Philippine Plastic Surgeon Blog

Plastic Surgery 101

Archive for March, 2011

Remedy for Gynecomastia or “Man Boobs”

Mar 12

Posted by Dr. Edwin Magallona in Cosmetic Surgery Blogs, Cosmetic Surgery Facts | No Comments

During puberty, about 65% of 14-year-old male develops the so called “man boobs” or gynecomastia. 90 % of them will luckily experience regression or complete disappearance of such breasts leaving the 10% still burdened burdened with a social handicap that causes a deep and complex shame, and puts one’s relationship with one’s body at risk.

Gynecomastia is primarily caused by hormonal disturbance in a man’s body. In addition to this, large breasts may also appear due to diet and exercise problems. One’s lifestyle can affect not only how much fat but also where such fats accumulates in your body. This problem leaves many men uncomfortable and unwilling to take their shirst off. Certain drugs or steroids may also trigger such dilemma due to the imbalance in sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone.

The good news, however, is that gynecomastia can easily be corrected. There are various ways on how to get rid of those excess fats. One is through proper chest fat burner exercises and proper diet. Another is through available supplements such as Gynemax and Gynexin. Such treatment however, would take a couple of months or years depending on many factors.
So for those who are looking for a fast and most effective way to get rid of these “man boobs”, the only cure is to do a liposuction. Depending on the severity of the problem, either a straight liposuction or a liposuction in conjunction with minimal skin cutting may be the answer.

This liposuction procedure is very simple; outpatient procedure that may only take a few hours then you can actually go home. Like any other surgery, you will feel sore for a few days after the gynecomastia surgery and your cosmetic surgeon might recommend that you take a few days off from work. Swelling and bruising subsides within a few weeks and the chest area will look smaller and smoother.

When this surgery involves the cutting of the skin, as in a male breast reduction, very similar to a woman’s breast reduction, the recovery time may be a bit longer, but is still minimally invasive and has a quick recovery period.

If you or someone you know is struggling with this problem, then the next step would be to set up a consultation with a qualified plastic surgeon that specializes in liposuction of the chest specifically the one who had an experienced in men’s.

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How Botox Reduces Wrinkles

Mar 12

Posted by Dr. Edwin Magallona in Cosmetic Surgery Blogs, Cosmetic Surgery Facts | No Comments

You might have been looking in the mirror this morning and noticed more fine lines and creases around your eyes. You have probably sighed and add it up to your aging process. While it is true that there’s nothing in this world that can stop aging, it is still good to consider that there is something you can do to even look younger rather those frown lines to just ruin your precious space.

The non-surgical wrinkle reducer Botox Cosmetic now lets you graciously decline invading wrinkles. This treatment for the temporary reduction of wrinkles has been approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration or FDA since the year 2002. Botox is an extremely popular cosmetic treatment where in almost one million people have tried it and benefited on its face smoothing benefits.

Before we tackle how Botox works, you need to understand how you develop those infuriating frown lines. As years go by, your skin loses its natural softness and fails to bounce back from the movement and stretching that takes place as your facial muscles continually flex and release. This in turn, creates fine lines that form on your face as early as your late 20s or early 30s.

So how does Botox works?

Botox is a trade name for Botulinum toxic A, one of the neurotoxins produced by Clostridium botulinum. Basically, this botulinum toxin blocks the signals that would normally tell your muscles to contract.

Now, you might be wondering why anyone on earth would want such botulinum toxins injected into his or her face. The answer is very simple – If an area of the body can’t move, it can’t wrinkle. When small amounts of this protein are injected into muscle tissue, the nerve impulses to the muscles are blocked and paralyze the muscle. Without the continual movement of muscles on your skin, the skin has a great chance of returning to its smoother state.

The results of Botox treatment can usually be seen a few days after the procedure and continues to improve on its first month. This effect of this wrinkle reduction process can be visible for up to four months before the protein is cleansed from the body and so does the effect fades.

Though Botox had been performed in many countries for millions of times, the FDA still warns the people for the following hazards following the injection of Botox. Always be careful in finding a qualified physician or cosmetic surgeon to administer the said treatment. There are a lot of cosmetic surgeon in the Philippines who are experienced and are licensed to perform such procedure so make sure to find one so that you can maximize the benefits of this Botox wrinkle reduction treatment.

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Interesting Facts on Cosmetic Surgery

Mar 9

Posted by Dr. Edwin Magallona in Cosmetic Surgery Facts | No Comments

Plastic surgery, with its possible risk and complications, is one subject that most people look up to so seriously. But no matter how complex plastic surgery is, it is still interesting to go through some fun and amusing facts about cosmetic surgery way back hundreds of years up to the present time.

• In early Renaissance, many plastic surgeries were done in barber shops.

• In Nazi Germany, some forms of reconstructive surgery were mandated to enable the “too ugly” solder to become a “real” soldier. Benito Mussolini’s (1880-1945) Italy also used plastic surgery to increase the performance of military officers, such as correcting drooping or baggy eyelids.

• Cindy Jackson, born in Ohio United States was listed in the Guinness World record book for having had more cosmetic surgery procedures than anyone else in the world. Her record? Fifty of them to be exact with a price tag of $100,000.

• American people spent $13.2 billion on plastic surgery in 2006.

• Two-thirds of plastic surgery patients are repeat patients, and more than five million Americans may be addicted to plastic surgery. One example of such addiction, 48-year-old Hang Mioku was left disfigured after she injected her own face with cooking oil.

• It was the World War II that ushered in plastic surgery techniques that included rebuilding entire limbs, extensive skin grafts, microsurgery, antibodies, and increased knowledge about tissue health.

• When plastic surgery became popular during the Renaissance, plastic surgeons took skin grafts from various donors, such as a neighbor’s pig, but were confused when the new nose would shrivel up and fall off. They concluded the flesh was “sympathetic,” meaning that the graft died when its original owner died.

• The first recorded “nose job” is found in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts (600 B.C.). Physicians would reconstruct noses by cutting skin from either the cheek or forehead, twisting the skin side out over a leaf of the appropriate size, and sewing the skin into place. Two polished wooden tubes would be inserted into the nostrils to keep the air passage open during healing.

• Though cosmetic surgery is commonly used by adults and older people, there were still 2% of all plastic surgery patients who were teenagers age 13-19.

• Breast augmentation is still the top cosmetic surgery procedure followed by liposuction.

• Plastic surgery in men increased 17% compared to the percentage in the year 2006 and is expected to increase more in the years to come.

• There is a book published by Big Tent Books, a new picture book by plastic surgeon Michael Salzhauer titled My Beautiful Mommy that explains to kids why mom is getting a flatter tummy.

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Plastic Surgery’s Firsts

Mar 7

Posted by Dr. Edwin Magallona in Cosmetic Surgery Facts | No Comments

Human beings, by nature, entail self-fulfillment. People have different ways of acquiring such fulfillment but one of the most common is none other than through self-improvement. Yes. You can deny it but the truth is, most people achieve self-fulfillment when people commends on how they look. Because of this, more and more people are now seeking help from plastic and cosmetic surgeons all over the world. Unlike in the past decades where patients used to deny they had nose lift or tummy tuck, people who undergone surgery today could face the world with much confidence. Plastic surgery indeed become a part of many people may it be for reconstruction or cosmetic reasons. As such, it could be nice to go back to its history and let us know some of the firsts when it comes to cosmetic surgery.

Written evidence shows that the first medical treatment for facial injuries was done 4, 000 years ago. Physicians in ancient India were utilizing skin grafts for reconstructive work as early as 800 B.C. by Sushruta, the Father of Indian Surgery and Charak.

Dr. John Peter Mettauer, was known as the first American plastic surgeon who was born in Virginia in 1787. The bright Dr. Mettauer performed the first cleft palate operation in the New World in 1827 with instruments he designed himself.

It was Walter Yeo, a British soldier, who is often cited as the first known person to have benefited from plastic surgery. The photograph above shows him before the procedure (left) and after (right) receiving a skin graft performed by Sir Harold Gillies in 1917. However, many studies shows patients who undergone cosmetic surgery even before Yeo.

The first closed or intranasal rhinoplasty (nose lift) on the other hand were credited to the modern rhinoplasty surgeons include Johann Dieffenbach and Jacques Joseph, who used external incisions for nose reduction surgery John Orlando Roe on 1887.

In liposuction, the first people who have invented such procedure were Doctors Giorgio and Arpad Fischer, two Italian surgeons working in Rome. Relatively modern techniques for body contouring and removal of fat were first performed by a French surgeon, Charles Dujarier. However, the tragic case of Dujarier’s performance in 1926 caused the set-back in body contouring for many years.
After nose lift and liposuction, number of surgical procedures arose in different parts of the globe such as buttocks, butt lift, dimple creations surgery, eye bag removal surgery, otoplasty, breast surgeries and many more.

Plastic surgery is the easiest way to become more beautiful. Through plastic surgery most of the skin problem diseases are cured. Even old ones are also using surgeries to make them look younger than they really are. Some people might be against this idea but for people who have tried and was able to get back their self esteem, such procedure is really a way to go.

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