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NYC Plastic Surgery Gossip

Do you care about NYC socialite plastic surgery stories? Nah, neither do we. But you can read about a $30,000 surgery bill and a New York Magazine slip-up here. Eh.

Florida "Pumping Parties": a Silicone Nightmare

An unlicensed man in Miami-Dade was charged recently with injecting silicone into women's buttocks in a hotel room.  He was arrested after agreeing to inject an undercover officer with the unapproved material. The disturbing story is described here.

Radiance Medspa Struggles to Survive

Radiance Medspa is a national franchise that has run into trouble with disgruntled owners and office closures.  In the cosmetic world, it can be a challenge to maintain quality over large distances with a range of practitioners with varying quality.  Some of the spas have broken away from the corporation. Others have closed in the last year.

Take a look at this Radiance website. The "highly skilled, licensed professionals " were unable to spell "specialization" and they left some latin text from the website template they ripped under "about us". Here is an example of how quality control can fail in a large entity.

Lunchtime Lift Promises and Prison Time

What is the "Lunchtime Lift"? It generally refers to rejuvenation procedures that are performed in a relatively short amount of time (1 hour) with minimal invasiveness. It includes procedures such as thread lifts and ribbon lifts, which use tenuous strands with hooks to lift the skin.

Do they work? Perhaps, and usually not long enough to justify the cost. The previous forerunner of this category of cosmetics, the Contour Thread was withdrawn from the marketplace because it was not living up to its promises. Many patients found themselves back where they started within a year. Other threads such as Silhouette Sutures and Endotine Ribbons have yet to enter the mainstream. Perhaps because of their questionable track record or their association with discontinued devices.

And there has been some bad "Lunchtime Lift" press, including a "practitioner" that spend jail time for lunchtime lifting.

Free Sex Changes for Cubans

As a part of the new Cuban health care system under Raul Castro, citizens will have free sex change operations available if they qualify. A transgender health clinic is being built to house the center of operations. 
And many Americans still have no coverage, while Cubans get coverage for new genitals. Read more here.

My Beautiful Mommy: Plastic surgery for kids book

A new book for mommys who want to explain to their kids why they look different so suddenly.
See excerpts here.

Botox and animal testing

We received an email asking about animal testing and Botox. Yes, it's true that Allergan tests their batches of Botox on animals to determine the LD50 as a quality control measure. Recently, Allergan came out with a statement about FDA approval for a revised assay to reduce the overall number of tested animals. Although Botox is used most commonly for cosmetic reasons, it is a manufactured drug also used for medical conditions, and animal testing is not uncommon in these cases. Many feel that the human lives saved or improved are worth the animal cost.

Malignant hyperthermia as breast augmentation complication

The news for the past few days has  been filled with stories of the death of a young Floridian during breast augmentation surgery. Stephanie Kuleba reportedly underwent inverted nipple repair and correction of breast assymetry under general anesthesia. General anesthesia decidedly carries more risks than lesser levels of sedation/analgesia.  It has been implied that malignant hyperthermia was the cause of death in this case.

From the Palm Beach Post:

"The surgery was performed by Dr. Steven Schuster, a board-certified plastic surgeon, in his Boca Raton medical office. "

"The condition is triggered by anesthesia. Symptoms include rapid heart rate, muscles that become rigid, and a fever of 110 degrees or higher. The condition is reversible if recognized and acted upon - usually within 30 minutes of onset - with Dantrolene, the only known antidote, said Dr. Henry Rosenberg, president of the Malignant Hyperthermia Association, whose organization fielded a call to its hot line about Kuleba's case. " Dantrolene should be on hand in facilities performing general anesthesia.

Jesus cosmetics

A Singapore company has withdrawn its "Jesus Lipbalm" after multiple complaints. Many Catholics thought it was disrespectful. On the other side of the coin, perhaps it is a tribute?

More on the story here.

Doctor sends spy to plastic surgeon

In a bizarre news story from thestar.com:

"The Ontario Society of Plastic Surgery, the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgery and the Canadian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery plan to ask Ontario's medical watchdog to investigate Dr. Behnaz Yazdanfar's decision to send an undercover female investigator to consult with plastic surgeon Dr. Sean Rice and secretly record the conversation.

Yazdanfar, a family physician without hospital privileges or a surgical specialty, claims in her lawsuit that she hired the investigator to determine whether Rice was the cause of a dramatic drop in her business this past fall – the same time Stryland's death was the subject of major headlines."

The entire wacky story, here.