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

Most patients who come to my office don’t come in asking for a full facelift. Most come asking for a specific face procedure to “make them look younger”.   If they are relatively young, they focus on the nasolabial folds the lines that go from the side of the nose to the corners of the lips). Or they may mention the lips, how they are getting thinner. If they are somewhat older, they will focus on the jawline and neck. I listen to them, because that is what they are concerned about, but then I have to ask: Do you want to look better to yourself or to others?

Cosmetic surgery is not just for your face, breast, and body. Your hands age too. As we grow older, there is a change of fat distribution in the body. For example, the face tends to lose some volume in certain areas, and the midsection of the body tends to gain fat. Another one of the areas which loses fat is the hand.

Curves, love handles, and Brazilian butts. I have been doing a lot of Brazilian butt lifts. It continues to amaze me how good this procedure is! It is perfectly suited to how the body handles fat, and the different components of the procedure enhance each other. Although the procedure is called Brazilian butt lift, what makes it great is the way the love handles are reshaped and create a nice curve between the butt and the waist.

I once had a patient who wanted a revision of her Liposuction. I have seen her already several times and she is unhappy about small areas on her hips. The small bulges are above and below the panty line so the indentation of the panties on the skin magnifies the defect. She recognizes that the result is an improvement on what she had before but these small things are irritating her.

A woman’s body goes through so many changes during and after pregnancy. Many of my patients have children and came to me looking for information about Breast augmentation. Did your breasts appear deflated after pregnancy? Did you like the look of your breasts during pregnancy? Are you wanting them to look fuller, perkier, or both? What are your options for breast augmentation after pregnancy?

Many times during a breast augmentation consult a patient will say to me: “I want to look proportionate.” In other words, the patient wants to make sure that a particular implant size will look right on her. The right proportion is determined by several factors. A good proportion is not only determined by the size…

A few days ago I was seeing a patient who was thinking about having the Brazilian butt lift. Two things struck me about the conversation – One was the fact that so many patients are now requesting a procedure that is relatively new. The second was that I am doing the procedure more frequently on women of all ethnicities. As I was showing the patient my collection of pre op and post pictures I noticed quite a few Caucasians and Orientals. This makes me think that for whatever reason, there is a cultural shift going on about what constitutes an attractive figure.

Since several patients have called recently inquiring about the “Lifestyle Lift,” I just had to put my thoughts online about the XYZ-lift phenomenon. Patients and surgeons are intensely curious about procedures that promise to deliver great results with minimal discomfort and downtime. After all, what could be better?– great looks, minimal bother! As with everything in life, if it looks to good to be true, it probably is not. But every once in a while, something does come up that is both much better than what was previously available, and true. It’s called innovation.

Most times, when doing a Brazilian butt lift, I end up using every last drop of fat I can get to get the best possible butt augmentation. This is because after the meticulous extracting procedure, only a fraction of the fat is suitable for fat transfer.A few patients, however, store a lot of their fat predominantly in their abdomen and flanks, with very narrow hips proportional to their body.I had always been very good at getting their waist as narrow as I could to highlight the buttock, but the hips remained untouched.

Kae posted a very good question, because it helps understand how fat transfer works. The question relates to where you gain weight after a fat transfer: the donor area (where the fat came from, let’s say the belly) or the recipient area (where you put the fat in, let’s say the butt)? The short answer to the question is: YES, after the fat graft takes, you will gain weight in the recipient area. In the case of the Brazilian butt lift, the recipient area is the buttocks. If you took most of the fat cells from the donor area, you would gain very little weight in the belly. If you want to know the technical explanation for this, read on.

There are many ways you can get a Butt augmentation, but like everything in life, each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Some procedures are new and experimental, some have stood the test of time. The use of hydrogel for butt augmentation is a new approach. The technique is possible, but in my professional opinion, impractical for several reasons.

I went to see Dr. Rodriguez on Sept 25th for Lip Advanta Implants and Sculptra. I was greeted by the nicest staff and made to feel very comfortable. I was more than briefed on every option that I asked about to ensure a confident choice in procedure. After my procedure, I was a bit terrified by the immediate effects of surgery (swelling), but the entire staff assured me that the swelling was completely normal.

Most patients seeking facelifts say that coworkers or family members tell them “they look tired” all the time. They then proceed to pull upward on their neck or lower cheeks mimicking the effect they want from surgery. To make a point, I sometimes cover my face and ask what color my eyes are. They always get it right (my eyes are brown). I then ask whether I have bands in my neck (I have one). Invariably they say they didn’t notice. So, what’s the point I’m trying to make? People make judgments about how old your face looks from your eyes, not your neck or jowls. There is a famous study where the picture of a woman was put on a screen. A subject looks at the picture. Behind the screen there is a camera that tracks the eye movements of the subject looking at the picture of the woman…

I have just come back from a two week trip to China. It was organized by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), and a group of us from all across the United States went and met with plastic surgery colleagues from Beijing, Guilin, and Shanghai. We visited military hospitals, public hospitals, private hospitals, as well as surgi-centers. China is in the midst of a great transformation. To give you a sense of how great the transformation is, Shanghai alone has…

One question I always clarify: What is the labiaplasty procedure is designed to do? Does it enhance sexual experience, improve the appearance of the vagina, or both? Since the procedure is a type of ‘vaginal rejuvenation,’ there is a lot of confusion from the media as to what exactly the goal of the procedure is. Furthermore, many gynecologists equate vaginal rejuvenation mainly with sexual enhancement. However, for most plastic surgeons, the purpose of the Labiaplasty procedure is to improve appearance only. Let’s review the media sound bites from both gynecologists and plastic surgeons…