Aesthetic Surgery Market Expected to Double by 2017

The cosmetics industry is growing, but by just how much? According to iData Research, a Vancouver-based pharmaceutical market research firm, the market for facial aesthetics, lasers and cosmetic surgery is expected to double—exceeding $3 billion by 2017.

The U.S. market for facial injectables is currently worth almost $860 million. The expected introduction of new injectables—such as Mentor’s PurTox and Merz's Xeomin—as well as their increasing therapeutic uses will contribute to market growth.

“A growing number of doctors are looking at the therapeutic potential of botulinum A. There are more cosmetic procedures performed using botulinum A than therapeutic; however, therapeutic procedures use higher doses of the drug, therefore these two markets are similar in value,” says Kamran Zamanian, Ph.D., iData CEO.

The iData report predicts that the value of the botulinum toxin A market segment alone will reach $543 million within seven years. Cosmetic Surgery Times also cited laser skin resurfacing, hair removal and lipolysis as the fastest-growing market segments.

Perhaps the FDA approval of new devices, such as Zeltiq, (and hopefully Ultrashape and Liposonix) will help the market meet or even exceed these predictions. I supposed we will have to wait seven years to see!

Valeant Pharma to Purchase Vital Science Corp

According to a Socaltech.com report, Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX.N) will purchase Vital Science Corp., a Toronto-based manufacturer of over-the-counter dermatology products in the 2^nd quarter of 2010. They have recently acquired two other dermatology firms, both in Brazil. One of the firms, a private Brazilian company focusing on branded generics and OTC products, reported annual sales in the 49 million Brazilian reals range (about 26.7 million dollars US) with an average compounded growth of 15% per year. Purchase price for this company is reported to be approximately 56 million US$ and will be consummated in the 2^nd quarter of 2010.

"This latest transaction, along with Valeant's acquisition of Instituto Terapeutico Delta Ltda last month, will be our second acquisition in Brazil this year," stated J. Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive officer. "We see strong synergies between these two acquisitions and our current operations in Brazil and believe that the combination of all three businesses will provide Valeant with expanded opportunities for growth in Brazil and enhance our Latin American franchise. This new business operation has had product sales that have grown in excess of 30% over the last year, while also achieving operating margins greater than 20%. Incorporating our new, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Indaiatuba will also provide us the ability to achieve significant growth and synergies across all three businesses."

The company has been on a shopping spree over the past few years, with purchases in 2009 of EMO-FARM, Mexico’s Tecnofarma S.A. de C.V. (Tecnofarma); Private Formula Holdings International Pty Limited (PFI) in Australia; Canadian skincare firm, Laboratoire Dr. Renaud and another US company. Last May, Valeant bought trademarks, inventory and intellectual property for dermatology products that were sold in New Zealand and Australia.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (Valeant) is a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products. Their specialty pharmaceutical and over-the-counter (OTC) products are marketed under brand names and sold in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Valeant also has branded generic and OTC operations in Europe and Latin America, which focus on pharmaceutical products that are bioequivalent to original products and are marketed under company brand names. The Company’s product portfolio consists of 380 products with approximately 2,000 stock keeping units. The Company’s products are sold through three segments: Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Branded Generics/Europe and Branded Generics/Latin America.

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

Wrapup: NYU Conference on Non-Surgical Facial Rejuvenation

Just returned from NYU, where I attended a conference on emerging technologies in plastic surgery. The focus was on non-surgical facial rejuvenation.

It was hosted by noted NY plastic surgeons Dr. Larry Bass and Nolan Karp - there was an excellent faculty including myself, noted plastic surgeon Z. Paul Lorenc and Boston plastic surgeon Brooke Seckel. Also presenting were Long Island dermatologist Jeanette Graf and NY oculoplastic surgeon Joseph Eviatar.

Many subjects were covered, from the new botox alternative Dysport to fillers, lasers and energy sources.

In particular, we performed live demontrations of Botox, Radiesse, Restylane, Juvederm, Sculptra, Sciton Profractional, micro laser peel as well as Fraxel and Palomar's new "groove" laser. I presented new technology such as Ulthera and RFAL (Invasix) facial procedures.

There was also an excellent lecture by Dr. Seckel and subsequent discussion of different wavelengths for laser liposuction.

As an aside - the faculty dinner at Greenwich Village's WD-50 restaurant was excellent!

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

Guest Blog: Dr. Diane Duncan on RFAL assisted liposuction

I just returned from the inaugural Brazilian-American meeting of plastic surgeons held last week by the ASAPS and ISAPS in beautiful Park City, Utah. The meeting was fantastic and melded some terrific techniques and presentation from both Brazilian and American physicians. This meeting was the brainchild of Renato Saltz, MD, an internationally respected plastic surgeon in Salt Lake City by way of Brazil.



One of the best presentations was by Diane Duncan, MD(pictured above), a leading plastic surgeon from Colorado who presented her data on Invasix, with whom she's been doing clinical trials for their RF liposuction/skin retraction device. On their website, it is billed as the first "RFAL," or Radio Frequency Assisted Liposuction device. What follows is a guest post by Dr. Duncan:

"One of the most exciting new technologies we have come across is made by a new Israeli company Invasix. Their device is a radiofrequency modulated liposuction and skin retraction device, currently being reviewed by the FDA for approval.

I have been doing some phase III clinical trials. This device is used internally during liposuction and caused unidirectional heating of the skin. The heating is more uniform than can be achieved with laser liposuction and quicker. The device also can control the amount of skin heating by decreasing energy when the skin achieves the correct temperature. This machine seems to offer a real advantage in obtaining localized skin surface area reduction without skin excision.

Many patients that we would have previously treated with an abdominoplasty may achieve excellent results with radiofrequency assisted liposuction alone. The next study will be a split abdomen study, comparing traditional liposuction to the radiofrequency modality. A 3-D CAD system will be used to measure both volumetric and skin surface area changes."

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Dr. David J. Godlberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

Wired Magazine: Playboy Playmates get skinnier, stay buxom. Average American: Not So Much.

This month's issue of Wired Magazine has a great chart in their Infoporn section plotting the BMI of every Playboy Playmate since 1954. This wealth of information is then compared to the average BMI of American women for every period of time.

As Playmates have gotten skinnier, American women have statistically become curvier. In 1960, the average BMI for women was 22.2, not far off from the pin-up girl "ideal" of 19.4.

This can probably be attributed to some help with plastic surgery.


From the article:

"On the touchy subject of implants, Playboy's policy seems to be don't ask, don't tell. We plotted each model's bust size (chest circumference at the fullest points) and cup size (breast volume) for all years that data were available (early '90s to now). While busts have shrunk faster than your 401(k), cup size has remained a buxom C or D. We don't think evolution can explain this phenomenon."

With our practice, the biggest change we're observing is the fit 40-something woman. After childbirth, many of our patients choose to take care of themselves and can have better bodies than most 20 year olds.

Maybe they have a little help in the breast department, and occaisonally some liposuction or a tummy tuck, but the "fit 40" is the epitomy of the Playboy ideal, and it's not as far-fetched as it may seem.

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Dr. David J. Golberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists NY/NJ

Plastic surgery legend Joan Rivers was in town

Joan Rivers, the comedienne who went from mocking other people's plastic surgery to mocking her own plastic surgery, was in Palm Beach this week to promote her book, "Men are Stupid... And They Like Big Boobs."

According to the write-up by Robert Janjigian at the Palm Beach Daily News, the event was held at The Brazilian Court's Cafe Boulud with a packed house.

The appearance was part of her book tour, which is billed as a guide to beauty and plastic surgery. Contrary to public opinion about her, she actually had some sound advice:

• "God bless the Internet." You can do a little background check on the guy (or woman).
  
• Ask your hairdresser. "They see everything."
• Choose a doctor who you feel comfortable talking to. who answers your questions thoroughly.
• Go to a specialist. "If you're getting your eyes done, go to an eye guy. If getting your breasts done, go to the breast specialist. It may be boring for them, but so what?"
• If you can afford it, get a cardiologist to sit in during the surgery. "Just in case."
• With Botox and other injectables: "Better they put in too little than too much. I don't want to look like Liza Minelli."
• "Don't be cheap about it. This is you. You can't leave this in the car."
• "Put the money where they can see it."
• When going in for collagen or other injections, make the doctor numb your face or get a presciption for the stuff that numbs you before you go in. "You want to feel nothing."
• "Ask, ask, ask before you go for it."

Thanks for reading,
Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

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

In the news: Teen Plastic Surgery

The NY Times' Skin Deep series turned its attention to teenage plastic surgery on Thursday, with an article by Camille Sweeney, as well as the popular blog Jezebel. Our colleague Dr. Rick Lukash weighed in along with Dr. Alan Gold to say that it's acceptable for teenagers to have cosmetic surgery, as long as they are medically and mentally able to handle it.

From the article:
"The latest figures from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery show that the number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed on youths 18 or younger more than tripled over a 10-year period, to 205,119 in 2007 from 59,890 in 1997. This includes even more controversial procedures: liposuctions rose to 9,295 from 2,504, and breast augmentations increased nearly sixfold, to 7,882 from 1,326. ... Dr. Frederick Lukash, a plastic surgeon in New York City and Long Island who specializes in treating adolescents, said: “Unlike adults who may elect cosmetic surgery for that ‘wow’ factor to stand out in a crowd, to be rejuvenated and get noticed, kids have a different mantra. They do it to fit in.”

In my experience, almost all teen plastic surgery patients and their parents that have consulted with me have been very reasonable. Most common request is rhinoplasty at age 16, which is acceptable since the nose has mostly stopped developing by then.



Requests for breast surgery are mostly due to marked size development abnormalities. For those 18 and 19 seeking augmentation, the patients generally want to be "normal," and are seeking small implants and a cup change from A to B.

It's the moms who want the larger implants for themselves.

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

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