Thanks to the Plastic Reconstructive Surgery Global Open Journal and the publisher, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for this honor. Also a huge thank you to Jan Ramiro and Emily Weiland for their help performing these procedures in the operating room and helping edit the paper!

You can read the article in its entirety here. Don’t worry, you don’t need a subscription to the journal! For additional information on the technique or to book a consultation with Dr. Kaplan, click here.

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

The post Dr. Kaplan wins Best Paper Award first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

The evolution of the tech neck to the ZOOM neck

As patients started taking selfies or using FaceTime several years ago, they saw their neck as never before. For better or worse, they were unhappy with the appearance of their neck. Enter, the tech neck. With the onset of the pandemic, an entirely new group of consumers using ZOOM are starting to notice they have ZOOM neck!

We recently performed a SIMI neck lift on a patient that said in her consultation, “I didn’t realize I had these neck bands until I was using ZOOM more!” She didn’t have an excess amount of skin. If she did, a full neck lift would be appropriate. A full neck lift includes an incision behind the chin to perform liposuction and tighten up neck muscles. A full neck lift also includes incisions behind the ears to remove excess skin.

The SIMI neck lift, in contrast, avoids these long, painful incisions behind the ears because there is no skin removal in the process. The SIMI neck lift, in the appropriate candidate, allows for the repositioning of “misplaced” skin from the midline of the neck. Essentially the excess slack is taken up and spread across the neck. Since no skin is removed, just repositioned, there’s no need for the incisions behind the ears.

So if you’re “suffering” from ZOOM neck, there’s a minimally invasive, long lasting treatment – the SIMI neck lift! Check pricing here. But there are other options to treat ZOOM neck, depending on what you’re noticing about your neck.

Other options for treating ZOOM neck

If you’re noticing your skin to be a bit crepe-y (loose crinkly texture) or more dark spots than you’d like, a facial from our aesthetician, Aesthetica by Rocio may be the right option.

If there’s fullness, as in some fat, CoolSculpting of the neck or even Kybella performed by our dermatologist Dr. Zanelli may be the right option.

Interested in scheduling one of these procedures with Aesthetica by Rocio Guzman, Dr. Zanelli or Dr. Kaplan? Call or text us at 415-923-3005 or BOOK ONLINE here!

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

The post Do you have ZOOM neck?! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Men get liposuction too!

Man’s resistance to getting cosmetic surgery may be a societal convention. They may assume that’s only for women. But it may also be something deeper. It is well known men are very non-compliant when it comes to getting check ups, such as prostate exams and colonoscopies. A fear of doctors or a sense of machismo may be the underlying cause. And that extends to procedures such as liposuction.

But once a man realizes they can get liposuction, it’s important to have reasonable expectations. As the photo above shows, liposuction can be great for removing unwanted subcutaneous fat. That’s the fat just under the skin. But as many men know, some fat is on the inside of the abdomen, around the intestines. This is called visceral fat. This is the fat that results in a “pot belly.” Unfortunately, liposuction can not address this area.

One additional benefit of liposuction in men is ab etching. This is the use of the liposuction cannula to purposely cause contour deformities in the skin such that it appears the man has a six pack! By removing even more fat just under the skin, it’s possible to further define the lines around and within the abdominal muscles, giving the appearance of abs.

Keep in mind that the use of liposuction should not be seen as an easy way out. Or as a means of weight loss. Liposuction is great for contouring the body and using the new you as motivation for a new lifestyle. One complete with a healthy diet and exercise.

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

The post Men get liposuction too! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Presentation topics at Miami Cosmetic Surgery

While Dr. Kaplan will be speaking on several topics that relate to BuildMyBod Health, his first presentation on Thursday morning is actually related to his day job as a plastic surgeon!

On Thursday, February 20th, he’ll discuss the technique he created, the Single Incision Minimally Invasive (SIMI) neck lift. This is a procedure that reduces the typical number of neck lift incisions from three to one. Most importantly, the two incisions eliminated in this procedure are the two longest and most unsightly. The incisions behind the ears.

He’ll show before and after photos of his own patients and results from his study in the peer-reviewed Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open journal.

Topics relating to price transparency, ie BuildMyBod Health

BuildMyBod Health is a revolutionary platform that takes a critically needed issue – price transparency in healthcare – and makes it more accessible for the consumer, and more palatable for the physician.

Consumers want to know their out of pocket costs for all healthcare services. Either because they’ll be paying out of pocket for a medically necessary service if they haven’t met their deductible or if it’s considered cosmetic. BuildMyBod Health allows the consumer to check pricing through the doctor’s website from the privacy of their mobile phone. In the process of checking pricing, they have to enter their contact info before submitting their “wishlist” of services.

The consumer instantly receives an email with a breakdown of costs delivered to their inbox. And the healthcare provider receives their contact info – a lead for follow up! Dr. Kaplan will show how this kind of give and take can benefit the doctor’s business.

On Thursday afternoon, Dr. Kaplan will talk about turning social media followers into consults. Since physicians are utilizing social media to create content and educate consumers, they want something to show for it! All of that content creation should generate clear, measurable results. Offering the opportunity for the social media follower to check pricing is the easiest way to capture their contact info.

How price transparency grew Dr. Kaplan’s newly purchased practice

Dr. Kaplan will also speak on his experience buying a practice in San Francisco. He will review statistical data on this transaction and how many patients he retained from the previous doctor. But he will also talk about how he used a Price Estimator on his website to grow his email database to over 10,000 potential patients in 6.5 years. And that will improve his valuation for a future sale!

If you’re in the Miami area this weekend and want to get your learn on, click here to register for MCS! And if you’re a healthcare provider that wants to use price transparency to generate leads, click here. And last but not least, if you’re a consumer that wants to check pricing from a doctor near you, click here.

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

The post Dr. Kaplan speaking at Miami Cosmetic Surgery first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Kaplan, founder/CEO of BuildMyBod Health for being named a Visiting Professor at UC Davis (University of California at Davis). His visiting professorship will take place in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 5th.

Visiting Professor at UC Davis

The UC Davis visiting professorship program extends an invitation to a plastic surgeon that the residents feel has a knowledge base that can augment their day-to-day training. In Dr. Kaplan, they will receive insight into his experience in private practice. But not just a narration of what his practice is like. As with all of Dr. Kaplan’s presentations, he will present outcomes data on various aspects of his practice. This includes data on clinical patient care and the business side of healthcare. Through his presentations, he demonstrates supporting documentation for the actionable recommendations he makes.

As part of his visiting professorship, he will also speak at the Greater Sacramento Society of Plastic Surgeons on Monday night, November 4th. His presentation topics at the GSSPS will include:
1) The SIMI® (Single Incision Minimally Invasive) Neck Lift
2) Why it’s critical to diversify your marketing channels

As the Visiting Professor at UC Davis, his presentations will include:
1) The Safer Brazilian Butt Lift in my practice
2) Growing the resident cosmetic clinic
3) The SIMI® (Single Incision Minimally Invasive) Neck Lift
4) I bought a practice, should you?

The topics above will give the residents an array of subjects that are interesting, and better prepare them for life after training.

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

The post Dr. Kaplan named Visiting Professor at UC Davis first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

This weekend, Dr. Jonathan Kaplan, Founder/CEO of BuildMyBod Health will be busy at THE Aesthetic Academy 2019 in San Diego. Keep reading to the get 411!

THE Aesthetic Academy 2019

On Saturday, October 12th,2019 Dr. Kaplan will present”Why It’s Critical to Diversify Your Marketing Channels.” He’ll discuss the recent changes in Google’s algorithm and why it’s important to NOT put all your marketing eggs in one basket.

Later that morning, Dr. Kaplan will be giving a facial filler live demo training for other healthcare providers. He’ll review when it’s appropriate to use neuromodulators (Botox, Xeomin) vs fillers (Juvederm, Radiesse, Belotero). One lucky patient will receive these treatments for free as a thank you for being our model!

On Sunday, October 13th, Dr. Kaplan will give the same marketing talk to a different cohort of attendees. This is one of the unique aspects of The Aesthetic Academy is that presentations are given two days in a row to give everyone an opportunity to learn.

Later that morning he’ll speak on the neck lift technique he developed. The Single Incisions Minimally Invasive (SIMI®) Neck Lift.

Last but not least, he’ll provide a second training on injectables Sunday afternoon.  And then it’s on to Dallas for a presentation on social media for Mentor, a maker of breast implants!

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

The post BuildMyBod founder speaking at THE Aesthetic Academy 2019 first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Crepey skin, wrinkles, neck bands, turkey gobbler neck, jowls. These are all signs of the aging neck so let’s talk about treatments for the neck, from least invasive to the more invasive.

Bands to the neck

If you have bands extending from the chin to the base of your neck, you may be a candidate for Botox or Xeomin. Here’s the catch though. If those bands are just skin, it won’t help. But if the bands contain muscle, then injecting along the band will help. How do you know which you have? Flex your neck muscle by gritting your teeth. If the bands you don’t like become more prominent, you’re a good candidate.

Wrinkles or crepey skin

If you have wrinkly, crepey skin (are those even words?!), the skin can be resurfaced to improve the appearance. But one drawback is that resurfacing of the neck skin (with a laser or chemical peel) can lead to hypopigmentation. That’s a whitening of the skin. Because there are fewer melanocytes in the neck, the cells that produce pigment, those cells can be destroyed, leading to lighter-than-expected skin tone.

Jowls or sagging neck skin

Ultherapy uses ultrasonic waves to heat the collagen in the skin to tighten sagging skin or jowls. The good news is that it works. It’s not permanent but it is non-invasive. The problem is that it hurts apparently. It hurts so much that patients need pain medication and valium which makes you groggy. Which sort of nullifies the whole non-surgical-avoiding-anesthesia part.

Misplaced or excess skin to the neck

If you have a lot of excess skin, you may need a full neck lift. That includes an incision behind the chin and long incisions behind the ears to remove the excess skin. That’s the most invasive procedure on this list. But if you only have “misplaced” skin in the midline of your neck, you may be a candidate for a SIMI neck lift.

The procedure has only one incision: the one behind the chin. Through this one incision, the neck skin can be redraped so it’s no longer sagging and that avoids the need to make incisions behind the ears to remove skin. Check out this video here regarding the SIMI neck lift or watch the overview below.

Video: Treatments for the neck

To check pricing on all of these treatments for the neck, click here.

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

The post Treatments for the neck [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

BuildMyBod founder, Dr. Jonathan Kaplan, continues his US speaking tour in Dallas this Wednesday at the 12th International Symposium of Facial Plastic Surgery. This meeting is put on by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – the AAFPRS. He’ll be giving three talks, one as a plastic surgeon and two as founder/CEO of BuildMyBod Health.

Talks at the AAFPRS: The SIMI Neck Lift

Dr. Kaplan will speak on the neck lift technique that he developed. The SIMI neck lift is the single incision minimally invasive neck lift that trades three incisions for one incision. More patients with misplaced midline neck skin can be treated with this technique rather than the more invasive full neck lift. See the video below.

How to weed out price shoppers

Price shoppers calling many offices looking for the cheapest price rather than the best quality care can take up a lot of the front office staff’s time. Dr. Kaplan will share his technique to streamline front office processes, provide consumers with pricing information they need, all while weeding out price shoppers and saving the staff time.

Generating leads through social media

Doctors work hard to produce a lot of content for their social media followers. From surgical to non-surgical treatments, consumers are hungry for more and more content. But what do you have to show for it? A lot of followers but no names or contact information.

Dr. Kaplan will show how he uses the call to action button, “Get A Quote Now” to capture the consumer’s attention when they visit a doctor’s website. This gets them into the doctor’s sales funnel so the doctor can find out who the consumer is, follow up with them and educate them through monthly email newsletters.

To learn more about these techniques, read more here and here.

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

The post Dr. Kaplan at AAFPRS first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.