CosmeticSurg blog: Expert insights from Dr. Ricardo L. Rodriguez

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted a Korean Plastic Surgeon who is popularizing the so called Smile Surgery. MSN News also recently featured an article about smile surgery, called a “smile lipt,” – a combination of the words “lip” and “lift.” While this procedure may sound odd, there are definitely some patients who are good candidates for this procedure. I have performed it in my practice in Baltimore. Some people have a distinct permanent frown type expression and Smile Surgery can help them because it lifts the corners of the mouth. It helps change the permanent sad or angry look to a more pleasant expression. This technique is different than a traditional lip lift procedure, as that technique focuses solely on the long space between the upper lip and the base of your nose.

New evidence points to an improvement in vascularity and blood flow when stem cells are more concentrated in the fat to be transplanted. For therapeutic approaches, reproducible protocols of adipose-derived stem cells isolation and a large amount of cells are necessary, in order to respond to the increasing demand. Therefore, to practically understand what happens when adipose tissue is manipulated in the operating room, we studied the most common methods of fat processing employed by most plastic surgeons, in order to see which method yields the highest quantity of stem cells.

Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez, a Yale trained plastic surgeon has been offering Virtual consultations for several years. Patients can discuss surgical possibilities with Dr. Rodriguez before taking the trip to Baltimore for an office consultation. Consultations can be performed in english, spanish, or french , as Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez is fully trilingual. Watch his virtual consult video and make your appointment now.

What is the difference between IV sedation and general anesthesia? Dr. Hobelmann is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist who works with Dr. Rodriguez when he performs cosmetic surgery cases. Watch the video to learn why Dr. Hobelmann thinks IV sedation provides advantages over general anesthesia.

While much of our web site is dedicated to learning about cosmetic surgery and preparing for your procedure, we would like to talk about the recovery period following any cosmetic surgery procedure. In your pre-operative appointment, which usually occurs the week before your surgery, Dr. Rodriguez and the Surgical Coordinator will review your post op instructions. They will give you a description of what you should expect following your cosmetic surgery. Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez uses smart cell phone technology to keep in touch with his patients during the immediate post op period.

We attended Robin Young’s 6th annual Stem Cell Summit which was held this year on March 1st in New York City. Also in attendance were scores of public and private stem cell companies. Presentations included 21 adult stem cell companies, 3 embryonic companies, 7 device/instrumentation companies, and a panel of medical experts discussing Spinal Cord Injury. Each company gave a 10 to 15 minute presentation but we most enjoyed Dr. Arnold Caplan’s keynote address. Not only is he well known in academic circles, but he is no stranger to the biotech financial community, as he was the founder of Osiris Therapeutics (Nasdaq: OSIR), a publicly traded cell therapy company. Here are some highlights we took away from Caplan’s keynote speech entitled, The State of MSCs in 2011. If you are interested in stem cells from adipose tissue, you don’t want to miss this!

Fat grafting, also known as fat transfers or fat injections, is a plastic surgery procedure which removes fat from unwanted areas of your body, carefully processes the fat, and then reinjects your own adipose fat tissue where more volume is desired. Fat injections can help rejuvenate your face, your buttocks, your hands, or your breasts. Fat injections are also being used in breast reconstruction surgery. Fat grafting will restore volume to the breast and can be performed with or without an implant. Lately we have seen some plastic surgery blogs expressing concern regarding how fat injections to the breast affect mammograms. We feel that both sides of the story are not being told, so we would like to address that here.

While Friday the 13th may be bad luck for some, such was not the case for the U.S. stem cell industry. On Friday, April 13, the Texas Medical Board (TMB) approved the first set of regulations which will allow physicians to offer autologous adult stem cell therapies. And on Monday, April 16, the Wall Street Journal posted an Op Ed piece written by the former FDA commissioner in support of stem cell therapy. Read on to learn why these recent news items may just spell good news for the stem cell industry, and regen medicine.

This year marked the 10th anniversary of IFATS, the International Federation for Adipose Therapeutics and Science, an organization which includes scientists and Medical Doctors from a wide range of specialties. The conference was held in Quebec, Canada and included over 100 abstracts, most of which focused on on Adipose Stem Cells. Abstracts and keynotes were presented form three categories of research: basic science, translational science, and clinical research. There were many exciting findings, but here’s a summary of highlights we found most interesting.

Here is a question which I received from a reader who recently had a Brazilian Butt Lift procedure with another surgeon and was experiencing a bacterial infection: Dear Dr. Rodriguez, About Eight weeks ago I had a procedure adding fat from my flanks to my buttocks by my local plastic surgeon. I have been in discomfort ever since. My buttocks are red and swollen in both cheeks. One time every week the surgeon has been removing fluid that has accumulated in my buttocks. He has stated that he released an area in my buttocks that had a deep Cellulite indentation( he had a different name for this). He thought fluid was somehow accumulating in this area and would continue to remove this fluid whenever in go unbearable. I was in tremendous pain this week and went back to the office where he then told me he had gotten the results back from June 21st on the fluid he had collected and I have some kind of bacterial infection inside my body…

In 2007, I wrote a blog post about Hydrogel for Buttock augmentation. In the post I detailed my reasons why I did not think it was a good idea to do a Buttock augmentation or Butt Lift with Hydrogel. The only thing that has changed since I wrote that post is that I have seen many patients who have suffered terrible damage from Hydrogel injections! My position remains the same: Hydrogel to buttocks: Don’t do it! To recap.

The Stem Cell Niche Stem cells usually exist in a low grade resting state in a controlled environment called a niche. The niche contains mesenchymal stem cells, also known as MSCs. The mesenchymal stem cell niche is usually located in the blood vessel wall itself. The status quo for a niche is not full blown stem cell activity, but a level of activity finely attuned to its surroundings. These cells like to keep a stable environment  (on the vessels) within the niche. They will only respond in a very specific way, to certain kinds of stimuli. In a chronic disease state such as scar tissue or aged skin, the stem cells present in that tissue are responding in many small and measured ways to whatever is happening in the tissue. Stem Cells are trying to maintain balanced conditions, this is called homeostasis. There are no big changes, just a low-grade adaptation to aging or scar process. This is why the stem cells in the local tissue are not doing what you would like them to do.

Dr. Rodriguez, a Yale trained Plastic Surgeon who has been practicing for over 20 years, gives his thoughts on Smart Lipo. With Smart Lipo, some damaged fat is usually left behind and the skin tightening is temporary.

When most women ask for a Breast augmentation, they imagine a larger breast positioned where their breast was when they were in their younger years. They also want some cleavage. For the final result they want as minimal or undetectable a scar as possible.

What can one do for bags under the eyes? For many years, patients would come to me asking to remove the bags under the eyelids, saying the bags made them look old and tired. I usually recommended a standard blepharoplasty or Eye lift. That involves making an incision right under the eyelashes, lifting skin and the muscle that is right under the skin. I would then remove the fat. It was the standard solution but it had several drawbacks.