Which is Best For You?: Brow Lift vs. Blepharoplasty?
When age sets in, often it starts to manifest first around the eyes and in your brow area. For this, there are two distinct procedures that are known to dramatically reduce aging in the area – a brow lift and blepharoplasty.
A brow lift is much the way it sounds. It can use both surgical and non-surgical means to lift the skin on your forehead and around the eyes upwards to dramatically reduce sagging and wrinkles in the area. Blepharoplasty, or eyelid repair, has a similar effect that can reduce sagging eyelids and wrinkles in your under-eye area. However, it is not so much about “which procedure is best?” but rather “which procedure is right for your needs?”
Complimentary Procedures
Often instead of choosing one or the other, brow lifts and blepharoplasty are done together because they are highly complementary procedures. The brow lift can help reduce the amount of wrinkles around your eyes in the brow area by lifting the skin upwards while blepharoplasty can help clean up any other sagging in the eye lid area.
Typically choosing one or the other is the result from having more problems in one area than the other. If you don’t really have sagging eyelids but have brow creases that you don’t like, then obviously you will only want a brow lift. However, if you don’t have brow wrinkles that bother you, but are concerned about your sagging eyelids and wrinkles in the eye area, then you would only want to engage in a blepharoplasty.
Often a brow lift is the preferable option since it can not only clear up any brow wrinkles, but it can also help to lift your upper eye lids, the real problem area around the eye, upwards as well. However, it doesn’t do much for under eye wrinkles. If you are concerned around your brow or eyelid area and wonder if you need one procedure more than the other, or even both, contact us today.
What Not to Do Before a Liposuction Procedure
If you have consulted with your plastic surgeon, then you are likely eager to know what you should do to prepare for having the liposuction procedure done. However, what we forget to ask is what we should avoid doing. A good plastic surgeon will likely go over the basic things to avoid before liposuction, but there might be some things you want to know before you even schedule a liposuction appointment.
Avoid Crash Diets
It might be extremely tempting to try and drop a few pounds before your liposuction appointment just to try to give the results a little nudge. However, it is important to realize that those results don’t need any help. Crash diets are an extremely poor idea before any sort of surgery because it leaves your body weakened from malnourishment and can dramatically slow down your healing process.
Taking Certain Medications
Your plastic surgeon will advise you against smoking before your procedure because it increases the risk of bleeding as well as poor healing. However, it can be the same with some medications. Your doctor will tell you to avoid any pain relievers (aspirin, ibuprofen, ect) as well as advise you to stop taking some birth control pills. However, typically what we forget to mention is any herbal therapies we take. Consult with your plastic surgeon on their safety, or stop taking them until after you are fully healed just to be safe.
Shaving
You can shave your legs, underarms, or anywhere you are not having liposuction done, but always avoid shaving the surgical area yourself. When done in advance, it can increase the risk of ingrown hairs which will cause complications. If the area needs to be shaved, the plastic surgeon will do it themselves.
Driving Yourself to Your Appointment
If you have never had liposuction before, you may think that it is just a quick in-and-out procedure. While it is quick and relatively painless, you definitely should not drive yourself home after the procedure. You will be fairly tender after it is done so you should plan ahead for someone to drive you home afterwards so you will not be distracted while driving.
While there are more common things to avoid before liposuction, your doctor will go over them at the time of your consultation. However, if you are interested in liposuction or have any more questions, please contact us today.
The Most Important Tummy Tuck Benefit Post-Pregnancy
For many women who recently had a child, they often seek out plastic surgery in the form of a tummy tuck in order to get their pre-pregnancy stomach back. However, a tummy tuck post-pregnancy doesn’t just make you look great, it can actually have a crucial medical benefit to your mid-section.
Although you are bringing a new life into the world, pregnancy can be hard on the body. Primarily it wrecks havoc on your rectus abdominis muscles, otherwise known as your “six-pack.” In order to make room for your growing fetus, the abdominal muscles that were running up and down right alongside each other need to spread. They stretch on a fibrous seam in between them to varying degrees and stay that way until the pregnancy ends. For women with long torsos and who put on very little weight during a pregnancy, the results of this stretch are less dramatic. However, for women with shorter torsos, the stretch of the seam can be dramatic, and the worst part is that it can stay that way.
Unfortunately for these women, no amount of sit-ups will help these muscles move back into place. The only options are to wait a long period of time for them to re-tighten or speed up the process with a tummy tuck. While this may still seem purely cosmetic, what many forget is that for muscles to function properly, they need to be in the correct position. When abdominal muscles are spread in such a way, it can undermine your core strength.
When the abdominal muscles are separated, you may have side effects including:
- Loss of core strength
- Lower energy levels
- Less endurance for workouts
- Lower back pain
During tummy tuck procedures, your abdominal muscles are rounded up and put back into proper place. This not only makes your stomach look flatter and more firm, but it will often result in a better quality of life. If nothing else, consider the benefit of having more energy and better core strength and endurance. Wouldn’t all of those benefits really help you with an infant around the house?
If you have given birth recently or even a few years ago and wish your mid-section looked the way it used to, contact us today. Many believe cosmetic surgery is just purely for aesthetics, but it can not only help you feel more confident, but it can help your body function better in many cases.
Choosing Botox For Excessive Underarm Sweat
Do you find yourself sweating through your shirt despite using clinical-strength antiperspirant each day? Then you suffer from hyperhydrosis, or excessive sweating. Everyone sweats from their underarms as their body’s way of cooling itself. It is healthy and natural, but when you produce too much sweat, it goes from healthy to life-impeding. While many will consult doctors for the issue and find treatment that works, for some, the best treatment can actually be Botox.
Most people think of Botox for its uses in treating fine lines and wrinkles, but when injected in the underarms, it can have the benefit of limited the amount that you sweat. When treating fine lines, Botox works by paralyzing the muscles that cause wrinkles to appear in the skin. However, when used to prevent sweating, it actually blocks the secretion of acetylcholine, the chemical which causes sweating. Those with hyperhydrosis produce an excess of this chemical and since when it is around you will continue to sweat until it is depleted, it causes excessive sweating.
When treating excessive sweating with Botox, a doctor will inject 50 unites into each underarm which can keep underarms dry for between 3 to 6 months. Unfortunately, if you exercise frequently or endure high periods of stress during this period, the results will diminish quicker. Typically, because your body does need to sweat, Botox injections in the underarms are the last resort treatment. Those who suffer from excessive sweating should try more topical treatments like prescription antiperspirant or sweat proof clothing first. However, if none of those provide relief, then Botox can be the most effective option.
If you suffer from excessive sweating, then that is a serious cosmetic problem for your life. While plastic surgeons specialize in Botox for wrinkles and other age-related facial issues, we recognize that it has other great medical uses as well. If you suffer from excessive sweating and have tried other options, contact us today to see if our Botox treatments might be a good fit for you.
Signs You May Need a Brow Lift
What is a Brow Lift?
A brow lift, or forehead lift, is a procedure to tighten and tone the sagging skin of the forehead, eyebrows, and upper eyelids. This results in a smoothing of the skin and a reduction of any fine lines and wrinkles that have formed over the years. Deep creases and wrinkles in the skin of the forehead can appear as early as your mid-30s and, combined with other signs of aging such as sagging skin around the eyebrows can leave result in you looking much older than you feel.
Is a Brow Lift the Right Choice?
A brow lift may be the right choice for you if you have noticed an increase in fine lines and wrinkles across your forehead. It should also be a consideration if the brow line itself has begun to sag or your eyes appear ‘tired’ due to puffy or heavy eyelids. If this sounds like you, then a brow lift may be the ideal option.
While sagging eyelids are often addressed by a separate procedure call an eyelid lift (blepharoplasty), it’s possible that a brow lift will improve the appearance of sagging eyelids by lifting the skin enough that blepharoplasty becomes unnecessary.
Brow lifts are less invasive than full facelifts, leaving you with less recovery time and a more relaxed, youthful appearance. Since the brow line is not specifically addressed during other facial rejuvenation procedures like facelifts, and nonsurgical options are unlikely to restore the youthful, alert appearance of your face, a separate brow lift may be the best option for you.
Even when performed completely on its own, a brow lift will help restore your face to a smoother, younger look by opening your expressions and giving you a forehead that compliments your other facial features.
If you’re unhappy with the appearance of your forehead, brow line, or eyelids and think that a brow lift may be the right option for you, contact us at West Maple Plastic Surgery today.
