Looking or longing for an image you once had or always desired? Depending on what area of your body you’re focusing on, it could be the fullness and perkiness of the breasts you once had and enjoyed before having kids, the sharp jawline free of drooping jowls that once gave you a lot of confidence before a significant weight gain, or the fine straight nose that became crooked after that accident. Maybe you experienced a loss of a lot of weight from childbirth or a C-section resulting in loose skin or sagging breasts from aging and changes in your body structure.
Many people become unhappy with the way they look in the mirror as they age but are uncertain about what they can do to improve their appearance. Curiosity about whether plastic surgery could be an option to fix some physical imperfections can give you a feeling of excitement, but also leave you feeling intimidated. So let’s delve into some considerations you’ll have to weigh (no pun intended!) as you make your decision.
What Makes a Good Candidate for Plastic Surgery?
A patient might be a good candidate for plastic surgery if they are generally healthy and do not smoke. For overall safety measures during the procedure, it is best for a patient to have a body mass index (BMI) of less than 35. Many New York plastic surgery clinics require their patients to have certain body mass index numbers to qualify for procedures. Body mass index is a value derived from the mass and height, thought to roughly represent the amount of body fat a person carries on their frame. Having a healthy BMI before you undergo a cosmetic or plastic surgery procedure can ensure more successful results, in addition to minimizing risks that could occur with anesthesia or the surgery.
If you have a high BMI, your surgeon may ask you to take up a traditional diet and exercise regimen to lower your index number before he will perform the procedure. Lowering your BMI is good for your health in general, and your plastic surgeon can direct you to some helpful and effective weight-loss resources.If your BMI is higher than 35, please contact us for an assessment: additional precautions may need to be taken to ensure your safety.
Being psychologically healthy and maintaining awareness of the risks involved is also important. You should have an optimistic and realistic attitude about your desired results. Realistic expectations by the patient are very important when considering elective plastic surgery. In this context, “realistic expectations” means that the patient has a realistic concept about what outcome can be expected after surgery. Patients will frequently bring in magazines or images on a cellphone and say, “I want to look exactly like this.” This often represents unrealistic expectations for results by the patient. All individuals are unique, and one patient will never look exactly like another person—with the exception being identical twins.
The unique nature of the human being is actually a good thing that creates unique identities. Cosmetic plastic surgery does not create anything new, as does reconstructive surgery (creating a new, reconstructed breast), but rather alters the anatomy that is already there. Appreciation of your unique anatomy is paramount in achieving realistic expectations. Two abdominoplasty patients, one normal weight and the other overweight, will not have equivalent outcomes with surgery. As realistically expected, the patient that is normal weight would likely have a better outcome than the patient who is overweight. The overweight patient may still have a good outcome, just not as good as the normal weight patient.
Health Concerns To Be Aware Of
You may not be a good candidate for cosmetic surgery if you have serious health issues. However, some health problems will not impact your ability to undergo plastic surgery. For example, if you have high blood pressure or diabetes, that’s okay as long as you are controlling these conditions with medication and see your primary care doctor regularly. Many people ask about thyroid conditions like hypothyroidism. Plastic surgery procedures can be performed with this condition as long as it is controlled with prescription medication.
If you can, don’t plan to lose significant weight after surgery. Instead, plan to have your cosmetic procedures done after your weight loss to optimize your results.
Your General Health
Your general medical condition is also a very important consideration in determining your fitness for surgery. Good general health improves the chances of a favorable outcome from an elective plastic surgery procedure. In some patients, poor general health may preclude elective plastic surgery. Elective plastic surgery on a patient that is morbidly obese would also not be a good choice. That said, this certainly does not mean that you must be in perfect general health before getting elective plastic surgery—if you’re overweight but not obese, then elective plastic surgery may be an option. Patients with less than great skin elasticity may also be candidates for elective plastic surgery.
Your Decision to Undergo Plastic Surgery
If you’re seriously considering plastic surgery to correct a physical imperfection or make a cosmetic enhancement, there are many things to consider. At Aristocrat Plastic Surgery & MedAesthetics, we want you to be as informed as possible to help you make your decision to undergo a procedure.
Plastic Surgery for Correcting Anatomical Concerns
A lot of people want to have plastic surgery procedures to accentuate and showcase a specific feature of their body. A woman with a curvaceous figure might want to further accent the features she loves. Or a woman with perfectly adequate breasts may want to give them some additional lift to add more perkiness. For some people, a plastic surgery procedure is about putting themselves in a more favorable spotlight rather than correcting a deficiency.
A primary consideration to undergo plastic surgery is the presence of a correctable problem. Most patients that seek elective plastic surgery have an anatomic situation that is correctable, meaning it can be improved. In many patients, there is a correctable anatomic problem for which plastic surgery would make a considerable difference. In other patients, there may be a minor anatomic problem for which plastic surgery would make a smaller difference. Both of these groups may be good candidates for plastic surgery, provided they have realistic expectations.
In addition to the severity of an anatomic problem to be corrected based on appearance, the condition of the local tissue is also important. There are many local tissue factors that can have a positive or negative effect on the procedure. For example, skin elasticity can affect the final outcome of a procedure. Generally speaking, the better the skin elasticity, the better the final outcome of the procedure. Some procedures are more likely to be affected by skin elasticity and other local tissue factors than others. For instance, skin elasticity is more likely to affect an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) or liposuction than it would a rhinoplasty (nose reshaping). Skin elasticity is only one—but a very important one—of the local tissue factors that can affect the outcome of plastic surgery.
Alternative Cosmetic Enhancements Aristocrat Can Offer You
At Aristocrat Plastic Surgery MedAesthetics, you will find a private and luxurious setting where we bridge the gap between the medical profession and the spa experience to deliver the finest treatments available.
In our New York MedAesthetics, we offer a fully integrated aesthetic surgery office and medical spa. The combined experience of Dr. Tehrani, nursing staff, and medical estheticians will determine the most appropriate treatment plan for each patient, creating the healthiest and most beautiful you.
Our entire staff at New York MedAesthetics is dedicated to helping you find state-of-the-art treatments and regimens, helping you to look and feel your best at every age. Come in for a consultation to discuss and define your goals. Treatment options are explored, and a long-term strategy is designed for you. We pride ourselves on individualized attention to your needs.
Aristocrat Plastic Surgery Director and Founder, Dr. Kevin Tehrani performs a wide variety of cosmetic enhancement procedures in his fully equipped and certified Operating Room in Great Neck, Long Island, New York.
Here are some of the cosmetic enhancement procedures that we offer in our MedSpa.
BOTOX®
Botox® is a simple, non-surgical cosmetic procedure to smooth the deep, persistent wrinkles that are caused by muscle activity. Botox® is a relatively short cosmetic treatment involving a series of tiny injections that provide you with a rejuvenated look. Botox® can smooth crow’s feet, frown lines between the eyebrows, horizontal lines across the forehead, worry lines around the mouth, and lines on the neck.
It relaxes the muscles that cause the age lines to form and keeps them relaxed up to four months. Individual results may vary. The Botox® treatment is FDA-approved and has been extensively tested. The benefits of Botox® have been widely covered by the media. It is the most popular cosmetic procedure in NYC and one of Aristocrat Plastic Surgery’s most requested services.
CoolSculpting
You exercise and eat right, but stubborn fat bulges remain. That’s because they’re often immune to diet and exercise. CoolSculpting is a revolutionary non-surgical contouring treatment that freezes stubborn fat, which is then removed naturally from the body. The FDA-approved treatment requires no needles, no special diets, no supplements, no incisions, and no downtime.
Most patients experience significant fat reduction after one CoolSculpting treatment. A second treatment can reduce fat by another 20%. Final losses may be more or less, depending on the patient. These results vary by individual.
Results begin to show within three weeks of treatment in most people. After two months of treatments, the results are dramatic*. Your body will continue to flush out fat cells for up to four months, however, so you will continue to show improvement. The results are long-lasting, especially if you maintain a steady weight and exercise regularly.
Fraxel Laser Therapy
Fraxel Laser Therapy is a laser skin rejuvenation procedure aimed at controlled treatment of many areas of the face and body. It is a fast, non-surgical, no downtime method that repairs damaged skin and can treat a number of issues from hyperpigmentation to scars to wrinkles to sun damage.
The Fraxel laser reaches deep into the skin’s second layer, the dermis, and stimulates the body’s restorative abilities, as well as its production of new collagen. Older skin that is damaged is removed from beneath the epidermal layer, the outermost area of skin. The procedure is unique because it only targets a specific part of your skin, reducing the risk of skin damage to your healthy skin.
Hand Rejuvenation
Hand rejuvenation can be either a surgical or non-surgical procedure personalized to help restore a youthful appearance to the hands. This can be done through several methods, including injectable fillers, fat grafting, laser treatment, vein treatment, and more.
Hand rejuvenation combines minimally invasive procedures including volume restoration and skin resurfacing. In the current climate of very common facial rejuvenation procedures, the hands can be neglected and become the only remaining telltale sign of age. Characteristics that are treatable with minimally invasive procedures include the bony appearance, visible tendons, and visible/prominence of veins, along with skin pigmentation changes and wrinkles.
Ultherapy
Ultherapy is a non-surgical face treatment that actually lifts and tones loose or sagging skin without any downtime. It can specifically target the deep foundation below the skin – typically addressed in cosmetic surgery – without cutting or disrupting the surface of the skin. It also is the only procedure to use ultrasound imaging, which allows us to see the layers of tissue we target during the treatment and ensure the energy is deposited precisely where it will be most effective.
This FDA-approved technique also stimulates your body to produce more collagen for months of gradual improvement. Collagen is a natural protein that gives skin its youthfulness by keeping it firmed, toned, and elastic. As we age, collagen loses its elasticity and its ability to stand up to the effects of gravity that pull the skin downward. Ultherapy jumpstarts a repair process that produces fresh, new collagen.
Nuvo Diet
Here at Aristocrat Plastic Surgery & MedAesthetics, we care immensely about our patient’s aesthetic needs and general overall health. We know it can be hard to stay on top of your diet and shed off excess fat, so we offer a fully supervised weight loss program known famously as the Nuvo Diet.
The Nuvo Diet is unique on its own because it is the only fully supervised and customizable diet program where you can lose 20-40 or more pounds in as little as 40 days. It may sound hard to believe but take it from our board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Kevin Tehrani, who lost more than 40 pounds while on the Nuvo Diet. This supervised weight loss program is great for patients who are seeking a Lateral Tension Abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck) but still need to lose fat to be eligible for the procedure.
The Nuvo Diet NYC is 100% all-natural; no hormones or drugs are used to help patients achieve their weight and health goals. This completely customizable diet program is specifically tailored to each individual patient and is fully supervised by our physician assistant. Say goodbye to the fat at Aristocrat Plastic Surgery with the Nuvo Diet using natural supplements in your completely customized weight loss plan.
Hair Regeneration
Male pattern baldness aka androgenetic alopecia is a common hair loss disorder affecting up to 80% of males by the age of 80. It is characterized by progressive thinning of hair in a defined pattern. It results in diminished self-esteem, reduced confidence, and diminished self-esteem. Hair follicles undergo progressive miniaturization. Genetic factors and androgens are key role-players in disease pathogenesis.
Current medical treatments like finasteride and minoxidil are effective in arresting the progression of the disease, but only allow partial regrowth of hair at its best.
Super Immune Vitamin Drips
Our Super Immune Vitamin Drip, also known as Myers’ Cocktail, is a specially formulated intravenous vitamin drip that infuses high doses of Vitamin C, D, Glutathione, and zinc combined with nutrients to help maintain immune support and process toxins more quickly.
IV Vitamin Drips are an innovative tool that you can add to your defense against cold and flu symptoms. They deliver all the vitamins and antioxidants you need right to your cells. According to a government medical study on the Myers’ Cocktail, “it has been found to be effective against upper respiratory tract infections” which is what our community needs right now.
Let Aristocrat Plastic Surgery & MedAesthetics Help You Achieve Your Goals
At Aristocrat Plastic Surgery & MedAesthetics, we believe that plastic surgery should be more than a procedure—it should also foster a sense of artistry and expression. Call us today for a private consultation to discover how we can help you look and feel your best!