Cosmetic Surgery Center, Dallas | Dr. Rai

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

You Lost the Weight, but Now What?

Massive weight loss is a major accomplishment that requires hard work and determination. After losing the pounds, many people find they are still not happy with the look of their bodies. Stubborn pockets of fat, lax muscles, and excess skin, all of which can be unresponsive to diet and exercise, can be impossible to get rid of.

Body contouring surgery addresses all of these areas and brings your body shape back into balance with your new weight. A combination of procedures that may include liposuction, tummy tuck, body lift, thigh lifts, arm lifts, breast lift, facelift, and neck lift can complete the look you started by losing the weight. From there you maintain your look with proper diet and exercise.

If you would like to learn more about any of these procedures, please contact Dr. Rai at the Cosmetic Surgical Center in Dallas, Texas to schedule your initial consultation.

posted by Lynn at 8:22 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 29, 2007

Facelifts Can Help Fight the Signs of Aging

As people get older, the effects of sun exposure, gravity and the stressors of daily life take their toll and can be seen on our faces. Deep creases form between the nose and the mouth, the jawline may grow slack and jowly, and folds and fat deposits appear around the neck.

Thanks to modern medicine, however, we no longer have to look our age (or older) as there are numerous cosmetic surgery procedures to choose from to reduce the signs of aging. One of the most popular tools to fight Father Time has always been the facelift (technically known as rhytidectomy). While a facelift cannot stop the aging process, a cosmetic surgeon can set back the clock and improve the visible signs of aging by removing excess fat, tightening underlying muscles, and redraping the skin of your face and neck.

To learn more about how Dr. Rai at the Cosmetic Surgical Center can reduce the signs of aging with a facelift, please contact our office today to schedule your initial appointment.

posted by Lynn at 8:54 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Suggestions While Contemplating Plastic Surgery

Dr. Rai at the Cosmetic Surgical Center in Dallas, Texas offers his patients and potential patients four recommendations during the decision-making process of having cosmetic surgery:

Do your homework. Research the procedure you are considering and talk to people who have had it done. You should be aware of the benefits and risks, and when you come to the office, Dr. Rai and his staff will explain these to you in great detail.
Have realistic expectations of what the surgery will do for you. Plastic surgery often does make dramatic changes in your appearance and your life, but plastic surgery is not a cure-all for whatever ails you in your personal life. During your consultation, discuss what you expect from the surgery with Dr. Rai and his staff.
Be informed. We encourage you to read our testimonials, look at before and after photos of actual patients, and speak to people who have had the same procedure you are considering.
Ask questions. Dr. Rai and staff encourage to write all of your questions down so you remember them at the time of your appointment. We are happy to answer all of your questions to help ease any fear you may be experiencing.

To learn more about the cosmetic surgery procedures we offer at the Cosmetic Surgical Center in Dallas, Texas, please contact our office to schedule your initial consultation.

posted by Lynn at 8:06 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Am I a Candidate for Breast Reduction Surgery?

Women who have very large breasts often experience a variety of problems associated with the excessive weight from the breasts including back and neck pain, skeletal problems, and breathing problems. Extremely large breasts often make women and young girls feel very self-conscious and embarrassed. Some women may be good candidates for breast reduction surgery but other may not.

Aesthetic Vs. Medical Reasons For Surgery

For medical and aesthetic reasons, women often seek breast reduction surgery, which is designed for women who want to reduce the size of their breasts or change the shape of their breasts. Breast reduction surgery removes fat, glandular tissue and skin from the breasts making them firmer and smaller. Breast reduction surgery can also reduce the size of the areola (the darker skin around the nipple). The goal of this surgery is to provide women with smaller, better-shaped breasts that are more in proportion with the rest of their bodies.

Breast reduction is a cosmetic surgery procedure that is most often done for medical reasons rather than aesthetic reasons. Most women having the surgery have suffered one or more medical problems due to their large breasts and are desperately seeking some relief from years, perhaps decades, of discomfort and pain. Some women's breasts are so large that they restrict their activities greatly and interfere with their ability to lead active, normal lives.

Potential Complications

As with any surgery, there is a chance for complications afterwards including bleeding, infection and reaction to the anesthesia. Some patients have developed small sores around the nipple area; these sores can be treated easily with antibiotic cream. Following your surgeon's orders to the letter both before and after surgery will greatly reduce your chance of developing any serious complications.

Permanent scars are left following surgery but are often covered by clothing such as bras and bathing suits. If you are a smoker, your chances for more prominent scars and poor healing are significantly increased.

During your consultation with your Dr. Rai, he will examine your breasts and photograph them for reference during surgery and afterwards. You will both discuss surgery options and possible results. The risks and costs involved with the surgery will also be discussed. To prepare for surgery, you may be required to have a mammogram performed, and pre-surgery, detailed directions will be provided that you must follow exactly as directed.

Breast reduction surgery typically takes 2-4 hours but may take longer in some cases.

After surgery, you will be wrapped in a bandage or a surgical bra over gauze dressings, and a small tube will be placed in each breast to drain off blood and fluids for the first day or two. Dr. Rai may prescribe pain medication, and the bandages will be removed after a couple of days. Your stitches will be removed in approximately three weeks. You may experience random shooting pains for a few months; some patients may experience this for a longer period of time.

You may be up and around a day or two following the surgery, but your breasts may still ache for a couple of weeks. You should avoid lifting or pushing or pulling of any kind for at least four weeks.

If you would like to learn more about breast reduction surgery in Texas, please contact Dr. Rai at the Cosmetic Surgical Center in Dallas today to schedule your initial consultation.

posted by Lynn at 8:35 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 15, 2007

Breast Augmentation and Nipple Sensation

When women consider breast augmentation surgery, they are typically very concerned about loss of sensation in the nipples. For most women who undergo this surgery, loss of sensation is temporary, but for a few, it is permanent.

Size does matter

Women with the most significant loss of nipple sensation had chosen the greatest increase in breast size with their augmentation surgery. Research has shown that women who choose very large implants relative to their breast skin should be warned about "potential adverse sensory sequelae within the nipple-areola complex."

Previously, many studies had been conducted regarding nipple sensitivity in women who had undergone breast reduction surgery, but relatively little information was available for women seeking an increase in breast size. In light of this information, cosmetic surgeons can more accurately advise breast augmentation patients.

If you would like to learn more about breast augmentation in Texas, please contact Dr. Rai at the Cosmetic Surgical Center in Dallas, Texas today to schedule your initial consultation.

posted by Lynn at 11:20 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Fat Transfer Used to Rejuvenate the Face

There has been a paradigm shift in the approach to facial aging that consists of a trend away from subtractive facial-surgery techniques and a newer focus on restorative procedures. As the face ages over time, facial-fat loss and volume depletion contribute to an aged and sunken facial appearance.

To restore lost facial volume and contour, cosmetic surgeons have been searching for the ideal filler to rejuvenate the face and to correct wrinkles, scars, depressions, and creases. Fat transfer can be a great way to place this lost fullness.

Transferring a patient's own fat has always been an attractive idea because there are no allergic reactions; the fat is readily available and inexpensive; and a variety of conditions can be treated including facial-volume loss, atrophic aging of the hands, post-surgical defects and post-traumatic defects. When performed appropriately, the procedure can yield satisfying cosmetic results.

Some of the benefits of fat transfer include:

Minimal pain or discomfort
Minimal risk
Short recovery time
The ability to treat all skin types
Long-lasting results
Cost-efficiency
Elimination of the risk of allergy or rejection

Fat transfer is commonly used now to enhance the results of other cosmetic surgeries, such as facelifts.

If you would like to learn more about fat transfer and cosmetic surgery procedures in Texas, please contact Dr. Rai at the Cosmetic Surgical Center in Dallas, Texas today to schedule your initial consultation

posted by Lynn at 8:58 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 8, 2007

Body Contouring Gaining Popularity

With the growing popularity of gastric bypass surgery to treat morbid obesity, postbariatric body contouring has become a focus of the plastic surgery community. Previously, many plastic surgeons would not perform body-contouring procedures after gastric bypass surgeries because of the high complication rates. However, newly developed or improved surgical techniques make the procedure safer and are definitely increasing its popularity.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), over 100,000 body-contouring procedures were performed in 2005. Massive weight loss patients accounted for over 50,000 of those procedures and continue to drive the growth of body-contouring surgery. Body contouring after gastric bypass surgery is safe and can be performed with significantly fewer complications than previously thought.

For most severely obese people, bariatric surgery is not aesthetic, it's life saving.

If you would like to learn more about body-recontouring or any other cosmetic surgery procedure offered by Dr. Rai at the Cosmetic Surgical Center in Dallas, Texas, please contact our office today to schedule your initial consultation.

posted by Lynn at 8:37 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Breast Reduction Surgery May be Your Answer

Women with very large breasts may experience a variety of problems caused by excessive weight from their breasts including back and neck pain, skin irritations, skeletal problems and even breathing problems. Extremely large breasts often make women and young girls feel very self-conscious and embarrassed.

Breast reduction surgery (reduction mammaplasty) is designed for women who want to reduce the size of their breasts for medical and/or aesthetic reasons. Breast reduction surgery removes fat, glandular tissue and skin from the breasts making them firmer, smaller and tighter. Breast reduction surgery can also reduce the size of the areola (the darker skin around the nipple). The goal of this surgery is to provide women with smaller, better-shaped breasts that are more in proportion with the rest of their bodies.

Why Reduce?

Breast reduction is one of the cosmetic surgery procedures that is most often done for medical reasons rather than aesthetic reasons. Most women having the surgery have suffered one or more medical problems due to their large breasts and are desperately seeking some relief from years, perhaps decades, of discomfort and pain. Some women's breasts are so large that they restrict their activities greatly and interfere with their ability to lead active, normal lives.

As with any surgery, there is a chance for complications after the surgery including bleeding, infection and reaction to the anesthesia. Some patients have developed small sores around the nipple area; these sores can be treated easily with antibiotic cream. Following your surgeon's orders to the letter both before and after surgery will greatly reduce your chance of developing any serious complications.

Breast reduction surgery does leave noticeable permanent scars; however, they will be covered by clothing usually. If you are a smoker, your chances for wider scars and poor healing are significantly increased. Breast reduction surgery may also leave you with mismatched breast sizes and/or unevenly positioned nipples. Some patients have reported a permanent loss of sensation in their nipples following the surgery due to loss of blood supply.

What to Expect

After surgery, you will be wrapped in elastic bandage or a surgical bra over gauze dressings, and a small tube will be placed in each breast to drain off blood and fluids for the first day or two. Your physician will prescribe pain medication, and the bandages will be removed after a couple of days. Your stitches will be removed in approximately three weeks. You may experience random shooting pains for a few months; some patients may experience this for a longer period of time.

You may be up and around a day or two following the surgery, but your breasts may still ache for a couple of weeks. You should avoid lifting or pushing or pulling of any kind for at least four weeks.

If you live in the Dallas area or anywhere in Texas and are interested in learning more about breast reduction surgery for medical or aesthetic reasons, please visit the website of Dr. Rai at the Cosmetic Surgical Center or contact our Dallas plastic surgery office to schedule an initial consultation.

posted by Lynn at 10:47 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 1, 2007

Breast Implants Offer Two Options

The saline-filled implant and the silicone gel implant are the two types of implants used for augmentation today. The saline-filled implant has been the most popular choice for the past 15 years or so, but the silicone gel implant is now being recommended to many women. In 1992, silicone gel implant use was restricted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but in November 2006, silicone gel breast implants were approved for all women age 22 and over. It was originally thought that the silicone gel implants posed serious health risks such as autoimmune disorders and connective tissue disease, but those concerns have not been supported in medical studies of the silicone implant.

Saline Implants

Saline-filled implants have been the more common implant used for many years. Saline-filled implants are constructed of a tough, semi-permeable silicone elastomer shell with a single valve on the front (anterior) surface of the implant. The saline-filled implants come in smooth and textured surface and round or contoured shapes. Contoured shapes are also referred to as anatomical, teardrop, and biodimensional shapes.

Most saline implants are single lumen and are filled at the time of surgery. Ruptures in breast implants can happen, and although breast implants are made to be strong and stable, there are instances where they can break, and the saline filler may leak and circulate throughout the body. If a rupture occurs, a saline breast will simply deflate, and the saline held within the implant would harmlessly absorb within the body.

This "safety feature" is just one of the many reasons why saline-filled implants have been the popular choice for so long. Saline breast implants are extremely versatile; they do vary in terms of shell surface, volume, shell thickness, profile shape, and ability to expand. Saline-filled implants are certainly a popular choice to fix disproportion between breasts or to gain proportion within your body.

Silicone Gel Implants

Silicone gel implants' outer shell is similar to that of the saline-filled implant in that it is made of solid silicone material; however, silicone implants are filled with silicone gel, which is a semi-solid material. In silicone gel implants, the surface may be smooth or textured (multiple fine bumps on the surface of the implant). There is some evidence that textured implants have a lower incidence of scar formation around them, but since a textured implant adheres to the surrounding skin, there may be visible rippling (wrinkling) of the skin. A textured implant also requires a larger incision due to the increased difficulty of sliding the implants through the surgical opening.

The silicone gel implant is usually inserted through an incision in the crease under the breast or just above it. The incision may be 3-6cm in length. An incision at or above the fold is often hidden by the slight droop of the breast and not seen unless someone is looking up under the breast. Silicone implants can also be inserted through an incision in the armpit, but this is much more difficult and more difficult insertions may cause damage to the implants.

Silicone gel implants have been known to leak through the shell. Rupture of an implant may be related to the length of time it has been in the body. Rupture may also be caused by force or traumas, such as a blow to the chest or a jolt from a car accident. Additional surgery may be required to repair or removed a ruptured breast implant.

If you are interested in learning more about the types of breast augmentation available to you in Dallas or anywhere in Texas, please contact Cosmetic Surgeon Dr. Vasdev Rai at the Cosmetic Surgical Center.

posted by Lynn at 9:05 AM 0 comments