Sunday, April 25, 2010

Gynecomastia

Please tweet and retweet


Gynecomastia means enlargement of the male breast. The definition has nothing to do with what causes the enlargement or what tissue it is composed of. It is most common around puberty & can involve one or both sides of the chest. Most commonly the enlargement is centralized in the breast but occasionally it is not. It is present to some degree in about a third of male population. It appears either early in adolescence or later in the adult years of life and can be very disruptive in the life of a teenager or adult. Working out in the gym, going to the beach and changing in the locker room can become unpleasant ordeals.



Monday, March 29, 2010

Asian Rhinoplasty - AfroAmerican Rhinoplasty

Please tweet and retweet


caucasian asian and black types of nosesThere are 3 main types of noses - Caucasian, Asian or Oriental and African. The Asian nose has characteristics between those of the Caucasian and African. Today one increasingly finds mixed features between these groups as well so some individuals can have a Caucasian tip with an African bridge or vice versa. The most visible difference is the more vertical nostril alignment with a longer strip of skin between the nostrils in the Caucasian nose vs. the Asian or African nose. The Asian and African nasal bridges are flatter and broader than the Caucasian. In some cases the bridge may be so flat that it appears scooped out or ski sloped. The nasal tip skin is usually thicker with a more rounded tip in the Asian and African noses. The thinner nasal tip skin in the Caucasian nose makes the tip cartilages and their shapes more visible on external viewing.

differences between types of noses
As you can see in the above diagram these differences are due to differences in the skin but mostly due to differences in the underlying bone and cartilage. In Asian and African noses:



Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Even a dog can benefit from a facelift

Please tweet and retweet




As you can see even a dog can benefit from a facelift. This Shar pei required a facelift because the extra folds of skin were damaging the dog's eyes.

This Los Angeles billboard was actually an ad for a Comedy Central television show not a Veterinarian or a Plastic Surgeon


Aaron Stone MD - twitter
blogarama - the blog directory Listed in LS Blogs the Blog Directory and Blog Search Engine blog search directory


Monday, February 22, 2010

Axillary Hyperhydrosis Hyperhidrosis - Excessive Armpit Sweating

Please tweet and retweet



Excessive seating from the armpits can be very debilitating causing a bad odor, staining of clothing and restriction of social as well as exercise related activities. This problem can also affect the palms of the hands or soles of the feet.

Sweat glands maintain skin surface health and regulate body temperature by supplying water to the skin surfaces for evaporation. Two types of sweat glands are present over human skin, eccrine and apocrine glands. Millions of eccrine glands are distributed throughout the entire body surface and produce a high salt content sweat that is excreted directly onto the skin through an excretory duct. The greatest density of these glands is found in the armpit, palm, and sole of the foot. The apocrine sweat glands are less in number and are distributed over the armpits, around the anus, around the breast nipple complex, and eyebrow regions. In addition to salt, the sweat from these glands contains fat and cholesterol and is excreted indirectly by passing through the shaft of hair follicles. The apocrine gland is 10 times larger than the eccrine gland, and both are present in equal numbers in the armpits. The apocrine glands start secreting at puberty and stop after menopause in women. Overproduction of either gland in the presence of certain skin surface bacteria can produce a bad odor. Clogging of the apocrine glands leads to a condition called hydradenitis suppuritiva with abscesses and draining pus. The treatment for this is surgical removal of the glands together with the damaged skin and then surgical closure of the resulting wound.


Friday, January 29, 2010

Asian Upper Eyelid Surgery - Asian Upper Blepharoplasty

Please tweet and retweet



In the caucasian upper eyelid the deeper layers of the eyelid converge 6 to 8mm above the eyelid margin/eyelashes to create a crease (labeled upper lid crease in the diagram above). In the typical asian upper eyelid these layers do not converge so there is no crease. The absence of this convergence allows fat to descend into the eyelid (as noted in the diagram above) giving the puffy look that is seen in some asian eyelids and the no upper eyelid crease appearance.



Thursday, December 24, 2009

Breast Implants Augmentation Reconstruction and a Natural Look

Please tweet and retweet



Most of us know when we see a good result from breast surgery whether it be implants for breast augmentation or reconstruction after breast cancer surgery (mastectomy) or the results of a breast reduction surgery. As I described in my blog on facial proportions analysis a similar proportions assessment is used in planning any breast surgery and in assessing the end result.
normal breast proportions
That is to say for the average woman between 5 and 6 feet tall the desired proportions are that the nipples form an equilateral triangle with the upper notch of the breast bone and each side of the triangle is about 20cm in length. Additionally the distance between each nipple and the fold under the breast should be about 7cm with a gentle curve outline along the bottom of each breast. Together with equal sized nipple areola complexes this creates the left right symmetry and aesthetic look we strive for. The question then arises as to how one achieves this goal or result after breast surgery. This blog will only deal with breast implants rather than breast reductions and mostly with options available to correct for deviations from this pattern after breast implant placement i.e. redo breast implant surgery when the nipple is in the correct position.



Wednesday, December 9, 2009

New US Federal Tax on Cosmetic Surgery

Please tweet and retweet


Perhaps you've heard of the current healthcare bill before the US Senate, Page 2045 Sec. 9017, Excise Tax on Elective Cosmetic Medical Procedures included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This dense legalese translates to a tax on all cosmetic procedures as partial payment for the healthcare overhaul our current administration is attempting to implement. The provision would add a five percent tax to "cosmetic surgery and medical procedures" to help cover the $849 billion price tag for health care reform. The tax would cover any cosmetic medical procedure deemed "not necessary to ameliorate a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or disfiguring disease. The US government is trying to apply a sin tax akin to that on cigarettes and tobacco on cosmetic surgery.



Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The Internal Bra Breast Lift

Please tweet and retweet


Breast sagging is a common problem women face with aging, breast deflation after breast feeding and/or after the placement of large breast implants. The cause is a disproportion between the size of the breast tissue and the amount of skin enveloping it combined with stretched out and weakened ligaments that connect the breast tissue to the chest wall. This flattens out the top half of the breasts so that most of the remaining breast tissue is in the bottom half of the breasts. Because the problem is related to the skin and breast tissue (fat, breast gland and suspensory ligaments) rather than muscle this problem is unaffected by exercise. Historically the treatment was surgical removal of excess skin sometimes with some manipulation of the breast tissue and/or a breast implant resulting in a firmer breast with more fullness in the upper half of the breast. Removal of skin alone does not always restore the more youthful appearing upper half fullness.

The pattern of skin removal (circle around the nipple, lollipop, inverted-T incision) used depends on the degree of drooping or amount of skin that needs to be removed. For larger skin removals the anchor pattern or inverted-T has been the mainstay. The problem with this is some patients develop large symptomatic scars.


Friday, November 13, 2009

New Discovery Could Make Breast Implants Obsolete

Please tweet and retweet


Earth shattering news out of Australia this week could have monumental effects on breast surgery, both reconstruction after breast cancer and enlargement for cosmetic reasons. The technique discovered in Australia is called Neopec. So far the process has only been performed in pigs and was so successful that human trials are scheduled too begin in early 2010. The pigs grew new breasts in 6 weeks. The surgeon places a scaffold or shell of biodegradable material in the breast, redirects a small blood vessel from the arm into the shell, places a small amount of the patient's own fat inside the shell, and a dissolvable gel called Myogel is also placed in the shell. The Myogel and blood flow from the transferred artery stimulate the fat to grow until it fills the shell and therefore takes the shape of the shell. This is a direct finding from stem cell research. After that the biodegradable shell is dissolved by the body. In the future the shell may come with its own artificial blood vessel.



Monday, October 12, 2009

Stretchmarks

Please tweet and retweet



The medical term for stretchmarks is striae (stria for a single stretchmark). They also referred to as tiger stripes. Skin with stretchmarks has been studied under the microscopic as far back as 1889. Every adult knows what they look like. They can be caused by rapid mechanical stretching of the skin or by hormones made by the body or taken externally. They can most frequently be found on the abdomens of women of have been pregnant (striae gravidarum) and on the shoulders of teenage body builders (striae distensae). They are also seen in overweight individuals, after rapid growth during puberty and adolescence, in people with Cushing's syndrome, after topical or prolonged treatment with steroids and on the breasts after breast augmentation or pregnancy and subsequent breast feeding. The combination of rapid growth in the early teen years and excessive weight gain is sure to result in stretchmarks.



facebook comment box