Cosmetic Surgery Center, Dallas | Dr. Rai

Sunshine has three types of ultraviolet (UV) radiation – that is, beams that are beyond the violet end of our visible spectrum:

1. UV-A – that pierces below the skin surface and leads to sun damage and skin cancer;
2. UV-B – that burns and tans your skin; and
3. UV-C – that does not reach our skin because the earth’s atmosphere absorbs it. Sun protection therefore need only concern itself with UV-A and UV-B rays.

Sunscreens

Sunscreens filter the ultraviolet radiation with a combination of organic and inorganic chemicals. Some radiation still reaches below the skin surface but not all of it. A sunscreen can use any of these organic molecules to absorb UV rays:

• PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid) – which absorbs UVB rays. PABA began to be used in the 1970s but was found to cause some allergic reactions (in about four percent of the population) and now is not used so often. It has the advantage of adhering well to the skin surface so that it is not easily rubbed or washed off.
• Cinnamates – which are the most often-used ingredients for UVB absorption; they also stabilize other chemicals and make them more water-resistant.
• Benzophenones – which absorb UVA rays; but one of them, oxybenzone, is thought to be toxic by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in Washington, D.C. It has not had a safety review since the 1970s.

Sunblocks

Sunblocks do not filter the light – they scatter it and prevent it from penetrating the skin at all. They work against both UV-A and UV-B radiation and the effective ingredient is usually zinc oxide or titanium oxide as reflective particles. To prevent the sunblocks from looking white on the skin, as did the “zinc cream” of decades ago, microsized particles of zinc or titanium oxide are used, as they are not visible on the skin.

What is the SPF Level?

The SPF (sun protection factor) number is a multiplier. It tells you how long you can stay in the sun before you get burned. SPF factors relate only to UV-B radiation because UV-A rays do not burn the skin – they cause skin damage and potentially skin cancer. So using a sunscreen with a high SPF will not protect against those two dangers, only against burning.

SPF factors need to be interpreted based on your own skin’s natural protection – that is, its amount of pigment (melanin). For example, if you know that you can be in the sun for 20 minutes before being burned, an SPF of 10 will allow you to stay out for 10 times 20 minutes which is 200 minutes. That means you need to test your own skin without any sunscreen or sunblock to see how long it takes to get a burn.

SPF numbers are calculated by the product manufacturer based on an assumption that you will apply the product generously. If you apply less than one millimeter’s thickness, the SPF drops.

Most sun protection products indicate on their label whether they offer broad spectrum protection or not – that is, protection from both UV-A and UV-B, or just from one of those. The EWG offers a sunscreen guide on its website to help you choose the best broad spectrum product for yourself or your child.

If, like many, you have already sustained sun damage and would like to learn more about how your skin can be rejuvenated with a chemical peel or a laser resurfacing procedure, please contact our office in Dallas, Texas today. Dr. Rai will be happy to give you a free consultation.

News reports have been coming out for years about occasional plastic surgeons found to have defrauded the public, but more recently, there have been stories about patients defrauding their plastic surgeons.

A recent example is a woman in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who received a BOTOX® Cosmetic treatment and cheek and lip fillers from a Dr. Shino Bay Aguilera. She refused to have any topical anesthetic for her 50 needle shots and directed the doctor as to exactly where to place the injections. She also refused to have her “Before” photo taken, on the basis that it would violate her modeling contract.

After being treated for two and a half hours, she told the clinic staff that she would return from a nearby ATM with a cash payment, and she left her purse behind, supposedly as security. She never returned. Her bill came to $3,300. In reference to not taking her photo, Dr. Aguilera said:

• "I dropped the ball on that one. It will never happen again. Now she was very attractive, but she wasn't model material."

Luckily, a video surveillance camera caught her image and police are looking for her. They are not commenting until the investigation is over except to say that they are doing a photo lineup and think they know who the woman was.

Two Other Cases

In another case that happened in May of this year, one Shatarka Nuby wanted to have breast enlargement and liposuction of her upper arms. She worked with an accomplice posing as her cousin. Her bill came to $9,000 and the accomplice paid it with someone else’s credit card – a stolen identity.

According to reports of court documents, the credit card owner was a young woman who dropped a college application containing personal information in a Tamarac, Florida mailbox. The school never received her application and she later found that five credit cards had been opened in her name. One already had charges of $19,550. Another had been used in the plastic surgery fraud and police found that Nuby’s “cousin” had a driver’s license in the college student’s name. Nuby has a history of credit card and driver’s license fraud. She is being held in federal custody and could be given up to ten years in jail.

In September 2009, one Patrice Thomas also pleaded guilty to the charge of identity theft. She had paid for her tummy tuck with another person’s credit card, the bill coming to $5,000. She was sentenced to five years’ probation but news reports do not say whether she is required to reimburse the credit card owner.

People who engage in these fraudulent practices are certainly a minority. Dr. Aguilar opined that the apparent increase in cosmetic surgery patient fraud could be attributed to the poor economy and efforts to get a job by looking more youthful. Regardless of the reason for it, credit card fraud is inexcusable and identity theft is a disaster for the victim.

At The Cosmetic Surgical Center, Dr. Rai and his team try to help you with plastic surgery costs. We work with CareCredit and MedicalLoan to help you get good loan terms, as we do not think that financing should ever stop a person from enhancing their appearance and self-confidence.

To schedule a free consultation with Dr. Rai, please contact our Texas office today. We serve Dallas and Fort Worth and hope to be working with you soon.

Most women would probably agree that high heels look and feel more elegant than flat shoes. Some women love to wear very high heels, and that becomes part of their self-image, so that they wear such shoes at work and at play. After a while, discomfort and pain become issues.

Some women have been asking podiatrists to improve their feet by making them narrower to fit into narrow shoes more comfortably, or by amputating or shortening a toe for a better foot shape.

Controversial Plastic Surgery for the Feet

Some podiatrists have obliged and there are facilities nationwide that will provide cosmetic foot surgery. As an example, in Beverly Hills, California, there is a cosmetic foot surgery clinic founded by a podiatrist that offers these surgeries.

• The Cinderella Procedure – offered as a bunion prevention procedure and involves making the feet more narrow;
• Foot-Tuck Fat Pad Augmentation – which takes fat from your abdomen and injects it into the balls of your feet to give you extra cushioning in your high heels;
• Toe Shortening – done per toe and designed to prevent hammertoes, where the toe joint becomes fixed in a bent position. This can cause corns on the joint and displacement of the fat pad beneath the foot. Hammertoes could be caused by wearing high heels daily, especially if they are a bit too small for your feet.
• Toe Lengthening – which can be done to correct an overdone toe shortening;
• Slimming the Pinky Toes – which helps a woman fit into narrower shoes.

However, many podiatrists and orthopedic surgeons oppose such procedures and the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) has put out a press release explaining why they are not a good idea.

Downsides of Cosmetic Foot Surgery

The AOFAS warns that surgery should never be performed on a foot that is functioning well and not in pain. Our feet carry our entire weight, which puts them under a lot of daily stress. Each foot has 26 bones and 30 joints that connect to, and are supported by, tendons, nerves, and skin. Our feet are designed to give us painless walking and running and if they are providing that, any cosmetic surgery will jeopardize it.

All surgery brings risk and before having any surgery, cosmetic or otherwise, you should always weigh the potential benefits with the potential risks and known downsides. A cosmetic foot surgery done to facilitate the wearing of high heels could give you:

• Infection
• Nerve injury
• Large scars
• Post-surgical pain
• Complications that might prevent comfort in any walking and in any type of shoe

By all means, wear high heels at times; but why do it to the point where your feet develop problems? If your feet are pain-free and functioning well, it’s a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Incurring surgical risks could bar you from ever wearing high heels.

Dr. Rai is always interested in new procedures and has been keeping himself updated on all new plastic surgery ideas over the years. But only when a new procedure is tested and proven to be beneficial does he add it to our offerings here at The Cosmetic Surgical Center.

If you would like to know more about our cosmetic surgery offerings for both males and females, please contact our Dallas, Texas office today for a free consultation.

There is a new procedure for skin rejuvenation that uses a handheld device called a Genuine Dermaroller™. When it is rolled over the skin, it makes thousands of microscopic punctures.

The skin responds as if it were injured and produces more collagen and new tighter skin cells. This is the same reaction as happens after a laser skin resurfacing or a chemical peel – in a sense, the skin is, in fact, slightly injured by these procedures, and with its self-healing response, it creates younger-looking skin.

The roller is about the size of a reel of packaging tape and is on a stylish-looking handle. Special training is required for a cosmetic practitioner or doctor to perform this therapy.

The Genuine Dermaroller™ Procedure

A topical anesthetic is first given to numb the skin being treated and after it has taken hold, the procedure lasts 20 to 30 minutes. The tiny punctures, called needle-columns, are about 0.1 mm wide and extend into the skin’s middle layer, the dermis. Usually, four treatments are given with six-week healing periods in between.

At first, the skin is red as extra blood flow suffuses the treated area. For the next six weeks, you can see the improvement as your skin works on regenerating itself.

Genuine Dermaroller™ Results

This treatment helps reduce scars caused by chickenpox or acne, improves sun damage, smoothes out wrinkles and stretch marks and reduces the size of any blemishes. It improves the texture and quality of your skin and improvement continues throughout the six-week period after each treatment. It can be used on the delicate skin around the eyes.

One of its advantages is that it does not cause any increased photosensitivity in the skin. This makes it an easy summertime treatment, unlike peels and laser treatments, which require protection from the sun.

Another advantage is that the tiny skin punctures allow better absorption of skin nutrients and moisturizers.

Dermaroller™ in the U.S.

Dermaroller™ treatments are available in the U.K. and China and the device comes in several home use versions that you can use on yourself under the supervision of a trained practitioner. The U.S. FDA has not approved any type of Dermaroller™ at this point. Some are being sold online as having FDA approval but as best this writer can determine, they are simply registered with the FDA, not approved by it. Registering a product with the FDA is an administrative process and involves no testing or analysis.

At The Cosmetic Surgical Center, Dr. Rai offers a variety of skin rejuvenation procedures that are definitely FDA-approved. If you would like to know more about them, please contact our office in Dallas, Texas for a free consultation with Dr. Rai.

India is one of the countries to recently jump on the cosmetic surgery train, according to recent news reports. Cosmetic surgeons in Delhi have reported receiving hundreds of inquiries about many procedures, and this has been especially true since May of this year.

The new school year starts in July. Many of the people interested in improving their appearance are freshman university students – “freshers”. One young woman, who had a dimple created on her right cheek by a plastic surgeon, is quoted as saying:

• I'm not nervous about starting college. I'm going with a new look and a new confidence. Personality is important but when you first meet someone it is how you look and how you present yourself that counts. So obviously everyone wants to look beautiful."

Most of the new patients are female and their focus is on facial enhancement. Popular procedures so far are rhinoplasty, lip enlargement, and neck liposuction to correct a double chin.

There are some male patients too, most of whom are interested in male breast reduction (gynecomastia treatment).

Driven by Competition

One B Narayanaswamy, a director of market researching company called Ipsos, sees this rush for plastic surgery as being motivated by two factors:

1. Role models in the entertainment industries, many of whom readily acknowledge that they have had plastic surgery; and
2. The fierce competition in India for the limited number of attractive jobs.

"You get any possible advantage you can,” he says. “So much depends on networks, not merit, that you need to make the right friends, go to the right parties and get the opportunities you might otherwise not get. If you have the money to pay for getting that advantage then you do."

Indian cosmetic surgeons are also attracting people from other countries. One Dr Amit Gupta, of Cocoona International Centre, in Delhi, says:

• "I get dozens of telephone calls and end up doing eight or nine operations a month. Multiplied across all the clinics in the city you are looking at a pretty major amount."

Meanwhile, Dr. Rai in Dallas, Texas, offers a full array of cosmetic surgery, including many non-invasive procedures. If you would like to know more about a particular procedure that interests you, please contact our office today for a free consultation with Dr. Rai.

In Europe and Canada, there is a device to reduce fatty tissue by freezing fat cells. In the U.S., this device is currently FDA-approved only for skin cooling, but a company called Zeltiq™ is working to get approval for fat removal. Zeltiq is based in Pleasanton, CA and operates worldwide.

How Cryolipolysis Works

Body cells respond to heat and cold at varying temperatures, depending on what type of cells they are. Fat cells have their own range where they become damaged by cold and die. Cryolipolysis, also called CoolSculpting, uses a cup-like device against the treatment area, attaching it with mild suction. The cold sides of this cup lower the temperature of fat cells while leaving other cell types unaffected.

There is some mild discomfort because of the cold but apparently after about ten minutes, it fades, probably because the area is numb with cold by then. A few days after the procedure, the treated fat cells begin to shrink in a process called apoptosis, and then are absorbed by the body and excreted by the liver. You now have an improved body contour.

Side effects are minor and related to the cold temperature of your treatment. The skin may be red for a few hours; there may be some bruising and tenderness; you may feel some tingling or reduced sensation. These are all short-term conditions.

Who is a Good Candidate for CoolSculpting?

Like liposuction, this procedure is not a way to lose weight. The best candidates are people with just small areas of unwanted fat. It has been effective for love handles and “man-boobs”, and would probably be good for the upper arms or beneath the chin. You would want to be in good general health.

Currently, the CoolSculpting device is in clinical trials with the goal of producing enough quantifiable data to succeed in a commercial launch in the U.S.

At The Cosmetic Surgical Center, we offer Ultrasonic Liposuction as well as traditional tumescent liposuction, both of which can recontour the body with dramatic and pleasing results.

If you would like to schedule a free consultation with Dr. Rai, please contact our Dallas, Texas office today.

Plastic surgery has become very popular in China and this week 50 Chinese surgeons went to South Korea to learn how they could improve their services. This group was from a plastic surgery hospital in Chengdu (Sichuan province) and they were part of an economic delegation. Other delegation members were business leaders, especially from electronics and logistics, wanting to create exchanges with Korean industries.

The goal of the surgeon group was to get ideas about technology for a huge international medical complex being built in Chengdu. Its mission will be to attract high income earners in China and medical tourists from other countries. The Chengdu surgeon who heads up this burgeoning complex told a reporter:

• “Korea’s cosmetic surgery technology is famous worldwide and cosmetic surgery technology in and of itself has become a (Korean) brand. Through this visit, we want to open cooperation with Korea’s leading medical facilities in cosmetic surgery and talented doctors.”

Lee Yeong-jun, chief of the Korea Investment-Trade Promotion Agency (KOTRA) Business Center in Chengdu, said,

• “Many Chinese are interested in Korean cosmetic surgery technology due to the influence of Korean dramas. For this reason, many Chinese cosmetic clinics hang signboards reading ‘joint venture with Korea’ and ‘Korean medical doctors in residence.’”

Chinese Cosmetic Surgery Growing

According to news reports, China’s cosmetic surgery industry is expanding at the rate of 20 percent each year and in 2010 four million people are estimated to have some type of cosmetic surgery procedure done.

In search of ideas, the Chinese surgeons visiting Korea had their camcorders and digital cameras with them and snapped pictures of medical equipment and the interior design of Seoul hospitals. The Koreans are also promoting their own cosmetic surgery offerings and the Korean KOTRA executive general manager stated:

• “Many ordinary Chinese are still unaware of the excellent level of Korea’s cosmetic surgery technology. We will step up our promotional campaigns not only in major cities but also in inland regions of China.”

In the U.S., despite the struggling economy and continuing layoffs, there is still a healthy demand for non-invasive cosmetic surgery procedures such as the ever-popular BOTOX® Cosmetic and facial fillers. Dr. Rai offers both of these as well as chemical peels to rejuvenate the facial skin.

If you would like to know more about cosmetic surgery and which procedure would meet your personal improvement goals most effectively, please contact our Dallas, Texas office today for a free consultation with Dr. Rai.