Many Men Struggle with Man Boobs
Watch a video of Dr Tattelbaum discussing male breast reduction.
Recent Posts
Post Plastic Surgery Emotions – A Patient’s Perspective
What follows below is a blog post that I can’t take credit for. A former patient has become a friend and wrote the words below. I am grateful to her for sharing a patient’s post-operative perspective, and I value her insights. As a plastic surgeon, I spend a great deal of time preparing my patients for their surgeries, but what happens at home postoperatively is in the realm of the patient, which I don’t get to see. My thanks for her perspective. If I can still learn from my patients, then I hope it will help you as well. What to expect emotionally… Read More
Quilting the Tummy Tuck?
For decades, a standard tummy tuck involved lifting up the loose abdominal skin, repairing relaxed muscles, then pulling down and cutting off the extra skin. The analogy is much like pulling a sheet tight on a bed and cutting off the extra. The tightened skin was left to stick to the abdominal wall with gentle pressure from wearing a compressive binder as the patient healed. A drain was placed so that fluid would not accumulate under the healing skin and keep it from sticking to the abdominal wall. Fluid collections are known as seromas. Recently two surgeons, brothers, in the Midwest began sewing the… Read More
How many drains? One, two or none?
Drains are tubes that are left under the skin during an operation. They are used to remove pockets of fluid that can accumulate. After any surgery, the tissues ooze fluid to a certain degree as they heal. Fluid collections during healing can sometimes lead to infection. Despite this, some areas are more prone to collections than others, and not all surgeries need drains. Usually, drains are removed within a week or so when there is little fluid coming out. The fluid enters a small clear bulb that looks like a grenade. The idea of removing a drain scares patients, but it is more… Read More
A recurring problem with liposuction.
Over the past few years I have seen an increasingly common pattern in patients coming in for abdominal enhancement. I am writing about it now in this blog, hoping you will read it and be able to avoid the same problem. The scenario: a woman will come in concerned about a liposuction that was done elsewhere. When I examine the patient I find a wavy irregular lower abdomen over liposuctioned, and a full under suctioned upper abdomen. Bulgy top, wavy Bottom. The conversation goes something like this: So you had liposuction? Yes, it looked like a good deal. You had your liposuction… Read More
Voluma so far…
Allergan, the company that makes Botox, breast implants and Juviderm products is now heavily pushing its latest filler Voluma. I see it marketed on TV all the time before the evening news. From the commercials it really is not clear to me that their beautiful models have had treatment with Voluma, but boy they sure are very attractive. For those of you who know me, and I hope if your reading this by now you at least feel like you know me, I am skeptical of new things. I don’t jump on bandwagons easily, but so far I really like… Read More
Arm Liposuction 50/50?
A patient saw me in the office yesterday. She is having a tummy tuck and breast reduction this fall. She came in again to discuss adding liposuction of the arms at the same time. She was confused though. She had done her usual research on the internet and found that only about half of the people who had the procedure in the U.S. were happy with their results. “Why?”, she asked. I explained that the key to arm liposuction is not the fat, but the skin. We can suck fat out of almost anywhere, but our tools to shrink skin… Read More
Ultrasonolaserliposuction With Power Boost!
Ok, I made up this name. There is no such thing as “Ultrasonolaserliposuction with Power Boost”, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw it advertised somewhere. I really just wanted to capture your attention. I have found that anything associated with the word laser, ultra or the like tends to attract attention. So why am I talking about this? Because a cool device name doesn’t always translate into the right tool for the job. Laser liposuction, Ultrasonic liposuction, Power Assisted liposuction and even good old regular liposuction are all excellent tools. They all remove fat well, but they all shrink up skin poorly, despite… Read More
Dr. Tattelbaum Discussion on Breast Implant Techniques
An Overview of Breast Implant Techniques For this article, I would like to go beyond the basic facts that are posted all over the internet and give a personal opinion based on almost two decades of experience performing thousands of breast implant procedures. This blog covers the most frequently asked breast implant questions: 1) Under or over the muscle: I generally favor implants under the muscle because they tend to look more natural. This is because the muscle gives a gentle slope to the upper breast. When the breast implant lies under the muscle mammograms are easier to interpret. The… Read More
Plastic Surgery on The Young
Plastic Surgery on a very young patient- There is no more controversial topic in plastic surgery than plastic surgery on the younger patient. As a board certified plastic surgeon, I feel that younger patients should need us the least. We are not a substitute for a healthy lifestyle, diet and exercise. There are however certain instances where I find that surgery at a younger age is justified and even beneficial. Here are some examples: Male Breast Reduction: This procedure is indicated in enlarged male breasts or gynecomastia. In certain young men, often for no discernible medical reason, the male breast tissue is… Read More
What’s a Breast Augmentation Refund Gap?
What’s a breast augmentation “refund gap”? In a Q&A chat room, I was asked the question, “How do I avoid a refund gap?” I had never heard this term before so I Googled it. I learned that a refund gap is a situation in which the breast implants have migrated so far apart that there is a large gap between the implants – so the patients request a refund. After 18 years in practice, I thought I should post a blog and tell you how I avoid this. The Best Breast Implant Placement As you may know, I prefer breast… Read More
Would You Let Your Wife Do This?
I answer many questions in my surgical consultations and even pose some for my patients to consider. One of the questions I get asked periodically is, “Would you let your wife do this?”.
Men and plastic surgery
Check out the headline for this recent study:Dallas — Certain types of wound complications are more frequent in men than in women who undergo body contouring procedures after weight loss surgeries, according to new research results. The researchers go on to explain that men have about a four-fold risk of hematoma (blood collection under the skin) and about a twofold risk of seroma formation (fluid trapped under the skin). The authors conclude that they will need more study to understand why men have these increased risks.Now, I wasn’t a part of the study, but after 18 years in practice I… Read More
Wear your Bikini to the Mommy Makeover?
When I plan my mommy makeovers I like my patients to bring in their favorite underwear or even bathing suit with them. No string bikinis please, no lacy panties and no granny panties. Something about an inch or two wide around the hips for a tummy tuck or similar width for a bra under the arms, something not too valuable, in case I get some marker on it. I draw the outline of your garment on your body before plastic surgery and I use the outline as a target in which to hide scars. My incisions are individualized. For example, for… Read More
Awesome Tan – Avoiding Cosmetic Surgery if You Can
Have you ever considered how the sun can affect your need for cosmetic surgery?
What is Posterior Flank Liposuction?
Many of you know that I perform frontal flank liposuction on most of my tummy tucks. For those that need liposuction in this area it gives more curve and contour to the hips, and in my opinion, makes the tummy tuck look more streamlined and sexy. The Frontal and Posterior Flank The frontal flank is the love handle or the area you can grab if you pinch the roll just above your hips. In some people, this roll is mainly on the side of the body, but in some it extends all the way around above the buttocks. When it goes around… Read More
Herbal supplements and bleeding in Plastic Surgery
If you’ve ever had a cosmetic surgery consult with me, and I hope you have or will, you will see that I walk my patients through what I call “a pretend day of surgery.” Each of my procedure-related talks starts out with telling patients to be sure to avoid aspirin, Ibuprofen and herbal supplements at least 2-3 weeks before their surgery. Well, the aspirin and the Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) are pretty easy to remember, but many people forget about the herbal supplements, some of which are regular food products. Many are sold in health food stores and many are potent… Read More
Spring sprang early
As some of you have undoubtedly noticed I haven’t written a blog in a while. Please accept my apologies. Sometimes work just gets in the way. I like to write my blogs about personal things and real things and I like to do them (as I think they should be done) on my own. It’s just been crazy busy in our office since before the New Year. Usually there’s a period of time in the winter when people see if they succeed or fail at their New Year’s resolutions, but Spring sprang early this year and people started coming in… Read More
Tattoo Removal – Your Options & What the Future Holds
As I am fond of telling my kids, the key to tattoo removal is prevention. Unfortunately, most of the people I see, at my cosmetic surgery practices in Maryland and Baltimore Maryland, who want tattoos off never got that advice. But here I’ll provide some options each with pros and cons. Laser Tattoo Removal: Lasers can remove certain tattoos. The best results are when the tattoo has dark ink. Lasers target black best. Reds and greens are much more difficult to eradicate. Professionally applied tattoos often come off more easily because the pigment is at a more uniform level. The… Read More
Sorry I Kept You Waiting ….
I find myself running behind in the office and sometimes doing what I hate the most… keeping someone waiting for their cosmetic surgery consultation. I am on your side here. I don’t like waiting in the doctor’s office either. So first and foremost if you are reading this and I have kept you waiting, or will keep you waiting, I offer you my sincere apologies. There is more to this blog however. I thought you might find it interesting to know how and why we can get backed up. —–The cascading arrival time: While we have a good scheduling program… Read More