Doctor808 Plastic Surgeon Honolulu Hawaii

Well its been several months since my last Muay Thai fight. I was pretty banged up because of the unorthodox fight it turned out to be and probably my age is catching up to me. It takes much longer to heal and recover when your older. That I have noticed.  I have only been doing some basic cardio since the fight. So I have been very very LAZY. I went to Prague CZ and Amsterdam as well as Geneve as I previously wrote. I became very ill for 5 days there with a dental abscess, this virtually wiped me out. In fact,  I was so ill that I turned pale white, dropped my blood pressure and pulse rate of 144 at one point. Finally in I found a dentist after a root canal that failed earlier  in Praque and dentist who extracted the tooth. My training’s schedule was thrown off and well, the old laziness set in. So for the last few weeks I have been trying to gather up the energy to get going again and now I am ready.

Here I go again

I will share with my kind readers my training this time. I will show you details on how I transform myself. Although I am a plastic surgeon and have been accused of creating artificial beauty through unnatural means -plastic surgery. I do know one thing. The best transformation is through physical training and proper diet. If I document this maybe a few of my dear readers will see an interesting transformation and be inspired.

Well I feel rather anxious about exposing myself on the Internet so I better pull this off. If not you will see what a failure I can be or not. Then I suppose my dear readers you will not be inspired.

One can accomplish so much with exercise and diet in improving ones appearance that it amazes me. Yet of course exercise does not always work. for example a woman has had a baby and her skin stretches and will not retract,  a tummy tuck may be in order. Yet combined with exercise its always better. The results of a person exercise plus plastic surgery is very good.

Yet with pure exercise you can accomplish a lot. Take for example the two photos below which are of  the same person:

The above picture illustrates well what can be changed with exercise in about 12 weeks without plastic surgery. There is no magic only discipline. This was accomplished with 3 – 4 nights a week of kickboxing training. No weight training was done with this transformation. Yet diet played a huge role as well. The one on the left has hair and the one on the right does not but the difference can be still seen.

Not only does the body benefit but the facial features do as well. Lets look at the many faces of the same person as seen  below. Hairstyles, weight changes and of course lightening can enter in the picture all can change appearance a lot as well.

Different People or Different levels of exercise ???

These pictures of yours truly were not taken like ten years apart although some were a two years or so ago. Yet the surprising thing is that the younger looking pictures were taken after some of the older pictures. To really illustrate this look at the facial picture below:

Latest Picture less than 3 months ago

I was training for a muay thai fight in the above picture so my physical condition and shape were at the top in the scale. As you can  see the face is more youthful. The point of this is that good exercise and diet can make for great changes that plastic surgery cannot.

Well to give my readers an idea of my training to undertake I will begin tomorrow with 1 hour of surf & swimming and then to work. After work I will go to my Muay Thai training as noted in this blog elsewhere. The training will be about two – three hours of jump rope, bag drills and other normal activities like 100 sit ups. That will be enough for first day back. I will add weight training and other activities as I go along for the next few months.

Most important is diet. This has to be individualized for each person. What works for me may not work for you. So for example I am very carbohydrate sensitive so to lose weight I have to approach an extremely low carbohydrate intake. So I switched to complex carbs like oat meal in the morning. Resistance training is very important to lose weight as you have to shift to having a higher percentage of muscle. To build muscle you must use resistance training like weight lifting. The reason why this is so important to weight loss is something called Basal Metabolic Rate. That is the rate you burn calories when not doing anything. So since fat burns no calories in this basal state and muscle does burn calories when doing nothing. You want to keep your muscle up and your fat down.

Well we will let you know dear reader how this goes. I will make updates over the next 12 weeks or so. My weight now is 192 lbs and body fat is about 15%. I need to get down to around 9-11% and 180Lbs.

Plastic Surgery can do a tremendous amount as well. Liposuction makes the job of looking better easier. If men for example have that spare tire around the waist. They can loose that with proper exercise and diet. The problem is in some people when they do lose that their face is so thin or other parts of their body become so thin it does not look right. They look like a skeleton except around the waist. These people are the perfect candidates for liposuction in that specific area.

Well as stated I will keep you informed and hope I can inspire some of my readers to get up and exercise.

doctor808

Time to Load up the Hummer for camping !

Well we now have the big plans together and this will be interesting. The entire office staff has agreed to go as a giant family for an overnight camping trip. I am not sure whose idea it was but we all agreed to do this.  This big event will occur the weekend after next and we will go to the North Shore of Hawaii on Friday and stay overnight in the darkness of star studded sky.

Well I think the issue here is the mix of people that will be going some never been camping in their lives. Yet everyone voted today to go. Families and friends are invited , children , grandmothers and fathers whomever wants to come is welcome.

The main event will be food , maybe some volleyball and maybe some exploration of the North Shore. Yet the underlying event is the exploration of each other outside the natural habitat of work. Who will shine and who will be the leaders and the followers or the complainers or what have you. Out of the “natural office habitat” it sure will be revealing and perhaps entertaining.

I have my coleman stove, my coleman lantern and my tents with sleeping bags. I know how to be comfortable outdoors, but I wonder who in my office will not be ? They cannot fight over the air conditioning being too low or too high so what will be the issue in this 36 hours of isolation.  I will be sure to keep you informed.

I hope this plastic surgeon can see this

My main goal is to see a starry night with out city lights. You may know what I am talking about where the pitch blackness is pierced by about a million billion small twinkles of light. The shooting stars and all that you can see. This is peacefully to me. I hope its a clear night.

I have not been camping probably in 4 years way too long. So I am really looking forward to this. We must get all the stuff ready such as

* Sleeping bag, camping chairs, extra blankets and cushions

* Tent, pegs , poles, bungi cord, shovel , hammer , axe

*  Ice cooler, Ice, Food, camping dishes,coleman stove, coleman lanterns, flash light , fuel,

I am sure I will forget something but thats ok. Although we pretend we are roughing it the seven-eleven store is 15 minutes away.

Well in the office lately,  we have been carrying on as usual , liposuction , breast augmentation and today we removed a nasal implant from a Japanese gal who had her surgery in Japan 3 weeks ago from a famous clinic. The implant had come through the skin on the bridge of her nose .  When this occurs the implant ( made of silicone) must come out. Of course being a student traveler she had little money so I am forcing her to pay me,  by writing content for some of Internet Japanese web sites. I could not leave her with an infected nose so I made that deal.  This happens. We are in a resort city and people come from all over the world. My question is why if she had the 3000 or 4000 to pay the surgeon who put it in …..why do I get stuck with the end result. Well to answer I do live in a resort and these things happen all the time. No one could predicted this. So I hope she is good writer. We will see.

Speaking of Japanese our new Japanese Plastic Surgery Web Site is being worked on now ハワイ美容整形.  This site when completed will be a good example of our ability to design web sites in Multiple Languages for plastic surgeons. The graphics are very nice but we also seek to capture the Japanese mind.

Doctor808

I read a lot of blogs about Plastic Surgery for many reasons. First ,  I like to keep in touch with the public opinions, what is hot and what is not in the field of plastic surgery and plastic surgeons. Second, I have a web design company and SEO  firm .In simple terms it is an Internet marketing/advertising company to promote business on the Internet. We handle  from design to promotion at 3d-plasticsurgery.com . So I need to know as much about blogging as is possible. How can I advise my clients if I  don’t know? The third reason is that I enjoy many of these blogs purely as entertainment.

Since I am an nternational plastic surgeon and my internet company is international,  in that we have capability for  multiple languages both in my plastic surgery office,  as well as web company ,  I read blogs in other languages.  Yet as my readers know, I barely can read some Romaji Japanese at this point, so how do I do that?  Well I use translations software.  On my Mac , I have a button on the browser that if for example I am reading  this blog:

「ハワイ美容整形外科」　豊胸・二重・脂肪吸引・フェイスリフト・フォトフェイシャル・レーザー脱毛・スキンケア

Which says something to the effect of Hawaii Cosmetic Surgery I click on my translate button and whoopee— its in english!  It is not accurate in Japanese , but I get the idea what the author is talking about. It works much better for simplified Chinese and European languages these are clearly translated . Unfortunately Nihongo is not so easy.

The blog to the left is about various aspects of Plastic Surgery in Hawaii, notably my practice. The  interesting issues about these Japanese Blogs is the bloggers. The culture it seems takes a more ” diary “approach to their blogs. They are heavily scattered with a lot of insight into the bloggers mind. I wonder if this is due to the nature of Japanese culture,  where there is the public face and then the face which is hidden. That means that there has been pressure on Japanese society to all stay within some very confined limits. The nail that sticks out,  gets hammered down so to speak. So the blog especially if anonymous or a written in psuedo-name. allows for greater freedom of expression.

On the other hand the American Blogs are more expressive of individualism it seems and its about the author and what he or she thinks should be said and DIRECTLY. As example , I will tell you I am the best plastic surgeon in Hawaii and perhaps the world (said with tonque in cheek) but the Japanese are more subtle and have a certain humble aspect so they would not say that.

If this is good or not,  you have to judge for your self , but I believe this is what I see when comparing the blogs by Japanese writers and American Writers about Plastic Surgery or other topics such as Hawaii vacations and the like.

Another aspect I note about American Blogs is they are usually very commercial, as many blogs are becoming. In my case of www.doctor808.com which is a mixed plate of Web stuff , Plastic Surgery, Travel and Muay Thai I tend to simply bring the reader into various aspects of my life so they can perhaps figure some of these things out how they help. I also enjoy entertaining and as my readership continues to grow I get more comments to my email.

Yet there is a commercial aspect to this blog as well. It is one I have discovered indirectly which does help with my internet company. That is the value of blogs to help gain ranking in google. This is pure advertising but it works great. Some SEO blogs really give the reader nothing in return meaning that their purpose is to gain rank or clicks and earn accordingly. It is well documented that this adds to how well a web site will rank in google. As mentioned in an earlier post about ethics of some these internet companies I strongly disagree with the making your blog for pure commercial benifits as does google. So I think of it more as two way street. I try ot bring good information, written by me as well as entertainment to my readers. In return my blog becomes valuble and the commercial aspect comes with that. That is difference between my blog and the blogs my company promotes and the borderline fraud of some blogs out there who write nothing but keywords and seek to try and obtain rank only. They are rather ruthless with no redeeming value.

At any rate, I suppose my point is lets keep the internet clean to some degree and in doing so we can have our own interest in mind as well. You have to give to get I suppose and I dont think there is anything wrong with that. Yet taking all the time is another story I will save for another blog. Seems many Americans are turning into takers more than givers these days. It gets back to the golden rule of treat others as you would be treated.

doctor808

One of the more interesting things living in Hawaii is the soldiers , sailors , marines and their dependents. I was in the military as many of my readers know, in fact I was in some high speed units as infantry , as well as doctor. I really miss the military and now basically live through the tales and the sharing of these stories by  those who just got back from Afghanistan or Iraq.

Can you guess who this is?

One problem I noticed was the concern to pass the military tape test. This is some diabolical method by which the military member is judged if they are too fat or not ,for the promotion or retention board. It never ceases to amaze me the super fit GI who would come in my office  having  failed his tape test because his neck -waist line ratio was off.  Yet he looked like godzilla and or Mr. America muscle bound. Yet that is the way it goes some time, the tape test has been determined to be fair and the best way. There are also those who just have an abnormal area of too many fat cells which throw the tape off.

Well for those types I am always happy as most times I can change that, really change the results on the next tape test. They get their promotion or pass the standard and everyone is happy! Plastic Surgeon is happy, Military member is happy, Commander is happy and life is good and I am the hero plastic surgeon.  The reason why it works so well,  is that it simply is taking inches off the problem area,  typically its the waist on men, hips on woman and the liposuction does the job. Get rid of those inches. The 25 th infantry here in Honolulu Hawaii I see often enough and some of the Primary Care Docs have sent me their soldiers.  However,  I will not pick on the Army,  the Navy is more often the ones who come in. I guess navy ships food is very good.

Yet I shall not forget the marines, these tough guys are the ones who are most often the most nervous about the procedure. It seems the bigger they are the more nervous they are. Liposuction may make them nervous but the tape test is anxiety can be worse !

Well back to the quiz of who the guy who is loading mortar shells in the picture. Its the same guy who is the picture below on the far left. Yes thats me. I am on the far left of your screen actually the only American as a “military advisor”. I could tell you where but then I would have to ……..you

Doctor808 19 years ago----can you guess where?

doctor808

Life transitions amaze me. I graduated private catholic school, had my first date , army, college ,medical school and married lived through conflicts between countries and so on. Next was practice and for me next will be retirement. Life is quick , you blink and its over.

Front: Dr.Lee, Dr. Flowers-Back: Dr. Peterson, Dr. Pasquale

Tonight was one of those nights that make me think about   “the speed we go through life” and done. No more –game over!

One of my teachers who is also my friend is on his way to the next step which is retirement.  But first let me tell you who I am talking about my Dear Reader. In the picture above you will see three younger ( over 45 all of us ) and one older gentleman. The elder in the crowd the only one  world famous is Dr. Robert Flowers.  The Asian man is Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon Charles Lee , behind him is Honolulu Plastic Surgeon Dr. Robert Peterson and then there is ME.

Now as I was saying life is stages and life is quick. Dr. Flowers is leaving Hawaii and entering his retirement phase. After becoming a true  icon in the world of Plastic Surgery he has decided to leave. Its a field he has loved,will always love and  one that he has made dynamically change and will forever live in plastic surgery history.  I can speak for the other two younger ones and we agree he has influenced our lives. We learned from him, we listened to him, talked about him and admired him. Sometimes even mad at him , or laughed with  him…….but always felt awe and respected him.

The reason us three Charlie, Bob and myself were out with him tonight is because of a special relationship from the last ten years. Charlie ( the asian ) Bob ( the one behind charlie)  and me have all “hung out” if that is what you call it. Like college roommates in the world of plastic surgery we chat all the time, compare notes, teach each other tricks and gossip behind each others back in good humor.  We were all in Dr. Flowers office as a group at one time. We know each other well. Dr. Flowers  was always the father figure to some degree to us. We were the prodigal sons at times, other times the we were the younger ones helping out the family or something like that.  In a nut shell we know each others secrets, strengths and weaknesses. Yet even when competitors in the same community I suppose it was never like that, never felt that and I appreciate that.

Dr. Charles Lee left the Hawaii family on to La and then to Beverly Hills , Dr. Bob Peterson  and I stayed as we have always been more established here as Dr Lee is the younger brother.  This is my take on things. What does it meant? It just seems interesting that many years ago we were planning a group practice which broke up for various reasons and now much later we are all sitting at dinner , as a family.  When a group practice breaks up to most doctors its like a bad divorce. When this group departed it was more like kids leaving home to make it on their own. The home being the group. That does not happen often in the medical setting. Yet it did this time and I think I know the reason. It has something to do with Dr. Flowers. His presence seems to prevent any bad feelings only good memories.

I recall one day I was in a local hardware store looking for some tool to fix my car. Up pops Dr. Flowers and with a grin on his face says to me….”Michael looking for some new instruments for surgery?”  Well funny I thought, many surgeons of his era proabally did just that. Found useful items to use in surgery in a hardware store back before it became a modern industry. When he started there was not much in the way of plastic surgery instruments and many like him fashioned their own. Today my generation has everything for them spoiled we are. Yet at the same time he was lucky, he did not have everything prepackaged so creative ability  was exercised more easily. Such  a great time in history to be a plastic surgeon.

Finally I am sad to have him leave Hawaii. He was great for advice for myself and Dr. Peterson as he was only up a 6 floors from my office and few blocks from Dr. Peterson’s Office.  We lose a senior surgeon locally but he has a phone where he is going I suppose.

Doctor808

American Eagle

Today we completed http://www.militaryplasticsurgery.com which is our newest web site creation for Plastic Surgery and Military Members ( yes including military discounts) . Appropriate I would say for the 4th of July!

Military Plastic Surgery Website

Many Americans hardly know anymore why we celebrate the 4th of July. This day in 1776 is thought (although there is some debate) that the Declaration of Independence was made and signed. The story is very interesting, in that the founding fathers of the USA were taking an extreme risk to  discuss such a thought as to gain independence from the British Empire. They easily could have been hung or drawn and quartered for such treasonous act.  We today in the USA forget how much freedom we have now ,to say what we want and to discuss freely ideas. This simply was not possible in 1776.  A person who spoke against the King of England at that time could have paid for his or her words with his or her life. It is unfortunate today we have taken our freedom for granted and there is high risk of  losing that freedom . President Reagen said we are only at any time one generation from losing our freedom.

Our military , the young men and woman who serve to protect that freedom seem to be a group who know well what freedom lost can mean. They have seen it with their own eyes and heard it with their own ears in Afghanistan,. Iraq and elsewhere,  the misery brought on by dictatorship and years of lack of freedom. We need to really look around and see the world as it is, learn history and current events and see what leads to loss of freedom to prevent that from happening here. It can happen and is happening as you read this. The Romans did not notice either,  until it was too late and they lost their republic. It seems a republic ( USA is not a democracy , never was but  a republic) like ours can only last maybe two hundred years…??

I just hope our young people will take the time to really learn something about our history, not just about what is cool or the trend of the day. I do both so can you. You can do cool things and learn history , keep current at the same time.

Plastic Surgeons 4th of July

On the fourth of July, this plastic surgeon does what many Americans will do, that is barbecue outdoors. In fact,  I just finished two of the most juicy hamburgers I have ever known. I cooked them myself on my lanai on a charcoal grill. I dont care for the gas grills which are popular, it just does not taste the same. Also we had pork-n-beans and potato chips with a side of pickles,,,hmmm good.

I don’t eat that way often,  other wise I would need liposuction myself,  but on occasional holiday its fine. Its a sorta of traditional issue on the 4th of July for this plastic surgeon in  Hawaii. I wonder if the military in Afghanistan and Iraq are having hamburgers and hot dogs too?

I think many are and we hope they are safe!

So for any of my readers who follow this blog either for Muay Thai Kickboxing , for Web design or Plastic Surgery in Hawaii—yes its cool,  but lets take a minute and really appreciate what today is. Take a few minutes and look up some facts about Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben Franklin and others who signed that declaration on this day in 1776. It a day that changed  the world.

doctor808

Military Plastic Surgery and Plastic Surgery In Hawaii

Many of you may not known I was in the military for many years. I spent most of time  in the reserves. In fact, I spent a lot of that time with the 20th special forces group which at the time was a reserve unit (NG) and we were based out of Maryland. During my time I met some of the greatest people anyone could meet, dedicated, smart. most spoke at least two languages.

As a plastic surgeon in Hawaii I meet many military members and their families from the marines , the army and navy as well as special operations. I always share with them war stories and understand their military life. It was some of the best experiences I have had. As a Hawaii plastic surgeon we also have patients from Guam, Japan and Korea who are in the American Military. Interesting to note we have many patients who fly back in have their plastic surgery in Hawaii and fly back to their Pacific bases.

I think one of the most interesting time,  was when we received 6 emails from Afghanistan from 6 female soldiers who some how had heard about us. They all flew back at the same time when their tour of duty ended and we performed 6 breast augmentations,  Wow —talk about beautifying the country. In a more serious light my hat goes off to these dedicated individuals who sacrifice for our freedom in some of the most harshest conditions on earth. I think 4th of July coming up is an excellent time to salute them. They are in hearts and minds as they serve heroically.

Our web development company has even devoted a web site specifically to these service members about plastic surgery and we offer a discount. This can be found at www.militaryplasticsurgery.com . This web site about military and plastic surgery will offer discounts and address some of  the issues we have seen. So Please take a look.

doctor808

Michael Jackson dies and the television and media go crazy. so what the heck …I might as well get my two cents in.

I personally feel very sorry for Mr. Jackson, as he in my eyes,  has been a tragedy. Its obvious to me he had body dysmorphic          disorder. Thats a condition where there are psychological reasons for wanting to change the physical self, thus all the physical  changes made , never are satisfactory the patient. Plastic Surgeons I believe can be enablers and codependent as well.

I don’t know  who did Michael Jackson’s Plastic Surgery or if many different surgeons participated, but basically I think they should be ashamed  of themselves. Thats my personal opinion and not some medical or expert opinion to be used by others. I have no data nor do I have any facts,  its simple conjecture and speculation.

As plastic surgeons,  we all have patients who demand more and more procedures to either make corrections on what we have done or to continue to try and improve another surgeons work. We have to recognize these patients as a problem, in that we see either something like a nose which looks good and they still are unhappy and want more surgery. Sometimes the patients become so convinced that there good nose job,  is not good they can start to convince the surgeon and he then becomes “codependent”. After all plastic surgeons always want to think they can make everyone happy and especially when a competitors patient comes in the door,  the tendency is to think you can always do better than the guy next door.  This ego effect can cause real problems.

Nine out of ten times if you operate you will not improve the other surgeons work and if not careful you can end up with a Michael Jackson situation. This is not the same as correcting obvious or major problems with previous surgery like a breast implant deflation or if you have a really bad outcome , then by all means it needs corrective surgery. The cases I am discussing are the cases where the work looks good and you try to make it better . I always remember the saying..”the enemy of good is better!” . That refers to someone coming in for a correction and it turns out worse. So I always make sure that its something that is realistic in my mind and the patients before proceeding.

One case comes to mind where I battled with a patient for serveral years in which she came to me because one breast implant was less than 1 cm lower on one side. No one would notice but the patient was seeing herself in the mirror and becoming rather obssessed with this very minor issue. Well I evaluated  her told her the other surgeon did what I would consider a good job. She still insisted and finally came back in almost begging me to fix what she thought was a disaster and I told her..NO. Its hard to do that as you know the patient will not be happy. I was strong and told her she was welcome to find someone else if she were not happy with my opinion. Well she did.

To make a long story short she was back in my office three months later complaining about the outcome of the surgeon she found to attempt to make such a correction. Unfortunately she went on to get an infection and overall the breast now did look bad. The well intentioned surgeon I am sure had thought he could help this patient and fell into that trap. Well at this point I told her she should return to him and see what he could do. Sad case but something we as plastic surgeons must be careful about.  I wanted to help her but felt the last surgeon should be given the chance to correct his own work. I have not heard back from her. If only Michael Jackson;s surgeons would have stopped earlier I suppose, but again I am only speculating.

Forest Gump

Well as Forest Gump would say  ”Thats all I have to say about that”.
Yet on this topic and with some interesting photos there is web site devoted to bad outcomes in plastic surgery. Mostly it looks to me like patients who had one plastic surgery too many.

This  is www.awfulplasticsurgery.com and they have discussed   the Michael Jackson issue and plastic surgery many times.

doctor808

Plastic Surgeon Dr. Pasquale

The latest buzz on the internet is Smart Lipo, or LASER Assisted Lipo which is a new fangled device where a small cannula is inserted through the skin and utilizes LASER technology to perform liposuction. Now as many of my patients know,  I am not one for “new fangled devices” having been in plastic surgery for twenty years. I have seen everything come and go ( mostly go). Check my web site  www.nerve.org.

As example,  after the silicone breast implant hysteria about  15 years ago they developed “soy oil based breast implants ” which were actually used in England for a while. These new fangled devices were the latest, the greatest newest technology to use on patients as advanced plastic surgery technique. After all the soy (yes from soy beans) was ORGANIC so it must be good right? Well shortly after serveral patients reported the leaking of smelly rancid oil from their breast. How could this be? The latest greatest technology was used and it was NEW so must be better. Well the fact is , this was a poorly conceived idea, brought to you by marketing and latest greatest new fangled plastic surgery technique promoters. My point is simply the newest idea is not always the best idea. I approach all new plastic surgery technology with a very critical eye. Maybe I am jaded after many years of listening to every salesman in the world come in my door and tell me “Doc this will change your practice and you will be ahead of your peers!!!”. Yet for me expierence with a procedure or technology says it all and that is why I don’t jump on very new bandwagon. Salesman and marketing hype says nothing, but does show you someone wants to sell you a new product or technology for good or bad.

So I have some initial impressions I want to share after researching this new fangled procedure of Smart Lipo or any of the “me too” LASER Liposuction techniques. First what is this. Well according to one web site :

“SmartLipo is by far the best kind of liposuction available today. It is a method that offers the best results with less trauma and less downtime. It has a fast recovery time and the cost is very competitive.

SmartLipo uses laser technology to melt and liquefy the fat within the fat cells. In addition, it smoothes and tightens the skin to decrease the looseness that one sometimes sees with traditional liposuction. It can be utilized alone to treat smaller areas of fat, such as below the chin, or in combination with liposuction to remove larger areas of fat such as in the abdomen, flanks and thighs.”

In my analysis of this and knowing what liposuction really is in detail,  I have a few thoughts on this. First any web site that claims that something is the “BEST” as they do, is not medical advice but salesmanship. Plastic surgery be it liposuction or face lifting there is no such thing as “the best”. If there was truly the one and only “best” everyone would use that as plastic surgeons want the best. Its the same as those web sites that claim that transumbilical breast augmentation is the “best” procedure or this plastic surgeon is the “best” etc. To me this automatically tells me something is not right and I should look carefully and recoginze this all as marketing hype. Yes we all want to put our best face forward but come on “the best”.

Next I see a very key statement used: “It can be utilized alone to treat smaller areas of fat, such as below the chin, or in combination with liposuction to remove larger areas of fat such as in the abdomen, flanks and thighs” . Translation is simple, we can use Smart Lipo for very small area but we have to go back to traditional lipo for any area larger than under the chin or combine it.  That says it all. The great benifits they state such as quicker recovery time are nullified when you then have to combine it with traditional liposuction as the surgeon has to o over the same area with a regular liposuction technique. I actually spoke to a Smart lipo practioner recently and asked him as a peer what is the advantage of this then. I mean you take the smart lipo cannula and insert it and then imediately after that insert the traditional device so why in the world would you do that. Well he said “marketing and patients like that”. He then told me that the big advantage was that it does do some skin tightening under the chin in this small area it  can be used without combing it with traditional liposuctio technique.

Well to my way of thinking that seems reasonable under the chin,  but most patients need liposuction that I see in my Hawaii plastic surgery practice other areas such as the abdomen, flanks and thighs. So few patients need that I  cannot see buying an expensive machine to serve one small purpose maybe better. I suppose its a good idea for marketing —so you can say “Hey folks I have the latest greatest new fangled device” but I dont need that in my practice. People know me and know who I am which I try to have a consistent good quality reliable and ethical practice. I suppose if I was new surgeon and needed some gimmick to help my practice , maybe it would be worth it,  but I am not so for me ….its a no go at this point.

The problem with these newer technologies is that they have not been around for years and we really dont know yet all the effects. We do know with all the energy generating  liposuction devices they can burn the skin. Now Smart Lipo may be different, but the ultrasonic techniques ( we have treated complications of  this in the past ) were a energy generating in the form of  heat that could damage the skin and did in some cases. In the case of smart lipo the energy generated producing heat from the LASER is how the skin is tightened.

Patients write about this procedure , the Doctors who promote this procedure create the buzz around the internet. The smart lipo procedure is then a great marketing tool I suppose. Yet call me old fashion. I would have a plastic surgery procedure for result, proven safety and to do what I want it to,  not to have the  have the best marketing  as a consumer. Thats me.  As a doctor on the other hand maybe its good for their practice to be part of this buzz and brig in many patients.

Well these are some of my thoughts on this new fangled procedure. Its not that I am against anything new, its simply that I rather use traditional and proven technology which I have used for years and take a wait and see approach o the new stuff. As with the soy based breast implants, this  prooved to me the latest greatest and newest is not always the best. When something sounds too good to be true it probally is. So bottom line is do your research  and dont be a dumb consumer. Plastic surgery like any business is business which you need to be a smart comsumer with or without smart lipo.

Doctor808

Dr. Michael Pasquale

I have not written for a while about the progress our web development company is making. We have now a few clients,  as we expect a slow start and this is intentional. Our concept is to give a ethical quality product at a reasonable price to those in the beauty industry ( although we will take on other projects , this is our primary focus).

Many in the beauty industry such as Cosmetic Surgeons, Plastic Surgeons and Spa and Skin Care professionals are actually very naive about the internet. Consequently we see a lot of our friends being taken advanatge of by unethical internet hawkers. As example , one of our clients was paying her “internet guy” about 300 dollars per month for web site maintenance and putting a few pictures up. 

She was a real estate agent and she asked me to look at her web site and see if  i could make any improvements. I set down with the client and she tried to pull up the site. Suddenly she says “Oh thats right my internet guy told me hackers had gotten into it and messed it up”. I then asked the client when this occured and she told me about two months ago. I inquired further and asked her why was it not back up after 2 months. She explained that her internet guy had told her it was French Hackers who really destroyed a lot. 

Well that is one of the best song and dance routines I have head from an “Internet guy ” yet. Those french must be pretty good hackers to keep a web site off line for two months. Two months of maintenance fees to her Internet guy with out any web site visible??? Needless to say that seems very odd indeed. 

The point I am making is that to someone without much Internet knowledge, such tactics to get paid for not actually doing some work can and do work. Yet I think as professionals , these unethical types stain all of us and make us look bad. I told her to give me his number and I would happy to help him for free  get rid of these “french hackers”.  

There are so many victims of if not down right fraud , lazy excuses and needless delays. Who knows how much money she lost in those two months? In her business one sale could be 100,000 us dollars as she dealt with high end properties. I know I have in my early years lost quite a bid of money by simply listening to my “web guy”.  

I am not sure what advice to give to new people who are starting to realize how much a good web presence can add to a business to avoid scammers. Yet i think the best is….if it does not seem right it probably is not. What to do? Well just like in medicine get a second opinion!! This could save you thousands of dollars. If the second opinion is different than the first , well then get a third opinion. I know I get questions all the time and have no problem with a “free consultation” if you will. 

Our company is taking things slow, declining a few clients for reasons that we know we cannot offer them anything of value at this point. We are taking on clients who we feel confident we can benefit. That is our approach , slow steady growth. We try to under promise and over deliver. I hope that will make for a successful formula. 

Doctor808