Nip This Tuck That

Continuing with our theme of Beverly Hills as a destination for plastic and cosmetic surgery medical tourism, we are now proud to offer IChat, for our Mac clients, with an internet consultation. Our Beverly Hills office has offered telephone consults with e-mai (drfpalmer1@aol.com) evaluation of photos to discuss my findings and recommendations. We find this service a valuable way to communicate with our out of town, out of state and international clientele. You can have a consultation from the comfort of your home or office thus saving the time and expense for your trip to have the surgery. Now we have added IChat as a more personal way of communication during your plastic and cosmetic surgery consultation for Face Lift, Brow Lift, Eyelid Surgery, Breast/Cheek/Chin/Lip Implants, Rhinoplasty, Otoplasty, Tummy Tuck, Liposuction, Botox, Radiesse, Perlane or Juvederm.

Steps for your IChat consult with us:

1. e-mail us at drfpalmer1@aol.com that you are interested in a telephone or IChat consultation and include jpeg photos of the areas you wish to discuss. If your initial e-mail does not include photos or if we believe that other views are required, you will be informed of the type of photos that we require for your evaluation.

2. Schedule a day and time for your phone consultation or your IChat. This can be done via e-mail or by telephone 310-652-9583 (monday through friday 9-5 PST.

3. Send us your AIM account name so we can add you to our buddy list in order to initiate the IChat.

Dr Francis Palmer
Beverly Hills Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery
What’s Your Number…the palmer code book

Think looks don’t matter…they do, of course. This is why I wrote the book on the subject: What’s Your Number..the palmer code available here

Latest article, on the subject, in Forbes Magazine

Plastic and cosmetic surgery treatments and procedures like Facelifts, Rhinoplasty, Eyelid Surgery, Browlifts,
Breast Implants, Cheek Implants, Chin Implants, Lip fillers, Botox, Tummy Tucks, Liposuction, Hair Transplants, Restylane, Juvederm, Radiesse, Sculptra and IPL…all improve your Number and your appearance.

We all, deep down inside know that our appearance does matter even though it’s not fair…but who ever said life was fair? That’s why you need to learn how to best improve Your Number.
AOL book review
Radar Online book review and article:
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People’s 50 most beautiful people
What’s Your Number…the palmer code TV Appearances
Dr Francis Palmer
Media Accolaides
Voted “one of the world’s best” plastic and cosmetic surgeons

There was a large article in todays’ Wall Street Journal about the dangers of having Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery and other elective surgical procedures in non-accredited office/surgery centers. It’s true that you should be aware of the environment in which your plastic and cosmetic procedure will take place.

California, New York, Texas and I believe Florida have existing regulations that all out patient surgical facilities must be accredited. Our Beverly Hills surgery center has such an accreditation and has for many years…but in other states this is voluntary and certainly in other countries the rules may be quite different. So, what’s the big deal you ask. Here are some of the most important points regarding the subject:

1. There are certain anesthesia criteria that require a well-trained anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist administer your anesthesia. Without this rule, your anesthesia maybe administered by an office nurse or the surgeon himself….
2. The proper resusitation equipment is required with accreditation that otherwise may or may not be available.
3. Accreditation is another way to make sute that the doctor is trained and experienced in the procedure that you are going to have. With economic pressures today, there are dentists, oral surgeons, gynecologists and all forms of doctors performing plastic and cosmetic surgery…so you may want an outside agency deciding who is and who isn’t tained to do your procedure.

So the next time you’re considering a plastic and cosmetic surgery procedure and you don’t live in a state with mandatory accreditation of outpatient surgery centers, come to Beverly Hills where you can be confident and secure that your surgery will be performed in an accredited facility.

Dr Francis Palmer
Beverly Hills Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery
What’s Your Number…the palmer code book

At the end of the day why do people have Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery? To improve their appearance and in a fair number of those cases…this means to look more youthful as well as attractive. There are several things to consider and several steps, that you can take, to ensure this is the result that you get from your Rhinoplasty, Face Lift, Eyelid Surgery, Browlift, Breast Implants, Fuller Lips, Cheek Implants, Chin Implant, Tummy Tuck or Liposuction. Celebrities that look more attractive and radiant understand these important points

First things to consider:
1. Avoid generic type procedures sold by corporations and businessmen to any doctor and surgeon willing to pay the fee in order to use the procedure name. We’ve all seen the ads on TV and magazine for these types of procedures…be aware that they will be performed by a whole host of different doctors and surgeons with varying degrees of training, experience and ability.

2. Avoid technological advances that are devoid of real science behind the claims. Remember it’s easy to make promises…quite another to deliver real results. That’s why experience and training are key.

3. You get what you pay for. Spend some time reading the posts on this blog to see people who could have made better choices by not placing costs ahead of results, experience and training of their surgeon. You will not get the best quality plastic and cosmetic surgeons to do your plastic surgery at bargain basement prices.

Steps to take for a more attractive you:

1. At any age consider improving the shape of your face. Cheeks, chin and jawline (primarily in men) can be augmented and accentuated to make female faces more fiminine and male faces more ruggedly handsome. This should be the primary focus of your efforts as it yields the most rewards.

2. Rhinoplasty can shape the nose to make it more sleek and unaware. Just be careful not to assign more aesthetic importance to your nose than it really has… Learn more by reading my new book on the subject “What’s Your Number”…the palmer code.

3. Face Lifts are to remove excess skin and tighten the underlying muscles…they can’t create or place shape into the face….this requires experience using step 1 above. Having said that, look for sophisticated versions (like our Celebrity Lift that has much smaller incisions, limited dissection and rapid recovery), not like older traditional versions that take hours to perform and weeks, or months to heal.

4. Breast Implants remain popular with women looking to improve the size and or shape of the breasts….Saline or Silicone implants.

5. Eyelid surgery can remove the tired look from your eyes…in less than 1 hour.

6. Tummy Tuck and Liposuction can be used to flaten the stomach area and re-shape the body by removing excess body fat.

Dr Francis Palmer
Beverly Hills Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery
What’s Your Number…the palmer code book

This Summer here in our Beverly Hills office, Rhinoplasty, Face Lifts (our Celebrity Lift which is a quicker, less invasive Face Lift), Breast Implants and of course facial implants (Cheeks and Chin).

Rhinoplasty , especially out of stae and country clients from Europe, Asia and the Middle East continue to seek both primary and Revision Rhinoplasty as well as Face Lift procedures. Our Celebrity Lift continues to amaze as people want a quick, easy recovery which this minimal incision Face and Neck Lift offers. Most patients fly home days after the procedure…instead of the weeks they had to wait after a traditional Face Lift.

As the weather warms up, women’s thoughts go to the size and shape of their breasts and Breast Augmentation and Enhancement with Implants gains popularity. When combined with crescent lifts, the breasts can be lifted as well as more shapely.

Radiesse, Perlane or Cheek and Chin Implants can all be used to augment the Cheeks, Chin and Jawline for an improved facial shape…which as you know is the most important aspect of facial improvement…as outlined in my new book “What’s Your Number….the palmer code”.

Dr Francis Palmer
Beverly Hills Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery
What’s Your Number…the palmer code book

Where are you getting your information about Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery? From friends, colleagues, the internet? Does it matter? Yes, I’m afraid it does matter and it may matter a great deal if you act on information that’s incorrect…you could look worse and in some cases much worse.

The internet is amazing with all kinds of information about all subjects including plastic and cosmetic surgery like Face Lifts, Eyelid Surgery, Rhinoplasty, Breast Implants, Cheek Implants, Chin Implants, Lip Implants, Breast Implants, Tummy Tucks, Botox, Dysport, Radiesse, Restylane, Juvederm and IPL treatments. The problem isn’t the amount of available information, I’m afraid, but rather the quality of the information.

There are many sources of plastic and cosmetic surgery information written by laypeople…which means non-plastic and cosmetic surgeons. You can find these articles on numerous web portals that go by all sorts of names and list pages and pages of names of surgeons for you to visit and hopefully see. The thing you must understand is that the surgeons typically pay a monthly fee to be listed and more money to be featured in these directories and there is most likely little or no screening criteria for experience or quality.

Then there’s the chat boards. Here some person who’s not using their real name and has little way of proving that they are who they claim or that they have even had the type of plastic and cosmetic surgery procedures that they are discussing…all of which makes for very questionable information.

Even if you get information from a patient who has had the same type of plastic and comsetic surgery…it doesn’t mean that you’ll have the same experience because everyone is different in what they will require during the surgery, all surgeries are not performed the same and all sugeons will do the same procedure in a different manner. In my 20 years of writing and teaching about plastic and cosmetic surgery this is the most difficult point for me to get across to the consumer.

I recall, some years back, a writer decided to have some huge number of consultations regarding her Face Lift…like 50 or 100. She then chose a surgeon, had her Face Lift and wrote what was touted as a comprehensive guide on Face Lift Surgery. I read about the book in the newspaper and almost split my side laughing at the sheer nonsense and arrogance of such a concept. I will explain further:
The patient during her Face Lift consultation would have received different advice, evaluation and recommendations from all (let’s say 50) surgeons with which she consulted. Next, when she had her Face Lift…she was asleep and as such was completely unaware of exactly how her surgeon did her Face Lift. And even if she was awake and could see, which is just silly, her surgeon did her Face Lift a bit differently than other surgeons or what other patients would have required. It’s not just an adage…we all are unique and as such require different things during surgery. Lastly, the writer could write about her personal post Face Lift experience but healing, pain, emotions and results vary greatly and as such she really doesn’t have the years and thousands of cases to see the norm…or the average in any of these areas.

A bit winded perhaps but now you can see the problem with listening to Susie, who says her Rhinoplasty went great…or was horrible. You may be quite different from Susie in what needs to be done during your Rhinoplasty, who you’ll have do the Rhinoplasty, how you’ll heal, the final result and whether or not that result ultimitely makes you happy. All in all, nice to chat with but no real solid information can be gained. Even less if you consider that it maybe a staff member of friend of the surgeon who’s writing the post and suggesting a particular surgeon for you to see.

I believe it’s best to receive your information about plastic and cosmetic surgery from the various plastic and cosmetic surgery sites or individual surgeons sites. It’s much more likely to be accuarate information that will be useful to you the consumer.

Dr Francis Palmer
Beverly Hills Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery
What’s Your Number…the palmer code book

Much has and continues to be written about Aesthetic Medicine which I call the Business of making people more attractive. This includes Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery treatments and procedures: Rhinoplasty, Face Lifts, Neck Lifts, Brow Lifts, Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty), Cheek Implants, Chin Implant, Lip Augmentation, Hair Transplants, Breast Implants for Augmentation/Enhancement, Tummy Tucks, Liposuction, Buttock/Arm/Back/Thigh Lifts, Botox, Dysport, Restylane, Juvederm, Perlane, Radiesse and IPL treatments. All are designed to do specific things to create aesthetic improvements and within each treatment or procedure is an endless variation of how it is performed.

You, as an informed consumer must determine what it is that you’d like to improve. What would you like to look better? Your eyes, face, neck, lips, nose, breasts? After that is decided, what would you like that area to look like? Your lips more full, your nose thinner with a more shapely tip, your face with less jowls while appearring more naturally youthful, your breast fuller and more shapely?

There are many decisions to be made before you have an aesthetic treatment or surgery and I encourage you to become as much of an aesthetic expert as possible so that you can recognize sound aesthetic advice from that which is flawed. Why? Because, in my opinion, after performing Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery for 20 years, the number one complication is the lack of aesthethic judgement of the patient and the surgeon. This is the main reason that people are unhappy after their treatments or procedures….in many cases what was chosen as the way to make that person more attrcative, was doomed to fail from the outset because the treatment or procedure was incapable of creating the proper aesthetic change to make that person more attractive.

How can that happen? Very easilly I’m afraid….we as plastic and cosmetic surgeons are not taught the aesthetics of beauty. We are taught procdures and surgeries that do things but we all do them slightly differently and in different situations, so there’s a great deal of variability despite what anyone else tells you. For example, a patient 25 years old wants cheek implants to make her more feminine. Some surgeons would suggest fillers and place the filler in different areas to shape the face differently. Some would look good, some ok and some would make the face appear odd and mis-shapen. I have seen this when patients have a second consult with me after having fillers elsewhere. Other surgeons may use any one of hundreds of sizes and shapes of cheek implants that will have similar effects. I use and have used 2-3 sizes of 2 thicknesses and have for over 15 years. Why? Because I don’t believe the other many sizes and shapes make the face more attractive…which at the end of the day is the goal!

For each treatment and surgery this can and does occur. You must understnad what does and does not make your face and body more attractive…which is why I’ve written a book on the subject. The culmination of 20 years work, over 4 years in the writing. What’s Your Number…the palmer code shows you, the consumer what you need to know about the beauty aesthetics of your face and body. You can use this book as your beauty source and guide as you make decisions about when and if your ready for plastic and cosmetic surgery. The celebrities that look their best understand these principles and seek the very best plastic and cosmetic surgeons who embrace and understand these concepts…

Dr Francis Palmer
Beverly Hills Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery
What’s Your Number…the palmer code book

The cost of Rhinoplasty or nasal surgery is a very commonly asked question. The answer is…as you might expect not simple. The cost of your Rhinoplasty can and will vary based on the following factors:

1. A Revision Rhinoplasty will be more difficult to perform, takes a higher skill level to acheive the desired aesthetic result/avoid un-wanted complications and as such will cost more than a Primary or first time Rhinoplasty.

2. Rhinoplasty will cost more as more areas of your nose require modifications. The nasal bone width, the bridge, the mid-nose section, the tip and the nasal septum. If your nose requires just tip reduction/modification the cost will be less than if more or all areas of the nose require manipulation. Even within each area, of the nose…say the nasal bones…can require different degrees of adjustments. Rasping the bones will be less expensive than bone osteotomies that are required for more dramatic reduction in the width and/or height of the nasal bones (often referred to as breaking the nose).

The nasal tip is similar as a retrograde tip-plasty will be less expensive than an open tip-plasty with cartilage modification which is less than cartilage manipulation plus placement of an ear graft for further support and tip definition…and on and on it goes. I hope you can appreciate that there are almost an endless combination of things that can be done to manipulate the nose during a Rhinoplasty, so until you have an in depth consultation and analysis of your nose during consultation with an experienced Rhinoplasty Surgeon…you really can’t get an accurate Rhinoplasty price.

3. The more experience and higher profile your Rhinoplasty Surgeon, the more your Rhinoplasty cost will be. Rhinoplasty is the most difficult plastic and cosmetic surgery procedure to perform, in my opinion and as such it’s paramount that you get the most experienced Rhinoplasty Surgeon you can afford…even if that means that you have to travel out of state or to another country. Failure to do so may set you up to have another Rhinoplasty…a revision this time which is guaranteed to be more difficult and therefore more expensive than the last…so get the best plastic & cosmetic surgeon you can find to do the job the first time.

Here’s my 4-step guide on How to Choose Your Rhinoplasty Surgeon.

By the way, you can use this guide when selecting a plastic and cosmetic surgeon for Face Lift, Neck Lift, Brow Lift, Forehead Lifts, Hair Transplants, Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty), Cheek Implants, Chin Implants, Lip Augmentation, Mini Face Lifts, Breast Implants, Liposuction, Tummy Tucks, Buttock Lift, Botox, Juvederm, Restylane, Perlane, Dysport, Radiesse, IPL or a Chemical Peel.

Dr Francis Palmer
Beverly Hills Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery
What’s Your Number…the palmer code book

Many Plastic & Cosmetic Surgeons and numerous surgical associations and societies members perform Face Lifts, Mini Face Lifts and variations of them all….yet there’s a movement to tell you the consumer that they are all alike.

But is this reasonable or even plausible? Most things like IQ, height, weight, income and credit scores can be plotted on a bell-shaped curve distribution. Plastic Surgeon and Cosmetic Surgeon’s ability, skill and experience seems to me no different. That means they can not…and their procedures can not all be alike. Make sense?

In over 20 years of performing Face Lifts and most recently our modernized version called the “Celebrity Lift“, which has much smaller incision, less recovery time (measured in hours , not days, weeks or months) and less tissue dissection….I myself have gone through several Face Lift technique improvements to make the procedure more effective.

The first time I adjusted the Face Lifts that I performed was only 2 years after I had completed all of my training and Fellowship in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery…this was to make the Face Lifts that I did more in tune with my then evolving sense of facial aesthetics and beauty. I began to tackle the Nasolabial folds and shape the cheeks as a standard part of evert Face Lift. I even trademarked the term Facial Contour(R) Face Lift and used it in numerous TV shows, newspapers and magazine articles about Face Lifts internationally.

The next big adavance in my Face Lifts came some 7 years later as I adopted a deeper tissue plane of dissection during the Face Lift. I did this version for several years and was un-impressed by the advantages over previous versions.

Then the next big advance came when I realized patients wanted all the aesthetic benefits of the Face Lift but didn’t want the long anesthesia, the large incisions, the potential hair loss when making incisions in the scalp, the days-weeks-even months of recovery that some of the deeper tissue face Lifts had and of course the dreaded…wind swept look taht is universally hated by patients.

I realized that if I followed by aesthetic vision of what makes the face beatiful, I could minimize the incisions, the tissue dissection and therefore the anesthesia and recovery time associated with my “Celebrity Lift“. For the past 4 years, I have done the “Celebrity Lift” for patients from all over the world and it is amazing in what aesthetic benefits can be accomplished in 90 minutes or less. About 50% of the people elect to have no anesthesia for the procedure and use only topical injections like Novacaine.

I can’t imagine taking 6 hours to do a Face Lift anymore when I can get these kinds of results in 90 minutes. Is this like the Face Lifts in your town…doubt it. Are the marketed mini face lifts we all see on billboards, TV and magazine ads the same…again doubt it as I’m not interested in mass marketing my techniques. I remain of the mind set that plastic and cosmetic surgery is an art..not cookbook and as such if practised by 10 different surgeons…you will get 10 different levels of resluts.

In my opinion some things hold true no matter the industry or product:

1. There’s no substitute for experience

2. Quality first….second best is second best

3. You get what you pay for

4. You may need to travel to get the best…

5. Not every Doctor or surgeon has the same aesthetic view and experience..learn 4 simple steps to “Choose Your Plastic Surgeon“.

So next time your looking for eyelid surgery, brow lift, breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, cheek implants, chin implant, tummy tuck, fuller lips, restylane, botox, perlane or radiesse….remember that you are unique in whatever it is that you do for a living and so is the plastic and cosmetic surgeon you seek.

Francis R Palmer MD
Beverly Hills Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery
Author: What’s Your Number…the palmer code book

The Celebrity Lift continues to amaze me in its ability to make people look younger and naturally beautiful in 90 minutes.

This week I performed out Celebrity Lift numerous times with staggering aesthetic and rejuvenating results. Once woman in her fourties , looked in her twenties the first post-op day when I removed the gauge wrap. She looked absolutely stunning. The Celebrity Lift shaped her face to a beautiful, natural beauty.

The other cases must have been reading my post on China because they came form Taipei, Hong Kong and Beijing for what they realized is the pinnacle of aesthetic plastic surgery, since I literally wrote the book on the subject. They also had an amzing transformation in 90 minutes with dissoveable sutures and a recovery that’s measured in hours instead of weeks, like the old-tile face Lifts. But hey, that’s progress. You get what you pay for and when it comes to your appearance, never settle for second best…whether it’s a Rhinoplasty, Face Lift, Eyelid Surgery, Chin Implant, Cheek Implant, Tummy Tuck, Lip Augmentation, Breast Augmentation and Enhancement with Implants, Hair restoration, Botox, Radiesse, Juvederm or IPL….learn what destination Hollywood’s celebrities have known for years…Beverly Hills.

Francis R Palmer MD
Beverly Hills Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery
What’s Your Number…the palmer code book