Power of Liposuction

Liposuction is a powerful tool to improve the contour of the abdomen.  It does not have to be some big procedure.  Often it takes only a little bit of vision to make simple improvements.  This patient has a lost some of what makes her sexy after pregnancy.  Her skin is good quality because she is young and the rectus muscle is still in good condition.  Minimal office liposuction can make a subtle, yet powerful change to her abdominal contour.

Mommy Makeover- The Restoration

Often I use the term 'frumpy' to describe the changes that pregnancy brings on both to the breasts and abdomen.  The tissue is loose, hanging, soft and redundant.  Often patients will say "I am not that bad and all I need is liposuction".

This sometimes is true, but in the end the outcome depends on your goal.  Liposuction might be fine if your skin elasticity allows it, but often I look at the patient, who is pictured on the left and describe her as 'frumpy'.

My goal is to contour and sculpt the patient so that they look the opposite of 'frumpy'.  This means restoring their tissue to make them tighter, sculpted and lifted to the original anatomic contour.  Believe it or not, the after photograph on the right is the same patient after her mommy makeover.  This included tummy tuck with lipo-sculpting and breast lift with a gel implant.  This patient has a restored self appearance and can feel confident that she can walk around in a bathing suit without any tell-tale signs of surgery.  This is the power of Mommy Makeover procedures.    

The Great Intersection- Why Plastic Surgery Is Unique

There is no doubt that plastic surgeons are scientists.  We are doing surgical procedures that are based on sound scientific principles of anatomy and re-arrangement of tissues.  However, I am always striving to find that Intersection, where science meets the art of plastic surgery.

Plastic surgery is also just as much an art as it is science.  When I see a patient, I try to examine each patient very carefully and approach each case with an eye to find that balance and intersection of science and art.  I am a sculptor, who is guided by scientific principles to get the most natural result possible for each patient.   

Is it Liposuction or Liposculpting? What am I getting?

Patients often ask me what is the difference between liposuction and liposculpting.  To me they are very different if you look at what we are really doing.

Liposuction is simply the removal of unwanted fat from a particular anatomic region.  Usually, these areas are resistant to diet and exercise.  If your skin elasticity is still well-maintained, then this is a great way to contour your body.  Here we are letting your body re-drape and contour.

Liposculpting is when we use liposuction to actually contour an area to our desired endpoint.  With liposculpting, I might liposuction an area, but not liposuction an area adjacent to that.  This means that the area that I left behind still has fat left.  This often leaves an area that you might call sculpted.  For instance, trying to create a six pack abdomen.  I might liposuction the inscriptions but the area above and below the inscriptions might not be suctioned.  Often I use liposculpting techniques during my tummy tuck procedures.  Some plastic surgeons might refer to this as etching.

In either case, these techniques give me the chance to be a sculptor.  I can carefully and artistically create an area that looks amazing!

When you come for your consult, be sure to ask these questions.

My Life Mission

Once again I personally want to thank all of you in my friend and family circle and among my patient population, who support my mission work.  I am committed to helping those who cannot get the plastic surgery that they desperately need throughout the world.
As most of you know, I have been lucky enough to befriend some of the world's best plastic surgeons and humanitarians to help me achieve this goal.  I never want to pretend that I do this work alone.

Please take a second and check out the video of my most recent mission to Bilaspur, India.  If you are interested to donate and contribute to future missions, please inform my office and they will guide you.

The Human Mission

I started seeing patients the moment we arrived at Apollo Hospital in the small rural town of Bilaspur. There was no time to rest. These patients had been waiting for us for weeks to arrive. It was during this clinic time, on this day, that I realized something that really struck me to the core. I have been to India to do these missions many times. Heck, I have been to the Philippines and other countries, but this was different somehow. Mostly on these missions, I was treating congenital deformities. These are deformities that patients have no control over. This is how they were born. I can deal with congenital deformities. This is what I was trained for, but what I was seeing today was horrific, sad and unimaginable to my Westernized mind. This was the fourth medical mission for the American Society of Indian Plastic Surgeons (ASIPS). I rounded up some of the best plastic surgeons, an all-star cast, from the US for this mission. Dr. Munish Batra (San Diego), Dr. Shashi Kusuma (Ft Lauderdale), Dr. Vineet Mehan (Fairfax), Dr. Satish Vyas (Detroit). Good fortune was smiling on me when my dearest friend Dr. Chanjiv Singh, an amazing plastic surgeon from India agreed to come along and even help set up this mission. We were a team of six dedicated plastic surgeons, dedicated to our craft, dedicated to humanity. Escorted up to the clinic area, I could see the patients lined up waiting for my arrival. Hundreds of people with all sorts of deformities anxiously awaiting my arrival. Just walking to the designated office became an ordeal as the patients wanted me to see them right in the hallway. « Doctor..doctor », they screamed wanting to be heard and seen right there in the hallway. I motioned for them to wait and assured them that we would see all of them, not knowing if I had just made them an empty promise. How could we see all these patients in one day. There were too many. Sitting in an office surrounded by local doctors, nurses and even hospital administrators, who were there to help me translate and communicate with the patients. My Indian heritage is obvious when you see my brown skin, but having spent most of my life in the US, it is just as obvious that I am a foreigner in my own land. I know how to speak Hindi, the main language of India, but I also know my limits. The first patient came in with severe burn contractures to her face and torso. She was an untouchable to the locals, who was about to touch me deep in my own humanity. The local staff practically ordering this woman to sit. Her eyes filled with fear and apprehension. A frozen scarred face. A mind probably filled with complex emotions that I would not even begin to comprehend. To her, I was a strange doctor from a far away land that she could not even imagine. To me, she was a patient that I came to help. Pulling my chair right up to this woman’s side, I wanted to stay eye level with her during my examination. I wanted her to feel comfortable with me. I wanted her to maintain her dignity, if there was any left. I wanted to show her the respect she so deserves and has earned. As she recounts her story, I realized how much pain this woman has endured and will continue to endure. First the fake version of the story, this was an accidental burn. Then the truth, a deliberate act by a cowardly man to disfigure a beautiful woman, a wife for reasons that make no sense to this Westernized brown doctor. Sadly enough, I have treated many burns in my life as a plastic surgeon, but this was different. This is a site that most human beings should never have to see, let alone endure. It is devastating to see a once beautiful woman turn into something so horrific. Her neck skin is fused to her chest and breast. Her lower lip is adhered by scar tissue to her chin, which now is a confluence of hard scar that is also adhered to her chest. Where once there were breasts are now nothing but hard thickened scar that have no semblance of anything human. Her womanhood stripped from her in a violent act of cowardice by her husband. I gently put my arms around this woman and assured her that we were going to help her to the best of our capability. Her inferiority complex was palpable. She was an untouchable thrown out of her own world and rejected to fend for herself. This woman was probably clinging to whatever humanity and dignity that still remains in her. Painful and extremely disfuguring scars are all this woman knows and will ever know. My heart was bleeding for this woman. I am her doctor but I am also a fellow human being, who can see right through her suffering eyes. This was the moment that struck me. This was not a congenital deformity I was treating, this was a preventable crime committed by the one person she probably trusted the most, her husband. This woman was a hero to me just because she was alive. I wanted to reach out and touch her heart with my hands, instead all I could offer her was my scalpel and a promise to restore her to some semblance of normal. If I could cut out her pain with my knife blade, I would have offered her that. With my knife blade, I would try to restore her dignity, restore her womanhood, restore her humanity. This untouchable woman touched me in ways too profound even for me to comprehend. As I booked her surgery, I motioned the staff to bring in the next patient. I suddenly realized, this was only my first patient. This was going to be a long day. The American Society of Indian Plastic Surgeons (ASIPS) has dedicated its existence to providing access to plastic surgery to those extremely underserved in rural India.

How do you choose a size for breast augmentation?

This is perhaps the most fun part of the procedure. The goal of the augmentation is to restore volume and projection to the breast. During a consultation, patients can "try on" different sized implants to see which size gives the most natural appearance. Being attentive to a patient's wishes and desires is extremely crucial in finalizing the correct size.

The patient's height and body shape, along with the pre-surgical dimensions of her breast plays a prominent role in determining the size to acheive a natural look. The pre- operative tissue stretch and existing volume will determine the size of the implant that is chosen. Implants come in various dimensions and profiles and implants that are too large can often distort the anatomy. The surgeon will guide you in making the best choice to suite your individual goals.

Most of my patients want a natural look that fits their body. This is desirable in my opinion. Often when we hear that there is a problem, it is usually related to the implant being too large for a patient's frame. The other issue is that the implant should not be too small either. I usually give patients a range of sizes and often pick the size that best fits their body.