PLASTIC SURGERY DEATHS- Dr. Brueck speaks out

From time to time, Dr. Robert J Brueck MD, a Fort Myers Florida-based plastic surgeon posts messages that he feels are important or interesting on the subject of cosmetic surgery. Thank you for your attention.

Florida has some of the country’s toughest laws concerning outpatient plastic surgery.

In spite of the restrictive laws, 32 people lost their lives in pursuit of beauty. Why is this?

There is no simple answer. There were four South Florida mothers who lost their lives while under going liposuction for love handles and bra rolls.

The number of cosmetic surgeries has mushroomed to over 13 million nationally. The number of physician offices licensed to do cosmetic surgery increased from 285 in 2004 to over 400 now. The increase in cosmetic cases would explain the increase in deaths. I also think the number of surgeons performing cosmetic procedures is exploding and many of them are not even plastic surgeons.

When I came to town 32 years ago there were only four plastic surgeons listed in the yellow pages of the phone book. Go check it out now. It truly has become a buyer-beware market.

We have primary care doctors doing facelifts and other cosmetic surgery procedures in our community. This is wrong and I believe if it’s not illegal, it should be.

I tell all my patients that safety is number one. Patient safety is never compromised. I know I have had patients leave me for another doctor over the years because I’ve insisted they get a physical exam by their internist or obtain certain lab work or perhaps cardiac clearance. That’s me – that’s my practice – that’s what I believe in.

Another concern is the length of sedation for some cosmetic surgery procedures. I constantly hear of patients undergoing cosmetic procedures and being sedated for six, seven or more hours. This directly adds to the risks.

The longer someone is sedated the higher the complication rate. I try to limit my operating room time to less than four hours TOTAL!

Bottom line, make sure your surgeon is board certified in plastic surgery, has a state licensed/certified OR and emphasizes patient safety.

WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY - News from Dr. Brueck

Dr. Robert Brueck MD, Fort Myers plastic surgeon, blogs again about news in cosmetic surgery. Dr. Brueck is board certified and also comments on plastic surgery questions at realself.com.

Another term used for weight loss surgery is bariatric surgery. Once someone loses 70lbs, 100lbs or more than 200 lbs they are left with a lot of excess skin. The areas affected by this excess skin may be abdomen, thighs, arms and face.

A recent survey was taken of 425 bariatric surgery patients with 252 patients responding. 74% of respondents wanted some type of body contouring operation. 53 patients (21%) underwent a total of 61 contouring procedures. In my practice, many of my patients will undergo more than one body contouring procedures at one time. For example, a patient may undergo a tummy tuck and a breast lift at the same time.

This survey found the #2 requested procedure was a tummy tuck or abdominoplasty, followed by thigh lifts. In my experience, tummy tuck is #1 followed by some type of breast surgery and suction lipectomy of other areas. There is no question this is a growing area of cosmetic surgery.

CREDIT FOR PLASTIC SURGERY - A warning from Dr. Brueck

Dr. Robert J. Brueck MD FACS, board certified plastic surgeon in Fort Myers, FL, regularly posts messages to this blog on subjects related to health, skin and aesthetic surgery. You may arrange notification of future postings by setting up an RSS feed Thank you.

I guess in all of us there is a certain element of impatience. We want it done yesterday – waiting can be agonizing. That principle has led to more and more people having their cosmetic surgery financing their plastic surgery with credit cards. (You could say they are using plastic to pay for their plastic surgery)

Many firms are increasing their offerings for health care credit. Citi Group has their Citi Health Card while J.P. Morgan Chase has their Choice Health Advance. Perhaps Care Credit by G.E. is the best known.

Retiring baby boomers are providing the momentum for new and varied credit cards to finance cosmetic surgery. By 2015 it is estimated that 150 billion will be spent on non-covered health procedure such as cosmetic surgery – dental implants – lasik etc. Along with their increasing popularity, there are some pitfalls to avoid or anticipate.

If you choose a healthcare credit card, it is important to fully understand the rate and condition of the credit line, ie: how long to promotional rates last. When the interest free period is over, what will the new interest rate be. This is important to know and understand.

Also, some cards will charge you retroactive rates as high as 26.99% on an unpaid balance if you are LATE in you payments. Obviously your credit score will fall if you are late on payments.

The bottom line is to plan carefully. If the 0% interest rate is for 6-12 months, pay off your balance during that time frame, or end up paying more to the creditor.

AUTOLOGOUS CELLS RX NOW FDA APPROVED

Dr. Robert J. Brueck MD, board certified Fort Myers cosmetic surgeon, regularly posts messages here relating to health, skin and aesthetic surgery. For notification of future messages, set up an RSS feed. Thank you.

A first question from a lay person might be, "What is autologous?"

The simple answer is that it is material produced from cells that come from the same person as the recipient.

Fibrocell Science recently received approval from the FDA for an injectable treatment of facial wrinkles using the patient's own (Autologous) cells. The cells are obtained by taking a tissue sample from behind a patient’s ear and sending them to the Fibrocell Science laboratory.

In about 50 days, Fibrocell Science harvests the cells. These are injected into the patient's body, where they produce collagen and elastin.

This personalized cell therapy has been given the name of LaVio. They plan to roll it out this year.

DYSPORT VS. BOTOX - Dr. Brueck comments

Dr. Robert J. Brueck MD, regularly blogs here concerning matters of health, skin care and cosmetic surgery. Fort Myers Florida is the location of his practice.

Nothing like a little competition... (unless it’s health care in Lee County where we have NO choice of hospitals.)

But there are other competitions ongoing. Botox for years had NONE-Natta-Nothing.

Now Dysport comes along.

And now – a little drum roll, please - the results of the first randomized clinical trial are in. The study was a 30-day study with 90 patients done at University of California, San Francisco. The patients had Botox on one side of their face (crow's feet) and Dysport on the other (also crow's feet).

The results showed that 67% of patients in the test preferred the Dysport side vs. the Botox side.

The trial involved only crow's feet. Stay tune. there will be more to come.

“ONE HOUR BOOB JOB?”

"It's always something", as Dr. Robert J. Brueck MD FACS, who practices plastic surgery in Fort Myers, FL, comments in this blog message. Dr. Brueck covers all sorts of information and issues about plastic surgery at his website, www.Beauty-by-Brueck.com

I guess in plastic surgery we do “a lot” of jobs – a nose job and now a one hour breast job. I recently was asked about this and had to do a little research.

This procedure has enjoyed some popularity overseas but it may be waning.

The product involved is called Macrolane and it is made by 0-Med, a Swedish biotech company who has also brought Restylane successfullyto the market.

Macrolane is an injectable gel made of highly degradable hyaluronic acid. It received a lot of fanfare and publicity.

Unlike Restylane, where maybe one or, at most, a few cc’s are injected, Macrolane was for “big” injections, eg.100,000 or more cc’s per breast. It has been done as a simple one hour outpatient procedure in the doctors office. Can imagine going back to work after a one hour lunch break with a new “profile”?

Well, several of the patients are now surfacing with pain, lumps and assymetrical breasts. It’s one thing to inject a few cc’s of hyaluronic acid versus a few hundred.

In the UK, this procedure cost about $5,000.00 and will last around 18 months or you can get a breast augmentation that lasts years for $8,000.00.

You be the judge – some bandwagons are best staying off of – this maybe one.

Dr. Brueck MD is featured in a 3rd-party website

I have my own website at http://www.Beauty-by-Brueck.com. I appreciate all of you who visit it from time to time. I try to keep it up-to-date and informative on a wide range of cosmetic surgery procedures.

But I recently learned about a new website that discusses various plastic and cosmetic surgery procedures from a layperson's perspective.

In that respect, it lists a number of Board Certified Plastic Surgeons in Southwest Florida who are qualified to perform these procedures.

I am proud to be a featured plastic surgeon for some of these procedures.

THANK YOU.

A proud dad salutes a talented son

The good Lord has blessed me with three amazing and wonderful children. Now, young adults. I recently discovered my oldest son Jason has been doing some graphic design prints, T-shirts-you name it. This is just a God-given talent that Jason has sort of developed and inculcated over the past couple of years and now is moving forward with it. He recently went to an art show in Philadelphia and was blessed with many words of encouragement. Art is unique. It is different and we all are our “own” judges. But check out his website www.alterimages.net Thanks so much!

Signed- A proud Dad

BOTOX - Dr. Brueck MD finds more is less!

Dr. Robert J. Brueck MD FACS frequently blogs on subjects of health and beauty from his plastic surgery practice in Fort Myers, FL. This message is about Botox.

I recently read about a study done at the University of Oregon Casey Eye Institute. The study monitored 50 women who had received Botox injections on a regular basis for 2 years. What they found was, if you get Botox regularly every 4 months for 2 years once you reach 2 years you can prolong injections intervals from 4 months to 6 months.

The study also showed a prophylactic effect when it comes to wrinkles. Women between the ages of let’s say 30-50 can prevent the development of permanent dynamic wrinkles. But to me this is only common sense. The less you crease the paper - the less permanent the fold of the crease becomes. Maybe, in the end, more is less.