Sarah Jessica Parker on "Molegate"

We don't write about celebrities and plastic surgery too much, but this story has a good message.

Sarah Jessica Parker recently had her "signature mole" removed. Although she has faced a lot of backlash from people who thought it was a form of giving in, Parker explained:

"I was like, 'My mole was my signature? Isn't my brain my signature?'" I didn't have strong feelings," she said. "I didn't object to it. I just didn't care for it."

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

It should be news: Environmental Pollution Increases Incidence of Renal Failure

A good study from 1996 that I wanted to bring to everyone's attention was titled "Environmental Pollution is Increasing the Incidence of Chronic Renal Failure."

It comes from a study in Egypt by Mohamed A. Sobh, of the University of Mansoura's Nephrology Department. Renal failure, by the way, is the failure of the kidneys to function adequately.

Pretty scary stuff just from the abstract:

"These risk factors could be physical (radiation, heat, electric or altitude), chemical (for example heavy metals and hydrocarbons) or biological (bacterial, parasitic, viral or fungal) in nature, which can reach the human through air, food, water, drugs or cosmetics. These risk factors could be present at home, in the workplace, or in the environment at large.

Airborne environmental toxins could be gaseous (for example carbon monoxide, vinyl chloride, radon), vapour (for example lead, mercury, arsenic, nickel), dusts (asbestos, silica, cotton fibres, coal), airborn allergens or radiation. Waterborne could be microbial pollution of drinking water, or chemical contamination (metals, toxic, wastes, pesticides or agricultural chemicals). Food could be a risk factor for instance rhubarb causing oxaloses and liquorice causing salt and water retention with hypokalaemia."

We are going to have an increased emphasis on addressing toxins with the age management and wellness aspect of Sanctuary. Stay tuned!

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

Cosmetic Bootcamp in Boca Review

Dr. Pozner and I just returned from Cosmetic Bootcamp at the Boca Hotel and Resort. This was a meeting run by renowned dermatologists Ken Beer of Palm Beach, Mary Lupo of New Orleans and Vic Narukar of San Francisco.

They run a few cosmetic bootcamps per year and this one was targeted towards practice management. Dr. P gave 3 lectures - lasers and lights for a cosmetic practice - speaking about the usual devices we use such as Sciton fractional and TRL resurfacing, and newer devices such as Ulthera, Zeltiq, Liposonix and Ultrashape.

He gave another lecture on the role of the internet in cosmetic practices - using web sites, blogs, Facebook etc. my last lecture was on laser safety - pretty dull subject but there were some laser complications thrown in to keep everyone awake for that 8 a.m. talk on Sunday (ouch - considering we were out with Dr. Pozner and family until late on Saturday eve!!!)

There were some excellent lectures at this meeting. Mark Nestor spoke about the Botox and Dysport black box warnings - we covered this in a previous blog post. There was a discussion about new toxins such as Xeomin and Puretox. Doris Day did her usual excellent job.

This meeting was unique in that its emphasis was not so much on cosmetic doctors as attendees. They were there, but in addition, their administrative staff members were in also attendance . A variety of issues were discussed that looked at keeping patients happy. These included an emphasis on both receptionists and clinical staff understanding the needs on each patient in the office.

I personally lectured on a variety of legal issues that relate to running a cosmetic practice. I also discussed Latisse, the FDA approved eyelash enhancer from Allergan. One of the most fascinating talks was one given by Atesh Chendra, Vice President of Administration at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, FL. He discussed his 25 year experience in creating the ideal environment for hotel goers and applied these concepts to the cosmetic medical office. Overall, the meeting was fascinating.

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

In the OR for stitches? Wait for a plastic surgeon.

Momlogic's Vivian Manning-Schaffel had an interesting blog post last week relating a story from a friend.

"While waiting for an ambulance to arrive, she made a few calls to family members in the medical profession, who tipped her off about requesting a plastic surgeon so Lucie wouldn't have a scar on her face...

"We opted to wait," Erin explains. "And if a plastic surgeon wasn't an option, I know for sure I would've fought for it. I heard the guy had a great reputation, so that made me feel good. And I felt that, even if Lucie ended up with a scar, I did everything I could to keep that from happening."

Three years later, there is barely a visible scar. We add that laser skin resurfacing is really good for treating scars, whether it's from an accident like this or from acne.

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

In the news: Telomere Testing

A recent article by United Press International highlighted some of the cool things going on with telomeres, which we hope to start testing at our practice soon.

The article keys in on a study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, and found that intensive exercise helps prevent the shortening of telomeres, which are DNA that protect chromosomes from damage.

That's fantastic, but why is it important to prevent that? A good introduction to telomeres is this article from the BBC in 2003. A 20 year study on telomere testing, which first was introduced to the world around then, found that telomere length can determine if one will be likely to live 15+ past the age of 60.

"People with shorter telomeres were found to be at greater risk of developing age-related diseases, and were nearly twice as likely as others to die over the next 15 years or so, especially from heart disease and pneumonia.

A team led by Dr Richard Cawthon, from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, studied 143 people over the age of 60.

They found those with telomeres in the top half for length lived for four to five years longer than those whose telomeres were among the shortest half. "

So our conclusion is: go exercise!

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

A glimpse at Mentor's upcoming cohesive gel form stable implant: in Sweden

Just returned from Sweden where I visited Charles Randquist at his lovely Victoria kliniken in Saltsjöbaden. I was sent there along with other US plastic surgeons, Mindy Haws (Nashville, TN), Stephen Schantz (Lexington, KY) and Kaveh Alizadeh (New York).

We spent an intensive few days learning about Mentor's cohesive gel form stable implant (pictured above), aka the CPG, and also about Allergan's similar 410 implant.

Dr. Randquist's results were excellent, and I learned a few tricks. He took us out to a wonderful restaurant - (Toby Keith was also dining there).

Sweden was fun - albeit rainy and cold. The question is - why send us for training on something not yet FDA approved? Does this mean this implant is coming closer to approval? I hope so and will start using it as soon as available.

Here's a picture of the view from Dr. Randquist's OR in Sweden:


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

Study: 62% of plastic surgeons are also patients

An interesting but not surprising study was highlighted by Baltimore Sun health blogger Kelly Brewington.

"In a survey of 276 members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 62 percent said they had gone under the knife for at least one procedure. Most receive minimally invasive procedures such as laser hair removal chemical peels and Botox -- no word of whether they throw Botox parties. A third had gone under a surgical procedure, with liposuction being the most common."

I wasn't polled by the ASPS for this study, but I would've bumped the numbers up a bit. In the last couple of months I've tried both Ulthera and Zeltiq. Can't wait to show off the final results at the end of December, as both treatments take about 3 months to fully take effect.

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

Cosmetic Surgery Tax Back on the Health Care Bill?

All the way back in July, there was some media hysteria about a 10% cosmetic surgery tax that was mentioned by a Treasury official. As we blogged back then, it was overblown because the Senate Finance Committee had never even discussed such a thing.

In Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's latest proposed healthcare reform bill, a 5% cosmetic surgery tax is being proposed.

From the Associated Press:

"At issue is a proposal in the 10-year, nearly $1 trillion health care draft unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that would slap a 5 percent excise tax on elective cosmetic surgeries and procedures. The plan, projected to raise $6 billion, wouldn't apply to surgery to fix a deformity or injury, but would include procedures such as face lifts, liposuction, cosmetic implants or teeth-whitening.

The plastic surgeons may have seemed like an appealing bunch to pick on given that they had already been skeptical of the Democrats' overhaul proposal. But they say it will be a blow to countless American women — of every income level.

"The common misconception is that this is going to tax wealthy, suburban Republican women," said Dr. Phil Haeck of Seattle, Wash., the president-elect of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. In fact, he said, of the 86 percent of cosmetic surgery patients who are female, 60 percent of them have incomes between $30,000 and $90,000."

It has also proven to be inefficient for the government to collect on cosmetic surgery tax. It is alleged that in New Jersey, where a similar tax is in effect, it costs the state $3.39 for every $1 that is collected.

Whether or not the bill passes, there is probably going to be somewhat of a rush to plan cosmetic procedures before an extra 5% is added onto the bill.

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