Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery Blog – Harley Medical Group

The demand for male chest reduction surgery rose by 28 per cent in the last year, according to the latest figures released by the British Association for Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS).

BAAPS, which represents approximately 40 per cent of the British cosmetic surgery industry, revealed that the number of surgical procedures to reduce the appearance of ‘man boobs’ totalled 741 in 2010, up from 581 in 2009.

Figures also suggest that the number of overall procedures went up by five per cent last year, when compared with figures from the previous year.

In an interview with BBC News, BAAPS-registered consultant plastic surgeon Rajiv Grover, said: “Images in the media – coverage of high profile men like Simon Cowell and Jack Nicholson – make men think about this more”.

Grover went on to say that approximately 30 per cent of men who enquired about the surgery were advised to change their diet and improve their exercise regime, but that the remaining 70 per cent had areas of fat that were “beyond exercise”.

The number of breast enlargement surgery procedures performed in the UK has risen by 10 per cent in the last year, to 9,418, according to the latest figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS).

Cosmetic surgery experts have attributed this rise in demand to curvaceous and voluptuous celebrities, such as the star of television drama Mad Men, Christina Hendricks. The 35-year-old actress is a size 14 and plastic surgeons believe that more and more women are aspiring to have figures like these celebrities, rather than those who are stick thin.

According to BAAPS, the number of men and women who had cosmetic surgery in 2010 totalled 38,274.

In an interview with the Daily Mail Online, consultant plastic surgeon and president of the BAAPS Fazel Fatah, said: “The public’s interest in aesthetic surgery remained strong in spite of the economic downturn.

“Procedures showing the more considerable rise during this period seem to be, perhaps not surprisingly, concentrated on the most visible areas of the body: facelifts, breasts and nose jobs”.

Some people will compete in just about any kind of competition if the chance for fame and fortune, or a so-called ‘better life’, is up for grabs. So when television producers came up with the idea of contestants, specifically brides-to-be, competing to win cosmetic surgery procedures, the show was bound to attract a lot of interest.

Here comes the bride, short, fat, and wide, so the parody goes, but not any longer. Please stand for the arrival of Bridalplasty. The latest reality TV show to come out of America pits brides-to-be against each other in weekly competitions to win cosmetic surgery. Contestants pick procedures off their wish-lists and the overall winner receives $100,000 to pay for their dream wedding, having achieved their perfect look.

Critics have hailed this as a new low for the genre of reality TV, and quite frankly, it’s hard to disagree, with its only redeeming feature being that it puts cosmetic surgery firmly in the mainstream.

Hollyoaks actress Jennifer Metcalfe, ex-Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona, and American reality television star Kim Kardashian, have all been associated with cosmetic surgery procedures in recent weeks, raising the profiles of liposuction, stretch mark removal treatments, breast implants, and dermal fillers even further.

So with the exclusivity of cosmetic surgery firmly in the past, men and women all over the world are finding financial packages that allow them to opt for surgical and non-surgical treatments.  And recent findings suggest that cosmetic surgery is not just the basis for gratuitous reality television programmes, but is also giving renewed confidence to cancer patients who have aged prematurely as the result of treatment.

The first in a new six-part television series looking at the very different reasons why people undergo plastic surgery procedures is set to be broadcast on Channel 4 this Wednesday (2).

Each episode of the programme, controversially named Beauty and the Beast: Ugly Face of Prejudice, features one conventionally good-looking person, and someone with a facial disfigurement, both of whom have had surgery to change the way they look.

Wednesday’s show features 47-year-old Susan Campbell Duncan, who has undergone more than 100 plastic surgery procedures to reconstruct her face after she had a rare, cancerous tumour removed. And image-obsessed Sarah Burge, who has also undergone over 100 procedures and holds the record for the most money spent on cosmetic surgery – £539,500.

The show highlights the seemingly opposing reasons why people choose to undergo cosmetic surgery, with some seeing it as a necessity following medical procedures or an accident, and others simply wanting to change or improve the way they look and feel.

There is no single solution for acne. That is the conclusion of a recent report published in Medical News Today.

Finding the right treatment for acne depends on diagnosing the severity of the skin condition in each individual, as well as the type of acne, and whether or not the patient can cope with any potential side effects of the prescribed treatment.

The report advises that acne sufferers understand the pros and cons of different acne treatments in detail before choosing the one for them, and outlines some of the options available to those suffering with this potentially distressing condition.

Patients can use antibiotic gels, creams, or tablets, to treat mild cases of acne, but longer-term, and often more effective solutions include laser treatments for acne that have been approved by the FDA (Food and Drugs Administration), and skin peels.

Sisters Kim and Kourtney Kardashian have appeared on American chat show Piers Morgan Tonight, and talked frankly about cosmetic surgery.

Kim, the younger of the two sisters at 30 years old, insists that despite recent rumours, her breasts are “completely 100 per cent real”.

In an interview with the inflammatory host of the show, ex-Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, Kim said: “There are a lot of plastic surgery rumours that swirl and I’m the first one to be super honest.

“And so everyone was talking about that, saying that they must be, you know, fake.”

The Kardashians were each placed next to a cardboard cut-out of themselves in the studio, and Kim is seen pointing to different areas of her body as she talks about them. The socialite and reality television star has admitted to having Botox, but denies rumours that she has undergone surgical procedures.

However, Kourtney, 31, admitted to having had breast enlargement surgery, pointing to her cardboard cut-out and saying, “these babies are not real”.

A plastic surgeon has decided to treat himself to a face lift after seeing himself being interviewed on television and deciding it was time.

In an interview with AOL News, Dr Richard Ellenbogen said: “I recently appeared on TV and after watching the segment, I realized I was starting to look like William Shatner and decided, my time has come.

“If you work in the candy store, sometimes you owe yourself a piece of candy”.

The 66-year-old surgeon, who owns a cosmetic surgery clinic in Beverly Hills, USA, has chosen fellow American surgeon Dr Malcolm Paul to carry out the face lift, neck lift, and eye bag surgery.

As well as making him look younger, Dr Ellenbogen hopes the procedures will make him feel younger too, saying that he has seen how it “refreshes his patients’ lives”.

The experienced surgeon also talked about what he wants the overall result to look like, revealing that he doesn’t want to look too “stretched”, and would prefer some “fullness in the face”.

The latest photographs of Gordon Ramsay seem to reveal a man with a more youthful face, despite the celebrity chef vehemently denying rumours that he has undergone cosmetic surgery procedures.

Last week, Ramsay spoke out to the press for the first time since he was snapped on holiday in America looking swollen and puffy earlier this month. He blamed his altered image on an infection caused by gasoline, which was poured on him during the filming of a documentary about illegal shark finning, and on an allergic reaction to horses, which he rode during a family getaway.

But now, having recovered from the infection and allergy, Ramsay looks younger and fresh-faced. Photographs of the star, taken in New Orleans where he is filming the latest series of Hell’s Kitchen USA, and published in the Daily Mail Online today, appeared to reveal a face with less wrinkles than before.

Ramsay has admitted to having injectable dermal fillers in the past, to plump up deep lines on his face.

The sometimes cloned looks of men and women who have undergone cosmetic surgery have been blamed on the aggressive selling of procedures to clients.

A report published today by the Herald.ie compared the remarkably similar features of 24-year-old actress Heidi Montag, and 42-year-old pop sensation Kylie Minogue.

In an interview with the online newspaper, cosmetic surgeon Dr Golchin, said: “I blame the surgeons who are aggressive in how they sell procedures, and who will give the same features to clients regardless of whether they are aged 25 or 45, and as a result we end up with women who all look the same, and, in some cases, over-done”.

Dr Golchin also talked of seeing cosmetic nurses with the same “massive lips, tiny noses, and huge cheekbones”, and advised patients to be aware of being sold procedures. He advised that patients seek medical advice from registered clinics, who would not prescribe one look to all, “regardless of what their face looked like to begin with”.

Cosmetic surgery allows men and women to avoid the inevitable ageing affects of their genes.

In an interview with the Daily Mail online, plastic surgeon John Pereira, said: “People say if you want to know what your wife will look like in 25 years, look at her mother, and that’s pretty much true when it comes to how the structure of the face will change with time”.

Paul Banwell, a consultant surgeon, agrees: “It’s possible up to 50 per cent of ageing may be inherited from your mother or father”.

Both experts admitted that lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking, and spending a lot of time in the sun, are factors in the ageing process, and that altering these elements could help you to slow down the effects of time.

But it seems that the only way to reverse this process and to combat the genetic effects of age is to consider cosmetic surgery procedures, such face lifts, or non-surgical solutions, such as dermal fillers.