Plastic Surgery Blog

With bathing suit season upon us, beach goers across the country are going under the knife to get that perfect belly button.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, more that 8,000 umbilicoplasties were performed between 2002 and 2005.

What Accounts for the Increase?

Surgeons have seen a spike in the quest for the coveted “innie belly button” as low rise jeans continue to be a season must have and celebrities continue to wear next to nothing while walking the red carpet.

Some patients opt for the surgery in conjunction with their tummy tuck procedure while others simply want to look their best when flaunting their abs poolside and yearn to rid their bodies of that dreadful “outtie” they were born with.

About 95 percent of patients who choose to undergo umbilicoplasties surgery are women who have recently undergone pregnancy and want to transform their now altered belly buttons.

The Procedure

The operation is a fairly easy one, taking 30-90 minutes and will only leave you $2,000-$5,000 less in the bank account, which for many, is well worth the investment.

Local anesthesia is used as the surgeon works on the perimeter of the belly button and any excess skin is cut off.

As the growing desire for that perfect physique grows, more and more surgeries are being performed in order to alter the overall physical image of Americans. For some, like myself, a belly button may be just that, a belly button, gaining no more attention than my ear lobes. However, for others, the operation offers an opportunity to fix a body part that haunts them and, more importantly, gives them the confidence to strut their stuff poolside with confidence.
(Source: Miami Herald)

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In a recent study conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 335,924 cosmetic procedures were performed on adolescents in 2003. This number has significantly increased since 2002, when adolescents accounted for just 2% of procedures.

While recently watching an episode of the new E! Television series, Sunset Tan, I became alarmingly exposed to what I will refer to as the “Clueless Mother.” The Clueless Mother visited Sunset Tan, a popular tanning salon in L.A. that caters to celebrities and others looking for a quick tanning fix with a side of skin cancer, with her 3rd grade daughter. She demanded that the child have whatever done to her in order to make her look more tan and “presentable” for this year’s school pictures insisting that she looked awful and pale in her 2nd grade photos.

After the two blonde receptionists, both coated in tanning lotion, with breasts to their chins, informed the mother that the “Tanning Cocktail” is what stars like Lindsey Lohan opt for when visiting the salon, the mother looked at her wide eyed, plaid uniform wearing little girl and asked her a question that literally made me ill to my stomach.

“Do you want to look like Lindsey Lohan?” the mother asked in a rather stern voice that implied, if you don’t say yes, you will be lectured the whole way home and we won’t be getting that rhinoplasty operation I plan on getting you next week.

“Yes, I want to look like Lindsey Lohan,” the little girl replied nervously.

Minutes later she was in a tanning booth crying while getting hosed down by chemicals. Afterwards, the mother looked at her daughter halfway approvingly, before deciding to spend hundreds on additional tanning lotions to ensure the tan would be intact for picture day.

As I watched, I couldn’t help but wonder, what is Clueless Mother thinking?! This poor girl doesn’t want or need a fake tan to look adorable, what child does? And is she trying to set her daughter up for emotional destruction? I mean, has she seen the shenanigans that Lindsey Lohan has been a part of lately?

The whole scene made me nauseous, much like Children’s Beauty Pageant that I occasionally catch a glimpse of on “A Current Affair.”

I understand that adults have the right to get all the nips, tucks, suctions, and chemicals put on and into their bodies that they want, but when it comes to pressuring our children to live up to the same competitive standards we face each day, I find it a hard notion to swallow.

What happened to the days of My Little Pony and Hello Kitty? Have these hobbies and characters which once made children happy, being traded in for tanning beds and hair extensions? As if little girls aren’t going to have to endure enough physical ridicule in their teenage years, they now have to go through it at the age 7?

My advice to Clueless Mother? Good luck with the little monster you’re creating when she hits junior high.

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As the media begins to take hold of the fake and real via realty shows, magazines and documentaries, the desire for perfection has seemed to peak with more and more people wanting to mimic the real and not real images of the elite.

Americans spent just under $12.2 billion on cosmetic procedures last year and of these operations, 46 percent were performed in an office facility and 25% in a hospital. The rest of the surgeries occurred either in a freestanding surgic center or…a posh spa?

On a recent episode of “Nip/Tuck” De la mer Spa was introduced. The spa was somewhere where patients could get some “work” done and recuperate amongst caviar and complimentary massages. The design team for the series aimed at making the set for the spa so perfect is was fake; a notion they thought perfectly depicted the plastic surgery craze as a whole. As it turns out, the De la mer spa in all its luxury was not as fictitious as it seemed to the everyday viewer.

Business owners across America are beginning to see that there is high demand for a little after surgery indulgence with plastic surgery patients. An injection into the lips and tuck of the hips followed by a check-in call the next morning is no longer sufficient with the cosmetic surgery elitist. As the business owners of the newly opened Weiland Group on the outskirts of Vegas discovered, patients want to be pampered when going into the operating room. They want the smell of aromatherapy, they want to get a quick nip and tuck followed by an Italian hair wash, and they want to return home cellulite free and with a goodie bag full of the swankiest products to hit the market.

Since Dr. Stephen Weiland, a triple board certified surgeon, and his team of concierges, nurses, nutritionist and trainers, opened the $3.5 million cosmetic surgery center, they have pampered more than 600 patients, celebrities and cancer patients among them.

“We tie in what Las Vegas is known for at any five star resort on the strip,” explains Dr. Weiland.

With this type of luxury available to us, it’s no wonder Americans seem to be having a hard time deciphering reality from fantasy.

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Let’s face it, no woman likes spending that extra time before a night out on the town to glob on the mascara and eyeliner. Well stress no more, with new eye products hitting the market and gaining popularity worldwide, there’s no need to risk poking an eye out, or messing up your eye shadow.

What’s the hottest product out there to get your eyelashes looking longer and your eyes bigger? One word: Revitalash. Developed by Dr. Michael Brinkenhoff as a special gift to his wife Gayle, Revitalash has hit the beauty market full throttle and is now in such high demand that there’s a waiting list at top salons across the country.
When Dr. Brinkenhoff’s wife was recovering from breast cancer and enduring intensive chemotherapy treatments, her once beautiful and admired eyelashes became sparse and fragile. In hopes to restore his despairing wife’s self image, Dr. Brinkenhoff used his extensive knowledge, as a practicing ophthalmologist of over 25 years, to create a formula that would bring Gayle’s lashes back to life.

In just weeks Gayle’s lashes were growing back fuller and darker and her friends and family began to take notice. Revitalash is now sold at spas and beauty and department stores worldwide and is gaining quite a following.

In 2006 eye surgery was one of the top five cosmetic surgeries performed by plastic surgeons. With so many Americans desiring to perfect the physical appearance of their eyes, it’s no wonder a product like Revitalash appealed to the masses.
This unique eyelash conditioner is clear and is applied much like liquid eyeliner requiring a once a day application. Within three to ten weeks your lashes will be fuller, thicker and longer. No matter how brittle, short, or thin your current lashes are this formula is a quick fix to regain the hair’s strength, whether your 16 or 60.

I have several friends that use Revitalash and they swear by it. In fact, most of them don’t even use mascara anymore because their lashes have become naturally fuller and darker! The catch? Revitalash is $149.95 per tube, but a portion of all proceeds benefit non-profit breast cancer research. So although it may not be cheap, ladies, this miracle gel is sure to give your eyes that extra boost without all the annoyance and hassle, while benefiting a good cause.

In writing this I’ve just convinced myself to finally jump on the bandwagon and throw out my messy mascara. I think it’s time to revitalize my own lashes.

http://revitalash.com/

Technorati Tags: revitalash, eyelash

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In 1905 Italians introduced a leg-lengthening technique and Russians took credit in further developing the procedure. Doctor Gavrill Illizarov used bicycle spokes to heal fractured broken bones, and later adapted a technique to lengthen limbs for cosmetic purposes. While an estimated 5% of Asians chose to get plastic surgery in the past year in America, cosmetic surgery is currently on the rise across Asia.

In China people have felt discriminated against because of their natural stature, the average Chinese woman is said to be around 5ft 2in while the average man is 5ft 6in. They have begun to look to the west for their ideal of beauty admiring the sports players, celebrities and supermodels that America holds to such high standards.

Assuming that beauty and power seem to be the result of height, many have begun to go under the knife for the extremely risky and potentially crippling, leg lengthening surgery.

Comparable to a surgery that may have taken places in the Middle Ages, leg lengthening surgery is where the doctor breaks the patient’s legs and inserts steel pins into the bones just below the knees. The pins are attached to a metal frame that needs to be tightened every day for months by the doctor, causing excruciating pain. It often takes 6 months for the patient to walk again, and typically individuals are restricted from running after having leg lengthening surgery. Although China recently banned the procedure after thousands of blotched surgeries were reported, many are still getting the procedure done at underground clinics across Asia.

When researching such disturbing procedures that not only have a physical impact on patients, but have psychological repercussions as well, I can’t help but wonder, who is to blame? How are we, as people allowing our bodies and minds to be overtaken by other’s ideals? The insane media attention on celebutantes like Lindsay Lohan and company can only encourage the problem and the world’s constant need for perfection. However, dangerous surgeries, which haven’t been approved, can’t be the answer to making individuals more powerful, accepted or beautiful.

More disturbing than the surgery itself, may be the fact that when filing through the news earlier this morning I came across ads for a new hot t-shirt reading “Free Paris.” Manufacturers take note: Design necessary shirt to be sold worldwide reading “Beauty comes from within” and recall all shirts to do with Paris Hilton immediately.

Technorati Tags: leg lengthening surgery, cosmetic surgery

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