Reflections on Beauty

An interesting infographic was recently created by rehabs.com examining the differences in body measurements between Barbie, fashion models and the average American woman.

While it’s been know for some time that Barbie has unrealistic physical proportions, it’s still cool to see just how unrealistic they are.

For instance, a woman’s chances of having chest measurements like a model are 1 in 3, while measuring up to Barbie’s bosom is 1 in 13.

Your chances of having a waist-to-hip size ratio like a model are 1 in 2, while having a  hip-to-waist ratio like Barbie is 1 in 3,331,259.

Your chances of matching Barbie get even slimmer when looking at her 16″ waist – there’s a 1 in 2,478,756,621 chance that you’ll match her, and that would likely cost you a rib or two!

Overall, your chances of measuring up to a fashion model are 1 in 4, while your chances of being like Barbie are 1 in billions of billions – impossible!

That’s not to say that some don’t try, like creepy Russian “living doll” Valeria Lukyanova (pictured above), who calls herself the Human Barbie. There’s been quite a bit of debate whether or not this Internet sensation has had lots (and lots and lots) of cosmetic surgery or is a genius with the make up brush or is some kind of Photoshop wizard.

At any rate, the Human Barbie shows us being a living doll is more unsettling than sexy – give us a REAL woman any day!

Check out the infographic below for more crazy Barbie measurements.

[Click to Enlarge]

Reflections Spa

Plastic surgery is something that is becoming more common, due in part to the rise of minimally invasive procedures, such as Botox injections, laser hair removal and laser liposuction. These treatments offer people results with far less cost and recovery time than a traditional cosmetic operation. As the popularity of these procedures has risen, so have the number of couples that are choosing to enhance their appearance together.

The Los Angeles Times recently reported that although the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons don't keep specific statistics on the matter, both organizations have noticed a growing number of couples getting cosmetic procedures together.

A continuing trend

Although the  L.A. Times article is a recent one, cosmetic doctors also reported seeing more couples in November 2011. Then, the Today Show profiled Ira and Roberta Almeas, a couple who decided to have minimally invasive work done to make them appear younger. They received Botox injections, fillers and laser treatments.

The news source spoke to Mitchell Chasin, medical director for Reflections Center for Skin and Body who consulted with the Almeas, who said that the fact that couples are coming in together represents a growing acceptance of cosmetic procedures.

"Years ago, we would see a wife come in and she would say, 'I can't let my husband know what I'm doing,'" said Chasin, quoted by the news source. "And then the husband would come in and he would say, 'You know what, this is a secret, please don't tell my wife.'"

Men want to look good too

The Los Angeles Times spoke to plastic surgeon Richard Chaffoon and Malcolm Roth, M.D., president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and who said that when a wife comes in and has work done and then goes home looking years younger, their husbands are inspired to improve their appearance as well.

"Sometimes the man will say, 'Well, I think my wife's looking good, and I don't want to look as old as I look when she looks so young and energetic,'" said Roth, quoted by the news source.

He added that it's not always the wife who makes the first move, sometimes it is the husband who initiates a consultation with a cosmetic doctor.

Men, in particular, have been showing an increased interest in Botox injections and liposuction procedures, such as laser lipo. 

Courtesy Alltuts.com

In our culture, women are brought up to be authentic and true to themselves. Meanwhile, the tabloids bombard us with images of picture-perfect celebs who seem to never age. The signals are certainly mixed and, on the surface, it has created a paradox – should you be true to your natural self or fight tooth and nail to hold on to your youth?

But if you look a little closer it actually makes sense.  We find that many of our patients really don’t care about how great Angelina looks in the celebrity weeklies – they simply want to look as good as they feel.

Most of our patients are healthy and vital women.  They exercise regularly and they eat well.  On the inside, they feel as good or better than they did when they were in their 20’s.  But over the years, sun exposure, gravity and Father Time have taken a toll on their exterior.  Aesthetics is simply a way to get the outside to look as youthful and energized as they feel inside. It’s not so much about what other people see, it’s about how satisfied the patient is with what they see in the mirror.  It’s about taking care of yourself and feeling good, both inside and out.

This is why we strive for natural looking results that make our patients look refreshed and vital, but also like the same woman who walked in the door before being treated.

After all, they aren’t trying to look like someone else or to meet anyone else’s standards – they are doing it for themselves.

Just because you act your age it doesn’t mean you  have to look it. According to a recent  study, men and women over the age of fifty are more fixated on their appearance than ever before.

A survey, administered by UK’s Saga Magazine, interviewed 10,000 people. The findings showed that baby boomers of both genders show a high interest in plastic surgery, wrinkle reduction and fake tanning.

StyleList.com reports that people over the age of 50 are 10 times more likely to use fake tanner or tanning beds and 14 times more likely to use wrinkle reduction products. Not only that, in one generation the frequency of cosmetic surgery has nearly doubled.

The study also found that the annual spending on cosmetics for the 50+ crowd has increased from $2.8 billion to $3.3 billion in one decade. Fifteen percent of women over fifty admitted to wearing padded bras—5 times as many as the previous generation.

So what is driving this trend of aging vanity? Perhaps it is because cosmetic surgery has become more mainstream and accepted than in previous generations. Celebrities like Kim Cattrall and Jane Fonda are also putting a new face to the phrase “aging gracefully.”

“Cosmetic surgery is not such the taboo it might once have been, and for the over-50s it is certainly an option,” Saga Magazine editor Emma Soames told The Daily Mail.

There are a plethora of treatments available to reduce the signs of aging in women over the age of 50. Botox and dermal fillers are very popular non-invasive treatments, while blepharoplasty and facelifts top the list for plastic surgery. At Reflections Center for Skin & Body in New Jersey, we have an array treatment options available to create a customized rejuvenation plan for any age.

If you are injured on the job, workers compensation should cover you medical expenses. But what if your plastic surgery is ruined as a result of a work-related injury? One North Carolina woman was able to have a ruptured implant replaced following a work-related car accident.

In 2001, Penny Richardson suffered a ruptured right implant and rippling in her left implant following an automobile accident. She was originally awarded compensation to replace both implants, however, her employer and insurance company appealed the decision.

Richardson’s case was the first of it’s kind in North Carolina’s state Court of Appeals. The court had to decide whether or not the implant should be covered by workers compensation. All three judges agreed that the implants should be covered by workers compensation, however, their decision partially reversed the original ruling by only allowing compensation for the replacement of the burst implant. Richardson’s plastic surgeon replaced both the implants in the end for the sake of symmetry.

Workers compensation laws vary by jurisdiction, and the outcome could have been different based on the location of the court case. If a similar case arises somewhere else in the country, compensation may be granted for either the pair of implants or none at all.

While Richardson was still awarded partial compensation for the ruptured implant, the final verdict was handed down in 2008—seven years following the initial injury.  Richardson fronted the money for the replacement implants while undergoing an extensive legal battle.  Whether or not the patient had the implants removed or replaced, she still would have had extensive medical bills from the correction of her injuries.

A recent study at the University of Michigan has found that age is a better predictor of satisfaction with plastic surgery than outlook. In other words, whether you tend to be positive or negative, optimistic or pessimistic, if you’re older, you’re happier with your results (sorry, Heidi Montag!).

The short study involved 51 patients who had plastic surgery procedures between 2007 and 2008. Those older than 53 years of age were more satisfied with their procedures’ results than those who are younger. Further, patients who were being treated for depression were happier than those who were not depressed (or at least weren’t being treated for depression).

Why? Perhaps those older among us have more realistic expectations.

According to the researchers, “…it will be interesting to design larger scale studies to examine the potential associations between perceived surgical outcomes and sex, education, marital status, depression and/or inclination toward optimism/pessimism.”

Also according to the researchers, “The ability to preoperatively identify patient characteristics (psychological, social or demographic) that might impact the subjective perception of surgical outcome and predict dissatisfaction with facial plastic surgery could be highly useful to surgeons.”

According to the British press, there’s been a surge in the number of British men wanting a better looking body, and they’re choosing liposuction to get it. Witness their soccer star, Ronaldo, who had lipo on his abdomen last year. One wonders if this was the beginning of the rush, considering that since August of 2009, liposuction for UK men has increased by 117%!

Before the increase in liposuction for the torso, UK men were most interested in eliminating their gynecomastia to avoid the look of Simon Cowell and his man boobs. Suddenly, however, they’re hot to trade their love handles for a 6-pack belly.

Here in the US, men’s cosmetic surgery procedures increased by 9% from 2008 to 2009, resulting in nearly a million surgical procedures, with lipo the top pick. Nose jobs, eyelid surgery, breast reduction and halr transplantation rounded out the top five American men’s procedures.

Here in our practice at Reflections Center in New Jersey, laser liposuction enables us to improve the contour with little to no downtime, using laser energy to create predictable results by targeting the energy to remove areas of fat. Local anesthesia is all that’s needed, giving you a comfortable experience, a faster recovery and less bruising. Tiny cannulae are used to extract the fat.

It’s great for those who have tried dieting and exercise but, after childbirth or aging, find that targeted areas of stubborn fat still remain. Advantages over regular liposuction include skin tightening, with less risk of lumps and bumps that can happen with traditional lipo. SlimLipo’s wavelength melts the fat away, 7 times more than SmartLipo. Risks of burns is remarkably reduced—in fact, we’ve never seen a burn in our practice. Great for jowls, neck, male breasts and torso.

If you’re thinking about lipo, call us today and enjoy the feeling of less fat without a long recovery time!