Mt Vernon - Cosmetic Surgeons

The Guardian newspaper has reported that an increasing number of Britons are taking advantage of seasonal discounts on cosmetic surgery in the December break and using the time off work to recover from operations before facing colleagues.

The newspaper claimes that plastic surgeons say the demand for procedures such as breast enhancement, facial surgery and liposuction is 50% higher in December than in an average month. They also report a 30% higher demand for non-surgical treatments such as lip enhancement and Botox.

Rajiv Grover, the secretary of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), said that Christmas was always a busy time, with demand fuelled by the long break. “People either want to get something done in time for Christmas or they want to use the break to hide away,” he said.

According to a new survey of 3000 women, more than 59 per cent of women said that flabby tummies make them feel “unsexy”. 42 per sent said their thighs were their least  favourite body part and wished they had slimmer legs. Flabby upper arms or ‘bingo wings’ were also unpopular. Just four per cent said there was nothing they would like to change about themselves, whereas more than a third of men said they love their partner’s bodies just the way they are.

Liposuction can be a great solution for these problem areas. Many people are now choosing VASER liposuction which uses ultrasound technology and is far less intrusive than traditional liposuction. It involves no cutting and is performed under local anaesthetic – as opposed to general anaesthetic.

Sherrell J. Aston, MD, Professor of Surgery at the New York University School of Medicine, New York explains that facelifts no longer need to leave patients with a stretched skin look.

“Today’s face-lift is a highly individualised procedure designed for each patient,” said Dr. Aston. “Face-lift involves repositioning the underlying foundation and restoring tissues to their original position, without stretching of the overlying skin.”

A surgeon will address the muscles in the neck and along the jawline, and the fat and fascia in the cheek. This way the stretched, ‘windswept’ look that identifies someone who has had surgery is avoided.

Dr. Aston explained that the stretched look of earlier face-lifts was a result of the skin being pulled tight. “Tightening or repositioning of the underlying foundation contours the face, without the need for stretching the skin,” he said. “Stretching facial skin does not give a face-lift result that’s considered appropriate anymore. Having said that, there are surgeons who do just tighten the skin, which can lead to that windblown look.”

People in their early 40s and 50s usually need volume redistribution rather than volume addition. When people have loss of tissue volume in the face, we will add fat, which is taken from another part of the body.

The U.S. Senate has swapped their demand for a 5% tax on all elective cosmetic surgeries for a new 10% tax on indoor tanning. The money will help pay for late changes to a broad health-care reform bill. The so-called Bo-tax was dropped as it became seen as being unfair to working women.

The maker of Botox led a lobbying campaign to kill the cosmetic surgery tax, including a Web site, Twitter feed and Facebook campaign.

The indoor tanning industry has been fighting its own public relations battle as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in recent weeks has sharpened its warnings about the risks of ultraviolet rays from indoor tanning beds. The tanning excise tax would raise $2.7 billion over 10 years for federal coffers.

According to the study published by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), women exhibit more and deeper wrinkles in the perioral (lip) region than men.

Researchers from the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery at the University Medical Center in Utrecht Netherlands looked at wrinkle severity using 3D technology.

Several differences between the skin texture of men and women were discovered. Women had a fewer sweat glands and sebum secreting sebaceous glands in the perioral region than men. Sebum is a waxy and oily substance which plays a key role in filling of the skin.

Women had fewer blood vessels supplying blood to the lip region, implying a lesser vascularized skin that allows wrinkles to develop more quickly. Also, the muscles around a woman’s mouth are packed closer to the skin, pulling the skin tighter thereby causing wrinkles, researchers stated.

While, the number of hair follicles were approximately the same in both genders, men scored more on sweat glands per hair follicle, leading to a more relaxed skin aging, researchers explained.