The Top 5 Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Procedures countdown continues. According the the American Society of Plastic Surgeons there is a tie between the facelift and tummy tuck for fifth place, and blepharoplasty comes in fourth.
Third Most Popular Cosmetic Plastic Surgery – Liposuction
For many years Liposuction was the most popular cosmetic plastic surgery, but according the the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, two procedures have become more popular. More on them in future posts.
Only surgical liposuction was counted including the most popular being tumescent liposuction. Most brand name procedures also require the use of tumescent liposuction so they are included too. Brand name liposuction techniques are heavily marketed by their manufacturers and include:
And even Tickle Liposuction (yes, this is a real product)
Top 5 Plastic Surgery Videos – Number 3 – Liposuction
As seen on TV, today’s Top 5 Plastic Surgery Video is from a recent Body Beautiful appearance on the Bay Area’s News Station KRON4. This video reveals Liposuction (Liposculpture) as the third most popular procedure cosmetic surgery. The top two procedures are yet to come, so stay tuned.
The (415) number shown in this video was only for viewers to call in with questions during the live show. If you have questions about liposuction, give us a call at (925) 943-6353.
Curious About Liposuction? (Liposculpture)
If you have general questions about the Liposuction (Liposculpture), give us a call or use the contact form on the left. Dr. Mele has many happy San Francisco Bay Area Liposuction patients. To schedule your private consultation, give us a call (925) 943-6353 to make an appointment.
We continue the countdown of the Top 5 Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Procedures according the the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Last week was cosmetic plastic surgery procedure number 5, a tie between the Facelift (Rhytidectomy) and the Tummy Tuck Abdominoplasty. This week, coming in at number 4 is Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty), with 196,000 procedures last year in the United States.
Top 5 Plastic Surgery Videos – Number 4
Today’s Top 5 Plastic Surgery Video is from a recent Body Beautiful appearance on the Bay Area’s News Station KRON4. This video reveals, Blephaorplasty (Eyelid Surgery), as the fourth most popular procedure cosmetic surgery. The top three procedures are yet to come so stay tuned.
Curious About Blepharoplasty? (Eyelid Surgery)
If you have general questions about the Blephaorplasty (Eyelid Surgery) give us a call or use the contact form on the left. Dr. Mele has many happy San Francisco Bay Area Blepharoplasty patients. To schedule your private consultation just give us a call. The (415) number shown in this video was only for viewers to call in with questions during the live show, so please call (925) 943-6353 to make an appointment.
Over 13.8 million cosmetic procedures where performed last year, and we are counting down the top five cosmetic plastic surgery procedures as reported by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Top 5 Plastic Surgery Videos
Today’s Top 5 Plastic Surgery Video is from a recent Body Beautiful appearance on the Bay Area’s News Station KRON4. This video reveals the procedures tied for fifth place. The top four procedures will be revealed in the coming weeks.
If you have general questions about the Facelift or Tummy Tuck procedures please call (925) 943-6353. You can also schedule an in person private consultation appointment for specific recommendations to achieve your goals. The (415) number shown in this video was only for the live show, for viewers to call in with questions.
Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures
12.2 million are non-surgical procedures for Wrinkle Reduction, accounting for 89% of all cosmetic procedures. Treatments with neuromodulators (Botox and Dysport), wrinkle fillers (Restylane, Juvederm, Perlane and Radiesse) and chemical peels lead the way. Laser hair removal and microdermabrasion are also included in the top 5, non-surgical numbers.
Surgical Cosmetic Procedures
1.6 million cosmetic plastic surgeries were performed in the United States last year. With the top 6 procedures accounting for 75% of total cosmetic surgeries performed, a percentage I can confirm at my San Francisco Bay Area plastic surgery practice in Walnut Creek, CA.
Facelifts (Rhytidectomy) and Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty) – It’s a Tie
With 120,000 surgeries performed for each last year, the Facelift and the Tummy Tuck are tied for fifth place in our countdown of the most popular cosmetic plastic surgery procedures.
To learn more about the cosmetic procedures listed above, please feel free to search the San Francisco Plastic Surgery Blog or follow the links under Categories. For specific questions, use the contact form or give us a call at (925) 943-6353. The office is open weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM.
Sientra receives FDA approval of their Silimed brand breast implants today.
For the first time in 20 years, the FDA has approved a new manufacturer for Breast Implants in the US. Santa Barbara, California, based Sientra today received FDA approval for their Silimed brand breast implants. While Sientra, founded in 2007, may seem a relative new comer to the breast implant market, the Silimed product line has been available outside the US for 33 years, and their current portfolio of implants has been available for almost 20 years.
Silimed breast implants approved today.
The FDA approval breaks new ground in that shaped implants have been included in the approved portfolio. When they will become available, and what requirements / training will be required, is yet to be announced. Over the next few weeks I expect to hear more, and will keep you informed.
Whether this means that the Allergan and Mentor versions of form stable implants are also soon to be approved, time will tell. Hey Gerry, it’s March!
Live on KRON channel 4 next Monday, March 12, 2012, at 11:00 AM, I will be discussing the top 5 (or 6) cosmetic plastic surgery procedures. The show is live, so you can call in with any questions you might have.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons 2011 Cosmetic Plastic Procedure Statistics are Released.
Every year the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) publish their Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Statistics. The 2011 statistics show a gradual increase in the number of cosmetic plastic surgery procedures.
Cosmetic Procedures on the Rise
Overall Americans had 13.8 million cosmetic procedures in 2011. The majority of these were minimally invasive procedures with the neuromodulators (Botox, Dysport) and dermal fillers (Restylane, Juvederm, Perlane and Radiesse) accounting for the majority of treatments.
The Top 5 Minimally Invasive Procedure
Top 5 Minimaly Invasive Cosmetic Procedures
12.2 million minimally invasive procedures were performed in 2011. Here is how the top 5 minimally invasive procedures rank:
1.6 million cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in 2011. Breast Augmentation remains the number one choice, while the Facelift and Tummy Tuck are essentially tied for fifth place. Here are the numbers:
To schedule a consultation appointment, please call my office at (925) 943-6353. You can click on names of any of cosmetic plastic surgery procedures listed above to visit the main website, or use may use the contact form in the side bar to send your questions to me. Thanks for visiting the San Francisco Plastic Surgery Blog.
While at first engineering and medicine may seem worlds apart, the type of critical thinking gleaned from my engineering training helps me be a better doctor every day. Engineering training taught me how to analyze systems, and the human body is made of many interconnected systems. The circulatory system, nervous system, skeletal system, muscular system and numerous other systems all must function optimally for the best results. Systems analysis, boundary conditions and integration analysis help me understand what I need to do as a plastic surgeon, and can predict the safest and most predictable path to success. Whether I am repairing an injury or performing cosmetic surgery, my engineering training has given me a great platform on which to build my San Francisco Bay Area Plastic Surgery practice.
Engineering Training
The contrast in engineering and medical training is best illustrated in how examinations are given. In engineering you learn equations, math and materials. These are the tools of the trade. Exams do not ask you to repeat what is known, but ask you to solve the unknown. The problems presented on the exams are novel, and you learn how to use engineering’s tools to discern the solution. The questions lend themselves to examinations involving problem solving, and individual analysis, not multiple choices. Since the rules apply to the physical world, they are universal. Equations regarding structural integrity apply to all structures: bridges, buildings or spacecraft. Since engineering puts the emphasis on how to apply rules, rather then the rules itself, the knowledge can often be applied to new situations easily and predictably.
For example, the advent of Bariatric Surgery has spawned Bariatric Plastic Surgery. Successful bariatric surgery can lead to 100′s of pounds of weight loss, and yards of loose skin. Even after the fat is gone, when this loose skin is on the lower belly, it can be difficult to get clothes to fit properly. The tummy tuck can be very helpful in many cases, but as a member of the American Society of Bariatric Plastic Surgeons, I know that larger excesses of skin may require modifications. My engineering training helps me analyze the skin excess and calculate what will work best — a tummy tuck, a Fleur-de-Lis Tummy Tuck or perhaps a lower body lift. When skin excesses arise in other parts of the body, like the arms, my engineering training allows me to see how to modify a tummy tuck into the seemingly unrelated arm lift or brachioplasty to remove excess upper arm skin.
Medical Training
Medical training puts the emphasis on memorization. Like engineering, the goal is to build a broad base of knowledge. Facts are organized and stored so that specific diseases can be recognized, and treatments prescribed. The knowledge is specific to each disease, and while there are similarities between diseases, what works in one disease may lead to disaster with another. As a result, medical training puts emphasis on the linear path from diagnosis to treatment. Some acknowledgment of similarities between diseases and treatments occurs, but this is not the primary pathway for decision making, and can inhibit medical advances when combined with super-sub-specialization. The problems presented on medical school examinations are directed towards fact checking rather than problem solving. They are, as a rule, multiple choice. The goal is to be certain that your doctor can recognize a disease. Moreover, once the disease is identified, your doctor must know what other tests to order, what other problems to look for, what treatments are available and what side effects can be expected. All of these can be represented as lists of options, and tested with multiple choice examinations.
Applying The Knowledge
If your doctor is a specialist treating physical illness, medical training works very well. The number of diseases and treatments are finite. When the disease is unknown, however, there are few equations to apply to the analysis. Either more testing is needed to identify something treatable, or the situation becomes a series of trial and error.
My specialty, plastic surgery, has its “plug-n-play” aspects, especially when it comes to reconstructive plastic surgery. Cosmetic plastic surgery involves making a diagnosis and providing appropriate treatment, but there is also a fair amount of art and engineering involved. Take the nose job (Rhinoplasty) as an example. Even the “perfect” nose will not look good on every face. The ability to preserve the proportions of the nose with respect to the face on which it rests, is more important than providing the “perfect” nasal shape. Beautiful proportions can be easily represented mathematically, and again this is where the engineering comes in.
What’s Math Got To Do With It?
Some dimensions should be equal, like when trying to improve or preserve symmetry. The eyes, for example, are rarely identical, but beauty is associated with symmetry. Even 6-month-old infants will stare at photographs of beautiful, symmetrical faces. The more asymmetrical the face, the less eye contact they will maintain. Severely asymmetrical faces are avoided completely.
While some dimensions should be equal, other dimensions require proportional increases or decreases in length to give a result that is pleasing to the eye.
The Golden Ratio (Phi)
The prime example of a pleasing ratio is the Golden Ratio (1:1.618…). On a beautiful face, it represents the ratio between the base of the nose and the width of the mouth. In a beautiful smile, it is the ratio between the width of the upper front tooth, and the tooth next to it. It is a physical proportion that looks nice. Like in medical training, if you want to use it you have to memorize it. Like in engineering training, it is an equation that can be applied universally.
Phi Is For Phidias
The golden ratio is represented by the Greek letter Phi, in honor of Phidias, who was perhaps the greatest ancient Greek sculptor. He is best known for creating two enormous sculptures: One of Athena in the Parthenon, and the other of Zeus at Olympia, that became the models upon which our current representations are based. It is believed he designed and supervised construction of the Parthenon in mid 400 BC. The beauty of his sculpture comes from the careful expression of proper golden ratios.
There was not a lot of emphasis placed on the Golden Ratio in Medical School. I first learned about it from my mother who taught art. Its importance was reaffirmed in subsequent Mathematics and Engineering classes, and reappeared during my Plastic Surgery Training. By then we were old friends. This is just one way engineering training helped prepared me to become a successful plastic surgeon. I always liked math. It is beautiful in its simplicity. It is definite, predictable and has well defined answers to most problems, but it wasn’t until later in life that I learned that math can also describe something as abstract as beauty. It’s another aspect of engineering that helps me be a better plastic surgeon. It allows me to understand the rules of Plastic Surgery, because often in Plastic Surgery there is more than one right answer, and the best answer is dependent on who is asking.
The golden ratio is represented by the Greek letter Phi, in honor of 
