What are the hidden dangers of plastic surgery

It is a frightening trend, and a fact that more plastic surgery procedures are being performed by doctors that may not be qualified.

I could even perform brain surgery in my office if a patient was foolish enough to agree to it, but I would not do so because I’m not properly trained to do it.” Said Dr. Braun H. Graham of Sarasota Plastic Surgery Center in Sarasota.

“As long as you’re a doctor you can perform any procedure that you want to do in the confines of your office.” Said Dr. Scott J. Engel, also of Sarasota Plastic Surgery Center. Dr. Graham Added, “It’s legal in the State of Florida to perform surgery in your office if the patient is willing to submit themselves to the procedure.”

This information came too late for Julie Rubenzer, who died in 2003 following a breast augmentation performed in Sarasota

“The problem we have here in town is we have untrained people in the operating room helping the doctor” Said Dr. James W. Marsh, of James W.Marsh M.D.P.A., Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, “And, they weren’t trained well enough to take care of the problem when the problem came up.”

More recently 44 year-old Christine Patterson of Sarasota is charged with practicing medicine without a license, accused of performing a post-operative procedure on a patient after a cosmetic surgery.

So what should you know to protect yourself?

“Make sure that it says the American Board of Plastic Surgery or the Canadian Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (C.S.A.P.S), , “Said Dr. Engel, “and that they see that symbol, if that’s not on there then they need to question whether or not that person is adequately trained to do these procedures.”

Check that your surgeon is affiliated with a hospital. it could make a difference between life and death.

Dr. Engel said, “Hospital have the highest standards of any practice and so they need to make sure that you are qualified to do these procedures” and, Dr Marsh added,”And they’re going to require you to have training to pass boards and to be monitored before you start working in their hospital.”

If your procedure is performed at a private center, make sure that its accredited. Canadian Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (C.S.A.P.S), or AHCA is one of the certifications you can look for. But, here’s one of the top things you need to know.

“The biggest red flag would probably be saying that they are board certified but not saying what they’re board certified in.” Said Dr. Engel.

So, when choosing a plastic surgeon do your research and don’t be scared to ask questions.

For Men, a Gluteus More Maximus

By  ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN

Published: July 24, 2013

Not long ago, Jeff Vickers, who owns a construction company, had surgery to address something that had, fittingly, been the butt of jokes.

“I’d wear jogging pants to work and the guys used to joke that, ‘You could drop a plumb bob from the back of your head and the string wouldn’t hit anything before it hit the ground,’ ” he said, referring to the weight on a string used for surveying.

Mr. Vickers, 46, who lives in Radford, Va., and is married with four children, cannot remember when it was otherwise.

“I’ve always had a nonexistent butt,” he said. “Zero.”

Last fall, he had his first consultation with Dr. Constantino G. Mendieta, the author of “The Art of Gluteal Sculpting” and a cosmetic surgeon in Miami.

“When I went in to the doctor, I said, ‘I’m not a girl so I’m not worried about having a table back there you could sit a coffee cup on,’ ” Mr. Vickers said. “I just wanted to be able to put on a pair of pants and for them to stay up.”

Dr. Mendieta performed liposuction on Mr. Vickers’s abdomen and love handles, then injected the fat into the buttocks.

“They take the fat where you don’t want it, and put it where you do want it,” Mr. Vickers said.

As men age, they tend to lose fat from their buttocks, faces and hands, while gaining it in stomachs and chests, Dr. Mendieta said. Weight lifting yields only modest results for the posterior.

“The only way to pump up your derrière,” he said, “is with your wallet.”

According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, men accounted for 6.2 percent of cosmetic buttock procedures in 2012, up from 2.2 percent in 1997.

At Freshpair, an online store, buttocks-enhancing underwear accounts for more than 6 percent of men’s underwear sales, up from less than 1 percent five years ago, according to Matthew Butlein, the president of the company.

“With the trend going toward slimmer pants, you’re able to see the assets underneath a lot better,” Mr. Butlein said.

In the Calvin Klein Body Boost Butt Trunk ($22), support straps inconspicuously woven into the fabric of the boxer briefs lift and support. Elastic undergirdings in the 2(x)ist Lift No Show Brief ($24) also give hindquarters a boost.

Go Softwear introduced the first line of men’s underwear with enhancement padding in the seat in 1996, said the company founder, Greg Olvera, who came up with the idea in a marketing class at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.

“Someone in the class was talking about the Wonderbra and the phenomenal sales they were having,” Mr. Olvera said. “And the light bulb went off and I thought, ‘If women have enhancement products, why don’t men?’ ”

The Go Softwear Super Padded Brief ($37.50) has 5-by-7- inch oval pads quilted into them that could pass for potholders. It is hard to imagine how a romantic interest would react to first encountering them.

“Women have been wearing padded bras for years, and they get into romantic situations and some are self-conscious and some probably just don’t care,” Mr. Olvera said. “But there’s still more of a stigma for men than for women.”

Bonobos, a men’s e-commerce company, began in 2007 with a stated mission of ending “khaki diaper butt” with better-fitting pants. Atypical of men’s wear brands, Bonobos has emphasized that women ogle men’s haunches; a 2009 advertisement declared, “Here’s your chance to tell women, ‘Hey, my eyes are up here.’ ”

When it asked its Facebook followers for reactions to its pants, Lori Feinman wrote of an unfamiliar woman in a bar who walked up to Ms. Feinman’s Bonobos-clad husband “and grabbed his butt with both hands and said, ‘I love these pants.’ ” And that, Ms. Feinman concluded, “effectively ended his midlife crisis.”

A recent Men’s Health article suggested that men “who don’t have a contoured bumper” try jeans with pocket flaps.

“It adds more shapeliness if you lack junk in the trunk,” Peter Moore, the editor of the magazine, said in an interview. “The pockets can add visual definition back there and give wandering female eyes something to look at.”

Mr. Moore warned against “gluteal amnesia,” a term that has been used in the magazine to refer to muscles that slacken when parked in a chair for too long, and recommended stand-up desks and “good glute and hamstring exercises” over surgery.

But some men, like Michael, 41, an entrepreneur in the tech sector in Manhattan, say regular exercise hasn’t been enough.

“My wife always joked that I had a flat butt — she called it a ‘pancake butt,’ ” Michael said. He consulted with Dr. Adam Schaffner, a cosmetic surgeon in Manhattan, who suggested liposuction on his abdomen and injecting the extracted fat into his buttocks.

The procedure would cost $8,500. Michael was interested but said he could not do it, until his indecision was unexpectedly resolved.

“My wife surprised me and bought it for my 40th birthday,” said Michael, who asked that his last name not be used because he did not want anyone to know he had the procedure done.

Along with a waist reduced to 33 inches from 36 and abdominal muscles rendered visible for the first time since college, he now has a perkier rear end.

“My jeans are more comfortable and look better,” Michael said. “I feel more confident and synergistic.”

Mr. Vickers, the contractor, said that even when he was in peak shape when he boxed competitively, getting pants to stay up without a belt was hopeless.

As for the expense of his buttocks surgery, Mr. Vickers pointed out that it was less than his Lamborghini.

“I went out and spent almost 200 grand on a car,” he said. “To spend $10,000 to make you feel better and look better is worth it.”