Imagine being more beautiful today than ever before; of making the most of your life by re-capturing and enhancing the look that expresses the best possible you. Today's the day to begin loving what you see in the mirror, and loving what others will see in you. A good plastic or cosmetic surgeon will be caring, skilled and experienced with a sharp eye for details and chose the field of plastic and cosmetic surgery because they want to help others achieve the inward and outward beauty they desire.

Plastic surgeons such as Dr. Peter Johnson believes that beauty is in the details, that each person’s goal is unique and requires a customized approach. "I believe that even the smallest improvement can change your outlook on life" says Dr Johnson. The best of plastic surgeons will meet with you for a personal and confidential consultation in a beautiful, warm and relaxed environment, helping you to make a fresh start and look better than ever.

As people age, the effects of gravity, exposure to the sun, and the stresses of daily life can be seen in their faces. Deep creases form between the nose and mouth; the jawline grows slack and jowly; folds and fat deposits appear around the neck.

A facelift (technically known as rhytidectomy) can't stop this aging process. What it can do is "set back the clock," improving the most visible signs of aging by removing excess fat, tightening underlying muscles, and redraping the skin of your face and neck. A facelift can be done alone, or in conjunction with other procedures such as a forehead lift, eyelid surgery, or nose reshaping.

If you're considering a facelift, this information will give you a basic understanding of the procedure when it can help, how it's performed, and what results you can expect. It can't answer all of your questions, since a lot depends on the individual patient and the surgeon. Please ask your surgeon about anything you don't understand.

The Best Candidates for a Facelift

The best candidate for a facelift is a man or woman whose face and neck have begun to sag, but whose skin still has some elasticity and whose bone structure is strong and well-defined. Most patients are in their forties to sixties, but facelifts can be done successfully on people in their seventies or eighties as well.

A facelift can make you look younger and fresher, and it may enhance your self- confidence in the process. But it can't give you a totally different look, nor can it restore the health and vitality of your youth. Before you decide to have surgery, think carefully about your expectations and discuss them with your cosmetic surgeon.

Patients who desire liposuction surgery usually are seeking to reduce the size of a protruding fat deposits throughout the body. This procedure is best for individuals who are seeking to reduce fat deposits and are in relatively good health. Age is not a factor in liposuction, except that older patients' skin may not be as elastic and may not yield the same result as a person with more elastic skin. Eliminating these deposits may also affect an individual's confidence, leading them to seek their own Liposuction surgery procedure.

A liposuction can help such individuals restore a thinner and fitter looking contour to their bodies. The specified portion of the body is made smaller to better match the shape of the patient. The plastic surgeon accomplishes this by removing excess fat through a vacuuming procedure. This not only helps to restore the physical appearance of the patient, but also restores self-confidence and respect to the patient.

Liposuction is a very individualized procedure in which your goals should be realistically determined and discussed with your plastic surgeon. Together you will determine what specific procedures will be performed. Liposuction is often performed in conjunction with other procedures such as abdominoplasty to achieve an effect that better matches the proportions of the body. Once your goals have been determined you will set a date for this procedure and will be given instructions about how to prepare.

Although BOTOX® may look easy to administer, it is not this aspect which is most important to the outcome. The clinician's experience and "aesthetic eye" is the key to a great outcome with BOTOX®.

Treatments take 20-30 minutes unless you opt not to have your skin numbed prior to the injections, then the treatment should take less than 10 minutes. Several tiny injections are given in the areas that you and your provider have decided upon. They usually are barely appreciable in sensation or appearance following the injection. You can reapply makeup to the treated areas immediately after the session.

There are no specific after care instructions. If this is the first time you have had Botox injections, you will not notice any change for at least 3 days and the complete effect will take up to 14 days.

Side effects from Botox are very rare, but headaches can occur temporarily after the injection – especially in patients who suffer from frequent headaches. Ironically, Botox injections often help with frequent headache patients once the Botox takes effect. Bruising can occur although very infrequently. If you are prone to bruising or are on blood thinners please notify your caregiver; special techniques and recommendations will be used to try to minimize your bruising risk. If bruising does occur it will not affect your final result and typically is minor enough that makeup coverage will conceal it.

It is always recommended that anyone considering a cosmetic or plastic surgery procedure first consult with a qualified, and experienced cosmetic surgeon. Proper research and pre-procedure planning is an important step in a decision to undergo a cosmetic procedure, and one that should not be taken lightly. Ensure you fully understand the procedure, its risks, and have a realistic expectation of the results.

Where is Botox® Cosmetic Used?

Am I a good candidate?

How is Botox® Cosmetic Administered?

Are the injections painful

When will I notice the difference and how long will it last?

What happens as treatment begins to wear off?

Is there any downtime?

Breast reduction can be performed at any age, but plastic surgeons usually recommend waiting until breast development has stopped. Childbirth and breast-feeding may have significant and unpredictable effects on the size and shape of your breasts. Nevertheless, many women decide to undergo breast reduction before having children and feel that they can address any subsequent changes later. If you plan to breast-feed in the future, you should discuss this with your plastic surgeon.

During the consultation, you will be asked about your desired breast size as well as anything else about your breasts that you would like to see improved. This will help your plastic surgeon to understand your expectations and determine whether they realistically can be achieved.

BOTOX® treatments can be an excellent, non-invasive alternative to surgery. Plastic and Cosmetic Surgeons most commonly uses BOTOX® to treat the vertical lines between the eyebrows, frown lines, horizontal lines on the forehead, or crow's feet, the wrinkling along the sides of the eyes. Bands or strings along the neck may also respond to this treatment.

BOTOX®, a purified protein, is injected into small muscles in the face or neck, temporarily blocking the nerve endings. This reduces wrinkles, stress and tension that are reflected in the face. A few local pricks, taking just minutes, can complete the treatment, softening the lines caused by a frown or a squint. The injections can last for up to six months. Repeat treatment can thin or flatten the muscles and keep tension from re-appearing. Improvement is nearly immediate, as you experience a tension-free "afterglow".

Soft Tissue Fillers

Tissue enhancement with a fat transfer is a semi-permanent treatment to restore natural volume for a more youthful appearance. This is a procedure that many celebrities are choosing these days. By injecting your own fat into the soft tissue layers, Cosmetic surgeons are able to artistically erase and smooth facial lines. Fat transfer is also very effective in creating a luscious, fuller lip line and in filling hollows in the upper or lower eyelid. Other injectable fillers can stop wrinkles in their tracks. Dermal fillers are innovative, non-surgical treatments to help rejuvenate and re-shape the face by reducing fine lines and creases. Hyaluronic-acid-based fillers, like Hylaform, Restylane, Captique and Juvéderm, or collagen-replacement fillers, like Sculptra, can help turn back the clock and provide limitless benefits.

Microdermabrasion

The effects of gravity, the stresses of daily life, and even just the evidence of time become visible in peoples' faces, causes the formation of deep creases between the nose and mouth, the loosening and slackening of the jaw line, the development of jowls, and the appearance of both folds and fat deposits on and around the neck.

While a Facelift Surgery procedure (also known as a Rhytidectomy) cannot stop or even slow down the aging process, it can set back the clock by cosmetically altering and adjusting the placement of the skin on your face and neck, as well as removing excess fat and tightening the muscles underneath the skin. Facelift procedures may be accompanied by a forehead lift, eyelid surgery, nose reshaping, or other procedures.

Who is a Candidate for a Facelift?

Ideal candidates for facelift surgery are men or women whose skin on their neck and face has begun to sag, although their skin still retains some of its elasticity. A strong, well-defined bone structure also makes the procedure more simple. While some patients are in their seventies or eighties, most recipients of a facelift are in their forties to sixties. After a facelift, a patient will still look like themselves, but will help you look younger and fresher and may, accordingly, increase your self-confidence; it cannot, however, give you more youthful energy or vitality.

When you have your consultation with your plastic surgeon, your face, skin, and underlying bone will be evaluated. In addition, your medical history will be reviewed in order to check for potentially related issues, including high blood pressure, problems regarding blood clotting, or your skin's tendency to form larger, excessive scars. During your consultation, it is also important to discuss both your expectations and your goals with your surgeon in order to ensure the desired, realistic results.

The most common reason for breast augmentation surgery is a desire for larger breasts. In general plastic surgeons not recommend cosmetic breast augmentation for women under 18 years of age. Many women requesting breast augmentation have lost breast volume after pregnancy and nursing or simply with aging.

WHAT CHANGES CAN BE EXPECTED?

The breasts will be larger. A sagging breast can be lifted The most appropriate size implant is determined after a physical examination and is a joint decision between you and your plastic surgeon. Some women want only a very small implant, to restore the breast size and perhaps shape they had before childbearing. A small percentage of women want very large breasts. This may not be advisable, because there may not be enough support in the breast tissues, and too large an implant in these women can cause thinning of the skin or increase the risk of "capsular contracture." This is a hardening of the breast caused by shrinkage of the normal scar envelope that the body makes around any implant.

Lip augmentation procedures increase the size of the lips to make them fuller and can also be used to define the vermilion border of the lips. Upper and lower lips can be treated individually or at the same time.

Lip augmentation can be accomplished either surgically or with the injection of temporary (dermal) fillers. Autologous fat injections to the lips are a longer lasting alernative to the dermal fillers.

During the fat injection procedure, fat is harvested from another area of the body, usually the abdomen, and the fat is separated, purified and injected with small needles into the lips. Because not all of the fat will survive, the lips are over-corrected at first so that the final result will meet your expectations. The procedure can be done as an outpatient with some light sedation anesthesia. This is often performed in conjunction with other procedures. The result can last 6 months to several years. Occasionally patients may wish to repeat the procedure.

Liposuction is one of the most popular aesthetic plastic surgery procedures performed. That fact is not too surprising considering some fat deposits are quite resistant to diet and exercise. In women, the hips thighs and abdomen are stubborn. In men, the abdomen and lower back are commonly problematic. Liposuction is a safe and effective way to remove these unwanted fatty prominences.

There are so many different types of liposuction surgery available now; it can be confusing trying to determine what the best choice for you might be. Liposuction can be broken down in to two major types. Those that include the use of energy such as laser or ultrasound to remove the fat, and those that rely on the plastic surgeons own efforts to remove the fat.

Some surgeons are strong believers in avoiding the use of energy to remove fat. These modalities create heat in the tissues and in some studies have been shown to have increased complication rates, including burns and contour deformities. New research is supporting that it is important to leave healthy fat behind to assist in healing and to obtain better contouring. This newer data supports the decision to use the super-wet liposuction in many plastic surgeon's practices. This method utilizes fluid being placed into the fatty deposits with a small tube, and then the excess fat is suctioned away utilizing small tubes that are inserted and operated by the surgeon without the use of heat or ultrasound energy. The fluid that is instilled contains medications that decreases blood loss and provides anesthetic to the area for better post-operative comfort.

Many patients request the least down-time possible and consequently inquire about avoiding anesthesia. Performing these procedures under local anesthesia limits the amount of fat that can be removed and adequate comfort can be difficult to insure. Other patients inquire about the use of fat dissolving chemicals that can be injected while the patient is awake. These substances are not FDA approved, and no long term follow-up data on performance, efficacy or safety is available. Additionally, repeated treatments are required and the results that have been seen are frequently inadequate.