June 3, 2010

Banding Together

Clinicians take a multi-disciplinary
approach to fighting obesity

By Frank Fraiser

A lot can change at high altitudes. For David G. Davtyan, MD, FACS,
FICS, the thin air at the 2001 Minimally Invasive Surgery Symposium
(MISS) in Snowbird, Utah, caused him to become short of breath. He
called his wife and gasped, “My fat is taking over my lungs!”

Davtyan had gradually reached a size that was causing him to tire
easily, but because he was successful in his career and personal life,
he wasn’t ashamed of his weight. It wasn’t until he attended an MISS
presentation given by Guy-Bernard Cadiere, MD, PhD, on laparoscopic
adjustable gastric banding that Davtyan considered undergoing the
procedure.

(more…)

May 10, 2010

Trade in breast implants like an old car?

Women shouldn’t get the idea that changing breast sizes is as simple
as trading in a used car.

But some Hollywood celebrities are acting that way.

“Stars are treating breast surgery like getting a new car,” says
Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon Dr. Nicholas Nikolov. Celebrities decide
that their implants “are too big, too small, or they are uncomfortable.
So they trade them in for a different model.”

He cites TV personality Sharon Osbourne, singer/designer Victoria
Beckham and actress Denise Richards among the stars
who have had their breast implants removed or plan to do so.

(more…)

April 09, 2010

Cosmetic Surgery Isn’t Vain – It’s Survival

When does cosmetic surgery stop being about looking better
and start being about survival? 

It is no secret that beautiful people are revered.

We are all
painfully aware that each A-list celeb can be described as beautiful…if
not drop-dead gorgeous. Just take a look at George Clooney, Angelina
Jolie and Brad Pitt…

And now a recent study proves that human
beings are hard wired to actually prefer beautiful people. Couple that
with the legion of books which all hail the science of beauty, including
“Survival of the Prettiest” by Nancy Etcoff… all which lead us to
conclude that beauty is not quite as “skin deep” as stipulated by the
popular expression. A recent study conducted by ABC’s 20/20 shows that
human beings react more warmly to a person in distress if they are
beautiful. Which begs the question, are people really that shallow?

The answer, which is based in scientific fact, lends some much needed
insight…human beings are simply reacting to their own genetic instinct
when they appreciate and are drawn to beautiful people. But when you
combine the symptoms of “coveting beauty” to what can best be described
as a rocky economy you get an outcome that few could have predicted, a
spike in what many are labeling “survivalist” plastic surgery.

(more…)

April 12, 2010

Some Docs Find Lap-Band Ads Tough to Stomach

HEALTH CARE & BIOTECH: Beverly Hills
practitioners fear treatment is pushed as a quick fix.

By Deborah Crowe

The thousands of dollars that a controversial Beverly Hills surgery
center spent promoting its Lap-Band weight-loss procedure on billboards
around Los Angeles has been a mixed blessing for some lower-key
competitors in the 90210 ZIP code.

Dr. David Davtyan and Dr. Nicholas Nikolov appreciate the benefit
their own practices have received from the free publicity given to the
Lap-Band as a less invasive alternative to gastric bypass surgery.

(more…)