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If you’ve committed to losing weight this year, that’s great!

We recommend a slow and steady approach of shifting to healthier foods that you enjoy, in smaller portions, paired with a regular and sustainable routine of increased physical activity. The combination of fewer calories in and more calories burned, accomplished by adopting a set of habits that become second nature to you, can be the key to losing weight and keeping it off. Beyond that, it’s all about what works for you.

But have you thought about what you’ll do after you lose the weight?

Body Contouring

If you’re lucky, your weight will come off in all the right places and you’ll be delighted with your slimmer body contours. But weight loss doesn’t always work that way. Many people are left with stubborn pockets of fat that are resistant to diet and exercise. Those might be around your waist, on your arms or thighs, or under your chin. Wherever the last bulges of fat persist, there are ways to get rid of them without going to extremes in dieting or at the gym.

Once you’re close to your weight goal — within about 10 or 15 pounds of your ideal weight — you might think about a body-contouring procedure to put the finishing touches on your self-improvement efforts. These procedures reduce unwanted pockets of fat on specific areas of your body in ways that eliminate those fat cells forever. They aren’t weight-loss treatments, but they make great complements to weight loss through healthy eating and exercise.

• CoolSculpting eliminates pinchable areas of excess fat by chilling it to low temperatures. The cooling damages the fat cells while the skin, muscle, and connective tissue are unaffected. In the weeks following treatment, the damaged fat cells are naturally processed out of your body for a long-lasting slimming effect.
• Liposuction uses small incisions to extract unwanted bulges of fat through a suction tube, or cannula. Once the excess fat is removed, that part of your body will have fewer fat cells permanently. Liposuction can remove fat from many parts of the body, including the abdomen, hips, thighs, upper arms, and chin.
• A tummy tuck goes even further in flattening and toning your midsection. The surgery removes excess skin that may sag and droop after weight loss. The procedure can also tighten and reconnect abdominal muscles to restore a firm, flat belly.

Breast Surgery

Weight loss can sometimes affect a woman’s breasts in ways that are less than desirable. Stretched breast skin can sag when the fat is gone, or your breasts can lose more volume than you would prefer.

• A breast lift corrects sagging breasts by removing excess skin and reshaping the breast to a rounder, more uplifted, and younger-looking form.
• Breast augmentation uses implants or fat transfer to increase breast volume, shape, and projection.

Mommy Makeover

A mommy makeover combines procedures—typically a tummy tuck, breast surgery, and liposuction—to restore a more attractive, younger-looking figure. A mommy makeover can provide the finishing transformation after successful weight loss to give you the body you want.

Facial Rejuvenation

As you get your body in beautiful shape, you might consider treatments to make your face look younger, too. You have many options for facial rejuvenation, including:

• Facial fillers to soften lines and wrinkles, add volume to hollowed areas, or plump your lips
• Botox to smooth lines and creases caused by repeated facial expressions
• A facelift to correct loose, saggy skin, eliminate facial wrinkles, get rid of jowls, and restore a well-defined jawline

Learn More About Body Contouring and Other Rejuvenating Treatments in Beverly Hills

Find out more about the possibilities of cosmetic treatment in a personal consultation. Dr. David Kim and Dr. Eugene Kim at Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery have developed an impeccable reputation for stunning, natural-looking cosmetic treatment and plastic surgery results, attracting patients from all over the world. Contact our practice today at (310) 746-5475 or send an online request to schedule an appointment.

When you look in the mirror, do you see a tired and older-looking face? When you lose weight, does your skin on your body no longer spring back to its former shape? These are typical effects of lax or sagging skin — when your skin begins to lose its youthful resilience. If saggy skin is bothering you, read on to find out what causes it and what you can do to slow or reverse the effects.

What Causes Saggy Skin?

Saggy skin is a sign that your body is producing less collagen and elastin, two proteins that are critical to maintaining skin firmness and elasticity. The loss of collagen and elastin is a natural result of the aging process, but other factors can accelerate it. Drooping and sagging can also result from body changes that stretch the skin beyond its capacity to spring back.

Here are the main causes of saggy skin.

• Aging: As skin ages, it becomes weaker and less resilient. Skin that quickly stretched and bounced back when you were young loses that ability as you get older. The aging process causes a lack of firmness in skin’s underlying structure. The muscles that hold your skin in place, especially on your face, also begin to weaken.
• Sun damage: Exposure to harmful UV rays in sunlight is one of the most notable culprits of sagging and other signs of skin aging. By the time you reach your 30s and 40s, much of the damage from sun exposure will catch up to you. But you can minimize further damage by using sunscreen and staying out of the sun during peak midday hours.
• Weight gain and loss: It’s a wonderful thing to lose weight — both for your health and your self-esteem. But cycles of weight fluctuations can push your skin beyond its ability to remain firm and tight, especially as you get older.
• Hormone changes and pregnancy: Women face two natural forces that can loosen skin: pregnancy, which stretches the skin of the abdomen and breasts, and menopause, which reduces the body’s production of collagen and elastin.
• Smoking and over-consumption of alcohol: Smoking speeds the skin’s aging process in two ways: it decreases blood flow to the skin and infuses the skin with chemicals that damage collagen and elastin. Excess alcohol consumption dries the skin and injures collagen and elastin.

What Can I Do to Keep My Skin from Sagging?

You can’t stop the aging process, but you can slow its effects on your skin by adopting some healthy habits:

• Protect your skin from the sun
• Quit smoking and limit alcohol consumption
• Eat a healthy diet, with plenty of fruits and vegetables
• Drink plenty of water
• Maintain a stable weight
• Use a skin cream that contains retinoids (which stimulate the production of collagen and elastin)

What Can I Do to Reverse the Effects of Saggy Skin?

Various cosmetic treatments are available to correct saggy skin, from non-surgical options that can minimize lines and wrinkles or tighten skin to surgical procedures that remove excess skin to restore a younger look.

• Botox: Injections to soften or erase facial lines caused by expressive muscle movements
• Dermal fillers: Injections to smooth facial lines and wrinkles by adding volume beneath them
• CoolSculpting: Non-surgical body-contouring that reduces areas of fat and tightens the skin
• Facelift: Cosmetic surgery to smooth and tighten the skin on the lower face
• Brow lift: Cosmetic surgery to tighten and raise saggy skin on the upper face
• Eyelid surgery: A procedure to correct droopy, tired-looking eyelids
• Tummy tuck: Surgery to flatten and tighten abdominal muscles and skin
• Breast lift: A procedure to raise and reshape sagging breasts

Learn More About Cosmetic Treatments in Beverly Hills

Dr. David Kim and Dr. Eugene Kim at Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery have developed an impeccable reputation for stunning, natural-looking cosmetic treatment and plastic surgery results, attracting patients from all over the world. Contact our practice today at (310) 746-5475 or send an online request to schedule a consultation.

Sun damage is one of the main causes of premature aging of the skin, especially on the face. Lines, wrinkles, uneven coloration, and roughness are all effects of extended exposure to harmful UV rays, not to mention the increased risk of skin cancer. In this case, protecting your skin from sun damage is one of the clearest examples we have of the adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Your skin will age. It’s a fact of life. But why rush the process with careless exposure to the damaging effects of sunlight? Here are some simple tips to protect your skin and keep it healthy and radiant.

Know When You’re at Risk of Sun Damage

We all know that a day at the beach will expose our skin to massive doses of UV rays. But many of us aren’t aware that we’re getting high levels of exposure even when we’re out and about on a cloudy day, driving in our cars, or outside in the winter.

Protect your skin from the sun whenever you go out, and take special precautions during the hours of peak sunlight — between 10 am and 3 pm. Without protection, your skin can be damaged in as little as 15 minutes, though it can take up to 12 hours for the signs of that damage to appear — and years for the cumulative effects to show.

Use Effective Sunscreen

Sunscreen manufacturers make it easy to understand the effectiveness of their products by labeling them with a numerical sun protection factor (SPF). Whenever you go out during daylight hours, apply sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher.

Choose a water-resistant, broad-spectrum sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB radiation. UVB radiation causes sunburn. UVA radiation causes premature aging and wrinkling and can pass through glass. Both are associated with skin cancer. The SPF rating measures only the sunscreen’s effectiveness in blocking UVB rays, so it’s important to look beyond that number for broad-spectrum protection.

Apply sunscreen 15 to 30 minutes before you go outside. Reapply every 2 hours or more frequently if you are sweating or swimming. Cover all exposed areas, including your face, ears, and backs of your hands, and use a sun-protective lip balm. Be generous in the amount you put on. An application that’s too thin won’t give you full protection. If you wear foundation, apply the sunscreen first, then your foundation.

Check the expiration date, too. The active ingredients in sunscreen don’t last forever.

Avoid Direct Sun Exposure

Think of sunscreen as your backup protection, with your primary protection being the avoidance of extended exposure to the sun.

• Plan your outings for the start and end of the day, when the sun’s angle is lower and UV rays are less intense. If your shadow is longer than you are tall, you’re in the safer part of the daylight hours.
• Pay attention to the UV index, which is included in many weather reports and can easily be found online. When the UV index is 10 or higher, you should try to stay indoors.
• Remember that UV rays penetrate clouds, so they are reaching your skin even when the sun isn’t shining.
• Keep in the shade as much as you can when you are out.
• Wear a wide-brimmed hat, clothing made with tightly woven fabric, and UV-filtering sunglasses.
• Be careful around reflective surfaces. Water, sand, and snow reflect the sun’s damaging rays, increasing your exposure.
• Be aware of how medication can affect your skin’s sensitivity to the sun. Some antibiotics, antidepressants, diabetes drugs, and acne medications can make you more susceptible to sun damage.

Learn About Treatments for Sun-Damaged Skin

Dr. David Kim and Dr. Eugene Kim at Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery have developed an impeccable reputation for stunning, natural-looking cosmetic treatments and plastic surgery results, attracting patients from all over the world. Contact our practice today at (310) 746-5475 or send an online request to schedule a consultation.

Everyone is advised to wash our hands frequently and thoroughly to protect ourselves from COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends washing hands with soap and cold or lukewarm water for at least 20 seconds to rid our hands of germs. When we’re out and about, without access to soap and water, using a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol is a good alternative. Whether using soap and water or hand sanitizer, we’re advised to clean the fronts and backs of our hands, between our fingers, and around our nails.

That’s good advice to protect yourself from disease, but what about protecting the skin on your hands from the dryness that frequent handwashing and sanitizing can cause?

How Frequent Handwashing and Sanitizing Can Lead to Dry and Cracked Skin

Soap and water wash away germs, but they can also strip your skin of the natural, protective oils that act as a shield on the surface of the skin and help it retain moisture. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be even harsher on the skin, as they have a powerful drying effect.

However, dry skin is not a good enough reason to wash your hands less frequently. The science behind the disease-prevention effects of handwashing is strong. But you also need to take good care of the skin on your hands. Dryness can lead to rashes, itching, flaking, and even cracks in the skin. These effects are not only uncomfortable, they can leave you vulnerable to superficial skin infections.

How to Wash Your Hands to Avoid Dryness

Use a mild, moisturizing soap. Any type of soap will remove germs if you wash your hands thoroughly. That includes dish soap, moisturizing soap, and “natural” soap. The ingredients in moisturizing soap, such as glycerin, lanolin, and hyaluronic acid, help to counteract the drying effect of washing. Soaps with natural moisturizing ingredients like shea butter, coconut oil, avocado oil, or jojoba oil can also help reduce skin dryness. Liquid soaps can be less drying than bar soap.

Added chemicals and fragrances in some soaps can irritate the skin. If you have sensitive skin, eczema, or a history of allergies to any cosmetic products, take special care to choose a mild soap without irritating ingredients.

Wash hands with cold or lukewarm water. Hot water is no more effective in removing germs than cold water, and it is much harder on your skin.

Pat your hands dry with a clean towel. Don’t rub or scrub at your hands to dry them. Just dab to get the excess moisture off, as rubbing can further irritate skin that is already at a disadvantage from the washing.

Moisturize Immediately After Every Handwashing

Right after you wash your hands, while they are still slightly damp, apply a thick moisturizer to your skin.

Creams and ointments are better than lotions for moisturizing, and moisturizers that come in a tube or jar are better than those that come in a pump bottle. Effective ingredients to look for include mineral oil, petrolatum, lanolin, or glycerin. Some prefer to use natural moisturizing oils, such as coconut oil or shea butter. If you have sensitive skin or allergies, look for a fragrance-free hand cream that doesn’t include chemicals that might irritate your skin.

Moisturizers restore the protective barrier that natural oils in your skin would normally provide without frequent hand-washing. Despite the name, moisturizers don’t add moisture to your skin. Instead, they help your skin retain water. They also soothe irritated skin and restore a smooth texture to skin that is rough or flaky from dryness.

Try Extra Nighttime Treatments

If the skin on your hands is still dry or irritated, even with gentle washing and regular applications of moisturizer, you might try an extra treatment at night. Before you go to bed, apply moisturizing cream or ointment — petroleum jelly is a good choice — and cover your hands with cotton gloves. The gloves help keep the product on your skin and provide an extra layer of moisture retention.

Learn More About Skin Rejuvenation In a Personal Consultation

Dr. David Kim and Dr. Eugene Kim at Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery have developed an impeccable reputation for stunning, natural-looking plastic surgery results and skin rejuvenation treatments. Contact our practice today at (310) 746-5475 or send an online request to schedule a consultation.

Have wrinkles and sagging skin seemingly appeared overnight? While it can feel like you had smooth, flawless skin just days again, the culprits behind aging start affecting your appearance early.  To help keep your appearance looking young and fresh, consider these steps for detecting and dealing with signs of aging right when they appear.

How to spot signs of aging

When most of our patients think of aging, the first thing that comes to mind are sagging jowls and deep creases. Few are aware that the aging process begins in their late 20s, well before your skin shows these common signs.

There are several factors responsible for aging skin. Decreasing collagen production usually begins during a person’s late 20s to early 30s is more visible as skin damage increases. This potent combination can lead to volume loss across the face and causes facial feature to appear sharper. Likewise, subconscious facial movement can contribute to the development of fine lines above facial muscles. The fine lines gradually deepen into wrinkles and creases across the face. While these signs may appear slowly, once they develop they can be difficult to ignore.

Treating the signs

Like many other conditions, prevention is the best treatment for aging. Starting early by adopting a comprehensive skincare regimen and consistently updating the plan as skin texture changes can help patients keep their looks looking younger even as they age.

While it’s impossible to turn back time and tell your former self to start daily moisturizing sooner, there’s still hope for patients who’ve already developed some of the earlier signs of aging:

Fine lines

Smiling, frowning, laughing and crying engages multiple facial muscles. Over time, this unconscious movement can create tiny creases that deepen into tell-tale wrinkles. To help stall the deepening of these wrinkles, some patients may opt to start preventive Botox treatment. These early dosages help temporarily restrict muscle movement, smoothing out unsightly and unwanted wrinkles. For patients who’ve already developed these unwanted lines, more frequent and strategically placed doses can be used to effectively stall these treatments.

Thinning lips

Thinning lips aren’t always caused by unfortunate genetics. The aging process can also play a role in full lips getting thinner and can also lead to the development of wrinkles on lips. To help counteract this volume loss, lip fillers (also called dermal fillers) are often recommended. This treatment uses a viscous, smooth gel to gently add subtle volume to lips, helping restore youthful looking volume to appearances.

Sagging skin

It’s not lack of sleep that causing under eye bags or dark circles – it’s age. For this early sign of aging, dermal fillers are a popular option for improving an individual’s overall appearance. Like lip fillers, facial dermal fillers are specifically designed to bring back volume to specific parts of your face, rejuvenating patient’s appearance without the need for surgery. For patients just starting to see signs of aging, this non-invasive solution can be the perfect intermediate treatment option.

Preserve Your Appearance at BHPS

The best way to get ahead of the aging process starts with a consistent skincare treatment plan, supplemented by ongoing treatments as the signs of aging develop. In Beverly Hills, Dr. Eugene Kim and Dr. Daniel Kim work with each person to create the custom skin solution they need to enjoy youthful looking skin even as they age. Call Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery today and schedule your consultation with our specialists.