dehydrated.)

While some doctors suggest that instant breast augmentation is just a fad, it’s hard to ignore its potential (consider the hundreds of thousands of women who don’t hesitate to have volumizers injected their face). And the desire for bigger breasts is as popular as ever: According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 313,327 breast augmentations and 137,233 breast lifts were performed in the U.S. in 2013. “Women want cleavage,” Rowe says matter-of-factly. “And this is fast.”

Fast results were just what Shavon Jovi, 28, a model and aspiring actress, was hoping for when she underwent the procedure with Rowe several months ago. After a few pricks of an anesthetic into the skin surrounding the nipples, Rowe injected anesthetic-laced saline solution into her 32A breasts, one syringe at a time. The effect was an instant fullness that brought her chest to a C cup. “For the longest time I’ve wanted to get a breast augmentation,” says Jovi. “I was sort of shocked when I saw them, but I loved it immediately.” Within two days she was back to her natural size (how long it takes depends on how your body metabolizes the fluid). So why have the now-you-see-’em, now-you-don’t procedure? Like many of Rowe’s patients, Jovi wanted to “try on” implants in a way that computer imaging just can’t mimic, says Rowe, adding that some of his patients go for the temporary inflation for special occasions, such as a wedding, a big birthday, or a beach vacation.

Nicole, a 30-year-old mother of two, spent a day walking around with saline-inflated breasts, and a few months later went under the knife for implants. “It was amazing to see what my breasts would be like,” she recalls. As for how it felt? “I’ve had Botox and fillers, and it’s similar.” About 75 percent of Rowe’s patients who opt for the $2,500 procedure go on to get implants. However, it isn’t a helpful test-drive for every woman. “If you need bother a lift and an augmentation, the saline won’t give you a realistic approximation,” explains Rowe.

Not everyone is singing the praises of the short-lived boob job, and there are limitations and risks to it. Since the skin of both breasts is pierced by the needle, bruising can occur. And like any procedure that penetrates the skin, infection is possible. Some doctors see other downsides as well, cautioning that undergoing the procedure repeatedly could cause the skin to stretch—”like a Slinky that you stretch out past the point of no return,” says Adam Kolker, a plastic surgeon in New York. Rowe counters that this is highly unlikely. “The skin has to be stretched for a much longer and continuous time period for it to display permanent stretching,” he says. Heidi Waldorf, a New York dermatologist, agrees, noting that having the procedure once is “probably okay. As long as it’s short-lived, the area should return to its normal contour,” says Waldorf, but she has concerns about stretching for those who return for more.

For her part, Jovi wanted to capture the results before they faded away. “I definitely posted a few #InstaBoob selfies that day,” she says. In the spirit of the procedure, though, perhaps she should have used Snapchat.

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/health/a4380/24-hour-boob-job-1215/

Pills or tablets can’t make your breasts grow, although eating fish has been known to increase the hormones which may encourage your breasts to grow.

What you wear and how you wear it does make a difference.  Shapewear that improves posture and slightly re-positions your curves is a viable answer that has reliable results.

Contemporary Design Inc. Breast Enhancing Shapewear

Contemporary Design Inc.’s Breast Enhancing Everyday Shapewear

The Mommy Headache

Aiden lovingly serenades Momma back to good health….

What else can you do?

At the first sign of a headache or migraine, put your activities on hold and retreat to solitude, a quiet room.

Turn off the lights. Sensitivity to light and sound is amplified with headache or migraine. Relax in a dark, Sleep if you can.

Hot or Cold therapy has long been the number one self-care treatment employed for headaches and migraines. Apply hot or cold compresses to your head or neck. Cold packs have a numbing effect, which may dull the sensation of pain. Hot packs  can relax tense muscles.  Here’s one that does both!!

CDI T-450 Blue 7”x6” Hot and Cold Soft Side Therapy Gel Pack…This reusable gel pack can be used for  Hot (microwave/stovetop) or Cold therapy.contemporary design inc. T-450-Blue-7___x6___-Hot-and-Cold-Soft-Side-Therapy-Gel-Pack

Great size for use  after injections or a variety of surgeries. Features one soft-sided surface that shields the skin from direct contact with the frozen pack and radius edges for patient comfort.

There are three benefits that ice pack provided. First, puffy eyes are common among individuals. Skin around our eyes is easy to loosely attached and lack of any sebaceous glands. When you apply cold pack around your eyes, it will help the fluids accumulating in your eyes tissues work well and help you get rid of puffy eyes. Second, when you get sinus and migraine headache pains, ice pack can help you reduce pains and make you feel better as It can low the temperature of your head and help you recover sooner. Third, ice pack can help you heal your injury in the cold. Because cold can constricts blood vessels and thus reduce blood flow and swelling around the injured area. Using ice pack can help limit your tissue damage and help your body recover. But remember remove ice pack after a brief cooling period as your skin is sensitive and don’t used to the cold condition. So when you want a speedy healing process, you should apply ice pack for ten minutes and put it off for ten minutes. Repeat this cycle several times during the day to help decrease further damage.

The Power Brow

the power brow

Cara Delevingne – the epitome of the Power Brow

Cara Delevingne – the epitome of the Power Brow

No longer plucked and diminished, the full strong brow is THE beauty trend.  Prescription lash growth serum and other products and services for lash, brow-sculpting for men and women and eyelash extensions are the focus of the derma-cosmetic industry.  Estheticians scramble to attend eyelash extension training workshops.  Spas add Eye and Brow Services to the professional salon environment.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons offer the ultimate solution: the brow lift or forehead lift reverses the effects of gravity and tightens the soft tissues of the forehead to restore a more youthful contour to your forehead skin, upper eyelids and eyebrows.

UCO-120 Facial and Otoplasty Band

UCO-120 Facial and Otoplasty Band

Post Surgery, Contemporary Design Inc. offers the UCO-120 Facial and Otoplasty Band.  Ideal for multiple applications. Depending on use, can provide firm support to the forehead and ear area or under the chin.  This 3” wide soft elastic band a brushed finish for enhanced patient comfort.  The band is easy to apply and has Velcro® closure for adjustability.  Also available with additional securing straps.  Call for details.

Autologous Breast Augmentation vs Prosthetic

SC-25BLA_closeupFor women seeking breast reconstruction or augmentation two methods have become a standard. One involves the use of implants. The other imports tissue from the patient’s abdomen, buttocks or thigh region to form breasts with autologous tissue flaps.

With Autologous Breast Augmentation aesthetic result is a more natural feel and shape to the breast. The flap is soft to the touch, not a foreign material. The body is less likely to reject the trans-fat tissue than a prosthetic and this procedure does not require annual follow ups to monitor the implant.

Not a quick procedure, Requiring a skilled surgeon and a longer recovery period Autologous Breast Augmentation seems to produce a happier more satisfied patient.
Patients are so pleased with the result, a trend to remove prosthetic implants and replace with autologous tissue has ensued. According to a study presented at Plastic Surgery The Meeting 2014 hosted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Patients Report Satisfaction and greater “Health Related-Quality of Life” when Converting from Prosthetic to Autologous Breast Reconstruction.