Celebs and their plastic surgery

Articles about Plastic Surgery Video

Medicare Funding Eyelid Lifts – Possible Insurance Fraud?

Monday, June 3rd, 2013

The media has been all over this one. Statistics are showing that the number of people utilizing Medicare to pay for upper eyelid lifts has increased significantly. From Salon.com:

From 2001 to 2011, eyelid lifts charged to Medicare more than tripled to 136,000 annually, according to a review of physician billing data by the Center for Public Integrity. In 2001, physicians billed taxpayers a total of $20 million for the procedure. By 2011, the price tag had quadrupled to $80 million. The number of physicians billing the surgery more than doubled.

“With this kind of management malpractice, it’s little wonder that the [Medicare] program is in such dire shape,” said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla), who is also a physician. “The federal government is essentially asking people to game the system. Every dollar we spend on cosmetic surgery that isn’t necessary is a dollar that can’t be used to shore up the program for people who need it the most.”

Plastic surgeons say there are a number of legitimate reasons for the spike, including a tendency among the elderly to seek fixes for real medical issues they might have quietly suffered through even a decade ago. But surgeons also acknowledge an increased awareness of the surgery fueled by reality television, word-of-mouth referrals, and advertising often including dramatic before-and-after photographs that promises a more youthful appearance. And doctors concede they face increased pressure from patients to perform eyelid lifts, even when they do not meet Medicare’s requirement that peripheral vision actually be impaired.

In my practice, I haven’t seen an increase in the number of seniors having this covered by Medicare. Medicare has specific guidelines for what is needed to get an eyelid lift covered. That being said, it’s possible for some patients (and doctors) to game the system by falsifying visual field testing. I’ve had more than one patient ask me to bill insurance for their eyelid lift when it’s not indicated. I just tell them that I don’t commit fraud.

Here is a video I did for Fox News of an eyelid lift that was billed to insurance (appropriately!):

For more on this story, visit Salon.com.

Double Jaw Surgery In South Korea – A Horrifying New Trend

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013

This is a fascinating video from Newsy about a new trend in Korean plastic surgery: the double jaw surgery. This is an operation where the jaw is broken in two places, reshaped, and wired shut for six weeks. Apparently, many South Koreans are having this done in order to thin their jawlines to look more ‘attractive.’ It’s an excruciatingly painful, invasive operation. I should know. I’ve had it done.

I wrote about this in my book “In Stitches,” but during high school my jaw grew to epic proportions. I had trouble closing my mouth and eating. I thought I looked deformed. So I underwent surgery to break my jaw and set it back. And voila! It worked.

But it hurt like hell.

To anyone who is considering double jaw surgery and really, truly does not need it: Don’t Do It! Watch the video about to hear stories from people who’ve regretted it. If you do have a real orthognathic problem, though, make sure you see a reputable oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Don’t trust this surgery to just anyone.

Breaking Down Plastic Surgery At The Oscars On Fox News!

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

Fox 2 News Headlines

Thank you to my friend Deena Centofanti for having me on to dish about celebs, plastic surgery, and the Oscars!

Black Market Silicone Buttock Injections On “The Doctor Oz Show”

Friday, February 15th, 2013

I recently filmed a segment on the Dr. Oz Show where we discussed silicone buttock injections. One of my patients from Michigan underwent injection of over 50 vials of industrial strength silicone by a non-licensed injector. I join Dr. Oz, psychologist Dr. Mike Dow, and the patient Karmello to discuss the danger she is putting herself in. It’s definitely an eye-opening show. You can view it here: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/dr-oz-investigates-strange-addictions-pt-3

Dying To Be Beautiful – Beauty Trends That Can Prove Lethal – On “Katie”

Thursday, February 7th, 2013

The “Katie” show recently aired an episode that focused on black market and botched plastic surgery. She interviewed a woman who lost both arms and both butt cheeks after illegal silicone injections into her buttocks, a son and daughter whose mother died at the hands of a family doc performing liposuction, and a woman who was permanently scarred by permanent filler injections under her eyes. Here are the two segments that featured yours truly. I discuss what happened to my patient and give pointers on how to avoid becoming a victim of doctors masquerading as plastic surgeons.

To view the rest of the episode, click HERE to go to the “Katie” site.

RealSelf.com Guide To Post-Surgical Scar Care

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

I recently partnered with the prominent plastic surgery site RealSelf.com to tape a series of Google Hangout discussions on care for scars after plastic surgery. We tackled subjects like getting sunlight on your scars, silicone scar treatments, and laser treatments. Here is the video from one of the segments. For the rest of them, click HERE to check out the information on RealSelf.com

“Plastic Wives” on Nightline – What Do You Think?

Tuesday, January 29th, 2013

Nightline recently ran a story interviewing the four women on TLC’s Plastic Wives special. They are the wives of four prominent Beverly Hills cosmetic docs, including Extra’s Dayna Devon. I saw a small snippet of the show last night and have it DVR’d, but haven’t caught the whole thing. The interview here, though, and the segment that I’ve seen reveal a side of Beverly Hills plastic surgery that is glamorized and dramatized. I’ve never met any of the doctors on the program, but am familiar with two of them (Dr. Matlock and Dr. Moelleken).

I think viewers should keep in mind that the producers of this show purposely cast plastic surgery wives that would make for a controversial, drama-filled hour. I know several plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills whose wives are nothing like the plastic surgery-addicted women on this program. While it is true that many plastic surgeons operate on their family members (even plastic surgeons in the Midwest), the majority of them haven’t had “head-to-cameltoe” liposuction like they mentioned here. In fact, the only time I’ve operated on my wife is to take off a lipoma from her hip! And that, my friends, doesn’t make a reality show.

I’m looking forward to watching the rest of Plastic Wives. If you’ve seen it, I’d love to know what you think.

Plastic Wives On TLC: Real Housewives Meets Dr. 90210

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

I saw a notice online for this program when they were casting it. A friend of mine was interviewed for it, but passed over since his wife isn’t obsessed with getting work done, the two of them get along really well, and their family isn’t dysfunctional. That being said, I’m looking forward to seeing this show. Dysfunction does make for good TV!

Check out Plastic Wives on TLC, premiering Sunday, Jan 27th at 10/9C.

How To Get Rid Of Spider Veins and Varicose Veins

Tuesday, January 1st, 2013

This is an ABC daytime TV segment I recently did on spider veins and varicose vein treatments. I demonstrate one of the newest lasers to treat sipder veins, and discuss the latest surgical and non-surgical techniques to reduce varicose veins. Thank you to the host, the lovely and wonderful Dr. Jennifer Ashton, for bravely showing the audience her “Daddy Longleg” veins!

Bagel Face and Simon Cowell Placenta Facials

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

Here is a video from a recent Fox News segment I did on the bizarre Japanese phenomenon of the Bagel Face and rumors that Simon Cowell is undergoing placenta facials. The visuals of the bagel face are incredible! Who thinks up this stuff??

Botched Buttock Implant Video – Disturbing

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

This is a video of a woman with what appears to be a botched buttock implant. Crazy! Her butt looks big enough without an implant in it. So why did this happen?

It appears that the implant was likely not placed under the fascia or within the muscle. If it’s placed too close to the surface, in a large pocket, then it can move and flip like this. I see this in women with breast implants above the muscle, too. I’m not a big fan of buttock implants, and prefer to enhance buttocks with a person’s own fat. That can avoid complications like this. Unfortunately, not everyone has enough fat to enhance their buttocks with!

Sharon Osbourne Reveals That She Underwent A Double Mastectomy And Has Sworn Off Any Further Plastic Surgery

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

Here is a revealing interview with Sharon Osbourne on her CBS show The Talk. Sharon shares that genetic testing revealed she carried a gene for breast cancer, and therefore underwent a double mastectomy for prophylaxis. She has also sworn off any further plastic surgery, due to seeing photos of herself looking like she’s had work done.

I think it’s great that Sharon is so open about her health and plastic surgery. It sounds like her genetic testing wasn’t all that planned, so it’s good that the circumstances occurred as they did. Some genes carry a nearly 100% risk of developing breast cancer, so it’s important that anyone with a major family history of breast cancer talk with their doctor about whether genetic testing might be important for them. Technology has really gone a long way in saving lives that could have otherwise been lost. It’s good that Sharon brought this topic up.

I would also convey to Sharon that I think the majority of her plastic surgery looked very well done! I wouldn’t recommend that she swear off ALL plastic surgery. In general, it’s served her well!

Plastic Surgeon Injects His Own Face With 35 Vials Of Juvederm!

Monday, August 20th, 2012

Click HERE for video. I removed the video since it automatically played. So annoying!

Florida plastic surgeon Dr. Ryan Maercks filmed himself injecting his own face with 35 vials of Juvederm, as a way to show his patients how volumetric filling of the face is a very good method of facial rejuvenation. Yes, he injected it into his own face! Check out the video. It’s pretty shocking.

I agree with Dr. Maercks that one problem with filler injections is that many patients can only afford a syringe or two. Optimal results can take multiple syringes, which can be unaffordable. But, instead of injecting a dozen vials of Juvederm at $500 each, I prefer using fat grafting or Sculptra. Results with these treatments last a lot longer than Juvederm and are much less expensive.

So what do you think? What would you think about your plastic surgeon if he injected 35 vials of Juvederm into his face?

If you’re one of my patients, then make no mistake. I would never inject my face with 35 vials of Juvederm. I can barely pop a pimple on my face, much less stick needles into it.

Story credit: http://www.realself.com/blog/plastic-surgeon-injects-own-face-video

Plastic Surgery For Bullied Kids?

Sunday, August 12th, 2012

This is an interesting segment from Sanjay Gupta and CNN where he follows a young woman who has an otoplasty, rhinoplasty, and chin augmentation to help prevent her from being bullied. It’s a sad statement on society that children feel the need to have plastic surgery in order to prevent bullying.

It’s the bullies that need to change, not the kids being bullied. I previously debated this topic on Fox News with my colleague, Dr. Jennifer Walden from Austin, TX. You can see that video streaming HERE.

Couples Plastic Surgery: My “Good Morning America” Segment

Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

I’m finding more and more couples coming in to both have work done. Here is the streaming video of my segment on GMA yesterday. Hope you enjoy it!

Celebrity Plastic Surgery – My Segment On National Canadian TV

Tuesday, July 31st, 2012

This is a segment I did for a national Canadian entertainment news program. It’s always fun to talk about celebrities and plastic surgery. Gotta love the Canadians, too!

Social Media Users Resorting To Plastic Surgery

Monday, July 30th, 2012

I discussed this recently on Fox News, but here is a segment from ABC News featuring the man who taught me how to insert chin implants, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen. It’s true that social media is spurring some people to have plastic surgery, as they are noticing certain facial features that weren’t apparent to them before. Dr. E did a very nice job on this one. For more on Dr. Ellenbogen, click HERE.

Akron Woman Panhandles For Breast Implants

Monday, July 16th, 2012

Now I’ve seen everything! An Ohio woman was recently videotaped panhandling for money to buy breast implants! From WUSA9.com:

Dressed in a bikini, Chrissy Lance of Rittman, staked out the corner of Manchester Road and Carnegie Avenue to collect money with a sign that read “Not homeless. Need boobs.”

Rittman, who says she has the required license to panhandle in Akron, says she has raised about $90 and isn’t leaving her spot until she reaches her goal.

She works as a barmaid and says the implants will go far to “help improve her self esteem.”
This is pretty funny. If she wants free implants, you’d think she’d go to myfreeimplants.com instead. This is a website where benefactors donate money to women to help pay for their breast implants. In return, typically all the receiver of the money and implants does is send photos of their new breasts to the benefactor. It sounds sleezy, but people are actually getting their breast implants paid for this way. I had one patient who had her breast augmentation completely covered by the benefactors on this site!

Cosmetic Toe Surgery On The Rise

Saturday, July 14th, 2012

Nightline recently aired this video describing the new trend in cosmetic toe surgery. Podiatrists are now shortening toes, injecting fat into the balls of the feet, and even treating “toe-besity,” or excessively fat toes. I’ve never performed any of these procedures, but I can understand why some women would want to shorten their second toes for comfort reasons. Some women with excessively-long second toes suffer pain when wearing shoes, even if they’re not fancy stilettos, as the long second toe can rub and cramp on the front of the shoe. Fat or Restylane can be injected into the balls of the feet to increase comfort for people who stand a lot during the day.

I have nothing against podiatrists performing cosmetic foot surgery. It’s socially acceptable for plastic surgeons to enlare breasts, liposuction fat, and lift faces. Some plastic surgeons are even performing cosmetic genital surgery (not me). So why not make the feet look nicer?

Belviq – New FDA Approved Drug For Weight Loss

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

This is a segment I did on HLN’s new Evening Express news program. We discuss the new FDA approved weight loss drug Belviq. It’s the first weight loss drug approved by the FDA in 13 years. Although it’s mechanism of action is similar to the controversial FenFen, there is no evidence that Belviq causes heart valve problems like FenFen did. Patients who took the drug lost an average of 5% of their body weight after a year. Not a huge difference, but could be very helpful in people who combine it with a healthy diet and regular exercise. Belviq is expected to hit pharmacies within the next 4-6 months.

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