Intimacy after surgery.

This is a touchy, but oft asked question I field as a Louisville Plastic Surgeon when patients are considering or are recovering from surgery.

There are a few rules that apply.

First, after any surgical procedure there is the risk of unwanted bleeding. This is highest in the first 24 hours when 99% of bleeds occur, but the ptoential for bleeding lasts for as long as 2 weeks. So, my recommedation is to avoid any physical activity that increases your pulse and blood pressure during that time interval.

Second, and the most obvious, is comfort. A guideline I offer for all of my patients after any type of surgery is “If it hurts, quit doing it.” Add this one in there as well.

A third factor is based on what part of you we did surgery on. Obviously you will have more freedom if you had your upper eyelids done than if we did a tummy tuck, breast aug, or liposuction of your inner thigh area. Point here is we don’t want the operated area to be traumatized early on and potentially damage your incision or work done under the skin surface.

Those are the factors I consider and so my recommendation is that you give it at least two weeks to avoid bleeding. After that point, you can try things out and let your comfort be your guide. And remember, if it hurts, your body is sending you a message…so quit!

Lee Corbett, MD

www.CorbettCosmeticSurgery.com

502.721.0330

Help, I’ve got no Butt!

Though most of us find we have a bit too much of a backside for our liking, I do have patients seeking larger, rounder backsides. Think J-Lo!

For those interested, there are two main options out there.

The first is buttock implants. Buttock implants are made of a soft, solid silicone. The implants are placed through an incision at the top of your gluteal cleft. They sit above the level of your coccyx (tail bone) and provide fullness to the upper buttock.

Your other option is to use fat grafting. Large volume fat grafting evolved from our South American colleauges. In Brazil, where a lot of plastic surgery literature is produced, the aesthetic goal is a larger backside and smaller breasts, the opposite of the American ideal image. This technique involves harvesting fat, usually from the thighs or tummy area, and then injecting it back into the buttocks.

If you are considering either of these techniques, make sure you have a very thorough discussion with your plastic surgeon because recovery can be prolonged and long term outcomes can vary.

Lee Corbett, MD

www.CorbettCosmeticSurgery.com

502.721.0330

All posts on this blog are presented by Louisville Body Contouring surgeon, Dr. Lee Corbett.

Will I get stretch marks if I get implants?

My answer to this question is “No”, but it is possible.

Having done Louisville breast augmentations for many years, and having placed thousands of implants, I have seen only one woman who returned with stretch marks after an augmentation.

Stretch marks represent a tear of the deep surface of the skin and the tear heals by making scar. So a stretch mark is a scar. The amount of stretch we put on the breast skin is typically not great enough to create stretch marks. Also, the skin of the breast is typically very mobile, much more so that the skin of the hips or tummy where stretch marks typically occur. This laxity and mobility serve to protect against the problem.

If you look in the product literature from the implant manufacturers, stretch marks are not even mentioned in the list of potential complications.

An offshoot of this question is “Will implants make stretch marks worse?”. My experience is that they don’t go away but they tend to be less noticable after an augmentation.

Lee Corbett, MD

www.CorbettCosmeticSurgery.com

502.721.0330

My ears stick out…what can I do?

The operation that fixes this problem is called an Otoplasty.

This is a very slick operation. In Louisville, Otoplasty requires anesthesia and an hour or so in the operating room. After surgery, the recovery isn’t bad, but you will need to wear a head strap for several days.

The operation isn’t very common for adults, because more othen than not the ear was corrected when the patients were children.

In the O.R. we make an incision in the crease behind the ear. We lift the skin off the back of the cartilage and then place sutures in the cartilage to pin it back more. The incision is closed and that’s it.

If you do have protruding ears or even one ear, you do have an option.

Lee Corbett, MD

www.CorbettCosmeticSurgery.com

502.721.0330

All posts on the blog are presented by Dr. Lee Corbett, a Louisville, KY Plastic Surgeon.

Targeted weight loss.

I frequently see patients who are interested in either a Louisville, KY tummy tuck or liposuction and they tell me that they have done countless exercises that target their problem area. The problem is, they tell me, the fat over that area just won’t go away. My response is, “of course it won’t.

There is no such thing as targeted weight loss. In other words, there is no way to exercise a certain part to make the fat in that area go away. The best example is your abdomen. If you do lots of ab work at the gym what you will get are very toned ab muscles. But, if your diet is off and/or you are not doing the right kind of other exercises, the fat hides the nice changes you are causing with all of your hard work. The good thing is that everyone has a 6 pack, the bad is that you may have to alter your diet and exercise pattern to see it.

Weight loss occurs all over your body with diet and exercise. People do loose in some areas before others, but it is out of our control the order in which we loose.

My advice, keep working out and eat well, get a trainer. If you are doing all of this and the area doesn’t improve, call us at 502.721.0330.

Lee Corbett, MD

www.CorbettCosmeticSurgery.com

502.721.0330

All posts on this blog are presented by Louisville KY body contouring expert, Dr. Lee Corbett.

Intimacy after surgery.

Monthly Archives: July 2009