Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Blog | Dr. Linderman

The trend in modern day cosmetic surgery is to produce a natural and not over operated result. This is particularly true in facelift and nasal surgery. The days of the scooped out nasal profile and wind swept post facelift look are gone in favor of a straight natural less upturned nose and a relaxed refreshed natural facelift.

An fake or abnormal look after breast augmentation can be produced if a patient desires but a natural breast enhancement is certainly possible with proper breast implant sizing and a thorough understanding of a patient’s desires.

This is a common question asked by patients. Some ask if a scar can be removed. The answer is no to both questions. All scars are permanent and any surgical incision will produce a scar. However some scars heal so well that they will hardly be noticeable while others can widen and thicken and be quite obvious. The skill of the surgeon is important, but how an individual forms scar tissue is a better determinant of scar quality. Certain areas such as the face, eyelids, hands and feet tend to produce better scars as opposed to the chest and shoulder region. Ethnicity may also be a factor with a higher incidence of poor scars in Afro-Americans as opposed to Caucasians. Placing a scar in a skin crease or along lines of tension promote better healing and a thinner less obvious scar. Your plastic surgeon is trained to try to produce the best scar possible with appropriate placement, good suture technique and gentle tissue handling.

The cost of plastic surgery procedures can produce a particularly difficult challenge for patients who need or desire them. Medical care is expensive; surgery is even more expensive. Additionally, many insurance companies don't include cosmetic surgery in their standard coverage, as they consider it to be elective and therefore not technically necessary.

How, then, can the average person afford to pursue a much-desired plastic surgery procedure? There are, in fact, several available options.

First, don't give up on your insurance company until you've asked a few questions. You might find out that your surgery will, indeed, be partially or entirely covered if the circumstances meet your policy's requirements. It's definitely worth a phone call to find out where you stand.

Second, most plastic surgeons, including Dr. Richard Linderman, accept major credit cards. While the interest and finance charges on credit cards can be quite high, they can provide an easy-to-use option for long-term payments.

Dr. Linderman also offers financing for plastic surgery procedures, with lower interest rates than most credit cards. Applying for financing before you have your procedure done can speed up this process, as can discussing payment options with the doctor during your initial consultation.

If you have any questions or concerns about financing, please contact Dr. Linderman for additional information. The phone number for our Indianapolis, Indiana plastic surgery offices is 317-848-5400.

According to statistics provided by the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery the top five procedures for 2007 were:

breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty and breast reduction. Women had nearly 10.6 million cosmetic procedures, which was 91% of the total. Men had 1.1 million cosmetic surgery procedures. The top five surgical procedures for men were: liposuction, eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, breast reduction to treat enlarged male, and hair transplantation.

Plastic Surgery is derived from the Greek word plastikos which means to mold or shape. Modern day plastic surgery has it origins from reconstructive surgical techniques to treat traumatic war injuries after WWI. Procedures of tissues transfer and skin grafting have continued to evolve. The sub specialty of cosmetic surgery began in the mid 20th century and has progressed to meet the ever increasing demand to delay and correct the effects of aging as well to improve and augment body contour deformities. The specialty of plastic and reconstructive surgery encompasses craniofacial surgery, postmastectomy breast reconstruction, microvascular tissue transfer, traumatic deformity reconstruction and all aspects of modern day cosmetic surgery such facial rejuvenation, breast augmentation and body contouring surgery.

Skin sensation may be affected with many cosmetic surgical procedures such as facelifts, breast augmentation, breast lifts, breast reductions, tummy tucks, and liposuction. In the majority of these cases, numbness is temporary and returns with time. In full tummy tucks there may be some permanent areas of numbness. Following facelift surgery sensation usually returns within three to six months.

Risks of cosmetic surgery may be divided according to the following:

• General Risks associated with all procedures

1. Major Risks such as severe infection, severe wound healing problems with scarring, life threatening such as pulmonary embolus, anesthetic complications.
2. Minor Risks such as suture exposure, fluid collection or seroma, minor healing delay, minor asymmetries, temporary numbness

• Specific Risks of a particular procedure:

Facelift

• Major- Facial nerve damage, severe skin loss and scarring
• Minor -- numbness, slight wound healing delay.

Breast Augmentation

• Major- Infection with implant loss, severe breast hardness requiring surgery
• Minor- Increased pain, localized numbness

Breast Reduction

• Major- Nipple loss
• Minor- Scar widening

Liposuction

• Major- Fat emboli, severe asymmetry, severe contour irregularities
• Minor- Numbness, swelling
  

This is a general classification providing a way for you to look at and assess risks and complications and the above are just a few examples and are not meant to be all inclusive All surgical procedures have risks and complications. Visit our website www.awholenewme.com for a discussion of risks associated with specific procedures.