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Microchip technology is familiar for people who have pets. According to a recent Los Angeles times article microchip technology may soon be helping us to help patients monitor their meds better. According to the article scientists say they have devised a new way to give patients their medicine: through a fingertip-size microchip embedded in the body that doctors can control remotely via a wireless connection. The drug chip, more than a dozen years in the making, was used to deliver bone-strengthening hormones to women with advanced osteoporosis who otherwise would have needed daily injections. After four months, the chips were safely removed from the patients bodies, scientists reported Thursday at a meeting in Vancouver of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science. The concept of delivering medications for patients in a time release fashion to wireless remote can be groundbreaking especially for surgical patients. While this technology is still under development it does lend to interesting possibilities for plastic surgery patients. Patients who are considering procedures such as abdominoplasty and sub pectoral breast augmentation are likely to experience pain and discomfort that is a bit more intense than other plastic surgery procedures. Currently there are options such as a pain pump to help patients manage the pain. It is not unheard of to consider that one day patients may be able to choose microchip technology short term to easily manage pain and discomfort associated with these procedures. Dr. Kim is committed to carefully researching new technology and techniques to help manage his practice and patient outcomes better. Dr. Kim carefully manages practice growth with the goal of exceeding the expectations of his patients.

Currently there is a lively debate in psychiatric circles that questions whether loss of a loved one is truly depression or normal reaction. According to a recent Los Angeles Times article the debate is beginning to heat up as manuals are being created to help psychiatrist developed a consistent diagnosis for patients who are suffering from grief. Opponents of the concept of combining grief and depression as a single diagnosis say that pharmaceutical companies are behind the suggestion of widening the definition of grief to include a diagnosis of depression. With this diagnosis, medical doctors are armed with the basis to prescribed lucrative antidepressant medication. This would of course allow the pharmaceutical companies to broaden their net of suitable candidates for depression medication. The debate is likely to continue; however, most experts agree that patients should allow time to grieve after the loss of a loved one. Dr. Kim encounters patients who in some cases have lost a loved one and are considering plastic surgery as part of their approach to a new life without their loved one. Sometimes, outsiders can view this as using plastic surgery to overcome grief. For most patients this is not the case. Usually they have been through the grieving process and plastic surgery is an excellent way to draw the line and look optimistically towards the future. For many patients this includes facial rejuvenation procedures including facelift, brow lift, or blepharoplasty. Although losing a loved one is always painful focusing on feeling good and living a new life helps many patients to move on.

Wrinkles are a part of the aging process nobody ever likes to see appear especially on their face. According to a recent online article in Self magazine there are different types of wrinkles and different ways to handle each one. According to the article  Atrophic crinkling rhytids are fine lines on the face that are almost parallel to each other.
These appear on different areas of the face and body, but usually disappear when skin is stretched transversally or your body position changes. These wrinkles usually come from loss of elasticity: Since these wrinkles are because of the loss of collagen, patients are advised to protect the skin by using sunscreen. Moisturizers also work as a temporary fix. Permanent elastic creases  are deep creases and lines that are usually the result of extensive sun exposure over the years. Smoking is also a huge contributor to these types of wrinkles. Dynamic expression lines come from facial movement. These would be laugh lines or lines from squinting. These are the lines that respond to injectable treatments like Botox or fillers. Gravitational folds are the wrinkles that come as a result of the gravitational pull of loose and lax skin. These are the wrinkles that respond best to a facelift, brow lift, or eye lift. Dr. Kim makes it a point to help patients understand that eventually every person has the effects of one or all of these types of wrinkles. The good news is that cosmetic plastic surgery is an extremely effective way to rejuvenate the face and slowdown the signs of aging.

Plastic surgery especially facial rejuvenation has been presented as a solution to looking younger, yet until now there were few studies that actually proved it. According to a recent Los Angeles Times article patients on average, in the case of one Canadian doctor,  looked 7.2 years younger. According to this study patients who had multiple facial rejuvenation procedures including facelift, eyelid lift, and brow lift had the most significant reduction of the signs of aging. The participants who rated the photographs of patients were first-year medical students. They had no connection to the patients whatsoever. This helped the results to remain objective. “Our results show a modest but significant reduction in perceived age after aesthetic facial surgery,” the co-authors wrote. “Although motivations for aesthetic surgery may vary, a prevailing concept includes the desire to achieve a more youthful appearance while maintaining one’s unique attributes and identifying characteristics.  Given these expectations, a mean 7.2-year reduction in perceived age is indeed consistent with this goal.” Dr. Kim has witnessed his facial rejuvenation patients enjoy the benefits which include looking an average 10 years younger than their stated age. Patient should note that this study reviewed the results of one doctor’s patients. Facial rejuvenation results are heavily dependent upon many factors one of which is the doctor’s expertise and skill. Dr. Kim as an artist and surgeon combines both of these talents, and is able to deliver superior results to his patients.

According to ABC news story men and women who shoehorn themselves into skin tight jeans and battle to button their trousers or knot their neckties extra tightly might unknowingly endure nerve destruction, digestive disturbances, and even potentially deathly blood clots. Theyre victims of fashions hidden health hazards. Even some beloved accessories like waist cinching belts can compact delicate nerves in the abdomen or disallow breathing and deny heart and brain of needed oxygen. In 2003, Parmar published a description of tingly thighs “in three mildly obese women who wore low-rise jeans throughout the previous few months. Their discomforts resolved after four to six weeks avoiding hip huggers and wearing loose-fitting dresses, according to Parmars 2003 correspondence in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Many women complain about thighs that are rubbing together when they walk. This does not always mean that the person is fat, sometimes it is just a targeted area that is thicker than the patient would like. Dr. Kim recommends liposuction as a solution to removing thickness on the inner thighs. Dr. Kim uses his artistic skill combined with his medical expertise to achieve optimal results. Patients should be aware that the inner thigh area is one of the most difficult areas to treat. The skin tends to be rather thin and in some cases surgeons could remove too much fat thus causing the skin to wrinkle. Dr. Kim emphasizes to his patients that liposuction results will vary greatly from surgeon to surgeon and patient to patient. Patients choose Dr. Kim not just because of proven results, but also because of his commitment to safety.

Few can deny the power of social media specifically Facebook. Because of the nature of the medium it has had a profound effect on relationships. According to a recent Los Angeles Times article the relationship status feature of Facebook appears to be intrinsic to the success or not of countless romantic relationships between young people according to new research. A potentially unfavorable gender discrepancy emerged, however females revelation that they are in a relationship was not as significant to their male partners compared with how females felt concerning male partners indicating they are in a relationship. The study showed that couples do have fights over the relationship status feature on Facebook which is in all likelihood linked to feelings of jealousy, dedication, and dominance specifically for females the studys authors said. Patients who have had cosmetic plastic surgery should consider the way they use social media as well as their friends when determining how much information they would like to share concerning their procedure. Dr. Kim and his staff are committed to patient privacy and do not share patient information without express consent from the patient. However, patients must take into consideration that if they have a cosmetic procedure such as breast augmentation or rhinoplasty and their friends ( Facebook or otherwise) know about it there is a possibility they could post the information on Facebook. Patients should take privacy seriously and understand that with the popularity of social media sites and the Internet what is shared with one person is likely to be shared elsewhere. Dr. Kims patients are thrilled with their results and share their experiences through many different mediums. Dr. Kim is grateful for the referrals and expression of positive experiences from his patients.

TV’s Kate Walsh bares all. How she stays this hot at 44,” is boldly displayed on the red-lettered cover line on the March issue of Shape. Inside the magazine, the “Private Practice” actress is quoted as saying, “We live in a strange time when getting plastic surgery is as common as dyeing your hair. But in my profession, I need a malleable face. Everyone has her line in the sand. I draw mine at facials and laser treatments.” She adds, “If others want to go a step further, it’s their call.”We read something very similar from Gwyneth Paltrow in Harper’s Bazaar recently. Paltrow said she’ll pass on the Botox in favor of doing  “little things, like lasers.”

Neither Walsh nor Paltrow have said what type of laser treatments they get. But going the laser route seems to be the new excuse that will allow celebs to end the plastic surgery speculation. There are different lasers for all kinds of skin problems, from zapping freckles, red splotches or broken blood vessels to the more involved work of resurfacing the skin to get rid of wrinkles. Prices vary greatly from as low as  $350 to $3,000  twice a year. Dr. Kim advises patients that lasers are limited in what they can deliver to patients. They are an excellent adjunct to most surgical procedures; however patients should not believe that they are going to receive results identical to a facelift or brow lift just from using lasers. This is not to say that the results cannot be impressive. Lasers over the years continue to be perfected and offer some excellent results with minimal downtime. Dr. Kim explains to his patients the importance of maintaining their most youthful appearance by selecting both surgical and nonsurgical procedure combinations.

Body piercing is a controversial part of today’s fashion.  According to The Los Angeles Times one of the most broad-based health examinations of body piercing researchers found that the fanatically admired fashioning statement is comparatively safe albeit about 20% of piercings come to be infected. Northwestern University dermatologists analyzed the all-comprehensive safety complications and medical consequences of piercings focusing on the ear, nose, mouth, nipple, navel, and male and female genitalia. They found infections, notwithstanding treatable were by far the most common abnormality followed by allergies, loss of blood, scarring, and blocking of medical procedures such as X ray, or ultrasound. The study was arranged because of a counsel at the Rehabilitation Institute in Chicago that’s exploring the helpfulness of magnetic tongue studs to benefit people with quadriplegia in using computers and functioning wheelchairs. But the safety of a tongue stud is a competent question. Who knows what other anatomic sites for piercings could be adapted in the future?  Dr Julia Minocha a coauthor of the paper said in a news release” If a sensor in the tongue can be used to drive a wheelchair other devices that we haven’t even thought of yet might also work.” The authors of study marked that there are deficient regulations on who can perform piercings and no accepted guidelines for health and safety. To conduct their study researchers visited piercing parlors to talk with industry professionals and watch them work. Dr. Kim informs patients who are considering cosmetic surgery that they will be required to remove nipple piercings, genitalia and belly piercings prior to surgery. Patients who are having breast augmentation or abdominoplasty are sometimes concerned if they have existing piercings about the probability that they will need to re-pierce the area. Patients are generally advised to wait six months before piercing the area. Patients are welcome to consult Dr. Kim prior to the piercing to determine if their healing is complete following their cosmetic surgery procedure.

The obesity epidemic has been a controversial topic for over a decade in the US. As the blame has been shifted from restaurants, to farmers, to medical professionals a new study shows that holding physicians responsible for managing the habits of obese patients could be setting the physicians up for failure. According to recent Los Angeles Times article the authors of the study announced Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that physicians efforts to elevate their obese patients fitness by promoting lifestyle metamorphosis might do better to accept a more legitimate expectation; a token shrinkage of patients waist circumference and the deterrent of  additional weight gain. That disheartening abstract comes just three months after Medicare, the nations healthcare safety net for seniors announced it would compensate primary care physicians for providing obese patients comprehensive behavioral therapy to lose weight and adjust their health. Increasingly, physicians who have been told they can be an effective prod to healthy behavior modification in their patients are beginning ways to assume that duty. They are incorporating nutritional and weight loss counselors into their practices and honing their own roles as propellant agents for accelerated health improvement and weight loss. Unfortunately, in the effort to show the positive attributes of maintaining a healthy weight, plastic surgery is repeatedly frowned upon as a vain endeavor. Patients would benefit from knowing that there are prospective patients who have consulted with Dr. Kim and learned that once they lose the weight they are a good candidate for procedures including abdominoplasty and breast lift which can totally reshape their body and improve their self-esteem. Patients rarely hear the truth about patients who choose plastic surgery and the fact that they are overwhelmingly happier and more self-confident. Patients who choose plastic surgery after weight loss rarely gain the weight back, especially if they have made the investment out-of-pocket. Plastic surgeons have the ability to inspire patients to change their lifestyle as well as how they view themselves. This can be more powerful than any government reimbursement to facilitate human behavioral changes.

In a perfect world getting hired would have nothing to do with your looks. According to a recent Los Angeles Times  article, in these competitive times plastic surgery has become the choice of many. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons the age 40-54 makes up approximately half of all cosmetic procedures. For the first time since preceding the recession in 2007 facelifts saw an ample upturn in 2007 increasing by nine percent. The procedure is recently in the top 5 predominate surgeries being performed replacing tummy tucks. Injectables like Botox persevere to be habitual as being a bit of an expeditious fix that doesn’t necessitate much time out of work and is relatively inexpensive compared to a more invasive procedure. The ASPS reports injectables grew by 12 percent last year. Nearly 14 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures both surgical and minimally invasive were performed in the U S in 2011. That s up five percent since 2010. So, should plastic surgery be advised when it comes to getting hired? Mimi Fuger a volunteer program coordinator with Career Steps West Michigan with more than 2 decades of Human Resources experience says in part to remember going under the knife is not just a career decision but a way of life choice. Fuger and other volunteers at the non-profit organization help job seekers learn tips and tricks to land employment. The group also works with those looking to change-over or adjust up their career. Appearance is an essential ingredient in the job quest process Fuger told FOX News in part. If youre healthy and attractive and take care of yourself no matter what age you are, that is going to be the preceding characteristic. Fuger added in part, though there may be considerations Career Steps West Michigan encourages its clients to seek a more holistic disposition in adjunct to revising the resume and brushing up on interview skills. It is understandable that no one would advise plastic surgery as the ace in the hole for landing a job, but the reality is  that the competition is stiff. Dr. Kim advises patients to create a plan to choose procedures that will be most beneficial in achieving their most youthful appearance, when the goal is to stand out in the interview process. These procedures typically include blepharoplasty, brow lift, and Botox injections. While a facelift may be part of the plan at a later time for some patients it is not the best immediate recommendation. Dr. Kim encourages his patients to consult with him, and together they can create the most appropriate plan for helping the patient achieve their goals.