I recently attended the annual American Society of Aesthetic Surgery convention in New York City. The weather was cold and rainy, but so what! I was there with my wife and adult son, visiting the 9-11 Memorial, viewing the new tower being built at the World Trade Center site, taking in Wall Street (did you know that George Washington was sworn in as President in New York City?), and circling Manhattan on a boat as we viewed the city from the water. The dining was superb and the energy was unmistakably New York!!
The meeting itself was quite interesting. Here are some of the newest trends that I thought you would find enlightening:
1) There is a new ultrasound technique that shows great promise for detecting silicone implant leaks that may soon be available in the plastic surgeon’s office, avoiding the need for MRI’s.
2) The 2 Belgian plastic surgeons who brought us the MACS-Lift have also introduced a revolutionary way of treating the fine lines of the neck that surgery doesn’t really improve. It involves injecting fluid obtained when one suctions fat to be used for fat grafting. Instead of using the fat, one uses the fluid after straining the fat out, injecting the liquid just beneath the skin before lifting the neck skin in a neck lift. The neck lift tightens the skin and the injected fluid which is high in stem cell levels causes a remarkable reduction in the skin wrinkling. From the early results, it seems that we may really be on to something that holds great promise. I plan to travel to Belgium later this year to personally investigate this technique.
3) Although injectables are still a popular way of treating aging, many patients are now returning to surgery for treatment of problems that injectables just do not eliminate. Fillers such as Juvederm are helpful, but they will only do so much. Spending several thousand dollars a year on Juvederm adds up over a period of 10 years. The total may exceed the cost of a lifting operation, and the results may not be as good.
4) Fat injection at the time of facelifts has become the norm. It does not replace a facelift, but it enhances the outcome and frequently allows one to do less lifting. For instance, with fat injection to the cheeks, one may only need to do a MACS-Lift instead of an Extended MACS-Lift, saving money and shortening recovery.
For other trends that came up at the meeting go to:
http://www.newbeauty.com/hottopic/video/613-2013-cosmetic-trends-from-top-plastic-surgeons/
Should you have further questions, please contact my office.
George Sanders, M.D.
