CNN: Robots are the future?

CNN.com recently covered the variety of new robotic technologies that have trickled out since the debut of the "Da Vinci" system in 1991.

"We are trying to produce complex machines to replace surgical tools, which are hand tools. It's like when industry moved from a chisel and hammer to machine tools."
That analogy is fitting in that many of our current surgical tools are more technology dependent these days.

For example, any of our laser technology, as well as Ultrashape, Ulthera, and Zeltiq, all have highly-sophisticated readouts and calibrations that are performed with a computer, as well as varying handpieces that have to be swapped out manually to achieve the desired result for a patient.

I can foresee a day where I will sit in an adjacent room and have robots do all the work!

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Radiofrequency devices challenging laser resurfacing

Laser resurfacing has, for over a decade, been the best way of treating wrinkled aging skin. Ten years ago, the procedure was messy: 10 days of oozing and bleeding was a common problem.

Today, fractional lasers like Solta’s Fraxel Repair and Sciton’s ProFractional have led to great results and a much quicker healing time. Lasers produce their greatest effect on the surface of the skin; the effect lessens as the laser penetrates deeper into the skin. This approach is now being challenged by Syneron with its new eMatrix radiofrequency device.

The eMatrix is also a fractional wrinkle erasing device. However, unlike lasers, radiofrequency devices produce a greater effect in the deeper layers of the skin- where the wrinkles are. We are doing some of the major research on the revolutionary new Syneron eMatrix device. With the economy improving, and more people seeking non-invasive cosmetic treatments, eMatrix represents an exciting new way to deal with aging skin.

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Syneron-Candela Merger aftermath

This past week Syneron, a leader in the laser business, purchased and merged with Candela another titan in the laser industry. Although on the surface this is simply another merger, to those of us who have been practicing laser medicine and surgery, this is no small marriage. Candela for all intensive purposes put today’s laser technology on the map. The Candela pulsed dye laser, developed twenty-five years ago, remains the gold standard for the treatment of children’s portwine stains. This company also manufactures quality devices for laser hair removal, acne treatments and a variety of other skin problems.

Syneron is chaired by the founder (Shimon Eckhouse) of today’s intense pulsed light (IPL) technology. If Candela began the current era of laser technology, Mr. Eckhouse is directly responsible for the currently used hundreds of thousands of IPL devices. Syneron has now also combined radiofrequency and light based technologies as well as developed exciting new radiofrequency based devices.

The merger of Candela and Syneron represents a marriage of the greatness of the past in laser technology with the present in light based devices. The future for both physicians and patients will only be bettered by this union.

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Ulthera in action

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Ulthera approved by the FDA

Ulthera has been a hot topic on our blog and is a technology that we've been tracking for a long time. I'll quote our post on this in November of last year:

"They have some major ultrasound patents that they are using to combine facial imaging and tightening into one package. First, they use the ultrasound handpiece to create a sonogram looking into the patient's skin and everything underneath. After reviewing that information, the same handpiece can be adjusted to send low levels of heat energy to a precise depth below the outer layers of the face.

The energy causes to tighten, and then grow new collagen over time. Pending FDA approval, this could be really good for the "SMAS" (i.e. the facial suspension system of the face that is targeted by traditional facelifts), the sub-skin muscular layer, and also the neck."

Stay tuned, we're getting this machine soon and I'm volunteering to be its first patient! We will post live on Twitter and upload pictures weekly to show my progress.

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Nanosheets could be a game changer one day

From Plastic Surgery Practice:

"In an initial report on the fabrication of free-standing nanosheets for biomedical applications, scientists at Tokyo's Waseda University in Japan have developed a biodegradable thin film of only about 20 nanometers thickness that could replace surgical stitches.

With collaboration from the National Defense Medical College, the Japanese researchers published its findings in the journal Advanced Materials. "This approach would constitute an ideal candidate for an alternative to conventional suture/ligation procedures, from the perspective not only of a minimally invasive surgical technique but also reduction of operation times," says Shinji Takeoka, a professor in the Department of Life Science and Medical Bioscience at Waseda University."

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

The future of plastic surgery and dermatology: why we bank stem cells

A Scientific American article on a recent study published by the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences found that it is possible to use fat, usually obtained via liposuction, to obtain pluripotent fat cells.

In English: the traditional way of getting stem cells is to scrape skin cells, mess with their internal clocks for a few weeks, and then get some of them to be usable. If you're using liposuctioned fat, you have stem cells that are ready to go.

Stem cells have many exciting possibly future applications in cosmetic surgery. More research is required for them to be reliably used, but some of our patients are already banking their stem cells from liposuction by freezing them at a facility, so if they need them someday, they are ready to go.

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Five Continents Congress Kickoff

This week, Dr. Pozner and I will be attending the first ever 5 Continents Congress of Laser and Aesthetic Medicine in Nice – in the heart of the French Riviera. The meeting was the brainstorm of 7 cosmetic dermatologists from around the world.

The meeting originators included aesthetic physicians from Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Hong Kong and the US. The 2 United States organizing physicians are Dr. Michael Gold from Nashville, TN and me.

The 7 of us realized that no one country dominates the field of non-surgical cosmetic medicine. Both our attendees and faculty come from all 5 continents – thus the name 5 Continents Congress. The cross fertilization of ideas will educate all of us and lead to even better treatments for our patients.

The meeting will last 3 days and will cover body sculpting, fat melting, facial rejuvenation, laser liposuction, wrinkle fillers and botulinum treatments. New technologies and controversies will represent a large part of the meeting. Techniques not yet available in the US will be a significant part of the meeting. On the agenda will be new fillers such as Voluma and botulinum toxins such as Dysport and Xeomin. Stay tuned for more information as the meeting evolves.

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

WSJ on glut of med-spa lawsuits

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog recently posted on the latest trend in cosmetic surgery: a spike in lawsuits regarding laser hair removal.

This quote comes from the National Law Review, which the WSJ referenced in the article:

"While most states require that a doctor supervise such procedures, lawyers say it’s not happening. Some states, including Florida, New York and Illinois, are considering legislation that would more tightly regulate medical spas. In the meantime, medi-spa claims are showing up on dockets around the country.'

And plaintiffs’ lawyers say that that’s part of the problem. “No one really regulates them. I think that’s part of the problem,” says Thomas Boleky of Beutel Hurst Boleky, a personal injury firm in Chicago."

This trend only applies to both the chains and mom and pop operations that have sprung up across the country; no supervision from doctors equals lots of problems. The regulations vary from state to state as to who can run the machines.

This is not a problem at SMAC: we literally wrote the book on some of these procedures.

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Government pushing for truth in celebrity endorsements?

It was recently reported that Oprah and Dr. Memhet Oz are going after opportunistic Acai berry marketers, who parlayed them discussing the product on their show into putting their faces and "AS SEEN ON OPRAH" into their advertising materials.

As you can see in the video above, the government is also becoming concerned with celebrity endorsements, by attempting to verify if the celebrities actually use the product.

The top example of this trend in our field is Virginia Madsen, the 45 year old actress who made waves in 2007 by becoming a spokeswoman for Allergan's Botox product. She says she only has had the product injected "sparingly" but Allergan has yet to produce a before/after picture.

On the other hand, they have been far more forthcoming with spokeswoman Brooke Shields' Latisse use:

Brooke's Gallery | See the Before & After images of Brooke Shields on LATISSE®

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ