MD Expertise: The Science of Anti-Aging

Is Plastic Surgery for You? A Personal Choice

2009-11-18T20:06:00Z

It must just be human nature, this tendency to judge other people's motives and decisions. Certainly, it is defensible when the actions of others affect might us, but there seems to be no end of interest in who has had plastic surgery, or who might, and why. So this installment of the "who-what-why-when-where" series is the "who." Plastic surgeons themselves are at least partly to blame, presumably because any interest is better than none (as in the Hollywood maxim "There's no such thing as bad publicity,...(read more)

What is plastic surgery?

2009-11-10T15:08:00Z

Given that I have been practicing it for nearly twenty years, I thought I knew what plastic surgery was. But lately I'm not so sure what others mean by it; stories in the news routinely lump every Botox injection in with 12-hour major makeover surgeries together under plastic surgery's banner. So this installment of the "who-what-why-when-where series" is the "what." Plastic surgery is defined differently than other specialties, in that it is a collection of surgical techniques applied anywhere in...(read more)

Cold and Flu Season: Got Wine?

2009-10-28T16:19:00Z

By all accounts, the coming flu season is going to be a doozy unless we all get our H1N1 vaccination soon. There's always the plain old cold too of course. I can never remember whether we are supposed to starve a cold and feed a fever or the other way around, but new findings suggest that regardless of the symptoms, respiratory viruses can be kept at bay by drinking wine. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. A few years ago, researchers in Spain looked into the question of how wine drinking habits...(read more)

Think Pink: Reconstructing Hope for Breast Cancer

2009-10-13T14:42:00Z

You might think that because of awareness campaigns and earnest research on the causes and treatment of breast cancer, women would have a good sense of what their options are these days. To be sure, it’s not a happy thing to dwell on, and anyone hearing the word “cancer” from their doctor for the first time has a hard time hearing anything else, but it still surprises me that the reconstruction option isn’t brought up often enough when mastectomy is being considered. Recent statistics from the American...(read more)

Giving Credit Where Accreditation is Due: Safe Surgery Facilities

2009-10-01T17:28:00Z

Patients often spend enormous efforts to find the right surgeon, but may give little thought to where the surgery is to be done. Complications can occur for a variety of reasons, and whenever there is a high-profile disaster, such as the death of rapper Kanye West's mother Donda last year, legislators and regulators clamor to show that they are on top of the situation. Several states have passed laws requiring licensure of ambulatory surgery centers, my state of Washington being among the most recent...(read more)

How To Keep Your Plastic Surgery Discreet

2009-09-10T19:58:00Z

People are more open about having "a little work done" than they used to be, no doubt about it. But there are still those who feel the need to share only with friends and co-workers on their own terms and not have it broadcasted through the gossip grapevine. Unfortunately, you can't always count on others to be discreet and respect your privacy. So is there a middle ground? You will be helped by choosing a plastic surgeon who emphasizes a natural look. There are specific techniques that can be employed...(read more)

Bogus Botox? Know your injector.

2009-08-27T21:38:00Z

Sometimes smart people make choices they come to regret. That is the case with a patient I have been treating for about the past year and a half, after she received injections of what she was told was Restylane by an esthetician at a local beauty salon. She ended up so disfigured that she has already had to have surgery, and will probably need another operation. In the course of her treatment, we learned that it wasn't actually the wrinkle filler Restylane (which is a very safe and popular product),...(read more)

Mind Over Matter: the Placebo Effect

2009-08-20T14:36:00Z

Not long ago I was doing an interview with a reporter on a story about anti-aging supplements, and she said something that caught me by surprise. Her question was: Why do some people swear by things that science hasn't proven to work? Isn't the fact that these things seem to help some people good enough? It reminded me of a Steve Martin gag when he was hosting Saturday Night Live. (I know I am dating myself with that reference!) His opening monologue went something like this: "Now, I don't recommend...(read more)

An Organic Matter: Study Questions Nutritional Benefits of Organic Food

2009-08-12T20:43:00Z

Is organically grown food more nutritious? It seems like a no-brainer, but a recent study reviewing the topic concluded that it is no better that conventionally raised produce, at least in terms of key nutrient content. For many, that issue is beside the point; for them it is about sustainability, avoidance of hormones and antibiotics, and the larger ethical issues that apply. But the narrower question of nutrient content requires a more in depth view. The study, published last month in the peer-reviewed...(read more)

Be Skeptical of Procedures That Promise Pain-free, Zero-down time benefits

2009-08-03T23:06:00Z

Let's face it, surgery is scary for most people, and "going under the knife" is a proposition most sensible folks would decline if a suitable alternative exists. Anesthesia adds to the scare factor, even more than the surgery itself for some, even though the riskiest part of the day of surgery is probably the drive to the surgery center. So efforts to develop quick, minimally invasive procedures with shortened recovery times are gaining momentum. Phrases like "lunchtime lipo" and ‘weekend facelift"...(read more)

Medical Tourism: A Tour and a Tuck?

2009-07-28T16:29:00Z

As health insurance becomes increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain, Americans are following the outsourcing trend and going overseas in growing numbers for medical procedures. For years, America was the destination for royalty and the well-to-do in search of the most advanced technology and the best doctors, but the tide has shifted. According to a 2008 study by Deloitte, some 750,000 patients from the U.S. went elsewhere for medical procedures. While a large part of this was for private-pay...(read more)

Is Botox the new Lipstick?

2009-07-15T14:37:00Z

Former Estee Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder is credited with coining the phrase “lipstick effect” to describe the seeming paradoxical rise in lipstick sales during the great depression of the 1930s. This has reportedly held true for every economic downturn since, with makeup sales rising as the stock market falls. The explanation for this is that women turn to more affordable small luxuries such as lipstick in lieu of more expensive indulgences. Apparently, putting on a good face really does lift...(read more)

Vitamin Waters: Are they Really Worth It?

2009-07-10T21:34:00Z

I recently became aware of a new type of product called “vitamin enhanced water beverages.” There are quite a few of them too, and they all seem to make a pitch about how healthful they are, being laced with antioxidants and vitamins. Implicit in the concept is that water is improved by adding these nutrients. But it makes me wonder: Isn’t water already a healthy beverage? It doesn’t take much effort to see that these “enhanced” versions of H 2 O are actually sugary pop in disguise. Just look at...(read more)

Supplements: Tell Your Doctor

2009-06-25T14:00:00Z

It always surprises me that so many people are taking herbal and homeopathic supplements but don't think of them as medicines. Perhaps it is the type of people I see in a cosmetic surgery practice; a 2005 study in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery found that more than half of cosmetic surgery patients were taking at least one of the ten most common supplements, compared to less than one in four in the general public. Because they don't think about supplements in the same way as they...(read more)