Combination Plastic Surgery Procedures - From Head to Toe

A very popular plastic surgery trend these days is to have several cosmetic procedures performed during one operating room session. Apparently this can save on costs and make for one massive recovery rather than several painful recovery periods over the space of a year.

People choose to do all different combinations of plastic surgery procedures at once, but some of the most common are the face lift, the neck lift, breast augmentation, and the tummy tuck.

Face Lift

A face lift is a procedure designed to get rid of many fine lines and wrinkles in the face. It begins with an incision made along the hairline or just behind the hairline. The skin is gently loosened from the muscles below.

The surgeon carefully repositioned and augments if necessary the underlying muscles and tissues, after which she pulls the facial skin upward and tight and removes the extra skin. The face is sewn back together at the incision point, placing the future scar in a very inconspicuous place.

While it may take a few weeks or months for the swelling to subside, the results are the most long-lasting of any cosmetic facial procedure and certainly produce a younger, fresher look for years to come.

Neck Lift

Nothing gives away your age faster than wrinkles and sagging in your neck. A neck lift can help hide that age by smoothing out your neck skin, giving you a younger appearance. The process is very similar to the face lift, except that the incision is made under the chin or jawline.

The skin is pulled upward and the excess skin is excised. The recovery period involves some rest and refraining from a lot of neck twisting or straining for the initial post-surgery period. Yet after the swelling and pain subside, you are left with a tighter looking neck that is reminiscent of much younger days.

Breast Augmentation

Breast augmentation is very popular in combination with all sorts of other procedures, especially with breast lifts. Breast augmentation involves inserting breast implants on top of or under the pectoral muscles.

There are several different techniques used to do this so the incision might be made just under the breasts in the natural crease, through the underarms, or even in the naval. Silicone implants are pre-filled and often provide a more natural look and feel, but saline implants can be filled after they are inserted offering ease of adjustment.

The recovery includes a week off of work while you rest and the pain dissipates. The swelling will take a month or slightly longer to subside. The results are permanent unless a revision surgery is needed and most patients are very satisfied with their procedures.

Tummy Tuck

Finally, the tummy tuck is a way to get tighter, firmer, slimmer abs. The tummy tuck removes extra belly skin, can pull out unwanted fatty deposits through liposuction, and allows the surgeon to tighten the abdominal muscles by suturing them together. The results are much firmer and more toned looking abs that inspires greater self-confidence in bathing suit weather!

Popular Trends in Plastic Surgery

Although plastic surgery is becoming more and more commonplace, different people decide to have plastic surgery for different reasons. Some get surgery solely for cosmetic reasons, while others go under the knife to fix a problem. At any rate, plastic surgery is a widely accepted trend for many people.

First, we must look at the history of plastic surgery. Before surgical procedures became available, many women opted for nonsurgical gadgets to enhance their appearance. In the early 20th century, some women wore chin straps that were supposed to help sagging chins and jawlines appear firmer. A less popular contraption was a nose thinner-which is still in existence today, although slightly updated of course.

With the World Wars in the 20th century as well as increased surgical technology, facial surgery became much more feasible. At first used as a reconstructive process, surgeons soon realized the immense capabilities of plastic surgery-including facial operations for cosmetic reasons as well as the reconstructive processes.

Now, there are several burgeoning trends in cosmetic procedures. We shall examine several popular reasons for plastic surgery and the quest for beauty here:

Anti-aging. Many women (and some men) choose to undergo plastic surgery in order to appear younger. This can include anti-wrinkle injections, such as Botox; face, neck, and eyebrow lifts; as well as laser skin resurfacing to treat sun damage. The filler injections are wonderful ways to update the complexion in a nonsurgical way.

Weddings. Women want to look perfect for their wedding day. Thus, they can opt for lip augmentations for a puffy, kissable pout, as well as rhinoplasty and chin and cheek implants to create the face they want to be remembered in all of their wedding pictures. Lastly, laser hair removal is very useful if the bride is honeymooning on the beach or even any other location.

Post birth. After a woman has sacrificed her youthful figure to have children, it is natural to want her old body back. She may want liposuction or a tummy tuck to hide the stretch marks. Sometimes, women want breast augmentation after nursing their babies. Also, who wouldn't want a few Restylane injections to fix those worry lines after raising children?

After weight loss. For men and women alike, struggling with being overweight or obese can stretch out the skin. Once someone has reached his or her goal weight, it can sometimes be necessary to remove the loose extra skin. This can be fixed with tucking procedures. As well as stretched stomach skin, people might have leftover double-chin skin. A facelift can help solve this problem to fully celebrate a successful weight loss program.

Plastic Surgery Statistics

The growth in cosmetic plastic surgery is not limited to the shores of the UK. People all over the world choose this type of surgery to amend facial or body features about themselves. Long gone are the days when one was forced to accept there birth features for better or for worse. Nowadays plastic surgery transplants are also being carried out on young people.

Plastic surgery of course is not an operation that should be taken light heartedly. The pleasure of seeing ones body change into something more desirable or to your own liking, does not come without its costs and body discomfort during the healing process. It is therefore paramount that any such surgery is only taken out after thorough consideration. Where possible it is also wise to accept advice from those close to you, as there maybe alternative methods that could work out just as effectively. For example in the instance surgery is sought to help reduce weight a proper diet that is followed could just as well do the trick without the financial costs involved in surgery. Also do not forget plastic surgery does require aftercare and depending on the type of plastic surgery you intent carrying out, this could be a number of months.

So how many people actually carry out plastic surgery each year and what type of surgery do they undertake?

Well in 2006 over 11.5 million cosmetic surgery procedures were carried out in the United States of America alone, a 447 per cent increase in the amount of plastic surgery operations carried out in 1997.The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery's cosmetic surgery statistics are the most comprehensive collection of data available on the number of cosmetic surgical and no surgical procedures performed in the United States

Below is a breakdown of the 11.5 million plastic surgery operations carried out.

Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Procedures

The top five most popular surgical procedures in 2006 include:

· Liposuction - 403,684

· Breast augmentation - 383,886

· Eyelid surgery - 209,999

· Abdominoplasty - 172,457

· Breast Reduction - 145,822

Cosmetic Non-Surgical Procedures

· Over 8 million minimally invasive cosmetic procedures, which require no surgery, were performed in 2006.

· The top five most popular non-surgical procedures in 2006 include:

· Botox - 3.1 million

· Hyaluronic Acid (Hylaform, Restylane) - 1.5 million

· Laser hair removal - 1.4 million

· Microdermabrasion - 993,071

· Laser Skin Resurfacing - 556,172

Non-Cosmetic Plastic Surgeries

· In 2006 over five million reconstructive surgeries were performed.

· The top five reconstructive plastic surgeries in 2006

· Tumor Removal - 3.9 million

· Laceration Repair - 312,844

· Scar Revision - 164,684

· Hand Surgery - 155,810

· Breast Reduction - 104,455

Ethnicity

· People of color accounted for approximately 23 percent of cosmetic procedures in 2006.

· Hispanics - 8% in 2006. The top three requested procedures for Hispanics in 2006:

· Breast Augmentation

· Nose Reshaping

· Liposuction

African-Americans - 7% of African-Americans got procedures in 2006; The top three requested procedures for African-Americans in 2006 were, nose reshaping, liposuction and breast reduction

Asian-Americans - 6% of Asians got procedures in 2006; the top three requested procedures for Asian-Americans in 2006 were nose reshaping, breast Augmentation, eyelid Surgery

According to cosmetic surgery statistics, a growing number of the cosmetic surgeons practicing today are unqualified for the procedures that they perform. Routine cosmetic plastic surgery procedures are sometimes messed up, with horrifying results. Just imagine your friend going in for a breast reduction or a tummy tuck, and never coming out alive. It is important to research any major decision that you are making, but cosmetic surgery statistics are unusually important.

Plastic surgery statistics

1. Lipoplasty (Liposuction) with 455,489 procedures performed, down five percent from last year. Interestingly, 21% of these procedures were ultrasound-assisted Lipoplasty (UAL)

2. Breast Augmentation with 364,610 procedures up nine percent from 2004. For the first time, we categorized saline vs. silicone augmentation. 83.4 percent of respondents used the saline device, 16.6 percent the silicone implant.

3. Blepharoplasty (cosmetic eyelid surgery) came in third with 231,467 procedures down 20 percent from 2004

4. Rhinoplasty (nose reshaping) is the forth most common procedure with 200,924 procedures performed, an increase of 21 percent over 2004

5. Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) reported 169,314 procedures, up 12 percent from 2004.

Location and Fees

The above clearly shows plastic surgery is not something that is limited to the rich and famous. Where actually was all this plastic surgery carried out. Well again statistics showover forty-eight percent (48.3 percent) of cosmetic procedures in 2005 were performed in office-based facilities; 27.9 percent in freestanding surgicenters; and 23.8 percent in hospitals. Americans spent just under $12.4 billion on cosmetic procedures; $8.2 billion was for surgical procedures, and $4.2 billion was for nonsurgical procedures.

In conclusion, if you are considering a surgical or non-surgical procedure it is important that you consider your reasons for wanting the procedure, your expectations of the results the procedure may bring, as well as making sure that you have all the information you need to make a properly informed decision about whether to go ahead. As can be seen from the chart above, cosmetic plastic surgery can be expensive financially, let alone the recuperation time needed.

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