What’s your pain point when it comes to cosmetic surgery?

Jonathan Kaplan — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 07:40:07 +0000

Patients often ask me what procedure they should have. A surgical or non-surgical option…this type of lift or that type of lift? In addition to ensuring they’re a good candidate for one procedure or another, it also comes down to what their pain point is. Here are a few examples to elucidate my point.

Pain point: surgical vs non-surgical

Let’s say a patient is trying to decide between liposuction or non-surgical fat freezing with CoolSculpting (CS). First and foremost is education. I emphasize to the patient that these procedures are not equivalent. CoolSculpting won’t produce the same results as liposuction. Even the folks at CoolSculpting would agree.

So I ask, what’s your pain point? If they’re a candidate for both procedures, what’s more important to them? Getting a 25% fat reduction (CS) without surgery or 85% with liposuction (surgery)? What’s a greater concern? Surgical downtime (liposuction) vs no downtime (CS)? Obvious results (lipo) vs more subtle results (CS)?

The decision is ultimately up to them if they’re a candidate for both procedures but it’s critical they have reasonable expectations regarding the results.

Pain point: shape vs incisions?

Here’s another example from a recent patient. She wanted a breast lift. She was very clear that she wanted perky breasts (improved shape) without implants. Forgoing implants in a breast lift is totally reasonable because the success of the lift is mostly dependent on removing excess skin. If minimal skin needs to be removed to tighten the “skin envelope,” fewer incisions are required. And conversely, more skin removal, more incisions.

If someone has a slight droop or ptosis to their breasts, an incision only around the areola (well hidden) allows the removal of enough skin to give an adequate lift. See photo above. If they have more droop, they’ll need a “lollipop” lift (see below). That’s an incision around the areola and extending down to the fold under the breast. If they have a greater degree of droop, then they’ll need the “anchor” incision which includes the “lollipop” incision plus an incision within the fold under the breast.

With that background, they have a decision to make. Is their pain point achieving the perkiest breast possible? Then that may require the “lollipop” or “anchor” incision to remove more skin. If they want fewer incisions, they need to understand they won’t get as much lift. So again, what’s your pain point? Nicely shaped breasts with more incisions that will fade with time or droopy breasts with fewer incisions? The pain point, and resulting answer, is different for everyone!

To check pricing on any of these procedures, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post What’s your pain point when it comes to cosmetic surgery? first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Different types of breast lift incisions

Jonathan Kaplan — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 07:45:20 +0000

In this post, you’ll read about the different types of breast lift incisions but also see examples of each. They have their pros and cons but most importantly, the type of incision isn’t your “choice.” It’s a matter of how much breast droop or ptosis you have. That translates into how much excess skin you have. The more droop and excess skin means more skin needs to be removed and therefore, the more scars.

Breast lift incisions

If you have very minimal droop, maybe just a slight droop of the areola, skin above the areola is removed. This incision is very well hidden as seen in the photo below. Look closely, but it’s pretty hard to see!

If you have more droop than that, but not too much, a periareolar incision may be all you need. This is when excess skin is removed around the entire areola only, so the only scar is around the areola. This is very well hidden because the scar lies within the junction of normal pigmented skin and the darker areolar skin. Hard to believe this incision can fade so well. But it can and will provide more lift to the breasts. The implant is inserted through the incision around the areola.

The next step in the excess skin ladder is the “lollipop” incision. This is an incision around the areola and down to the fold under the breast. The outline of the incision resembles a lollipop as seen below.

And last but not least, if you have a significant amount of droop, then you’ll need the “anchor” incision. This is a combination of the procedures above (incision around the areola and then extending down to the fold under the breasts) plus an incision along the fold under the breast. While this does have the most incisions, it is the most powerful lift.

Don’t be distressed about the incisions. The alternative is to have a misshapen breast that is hanging over your implant. Sure you have more incisions with a formal lift but your breasts look great!

To check pricing on breast procedures from a doctor near you, click here.