Red Carpet Over-Plumping
January 30th, 2012
It’s Hollywood Award Season again. You might remember the Foster Farms ad campaign for their chicken products about over-plumping. In their television commercial, chickens are seen in a plastic surgeon’s office receiving injections to make them plumper. It is quite obvious that they are way too plump. This situation is underscored by the distorted facial appearance of the surgeon’s nurse when she finally reveals her face to the camera. It is a funny parody of the sometimes over-zealous use of fillers in Hollywood, perhaps on the Red Carpet this time of year.
I see over-plumping all the time, especially in the lips. The individuals, usually women, loose all of their natural lip shape and end up with what is often referred to as “trout pout.” They look as if the they have sausages for lips. The over-injection usually masks all natural proportion. The television commercial effectively uses this phenomenon for optimum comedic effect. However, I agree with the tagline, over plumping is never good.
A word of caution, the over-injection of any area of the body can lead to skin loss and terrible, uncorrectable scarring. The large volume of material simply reduces the blood flow to the treated area in such a way that the skin, muscle and fat die. Fortunately, this complication is very rare when only modest amounts of filler materials are used.
Finally, please avoid all silicone injections for any cosmetic reasons. The risk of chronic long term inflammation which arises is not worth it.
Recall of French Breast Implants
January 18th, 2012
I recently received a guide from The American Society Aesthetic of Plastic Surgery for member plastic surgeons, addressing their concern for patients presenting with PIP Implants. The French manufacturer Poly Implant Prostheses (PIP) and the Dutch company Rofil Medical used inferior, industrial grade, silicone in the breast implants they produced and sold.
What is wrong with the PIP/ROFIL implants? These products have a higher rupture rate than other available implants and these implants were never FDA approved here. Countries where these implants were available include England, France, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Germany or the Czech Republic. However, medical tourism is popular and it is possible that some Americans may also have these types of implants.
I agree with the guidelines of The American Aesthetic Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and my colleagues at The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS) and who support the recommendation of the French authorities to remove the implants as a precaution, even if no symptoms or hints of rupture or leakage are present. Consult your physician if you have questions regarding what type of implants you have.
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