ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The plastic surgery market continues to show significant growth – two years in a row. According to statistics released today by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), 13.8 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures (both surgical and minimally-invasive) were performed in the United States in 2011, up 5 percent since 2010. In addition, 5.5 million reconstructive plastic surgery procedures were performed last year, up 5 percent.
“While the rate of economic recovery in the U.S. is still uncertain, 2011 proved to be a good year for plastic surgery,” said the ASPS President. “Consumer confidence was up, auto sales rose 10 percent, so it is not surprising that we would also see increased demand for plastic surgery procedures.”

Cosmetic surgical procedures increased 2 percent, with nearly 1.6 million procedures in 2011. The top five surgical procedures were:

• Breast augmentation (307,000 procedures, up 4 percent)
• Nose reshaping (244,000 procedures, down 3 percent)
• Liposuction (205,000 procedures, up 1 percent)
• Eyelid surgery (196,000 procedures, down 6 percent)
• Facelift (119,000 procedures, up 5 percent)

Facelifts are among the top five cosmetic surgical procedures for the first time since 2004, replacing tummy tucks. Interestingly, a procedure popular with men, chin augmentation, nearly doubled in 2011, with 21,000 procedures performed, up 71 percent. Lip augmentation also rose significantly – up 49 percent, with more than 25,000 procedures performed.

Cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures increased 6 percent, with nearly 12.2 million procedures in 2011. The top five minimally-invasive procedures were:

• Botulinum toxin type A (5.7 million procedures, up 5 percent)
• Soft tissue fillers (1.9 million procedures, up 7 percent)
• Chemical peel (1.1 million procedures, down 3 percent)
• Laser hair removal (1.1 million procedures, up 15 percent)
• Microdermabrasion (900,000 procedures, up 9 percent)

Soft tissue fillers like hyaluronic acid (Restylane^®, Juvederm Ultra^®, etc.), calcium hydroxylapatite (Radiesse^®), and fat injections experienced some of the largest growth in the minimally-invasive market during 2011. More than 1.3 million hylauronic acid procedures were performed in 2011, up 9 percent; 286,000 calcium hydroxylapatite procedures, up 36 percent; and 68,000 fat injections, up 19 percent.

Reconstructive plastic surgery, which improves function and appearance to abnormal structures, increased 5 percent in 2011. The top five reconstructive procedures were:

• Tumor removal (4.2 million, up 3 percent)
• Laceration repair (303,000, down 15 percent)
• Maxillofacial surgery (195,000, up 125 percent)
• Scar revision (175,000, up 9 percent)
• Hand surgery (120,000, up 13 percent)

Breast reconstruction rates continue to rise, with more than 96,000 procedures performed last year, up 3 percent since 2010.

For your local listings (sorry, not carried in Michigan), visit the Mancow site HERE.

“I set out to write the definitive book about growing up Asian American,  going through medical school—all true, unadulterated, unfiltered, behind the  scenes, warts and all—and becoming a doctor,” Youn explained. “I wanted my book  to reveal the real life of a doctor-to-be.  Real life can be laugh-out-loud  funny, shocking, heart-breaking, and heart-warming.”

Youn took the time to speak with us about the  life lessons he faced during medical school, and what you can learn from them  too.

Q: “Tiger parenting” garnered a lot of media attention last year and a lot  of controversy. Would you describe your father as a tiger parent – and how would  you say your upbringing influenced your life and career path?

A: My dad is a Tiger Father.  He grew up on a small rice farm in rural  Korea.  Incredibly, like many first generation Asian immigrants, he was  able to live the American dream and become a successful physician.   Unfortunately, all he knew were two extremes: being dirt poor in Korea and  being a wealthy doctor in America.  Nothing in between.  That’s why  the day I was born he decided I would be a doctor, too.  He feared that if  I became anything else I would end up living in the kind of poverty he’d worked  so hard to escape.

As the dutiful son, I followed my Tiger Father’s instructions and became a  doctor.  As time passed, I began to see my dad in a completely different  way.  He went from being the tyrannical, controlling Tiger Father to a  person whom I appreciated and respected, faults and all.  I even began to  find humor in how he raised me.  Besides, how could anyone not see humor in  a father who says, “You want to be a pediatrician?  Little people, little  dollah!  Spend all day giving suckers to little babies!”  If I didn’t  laugh, I would have cried.

Q: Being an outsider is an ongoing theme in your book, but ultimately, it  didn’t seem to hold you back. What is your advice to others who are going  through these feelings? How did you move past these feelings yourself?

A: Most of us have moments in our lives where we feel like an outsider, an  outcast.  For some, these feelings last a week or a month.  For me,  these feelings lasted twenty-two years!  During high school I was  toothpick-thin, with a terrible haircut, Coke-bottle glasses, braces, and  Hannibal Lecter-like headgear.  In college I was a big loser.  I  couldn’t find a single girl who wanted to date me for the entire four years!

My advice to anyone who is currently feeling left out, lonely, or different  from everyone else is to PERSEVERE.  Life changes, and almost always for  the better.  At one point, Steve  Jobs, J.K. Rowling, Mark  Zuckerberg and even Lady  Gaga have felt like outsiders.  It’s amazing how life can change as  long as you follow your passion, work hard, and persevere.  My hope is that  anyone who has ever felt like an outsider will identify with and be inspired by In Stitches.

Q: There was a lot of description of your time in medical school in the  book, but an equal amount of time was spent on detailing your social struggles – particularly with girls. Why did you feel it was important to include this  aspect of your life?

A: Physicians like to be put on pedestals.  An honest physician will  admit that we don’t go into medicine for the sole purpose of helping people.   If that was the case, then we’d be social workers, special ed teachers,  and nurses.  Like most doctors, I entered the field of medicine for many  reasons: to earn a good living, to make my parents proud, to help people, and to  elevate my standing in life so a decent woman just might be interested in me.

A big part of my personal growth has involved my lack of a love life.   This all changed once I went to medical school and my med school colleagues mentored me in how to date  successfully.  They taught me three rules, as described in more detail in In Stitches: (1) All single guys should read Cosmo religiously.  (2)  Never talk about your mother on a date or at the bar.  (3) Buy a lighter – you’ll have to figure this one out from the book!

Q: You mentioned a few patients/cases that stuck with you in the book – which case do you feel has impacted you the most? Why?

A: The first life I “saved” as a medical student really had nothing to do  with medical knowledge at all.  Frank was a junk dealer who was diagnosed  with critical coronary artery disease.  If he didn’t consent to open-heart  surgery he was going to die, and die soon.  He smelled like old cheese, had  the personality of a pissed-off gorilla, and distrusted the medical system so  much he refused to sign the consent.  He was estranged from his family, so  they weren’t available to help.

My intern assigned me to talk with him about the surgery, in hopes of saving  his life.  After being cursed at and told to leave him alone, I tried one  last thing.  I sat with him and told him about how my mother’s life was  saved with the same surgery that could save his.  He consented to the  surgery and even reconciled with his family because of it.   This  taught me the lesson, stated by Hippocrates many years ago: “It is more  important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of  disease a person has.”

I always try to keep that lesson in mind when treating my patients today.

Q: Any more books planned for the future?

A: I would love to write a follow-up to In Stitches.  I’m humbled  and flattered by the overwhelmingly positive response it’s received from critics  and readers alike.  My hope is that people consider In Stitches‘required reading’ for anyone who wants to be a doctor or know what their doctor  thinks.  The next one will have big shoes to fill!
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/02/08/words-wellness-in-stitches/#ixzz1mK2CQGU9

For more of my thoughts on Lindsay, click HERE to go to Radar Online.

RealSelf.com also has a popular blog which posts fascinating stories and graphics, like the one below.  Can breast implants improve your sex life?  Of course!  Read more about it HERE.

From Publisher’s Weekly:

In his first book Youn looks back from the cushy perspective of the plastic surgeon at his transformation, letting readers in on a secret: it wasn’t easy. Young Youn was an outcast, an “Asian American…in near wall-to-wall whiteness”; his adolescence was an accumulation of sour moments eventually leading to medicine. But the journey, as Youn describes it, is hilarious. A dedicated student, he spends much of his time with his roommates in the “nerd room.” He practices sutures on pig’s feet and chicken breasts. His roommates tutor him in matters of love and lust. Only two hours into his very first rotation, Youn loses his first patient; “Patients die. Get used to it. This is a hospital,” the attending barks at him. As Youn moves through specialty rotations, agonizing over what to select, his father urges him to make the right choice: pediatrics, for instance, means a life of “tiny people, tiny dollah!” Ironically, it’s a night during Youn’s Peds rotation that changed the course of his life. Youn’s description of his journey from high-school outcast to rock star plastic surgeon is full of fascinating stories and laced with self-deprecating humor in the midst of dark desperation, providing a refreshing insight into medicine

There are a few changes to the paperback version from the hardcover.  The cover design has changed, and I’ve removed a large amount of unnecessary language (a.k.a. swear words) from the text.  Otherwise, it’s the same story that has earned raves from N.Y. Times bestselling author Jen Lancaster, author/TV host Rachael Ray, and countless writers and bloggers.

If you’re buying the paperback version of “In Stitches,” feel free to drop it off at my office.  I’d be happy to sign it for you!

To learn more about In Stitches or read excerpts, please click HERE.

To purchase your own copy of In Stitches, the paperback, please click HERE.

THANK YOU to everyone who buys my story!  I guarantee you will enjoy it!

Why do so many Hollywood stars have problems with drugs?  If she’s suffered a fatal overdose, Houston is just the first in a long line of victims.  Belushi, Farley, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix.  Are people with supreme talent more susceptible to the effects of drugs?  Or do some Hollywood stars lead such tortured lives that illicit drug use is their only escape?  Or are they so coddled and surrounded by ‘yes’ men that their own growing narcissism causes them to push an envelope that most people wouldn’t?

I was a big fan of Whitney Houston while in high school.  I listened to my cassette tape of “Whitney” until it wore out and watched her videos over and over again.

Now The Voice is silent.

Rest in peace, Whitney.

I suspect the latter.

For more information, click HERE to go to Radar Online.com.

A group of researchers from Korea University apparently believes it does, considering they discovered a way to make it happen

They recently published a study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine that analyzed how injections of a hyaluronic acid filler (Restylane Sub-Q) could increase penile girth.  These physicians injected an average of 20.5 cc (about  two-thirds of a medicine cup) using “a back-and-forth technique” into the deep soft tissue layers of the penises of 50 men.  The product was then ‘homogenized with a roller.’

The men’s penises had an average increase in circumference (girth) of 4 cm, which was maintained 18 months later.  They also assessed the patient and partner’s satisfaction with the treatment and found an average score of 3.3 (rated from 0-4) at 18 months.   Sounds like a nice result, right?  Keep in mind these patients underwent injections into their penises with relatively hefty needles.  Ouch.

So what is the average, less-endowed man to make of this?

To find out, visit the article on Body Odd at MSNBC.com HERE.

For more of my comments on Radar Online, click HERE.

The TODAY Show Health page recently published my Five Plastic Surgery Predictions For 2012.  They are:

5. Cosmetic filler injections will continue to get better and cheaper.

4. More and more Botox competitors will hit the market, but real Botox will remain the juggernaut.

3. The Ideal Implant will begin making waves.

2. The number of people undergoing nonsurgical fat reduction will skyrocket.

1. We’ll see more and more nightmare surgery stories from phony plastic surgeons.

For a complete write-up explaining each of my predictions, visit the TODAY Health page HERE.

I don’t think she’s had any actual surgery, but Botox, fillers, and facial resurfacing (laser or chemical peel) treatments are definitely possible.  My comments can be found at Radar Online HERE.

I was one of the consultants for her plastic surgery guidebook “Men Are Stupid… And They Like Big Boobs” which was actually very informative and well-written.  For more on Joan’s recent surgery, click HERE for an article and photo slideshow in the OC Register’s In Your Face blog.

For what it’s worth, I REALLY don’t think Joan Rivers needed any more plastic surgery…

Nose-biter from jail: ‘I’m sorry’: woodtv.com

I did my plastic surgery residency in Grand Rapids, Michigan. While most people see Grand Rapids as a quiet, conservative Midwest town, there are, surprisingly, some really messed up people there. I saw some real doozies, including the story from In Stitches where two idiot parents left their baby alone with a raccoon. Well, here’s a story from Grand Rapids’ WOOD TV 8. You have to see it to believe it.

So what’s going on with her face? Her nose is being reconstructed with a forehead flap, where the skin of the forehead is used to reconstruct the skin of the nose. It’s left in place like that for a couple weeks, after which the ‘bridge’ connecting the skin from the forehead to the nose is divided. Several months later it will probably be thinned to make it fit her face better. Pretty scary, huh?

Cameron is such a beauty.  She’d look best if she left things alone, although a touch of Botox in the frown lines and crow’s feet isn’t a big deal…

For more of my thoughts, visit Radar Online HERE.

I’m really proud of the new cover for my humorous memoir In Stitches.  I think it represents the book perfectly.  Thank you to the awesome graphic designers at Gallery Books for creating such an amazing cover!  The paperback hits shelves February 14th, just in time to buy it for your Valentine!

From Oprah’s blog: (my comments are in italics)

318,123

Number of breast implant surgeries performed in 2010

It’s by far the most common cosmetic surgery in my practice.

2,414

Number of those surgeries performed on patients 65 and  older

4,153

Number of those surgeries performed on patients 18 and  younger
This is a scary statistic.  I do not agree with plastic surgery on minors, unless in cases of severe deformity or reconstruction.  Many other plastic surgeons, unfortunately, do not feel this way.

20

Percentage of patients with breast implants who will need them  removed within ten years because of rupture, hardening of the tissue around the  implant, and other complications (according to a recent FDA report)
Breast implants are not lifetime devices.  This percentage may be lower if the surgery is well-planned and performed.

133,511

Number of nose jobs performed last year

9,094

Number of nose jobs performed on patients 18 or younger

I think this is acceptable in cases of extreme deformity.

33

Percentage of potential nose job patients who have moderate to severe  symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder (according to a recent study in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery)
I read somewhere that a male rhinoplasty (nose job) patient is the one most likely to murder his surgeon.  I know some plastic surgeons who have loaded guns in their desks because of this!

84,685

Number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed on patients 65  and older in 2010 (including 26,635 facelifts and 24,783 cosmetic eyelid  operations)

91

Percentage of cosmetic surgical procedures performed on women in  2010
This is very similar to what I see in my practice.

184

Number of members of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic  Surgery (ASAPS) in 1967 (the year it was founded)

2,069

Number of members today
I am an active member of ASAPS.  Members of ASAPS constitute most of the prominent cosmetic plastic surgeons in the field today.  It is the most prestigious cosmetic plastic surgery society in the United States, as they are very discerning on who is given membership.

1.35

Percentage of members of ASAPS who are women
This is surprising, and I assume gradually changing.

10,677,415,674

Dollars that Americans spent on cosmetic procedures in  2010
Plastic surgery is hot!

Every year I make my own plastic surgery predictions.  This year I’ve made five predictions which should be posted on MSNBC.com in the very near future.  I’ll keep you updated!

Do you agree with this?  Let me know what you think!

With a new year right around the corner, many are thinking about which plastic surgery procedures will be popular.

According to Denise Mann, editorial director for several plastic surgery information websites, consumers may see a lot of deals for injectables such as Botox, Dysport and Xeomin.

The recent introduction of Xeomin, which is available under the brand name Bocouture and is derived from the same ingredient in Botox and Dysport, botulinum toxin type A, means that plastic surgeons and cosmetic dermatologists have yet another option to offer their patients who want to treat wrinkles.

“Expect to see rebates, price drops and Groupons galore as companies and surgeons vie for your business,” Mann says.

The American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) reports that botulinum toxin type A injections were the most popular non-surgical cosmetic procedure in 2010, with more than 2.4 million people undergoing the treatment.

The topical use of Botox may also be another trend for the upcoming year. Studies are underway to determine whether or not the drug is effective for cosmetic use when applied topically. HealthDay reports preliminary studies are positive with the substance effectively reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will have to give the final okay for the drug to be used topically before it is available to consumers.

Some say that more men may turn to plastic surgery to enhance their appearance in the upcoming year as well.

In 2010, ASAPS reports that more than 750,000 men underwent surgical and non-surgical procedures, accounting for 8 percent of the total. However, many doctors say they’ve seen a bigger increase in the number of men seeking their services.

In the past, men have commonly undergone surgical procedures including liposuction, rhinoplasty, cosmetic eyelid surgery and facelifts. Botox (sometimes referred to as Bro-tox when it’s done on a man), laser hair removal and hyaluronic acid injections are popular non-surgical procedures many men have undergone.

“Men like getting work done,” a Florida-based plastic surgeon recently told WTSP-TV News.

Industry experts say that several recent, highly-publicized reports of botched plastic surgeries at the hands of inexperienced and unlicensed individuals may also prompt consumers to be vigilant about researching their plastic surgeons in the upcoming year.

“How many more horror stories do we need to hear about plastic surgeries gone wrong before realizing that these procedures should be left to the pros?” Mann asks.

Individuals interested in enhancing their appearance through surgical or non-surgical cosmetic procedures should contact a licensed, board-certified plastic surgeon to ensure they reach their desired outcome as well as maintain safety.