It is clear from watching television or looking through magazines that celebrities elect to have cosmetic plastic surgery. It is also clear that just because they are celebrities, does not mean that they are getting good results. I receive lots of email questions about celebrities and cosmetic surgery and I answer them as best as I can. Since I am not standing next to these people, I can only evaluate them via television or print. With some of these cases, it is unfortunately easy to tell and this usually means that they are not getting really good results. The thought that just because they go to a doctor in Beverly Hills or Manhattan means that they must be good surgeons is ridiculous. Any doctor with any background can open an office in Beverly Hills or Manhattan or anywhere else for that matter. It does not mean that they are qualified to perform plastic surgery or non-surgical enhancements. Some of the lip augmentations that I am seeing and facial enhancements are simply poor. I watched a news comentator the other day and her Botox was not well administered and her brows were ’spiking’ terribly. I would stress to anyone looking into cosmetic plastic surgery to really investigate their surgeon choices and ask for result photographs and potentially even referrals. Just because it may be a relatively simple thing, does not mean that one should assume anyone can do it well.
According to the ASAPS, there were nearly 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures preformed in the US in 2007. These are multi-specialty numbers and while impressive truely do not reflect the total numbers of procedures. Not all members respond to surveys, not all specialties performing cosmetic procedures are included and there members may be performing large numbers of procedures.
Breast augmentation is the number one plastic surgery procedure performed on women according to these statistics. There were nearly 400,00 breast augmentations last year. Liposuction is the number one procedure when the men and womens numbers are combined, with 456,828 procedures. Liposuction is the number one plastic surgical procedure in men. AFter liposuctions and breast augmentation, eye lid surgery was the most common procedure for both men and women. Botox and nonsurgical facial fillers are lead the non-surgical arena and laser hair removal is the most common laser procedure.
Women had 91 percent of cosmetic procedures. Since 1997, surgical procedures have increased 142 percent and non surgical procedures have increase 743 percent.
The simple answer is yes. Botox Cosmetic is a prescription medication, and all medications can be dangerous when not administered properly. This even applies to over-the-counter medications. A better question is, Is Botox Cosmetic safe? The answer is YES. Botox and Myobloc are products derived from botulinum toxins. They are purified and when used in appropriate doses they are very safe. Botox is FDA approved to treat facial wrinkles between the eyes. Like nearly every prescription medication in the World, it is used in many ‘off-label’ uses. This in itself is not a problem. The great majority of these applications are done in efforts to improve the patients conditions and do not increase risk significantly. Risks with all medications go up as more of the medication is used or dosages increase.
It is really important for patients to understand that the more of any medication given at one time (higher doses), will increase the chance that a complication may result. Botox, when used for cosmetic purposes at cosmetic doses, has never been associated with a single death. In the cosmetic sector, Botox has been administered over 1 million times! No Deaths.
The unfortunate deaths in the children that are being reported are associated with dosages 10 to 30 times higher than those required for the treatment of facial lines. The FDA is appropriate when it asks drug companies and physicians to pay attention to the risks of using these drugs and any other drugs for that matter. It is also really important for physicians to administer Botox in proven, safe doses. Physicians should also be spending time explaining the the risks of Botox to their patients.