Dr. Angela here, as well as reflecting on the past year, January is a great time to see what is new, exciting and on the horizon in plastic surgery and other non evasive procedures.
Image: women-choice.com
The way we are thinking about eyelids is changing. Refreshed, open eyes will always be one of the best ways to stay looking your best. In many people, this means removing excess skin on the upper lids and excess fat on the lower lids. However, we now understand that many of the changes in the eyes are due to loss of volume or shifts in volume. We may see the bags, which are protrusions of the fat around the eye, but the hollowing directly below that is due to the separation of this fat and the cheek fat as the cheeks descend. Also, there is volume loss of the cheeks and even the bones around the eyes. These issues can be addressed by adding back volume. This can mean by using the fat around the eye that is protruding and rearranging it, moving fat from a different area in the body or by injecting a filler. Expect to see more discussion about filling around the eye rather than taking away in the future.
Image: coolsculpting.com
I feel like we always talk about fat, wanting to lose it or move it around. This will continue with technologies like CoolSculpting expanding their applications to places like under the chin and various body parts. Freezing fat is based on the fact that fat cells freeze at a higher temperature than skin cells. Therefore, we can cool an area down to the temperature that the fat freezes, but the skin is ok. Your body clears the fat that has been frozen over a period of weeks. This works great for that little “pudge” that diet and exercise just can’t seem to get rid of. However, if you would like to lose more than 5 pounds or so, you may not see that much of a change.
Image: pinterest
Fat transfer, or moving fat from one area of the body to another, has been around for a very long time. This was the means of volumizing the face before we had widely available fillers. This can be effective and a nice compliment to other facial rejuvenation procedures, like facelifting. However, it can be somewhat inconsistent, which is why it was widely replaced by consistent fillers years ago. The fat is being transferred without a blood supply, so some of it can live and some of it will not. There is a possibility that you can have some lumpiness or underfilling because not as much of it lives as you would have liked. If you like the result that you get, its great because it is very long lasting. On the other hand, if you don’t, it’s still long lasting. So, if you are considering this as an option make certain that you see a surgeon that does a large volume of fat transfer in their practice so that they will have a good idea of how much of their fat “usually” lives and give you a good idea of a reasonable expectation, but understand that each person is different.
So, there are exciting things coming in 2018, but as always do your homework and ask lots of questions!