How do I Make Sure My Surgeon Really is a Plastic Surgeon?

It's not always as straight forward as it should be, as believe it or not, practioners have been known to lie or mislead about their qualifications, so unfortunately you can't always rely on what they say, or even what they publish about themselves!

If you want to be sure that your doctor really is a genuine, formally trained and accredited plastic surgeon, call the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) to verify his or her membership.

What about doctors who are members of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS)?

Members of the ACCS are not usually  plastic surgeons, however they may be formally trained surgeons of other kinds eg. ENT's and general surgeons or they may be dermatologists or GP's, however any training provided to them at this college will not be recognised training, as the college itself ,currently lacks any accreditation with the Australian Medical Council (AMC) which is the only body nationally that can certify medical training on behalf of the Australian Commonwealth.

Its highly controversial but legal for non plastic surgeons to perform cosmetic surgery, and to describe themselves as cosmetic surgeons, and you need to be aware that some unscrupulous cosmetic surgeons will try to equate themselves with plastic surgeons and may use the terms cosmetic surgeon and plastic surgeon interchangeably.

If you want a plastic surgeon, not a cosmetic surgeon, do your homework properly and give the doctor or doctors you are interested in, a thorough 'consumer check-up'.

If a doctor says or implies that he's a plastic surgeon, don't just take his word for it, check it out!

Your right to choose, and your hard earned money and your body are on the line, so take it seriously!

Source: Deidre Nolan http://www.blognow.com.au/thedeidrenolanreports/

Excessive Liposuction - Aggressive surgeons endanger patient outcomes and well being

Excessive Liposuction

Factors that increase the dangers of liposuction include 1) lack of good judgment in patient selection, 2) excessive duration and intensity of exposure to anesthesia, 3) excessive amounts of surgical trauma per month, and 4) ineffective post-liposuction care.

What is Too Much Liposuction?
Excessive amounts of surgical trauma can be regarded as toxic to patients. Increasing doses of liposuction-induced surgical trauma produce increasing risks of toxicity in the form of surgical complications. It is not possible to precisely identify the threshold for dangerous amounts of liposuction. However, one can be certain that removing 6 to 9 liters of fat on one day is many times more dangerous than removing 2 to 3 liters of fat on each of three separate surgeries spaced at least one month apart. Liposuction of 5% of the body's subcutaneous surface area is obviously safer than liposuction of 40% of the body surface area. Cosmetic surgery is not emergency surgery, liposuction patients should not be exposed unnecessary risks of excessive liposuction on a single day.

Excessive liposuction is not safe. This patient had too much liposuction on a single day resulting in gross irregularities of the skin. The goal of liposuction should not be to remove the maximum amount of fat, but rather to achieve the best cosmetic results. Mega liposuction is never necessary and often it is dangerous.

Excessive Liposuction is Difficult to Define
Excessive liposuction might be defined as a volume of liposuction that is excessively dangerous. The designation of excessive liposuction often depends on the size and health of the patient. Removing 1 liter (2.2 pounds) of fat by liposuction might be excessive in a patient weighing 50 kg (110 pounds). On the other hand, removing 4 liters (9 pounds) of fat in one procedure might not be excessive in a 100 kg (220 pound) patient. There is no clear cut dividing line between to the amount of liposuction that can be considered safe and an amount of liposuction that is too dangerous. Patients and surgeons must use common sense.

Toxic Dose of Liposuction
Increasing doses of a toxin can be expected to produce increasing risks of a toxic response. Drinking a very small amount of alcohol usually has no detectable effect. Increasing doses of alcohol first produce a mild subjective effect, then mild intoxication (inebriation), followed by moderate intoxication (drunkenness), and dangerous intoxication (unconsciousness, coma, death). The severity of a skin burn can be measured as a percentage of the body-surface area that is burnt. The probability of death increases with increasing percentage of body-surface area that is burnt. Similarly, an increasing amount of liposuction trauma (increasing percentage of body-surface area subjected to liposuction) increases the risk of unconsciousness, coma, and death.


Small Monthly Doses are Safer
Drinking a moderate amount of alcohol on three separate occasions at least a month apart is not as dangerous as drinking three times that amount on one occasion. Similarly doing a moderate amount of liposuction on three separate occasions at least a month apart is not as dangerous as doing three times that amount of liposuction on a single occasion.

Tumescence for the Wrong Reasons
Tumescent liposuction totally by local anesthesia was invented to improve patient safety. However, some surgeons and anesthesiologists use the tumescent technique in order to maximize the volume of fat removed during a single surgery. Liposuction of 5 liters or more of fat in a single liposuction procedure is overly aggressive, and potentially life threatening.

Ability to Survive Trauma has Limits
The body cannot tolerate an unlimited amount of trauma. Increasing degrees of liposuction-associated trauma produce increasing degrees of tissue injury and blood coagulation. Eventually, there is either excessive bleeding or excessive clotting and then death. Excessive liposuction is also associated with prolonged recovery, and disappointing cosmetic results.

Too Many Unrelated Surgical Procedures
The risk of complications is greatly increased by combining liposuction with multiple unrelated surgical procedures such as facelift, breast surgery, nose surgery, or laser surgery. The combination of an intra-abdominal gynecologic surgery and abdominal liposuction is also very dangerous. This risk of complications when a patient has multiple unrelated surgical procedures explains why non-cosmetic surgeries are rarely combined. Because of the fear of complications, surgeons do not expose patients to the risks of simultaneous but unrelated therapeutic surgeries such as gallbladder surgery, hip surgery, and colonoscopy. The risks associated with having multiple cosmetic procedures including liposuction on the same day may often out weigh the benefits of having only one convalescent period. Liposuction is probably the safest of all cosmetic surgery procedures provided that it is not combined with other unrelated surgical procedures.

Mega-liposuction
Mega-liposuction is defined as the liposuction of a huge volume of fat on a single day. The volume of fat that is generally regarded as huge is about 8 liters (two gallons). Because patients have died as a result of mega-liposuction, it cannot be regarded as safe. Even in a hospital setting, mega-liposuction should be regarded as a dangerous experimental procedure. Mega-liposuction is associated with mega-complications. Serial liposuction procedures on separate days are far safer than a single heroic mega-liposuction procedure.

Utilitarian Definition of "Too Much Liposuction"
If nausea, vomiting, excessive pain, bruising and swelling occur regularly after liposuction, then perhaps that surgeon regularly does too much liposuction. If a liposuction surgeon cannot expect all patients to be ambulatory within 30 to 60 minutes after surgery, then perhaps the amount of liposuction and anesthesia are excessive. Liposuction might be excessive if 1) pain regularly confines patients to bed for more than 24 hours, 2) nausea regularly prevents patients from eating a normal meal soon after surgery, or 3) discomfort regularly prevents the return to desk-type work within one to two days after surgery.

Source: http://www.liposuction.com/safety/excessive_lipo.php

Fish Oil Reduced Youth Psychosis

Sydney Morning Herald,
NICK MILLER
February 2, 2010

FISH oil supplements can dramatically reduce the chance of young people developing psychosis or schizophrenia, Australian researchers say.

Lead researcher Paul Amminger said colleagues had laughed when he proposed the study, but the results surprised even him.

The adolescent psychiatrist from the University of Melbourne's Orygen research centre says doctors should now consider fish oil as a genuine alternative to expensive and more risky anti-psychotics when a young patient is showing early signs of mental illness. And he believes the oil's omega-3 fatty acids might help prevent depression and drug abuse.

In the study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal, 41 high-risk patients were given four fish oil capsules a day for three months. Only two of them developed a psychotic disorder, compared with 11 of another 40 who took a placebo.

Orygen, home of the Australian of the Year Pat McGorry who was a co-author on this study, has played a world-leading role in promoting the power of early intervention on youth psychosis.

However this has sparked some controversy, associate professor Amminger said.

''People argued that [pharmaceutical] medication might have too many side-effects at the early stage of developing a disorder,'' he said.

High-powered anti-psychotic drugs can come with metabolic changes, sexual dysfunction and weight gain which are often not acceptable for young people, leading to high drop-out rates.

Very few people dropped out of the fish oil treatment regime, and a 12-month follow up showed the effect seemed to protect the brain even after the patient stopped taking the pills.

''I hope the whole scientific community takes on this idea and takes this area more seriously,'' associate professor Amminger said. ''Originally some of my colleagues were laughing at us for saying we might prevent schizophrenia with something like fish oil.''

The researchers are now planning two new studies based on the results.

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VelaShape Media Coverage - American Health and Beauty

americanhealthandbeauty.com, a popular consumer resourse for latest news on aesthetic procedures posted VelaShape as the #1 procedure for Cellulite in 2009.  Click Here to read the report.

VelaShape Media Coverage - Access Hollywood

“The Real Housewives of Orange County” star Gretchen Rossi discusses The Gretchen Project (http://www.gretchenproject.com) that “educates women on how to look and feel their best. "Even skinny women have cellulite!" she explains. Access Hollywood released a special extended online video of the interview with OC's favorite Housewife, Gretchen Rossi.  She discuss the benefits of non-surgical cosmetic treatments like VelaShape and is even shown baring her legs to have the treatment performed for all to see!  Click Here to view the clip.

VelaShape Media Coverage - US People Magazine

People Magazine profiles the New Jersey and OC Housewives under the headline "All Our Nips and Tucks!"  Ramona Singer (the Real Housewives of New York) and Kim Zolciak (the Real Housewives of Atlanta) mentions that they get VelaShape to smooth their cellulite.

How Do Our Attitudes About Beauty Change As We Age?

What people find beautiful about themselves may be different than what they find appealing in another person. That’s just one finding from a recent consumer survey conducted on the BeautyforLife website (a joint venture of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.) Visitors were asked “What aspect of physical beauty do you find most appealing in another person?” In their 20s, 30s, and 40s, respondents look for a fit, well proportioned body; youthful skin ranked at the top for respondents in the 50s and 60s. When considering “Which part of your body are you most concerned about?” respondents ranked their abdomen/hips number one in their 30s. But surprisingly, respondents listed the face, not their body, as the most popular choice in the 20s, 40s, 50s and 60s.
 
“It is always important to understand what our patients are most concerned about at different stages of their lives. We want to be equipped to help our patients make the right decisions to maintain their beauty at every age—no matter which type of cosmetic medical procedure they are interested in.” said ASAPS President Renato Saltz, MD.

Additional results were revealed when answering “Which part of your body are you most concerned about?” While respondents primarily chose their face, significantly more respondents are concerned about their abdomen/hips than their breasts (chest)—with the disparity increasing throughout the decades:

1. 30s - 37% chose abdomen/hips as their top concern while only 18% chose breasts
2. 40s - 32% selected abdomen/hips and only 10% breast
3. 50s - 25% chose abdomen/hips compared to 7% breast
4. 60s - 23% indicated concern about their abdomen/hips, while only 7% selected breast

Community members were also asked to consider “The most important reason to maintain your physical appearance.” “To boost self-confidence” was the top choice across all decades, with “To attract potential partners” a close second for the 20s. In the 30s and 40s, the second-most popular choice shifted to “To increase professional opportunities,” which remained the number two choice in the 50s, but by a much smaller percentage. In the 60s, increasing professional opportunities fell to third behind “To help make friends.”

“The survey on the BeautyforLife website has provided interesting data about patients’ attitudes, motivation and perception. Our goal is to provide useful tools for prospective patients to help them first decide if a cosmetic medicine procedure is right for them and then to provide information on how to choose an appropriate provider,” said Dr. Richard D’Amico, past president of ASPS.

Another question asked members to contemplate “The most important factor in maintaining beauty.” While adherence to a healthy diet, regular exercise and skin care were popular choices, approximately one in five members felt that a cosmetic medical procedure was most important in the 50s and 60s.
This survey was conducted by The American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, via their Beauty for Life program—a series of patient education tools, including the interactive website www.BeautyforLife.com—designed to help people look and feel their best throughout their lives. More detailed survey results are available at by contacting the organizations.

To access the Beauty for Life survey results: http://www.surgery.org/downloads/BFLUserSurvey.pdf