Vaginal cosmetic surgery – don’t be embarrassed!
Posted in: Vaginal Plastic Surgery | September 26, 2010 | 3 Comments »
I’ve had a few girls contact me on my website about vaginal cosmetic surgery. Now, every woman’s anatomy is variable but in general, most women do not like having their labia minora protrude and hang. This can become more noticeable after pregnancy. Sometimes, women are born with significant asymmetry between labia – one is much larger than the other. Most of them stated that they felt embarrassed wearing leggings or yoga pants and felt discomfort with common activities like exercising or riding a bike. In many cases, the main complaint is women feeling self-conscious during intimacy. The most common procedure performed in this area is labiaplasty – reduction of the labia minora.
A “labiaplasty” involves trimming some of the excessive labia that shows. The suture line is hidden along the inner edge of the labia. All sutures are dissolvable so they don’t need to be removed after surgery. Post operatively patients are instructed to refrain from sexual intercourse for about a month.
Overall most women are extremely happy with their results and feel more confident and comfortable.
Dr. Catherine Huang Begovic
Skin Care – What’s the truth behind the hype
Posted in: Plastic Surgery Studies, Skin Care | September 20, 2010 | Comments Off
I got a question today on my site about skincare. I think a lot of people get confused by the different marketing campaigns and don’t know what to use. I
personally have been passionate about skin and skincare my entire life. My mother taught me at a young age how to care for my skin – I think I’ve been using sunscreen and skin care products before I could walk!
A few years ago, I got fed up with all the marketing gimmicks and used my Harvard Molecular & Cellular Biology background to actually look at the scientific data and research behind different anti-aging skin care ingredients. My research was published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal.
Just like you’d look at the ingredients in the food you eat – you should look at the ingredients in what you put on your skin. I don’t want to give it away so read my article!
The Aesthetic Surgery Journal “The Truth about over the counter topical anti-aging products” http://www.spsscs.org/download/otc.pdf
Enjoy!!!!
Dr. Cat Huang Begovic
Breast augmentation research – Recent publication in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal by Dr. Catherine Huang Begovic
Posted in: Breast Augmentation, Breast Implants, Dr. Cat in the media, Plastic Surgery Studies | September 4, 2010 | 3 Comments »
One of the most common and disfiguring complications of breast implants is capsular contracture. This is scar tissue that forms around the implant and causes discomfort or distortion of the breast. No one knows what predisposes certain women to develop this scar tissue. There have been different theories such as a genetic predisposition to inflammation forming scar, a small amount of blood around the implant that causes increased inflammation, or a bacterial film that forms around the implant causing an inflammatory response. In surgery I do everything possible to decrease any of these factors – making sure there is absolutely no bleeding or oozing before placing the implant, washing the implant pocket multiple times with saline, antibiotic solution, and betadine to clear out any debris, bacteria, or blood, and changing to new clean and sterile gloves before touching each implant.
I am committed to research to battle the problem of capsular contracture. My latest research has just been published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal. I’ve copied the abstract below.
Aesthet Surg J. 2010 May;30(3):404-8.
Effects of Singulair (montelukast) treatment for capsular contracture.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Capsular contracture (CC) is one of the most common complications of breast augmentation surgery. Leukotrienes are implicated in the inflammatory cascade and have been postulated to be involved in the formation of CC. Therefore, leukotriene antagonists Accolate and Singulair have been prescribed by plastic surgeons off-label to treat and prevent CC. To date, there are no studies investigating the efficacy of Singulair on CC.
OBJECTIVE: The authors retrospectively review a series of patients treated with Singulair to determine whether it improves CC after breast implant surgery.
METHODS: Nineteen patients treated with Singulair by the senior surgeon (NH) after implant placement from March 2006 to November 2009 were included in this study. Follow-up on Singulair efficacy was obtained by a combination of office chart review and standardized telephone questionnaire. Results were characterized as complete improvement, improvement, no change, or worse.
RESULTS: Seventeen patients presented with CC resulting from a variety of breast operations. Two patients who had a history of recurrent CC were prescribed Singulair prophylactically immediately after surgery. Twenty-one breasts with existing CC were included in the total. Two (11%) patients became worse, three (16%) patients had no change, five (26%) improved, seven (37%) completely improved, and two (11%) were prevented from having CC formation.
CONCLUSION: Our preliminary study shows that Singulair improves CC. Breasts with mild CC (Baker score < III) appeared to have better improvement with Singulair compared to those with more severe contracture (Baker score III and IV). Singulair is well tolerated with minimal side effects and can be administered to patients after breast implant surgery to improve CC.
