Getting the Most out of Plastic Surgery

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Plastic Surgery can do many positive things for you. It can reshape a nose, balance your breasts in size and shape, repair the damage after pregnancy or massive weight loss, and restore a youthful appearance to your face. Advanced laser and injectable treatments can make a big difference without surgery, as well as skincare and peels.

Patients are virtually always pleased with the changes that surgery brings, but they sometimes think that it is a substitute for exercise, diet, and a healthy lifestyle. Sorry, but it is not that easy. If you want to maintain and optimize your results, you should listen to your doctor.
After a tummytuck, or abdominoplasty, procedure you need to exercise to maintain and restore tone to the abdominal muscles. No matter how skinny you are, if you relax the stomach muscles, you will not be totally flat. The surgery reshapes the waist and returns the muscles to a tighter state, but muscle strength is important and something you have to do.

Following liposuction, you need to maintain your weight. If you continue to eat in a way that increases fat in your body, you will get bigger and possibly require more surgery. Better to watch your diet and enjoy.

You must take care of your skin, as a facelift or eyelid surgery only fixes sagging. The texture and sun damage need to be improved by proper skincare and sun avoidance. Diet and water intake are also important.

If you make the effort to undergo cosmetic plastic surgery, protect your investment. I only want you to look your best and show off my work in the best possible light. What better advertising could there be?

Be on the Same Page as your Plastic Surgeon

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As a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon in NYC, I hear some interesting stories about other doctors both here and overseas. They come mainly from dissatisfied patients who want to improve results or fix complications. Some I can help, others are unable to be helped, and others have expectations that cannot be met in this world.

Many of these patients do have poorly performed procedures, either by non Plastic Surgeons or inexperienced cosmetic physicians. Others look perfectly fine, and have unrealistic ideas about what can be achieved with Plastic Surgery.

The stories that disturb me the most are from the people who say that they were not asked by the doctor on consult what they were looking to achieve, did not see any before or after pictures, and just blindly thought that a professional should know what they wanted. This is a terrible mistake.

I like to think that I am fairly intuitive, and have a very good aesthetic eye. I know what looks appropriate, and what is bizarre. I also know that I am only going to see the patient a few times a year after, while they live with their results 24/7. For this, I always try to insure that they know more or less what I am suggesting, and that we are both realistic about what to expect. Showing photos usually helps.

Do not assume that your Plastic Surgeon knows best. As President Reagan said, “Trust, but verify”

From Plastic Surgeon to Patron of the Arts

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As I sit here awaiting the opening of the Y Gallery event for famed Puerto Rican artist Celestino, I am thinking of how I got to this point. Opening Yager Plastic Surgery in 1997, my goal was to serve the Hispanic community with safe and affordable cosmetic surgery. Sixteen years and two expansions and renovations later, I have created Yager Esthetics/Estetica.

Here in Washington Heights in upper manhattan, I now have a state-of-the-art 6000 sf facility, complete with an accredited Surgery Center, Laser center, the Yspa, and Y Gallery. Y Gallery is a free art space within my office for the benefit of Hispanic artists looking for a venue in NYC to have their art seen. There is no fee to the artist, they can sell art and we do not take one penny. We also print a mailing postcard, provide music, food, and drink as well as an exhibition night and up to 2 months of time to show the work.

The yGallery events have become more popular over the 3 years we have been doing it, and virtually every artist sells something. The stature of the artists has also grown, leaving us to vet the best for inclusion. The Pequenos Picassos program to introduce children of single mothers of low income Hispanic families to art and help provide funding for art programs and scholarships to the community has also been an incredible success.

Why art in a Plastic Surgery center? Plastic Surgery is the perfect blend of art and medicine, and being able to enhance the experience of my patients means the world to me. In The Community, For The Community is not just a slogan for me, it is a way of life.

Mastopexy Myths

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Many women, especially after the birth of children, notice a change not only in their stomach area but in their breasts as well. They can be bigger, smaller, or the same size as before pregnancy, but they are often looser.

The two factors that are most important in breast esthetics are size and shape. For my money, the more important of the two is shape, because if you have a small or large well formed breast it is still pretty and youthful. Bigger is not always better.
There are many techniques of breast lift, or mastopexy. Some use just an incision around the areola, others a lollipop, and others an anchor type scar. The deciding factors are the laxity of the skin and how far down the nipple has fallen. When done properly, the results are rewarding.

I wanted to touch on the myths and truths about the procedure to better inform my patients.

Myth 1- You will lose sensation if you do a breast lift. It is possible, but very unlikely that nipple sensation is permanently lost with mastopexy

Myth 2- You will be smaller if you do a breast lift. Only skin is removed, so no significant size change is likely.

Myth 3- You have to remove the nipple to lift the breast. No, you are cutting around the areola, but the nipple stays attached to the breast tissue below at all times.

Truth- In many cases, the very full upper part of the breast can only be achieved with the addition of a breast implant. Many women do not have enough breast volume to have a very round breast after lift without an implant. They do look pretty and natural, but if you are going for the push up bra look without a bra, this is not possible without adding an implant.

Hope this helps.