Boob Job Boom

In this Huffington Post Live videocast, Dr. McCafferty, other notable plastic surgeons, and breast augmentation patients unite to discuss breast augmentation, silicone versus saline implants, the benefits of each, patient satisfaction, and the risks associated with plastic surgery procedures of this type.

Once Banned, Silicone Breast Implants Make a Comeback

An increased number of women are choosing silicone breast implants for their breast augmentation procedures. The Wall Street Journal joins the discussion in this informative article and video. Dr. McCafferty is interviewed.

Like other surgeries, plastic surgery involves anesthesia, surgical tools— and some risk. Our job is to assess each patient based on his or her individual needs, but without the proper information on which to base our analysis, risks can increase seriously. That’s why it’s so important for our patients to be as honest and thorough as possible when filling out our patient information forms. Some key topics to consider when completing these forms include:

Medication and Supplements
You may already know how important it is to tell us all about your prescription medications. But did you know that it also helps us to know about any over-the-counter medications and herbal supplements you might be taking? Many of these products can affect blood pressure, clotting, and healing.

Smoking and Drinking
Smoking and alcohol consumption can also affect the success of surgical procedures. So if you smoke or drink, it’s very important to share this information with your health care provider. The purpose isn’t to judge or lecture you; simply, we need to know because of the varied ways it can affect the procedures we perform.

Psychological Issues
When patients come for a personal consultation with us, we like to understand each patient’s reasons for wishing to have plastic surgery. Is it to help you feel less self-conscious about a certain aspect of your looks? To help you improve the way you feel about yourself over-all? Or are you interested in surgery to please someone else? Or as a method of relieving depression? Our interest is not to talk you into procedures that won’t be the best benefit to you in the long run, but to help you find the right solutions for you. Once again, the information you share with us is confidential, and only to ensure you receive the best possible treatment.

Do you have questions about how health and lifestyle can affect your cosmetic procedures? Or are you interested in finding out is cosmetic surgery is right for you? Contact us today for a personal consultation.

Patents interested in the procedure typically are concerned about a wrinkling around the mouth, which can cause the face to appear older, harder, angry or more tired.

Treatments are tailored to each patient’s specific concerns. There are many degrees of perioral aging, so we make sure each patient has a personalized, private consultation to ensure we uncover the right solution for her/him.

There are many options we can use to help soften and improve the perioral area of the face in a very natural way. These can include commercial fillers, fat grafting and peels.

The commercial filler options are quick procedures that can offer very positive results.  Filler procedures are done in the office, with no anesthesia required, and the whole process takes from ten to fifteen minutes. While there may be some slight bruising, there’s no downtime with fillers, and any bruises can be easily covered over with normal makeup. Patients like this option because they can have filler in the afternoon and then go out that evening. It works well with a busy lifestyle.

Fat grafting around the mouth is a slightly more involved procedure and may involve either a light anesthetic called a “twilight,” or a straight local anesthetic. The procedure requires approximately an hour in the office. Like fillers, the recovery with fat grafting is quick and with minimal bruising. A little makeup on that bruising, and a patient is ready to go.

A chemical peel is another option to help soften lines around the lip area. It’s the quickest perioral rejuvenation procedure to do because it’s painted on with a cotton swab. It does, however, turn the skin raw, which it will remain for about a week. During that week, the skin must be covered with Vaseline or an ointment to protect the skin. But at the end of the week, the raw area is healed. The new skin will be somewhat pink, and will remain that way for anywhere from a month to three months. This, too, can be covered with makeup, so no one will ever realize the patient had a procedure.

But whether a patient chooses commercial fillers, fat grafting or a chemical peel to help improve the look of the perioral area of the face, the most important thing to keep in mind is the power of proper skincare. For surgical or non-surgical procedures, the results will last longer and look better when a patient understands how to take care of and maintain the skin.

That’s why a skincare consultation comes with every perioral rejuvenation procedure we do. An expert from our skincare division meets with each patient to analyze what products s/he uses and doesn’t use. Our goal is not to sell anyone a lot of products they don’t need. It’s to understand what they are using and make smart substitutions–when needed–for products that are based in science and will offer them the best results.

To learn more about how perioral rejuvenation can help you, contact us for a private, personalized consultation.

In our practice, we’ve noticed more patients are requesting improvements to their profile–whether it’s their nose, chin or neck. And some of this interest appears to stem from the increasing popularity of social media venues like Facebook.

On social media, we’re seeing ourselves from all new angles. Cell phone cameras and Facebook posts picture us at events, in casual settings–and not always from the same head-on view as we typically see ourselves in the mirror. Most of the time, people see us at a partial profile, and today’s social media photos reflect that. These shots make their way through cyberspace in the blink of an eye, but the results can sometimes be very enlightening and surprising to the photo’s subjects.

“Do I really look like that? Is that me?” we may wonder.

So with people more aware of their profile and how it affects their overall look, neck lifts and chin implants are a popular solution to a more balanced face. With a personalized consultation and the right procedure plan, you can improve your profile and even help change how you feel about yourself—on- and offline.

A neck lift is one way, but while a neck lift can be performed as isolated procedure, that may not be right for everyone. There are many complex factors that contribute to a lack of balance in a profile. Sometimes it’s not just the shape of the neck but it’s a weak chin. For example, if a chin is recessed or weak, it can make the neck look more obtuse. For someone who has a loose or fatty area around the neck, that can make even an average chin look weak.

That’s why we analyze the face and educate the patient on the specific causes behind the areas that are troubling them.

We can address just the neck and adjust its angle by resculpting  using liposuction or resculpting through one small incision. If the chin is recessed, the chin can be improved at the same time through the same incision, with a small and subtle chin implant. This is a simple and very safe way to improve the overall balance of the face without an “operated upon look.”.

Most neck lift and chin augmentation procedures are done in under an hour, in a with local anesthesia and light sedation. Recovery is also quite quick. Patients can expect a little bruising  below the neckline which can easily be covered with clothing or makeup. There will be almost no bruising on the chin or upper neck. Patients can get back into their routine and the public eye after a few days to a week.

To schedule your private consultation to see how we can help you improve your profile, contact us at: (412) 687-2100.

To learn more about the specifics of chin augmentation, check out our past blog post by clicking here.

Tanning outside or in a bed both ages the skin and leads to serious skin conditions. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer with over two million Americans diagnosed with this disease – 90% of skin cancers are associated with UV radiation from the sun. Melanoma, which is the most deadly, has 120,000 new cases every year. The National Cancer institute recommends screening often and visiting your doctor anytime there is anything abnormal on the skin.

To help protect the skin patients should use sunscreen daily and reapply often, cover up with hats, sunglasses, and long sleeves when outside for long periods of time, stay in the shade, and avoid other sources of UV light (tanning beds and sun lamps).

Patients should set up a long-term skincare plan with their plastic surgeon or aesthetician in the office. Sun spots and wrinkles can be treated with lasers, peels and skincare products– depending on the patients’ skin type, the treatment can vary and have different amounts of downtime.

By preparing ourselves for the summer sun we can have a fun and safe season!

For more information, check out the following helpful links:

The National Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/

Skin Cancer Foundation: http://www.skincancer.org/

Cosmetic surgery has become more common for both men and women due to the safety, effectiveness, and the reduced downtime of today’s procedures. With so many women  these days choosing to have procedures, at-home discussions of the topic often lead the male in the couple to address the cosmetic issues that concern him, as well.

There’s no question, the workforce is getting older and more people expect to push back their retirement plans. As a result, cosmetic procedures have become an effective solution for executives who want to retain a fresher and more youthful image.

Typically these men say they still feel energetic, but they want to look as vital as they feel. So some choose fillers to help plump up the areas where facial deflation may have occurred. Some undergo eyelift procedures to remove the excess upper eyelid skin that can cause a tired look. Some may want to address the bags underneath the eyes, which can also cause a person to look tired. And some men seek help in the neck and jowl area, choosing a lower face or neck lift. Every procedure is tailored toward the specific needs of the patient.

Younger men tend to come into our practice with different concerns. These are usually healthy males in good shape, but who have trouble points in the body they would like to correct. For instance, some have love handles or lower abdomens that don’t respond to diet and exercise; for them liposuction may be the right choice. Another man might choose rhinoplasty or chin augmentation to add greater balance to the face.

Male patients offer a separate set of considerations from our female patients. For facial rejuvenation procedures, we must take into account where the man’s beard lies, where his sideburns are, and ask ourselves: what is the pattern of his hair?

Male patients also tend to do a lot of research before they come to us. They know what they want, so it becomes our job to slow them down, discuss their needs, go over the risks and benefits in detail, and point them in the direction that truly suits them.

And for those couples that do exercise together, travel together, and even choose cosmetic surgery as part of their individual self-improvement, there is a benefit to all this togetherness. The shared research, compared notes, and overall experience help make each personal consultation and individual examination that much more of a success.

Are you or your partner considering cosmetic surgery? Contact us today for a personalized consultation.

The chin, the nose, and even the neck are visually interrelated in some interesting ways. A weak chin can make a nose look bigger than it is, while a more prominent nose can make a chin look weaker. A thick, ill-defined or “obtuse” neck—often called a “double chin”—can also make a chin appear less strong.

This is why when a patient approaches us with concerns about their nose, chin or neck, we perform a full evaluation of the profile to ensure the patient’s needs will be fully addressed by the ultimate solution.

In about 20% of rhinoplasties—that is, patients who choose to have their nose reduced or reshaped—these patients will also need a slight chin enlargement. And likewise, a percentage of patients with an ill-defined neck will also benefit from a chin augmentation procedure.

Now, when we say “chin augmentation,” we don’t mean a dramatic enlargement of the chin. Chin augmentation, when done properly, is a safe, subtle procedure designed to bring the chin out just so the profile is proportional.

How Chin Augmentation is Done
There are two ways a chin augmentation can be done, and both involve adding a small, FDA-approved silastic implant. This implant can be placed through a small incision made in the natural crease under the chin, where a large number of people have scars already from falling as a child. The implant can also be placed through a small opening made within the mouth just behind the lower lip.

No matter which technique is used, the whole procedure is quite simple—taking 15 to 20 minutes—and recovery is swift, with minimal bruising and minimal downtime. If the chin implant is placed through the mouth, a few small stitches are used, and these dissolve over four or five days. If the chin implant is placed through the crease under the chin, the stitches used there are removed approximately five days after the procedure.

We caution patients to avoid contact sports and other physical activities for the first three weeks that might result in a fall. But after three weeks, the procedure is typically fully-healed and the patient views the implant like their very own chin.

If a patient doesn’t care for the effect the chin implant offers, chin augmentation is reversible. Most patients, however, are very satisfied with the look. And unlike some other procedures, chin augmentation doesn’t have to be redone every ten, fifteen or twenty years. Many patients easily go a lifetime with their chin implant intact.

We like to follow-up with patients in six weeks, six months and then a year after the procedure, to ensure everything is still going well. These follow-ups are free of charge and an important part of our patient care routine.

But when it comes to chin augmentation, the point of every procedure is facial balance, harmony, and a more confident you–from every angle.

Do you think chin augmentation might be right for you? Contact us today to schedule your consultation.