Procedures

Archive for August, 2009

Conspicuous Breast Bone Hinder Breast Augmentation surgery?

There’s nothing that can be done about your prominent breast bone, at least nothing reasonable. You need to have a standard breast augmentation done and your breast bone will still be prominent. If your nipples point a little to the sides, they’ll appear to point a little more towards the sides just as a natural effect of the surgery. Remember that the augmentation will enhance every aspect of your breasts (both good and not so good). Ultimately, you’ll still be very excited about your result since the augmentation factor is no longer of concern.

You can’t really place the implants any closer together if they’re being placed under the muscle. You don’t want him to split the muscle along the center just to satisfy you insisting on cleavage. I also don’t think you should get a bigger implant to cause cleavage. Cleavage is usually something you see when someone has a bra on and it’s pressing the breasts together. It’s not really because of a certain style, position or size of an implant — so you should reconsider changing your implant with that intention in mind.

You should revisit with your ABPS board certified plastic surgeon on these issues and clarify your expectations so everybody is thrilled after surgery.

Contact Board Certified Dallas Breast Implants Surgeon Dr. Ricardo Meade for a confidential, personalized consultation.

Tags: breast implants Dallas, cleavage breast implants, dallas breast implants surgeon, plastic surgery dallas
Posted in Breast Augmentation

What purpose do serial numbers on Breast Implants serve?

Jasmine Fiore was fortunate to have had these implants to identify her expeditiously since so much damage was done to her other natural ID’s. I almost wish the way they identified her hadn’t gotten out because now who knows what measures the next sick individual is going to take.

There are no microchips in implants. Just saline or silicone. They have a serial number for tracking purposes because the companies that produce them in the US (Mentor by Johnson and Johnson or Natrelle by Allergan) study their product for quality control. They know where every single implant is and can track their product very efficiently.

Contact Dr. Ricardo Meade directly to schedule a confidential, personalized consultation today!

Tags: dallas breast implants, dallas breast implants surgeon, mentor, natrelle by allergan, serial numbers on breast implants
Posted in Breast Augmentation

Can breasts be too big?

DoctorMeade, I want my breast implants to enter the room 10 minutes before I do.” For a moment we peered at each other wondering what the other was thinking and then both laughed. I was fortunate in this particular breast augmentation case that the patient was being completely sarcastic. I think she just wanted to say that in a plastic surgeon’s office one day and did. Unfortunately, there are some breast implant patients that I see with requests that simply can’t or shouldn’t be achieved all at once because of their anatomy.

Keep in mind that every breast augmentation is different. Whether it is saline implants or silicone implants, they are still stretching your tissues out. You can’t compare yourself to someone with different physical features and wonder why her result looks different because it’s not really a fair comparison. Not only is their anatomy different, but the surgery they underwent is probably different that the one you did (or will). If I see a patient that comes in wanting to be a D cup and she has a very small anatomy .. it’s possible that this difference is too big for a single operation. That doesn’t mean she’s going home untouched of course .. there’s always something I can do for them, sometimes I just need to get a little creative. Nobody wants to hear about two surgeries but it is the case when drastic changes are to be made. The good thing is that I can make both surgeries great .. the first one is her normal fitting breast implant surgery and the second one (about 3 months later) we can super size it! Don’t get me wrong, my taste does not support this choice if you’re imagining the giant pair it sounds like I’m describing. In reality, I’m speaking more about those cases where the patient is tearfully small, and not endowed with more than a couple of nipples on her chest. That patient may want to be a D cup and it is just not going to happen in a single surgery. If the anatomy is distorted too much all at once, you can potentially lose those natural tissue ‘anchors’ and then the breast implant starts to drop. Let’s leave that one at that .. but a dropped implant can be a very difficult situation.

For the record to all implant companies out there .. despite their catalogs with exact measurements for each breast implant, you can’t measure elastic structures with a static system. Dr Barton (a mentor or mine) taught me that a long time ago – and even though there are newer implants, newer technologies and young fresh idealistic minds available, that principle will never change. I don’t support the notion that there is a certain implant that fits your body by measurements. Perhaps, and this may seem ludicrous, but a plastic surgeon needs to be somewhat artistic in his creation and will actually need to help create this new body with something other than a 12 inch ruler and a catalog.

I have patients try on implants in the office under a form fitted shirt and then we all look together to see what curves fit most aesthetically. This is a ballpark estimate of what size we’re headed towards. Sometimes they’ll bring in photos of people with their same physical features and that can help as a communication tool as well.

In answer to my own question, can breast implants be too big?

Well, speaking in terms of anatomy, tissue elasticity, artistry, the golden rule of proportions in beauty, measurements, taste, class and as far as appearance goes .. of course.

Posted in Breast Augmentation

Facelift for a Fat Face – Full Face and Facelift

Fullness in your lower cheeks is a very common trait that is quite difficult to correct completely, however improvement can be made surgically. Without seeing your photos, I’ll answer the question in general terms. You are very young to have a facelift, but assuming this is what you’re interested in exploring I’m going to address to the question of what surgical option is most likely to be effective.

There are few surgeons that resect Bichat’s fat pad during a facelift since it is in a territory referred to as tiger country because of the high concentration of facial nerve branches. You should find the ABPS BOARD CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON in your area that is comfortable with this and has photos to share his experience with you.

Yes, once the fat pad is decompressed/reduced there will be sagging cheek tissues. These will need to be lifted and resuspended thus requiring a facelift.

Some resect this tissue with a tiny suction cannula but I think that’s not a safe way of doing it since there are so many facial nerves there that control the movement in the corner of your mouth, suctioning is a blind technique and not my favorite way of doing it for that reason.

Lastly, I would warn you against your initial hunch of just tugging the skin laterally showing a significant improvement. There’s plenty of people out there that would do that for a small fee. The tension will be there with a facelift but it will not fully correct the problem in the long term.

Eventually, the tissues from the pull will relax, the facelift scar will widen (over the years), and the cheek will bulge back through an unnatural “lateral sweep,” where the wrinkles on your cheek sweep in the shape of a nike swoosh! It is potentially a pretty unnatual look. If you only lift up on your jawline and don’t lift up your cheek, how will it look later on when your cheek continues to descend and your jawline didn’t? My intent isn’t to pose more problems, it is simply to reinforce the fact that your anatomy requires the skill of an ABPS Board Certified Plastic Surgeon that does Aesthetic Surgery.

The marionette lines can be improved with fillers, not a biggie. The turned down corners of your mouth is a little trickier but I’ve seen great great results just by using fillers causing some really nice optical illusions that show drastic improvements.

Posted in Facelift

Liposuction – Not Ideal Body Weight – Good Results or Not?

Yes, you can have liposuction without the perfect end result. People do it every single day. In fact, most candidates that get liposuction aren’t the ideal body weight. The farther off that you are though, probably the less content you’ll be in the long term. At first you’ll look great, the improvement could be excellent but if you don’t change your habits (lifestyle, diet, exercise…) then you may feel that it all just “came back somewhere else.” Remember that it’s not a weight loss mechanism, it’s a contouring tool. It works best when you’re completely on board with a lifestyle change.

Posted in Liposuction

Just Had Tummy Tuck This Week – Should I Get a Revision?

You’re still not at your final result. It’s very early and you’ll still notice a lot of edema (swelling) that you won’t be able to see in the next couple of months.

These issues are very normal and its ok for you to discuss them with your ABPS board certified plastic surgeon. He’ll be glad to fix anything for you that should have been achieved at the time of surgery. The scars will become less visible and the redness still has to clear up. Give it time and let everything settle. There’s still plenty of cooling down to go in the process.

Posted in Tummy Tuck

Cost of a Nose Job in Dallas

It depends, everyone will be a little bit different. The most important thing is that you find yourself a board certified plastic surgeon. Among us, there will be great variation in cost. The range will go from about 5 to 10 thousand dollars… that’s pretty average across the country nowadays. This figure includes the surgeon, the anesthesiologist and the operating room as well as the follow up visits after surgery.

It’s an outpatient surgery, meaning you can go home after you wake up. You’ll need to wait until you’re sixteen (that’s typically the earliest age most board certified plastic surgeons assign to do your surgery).

Most won’t discuss the exact cost until you go to their office for an evaluation, this way we know exactly what we’re dealing with. As you may imagine, we need to examine your nose, feel the cartilage and thickness of your skin, et cetera before planning your actual operation.

Posted in Rhinoplasty

A cup to C cup – Will 250cc Silicone Implants Work?

Almost everybody your size wants a C cup. Well, almost everybody – some unique cases come to mind but it’s good to hear that you want a reasonable result. We’ve all done patients your size, lots. This is a very tasteful choice and your plastic surgeon probably wants you to look classy so don’t get too nervous by our blog comments… we’re just blogging and you need to trust a plastic surgeon that examined you. The implant sounds a bit small to me also, but again, I haven’t examined you so he knows best. Another possibility is that you may have since gained a bit of confidence in the idea and now you’re comfortable with a larger implant… that happens often.

You’re an A and you want to be a C. Simple right? Not so. You should visit with your plastic surgeon while there’s still time to resize. Sometimes I’ll get patients to try on sizers in the office to get a feel for the implants she is choosing. She’ll look through the photo album and find someone with her features and we’ll know what implant that patient used. Lastly, a good communication tool is to bring in photos of girls with your figure and your desired breast size. This is just an estimate, you are not using it as a guarantee, but if you show your plastic surgeon a photo of a girl with what he sees as a D and you see as just right, then he’ll be using a different implant.

Think of the comments that you made during your first consultation. Those are very important to me when I’m listening to my patients expectations. If you said “I really want them to look natural on my body” or “I just don’t want them to be noticeable by everyone” or similar comments, then he’s trying to protect you from this social circumstance while still filling your soft tissue envelope according to his physical examination (when he measured you). It is very common to be hesitant on the size you’re picking and impossible for someone on this blog to tell you what size you should be using.

It’s nice to hear that you’ve selected silicone, I think that’s a good bet since your breasts will be more implant material than breast tissue so you want it to feel as natural as possible.

Best wishes on your augmentation, you’re probably going to look great with whichever implant you choose. In general, patients with your build are the easiest augmentations to get a result that looks smashing.

Posted in Breast Augmentation

Ricardo A. Meade, MD · Dallas Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
Dallas Plastic Surgery Institute · 9101 N. Central Expressway · Suite 600 · Dallas, TX 75231 · (214) 823-1691
Legacy Plastic Surgery Institute · 5425 W. Spring Creek Pkwy · Suite 120 · Plano, TX 75024 · (972) 801-2100

Dr. Meade is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon that specializes in breast augmentation, tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), rhinoplasty (nose surgery), liposuction and facelift. He serves Dallas, Plano, Fort Worth, Tulsa, Houston and San Antonio.