NHS Burden after Cosmetic Surgery Abroad

A recent report by BAPRAS (British Association of Plastic Reproductive Aesthetic Surgeons) published in the Daily Mail claims that “hundreds of patients are suffering life-threatening problems after botched cosmetic operations carried out abroad, warn Britain’s leading plastic surgeons.”

The article goes on to explain that more than one in four patients returning with complications needed emergency surgery and one in three had repair operations done on the NHS.

“The booming business in cheap holiday surgery packages threatens patient safety and is a burden on the NHS, claims the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS).”

The Association carried out research showing almost a quarter of its members last year had to treat patients on the NHS for complications caused by cosmetic surgery abroad.

Altogether 208 patients were treated, including 26 per cent who needed plastic surgery.

A further third of patients opted for surgery to repair the damage and 41 per cent needed non-surgical treatment including antibiotics.

Breast ‘jobs’ were the biggest single source of complications, accounting for 29 per cent of patients, followed by tummy tucks.

One in six suffered problems after breast reductions and 10 per cent landed in trouble after a face or neck lift.

Figures suggest at least 70,000 Britons are having operations abroad, ranging from face jobs to hip replacements, often combining ’sun and surgery’ for thousands less than the price of private surgery at home.

click here to read the full article online (link to Daily Mail website).

Medicetics comment

The statistics as quoted here are certainly alarming, however they are a little difficult to interpret. I believe it makes the mistake of lumping together all surgery abroad. At Medicetics for example, we are happy to recommend surgeons that we know personally in the USA in both Miami and New York knowing that the level of treatment that they will get will be of the highest quality. Although this is classed as “surgery abroad” how can this be compared with less well known clinics in the sub continent?

Our advice is that if you want to go abroad for cosmetic surgery be careful. Go to a reputable clinic, get a recommendation and check that your insurance covers you for any complications that arise.

Possible vaccine for skin cancer

Professor Ian Frazer the Doctor responsible for the vaccine against papillomavirus for cervical cancer recently presented his work on a vaccine for skin cancer.

Mr Frazer, who delivered his findings to the Australian Health and Medical Research Congress, said a vaccine for children aged 10 to 12 could be available in five to 10 years.

The jab would protect against squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common skin cancer, but not the more deadly melanomas.

It works by targeting papillomavirus, a common infection which can turn abnormal cells into cancerous cells and is believed to cause at least five per cent of all cancers.

Read the full article on the Telegraph website (links to external website).

How Portrait (PSR) Plasma Skin Regeneration works.

If the video is not visible click on this link

Portrait® Plasma Skin Regeneration Video at Medicetics, London

Every once in a while the science of beauty takes a great leap forward. Something comes along that changes everything - a breakthrough that opens the door to new possibilities and raises results to a whole new level.

At Medicetics London, we have a number of treatments common to Medical Aesthetics; Microdermabrasion, IPL, Mesotherapy as well as a deep experience in skin peels and injectable treatments. All of these treatments we do on a regular basis and we get very good results. However Portrait is the next step in skin and tissue regeneration which is why as residents of London we are proud to be able to offer what our colleagues across the pond have been raving about for the last 18 months.

A treatment that unlike any other has been proven histologically to restore skin and its structure to a more youthful structure.

For more information and FAQ’s click on our Portrait Information Page.

To see our before and after Portrait Picture gallery click and scroll down.

Dr Feelgood: Lunchtime peel: fab or flaky? 4 stars at Medicetics (The Independent).

Sunday, 14 September 2008 4 stars out of 5

Dr Feelgood “The Independent’s”resident health and beauty investigator visits Medicetics to find out whether the lunchtime peel is all it is cracked up to be. She had a superficial peel with a low dose 30% glycolic peel which has minimal downtime and fast results. She describes her experience and the results.

Under the microscope: Lunchtime facial peels Around £95

In theory: With time-poor consumers demanding real beauty results in double-quick time, here come the “medi-spas”, staffed by qualified doctors performing a host of cutting-edge treatments. The lunchtime peel is a mild chemical exfoliation using glycolic or salicylic acid to remove damaged skin and stimulate underlying collagen regeneration refining pores and reducing lines and blemishes.

In practice: There’s something about being given a beauty treatment by a proper doctor — ahem, I mean a fellow doctor – that makes one feel in safe hands. After a thorough skin examination, Dr Dondos (www.medicetics.com) started me on a relatively low 30 per cent concentration of glycolic acid (still far stronger than the usual 5 per cent offered by regular salons). And all Dr F experienced was a mild tingle, which, she was pleased to learn, indicates a strong skin barrier.

Observations: Immediately after the peel, Dr Feelgood’s face was a few shades short of tomato, but that faded within a matter of minutes, and just a few hours later she could see and feel a marked improvement in her skin, which was softer and clearer. In the following days her skin flaked and peeled as predicted, but anyone worrying about Samantha’s post-peel hell in Sex and the City has nothing to fear.

Analysis: Having acid painted on one’s face is never likely to be a pleasurable way to pass five minutes but this is an almost painless way to baby-soft skin. It’s expensive – particularly since it should be done on a fairly regular basis – but the immediate improvement makes it feel less frivolous than most facials.

Prescription: If your skin is blemished, mildly scarred or just plain dull, this could make a big difference. Results far outweigh the standard salon facials.

Further experiments: For a similarly scientific home-care skin regime, Dr Dondos recommends the much-lauded Epionce range (www.epionce.co.uk). Dr F is a fan of Ren’s Glycolactic Skin Renewal Mask (£28, www.renskincare.com).

Seeing through the sunscreen…

Guidance for keeping your kids safe in the sun whilst staying young.

UVA/ UVB/ SPF/ PPD what does it all mean? Dr Geoffrey Mullan from Medicetics Skin and Laser Clinic in London does a little explaining and also debunks a couple of myths with some advice on how to stay safe and young.

If there is any single piece of skin advice you could follow, this is the most important.

UV radiation comes from normal sunlight. There are two types of UV radiation: UVA is responsible for skin ageing and UVB causes sunburn. Both are thought to be a major risk factor for skin cancer.
UVA rays are the longer radiation waves which penetrate further down into the skin and cause most of the long-term damage, as well as permanent darkening and pigmentation changes.
Many of the cheaper sunscreens do not have an ingredient to block UVA rays, so look for sunscreens that do say they protect against UVA.

SPF is a ratio. It measures protection against UVB rays.

It means that if you have skin that would normally burn in a certain intensity of sun in 10 minutes and wear factor 12, your skin will not burn for 120 minutes (12×10).
A high SPF on its own does not mean your skin if fully protected. In fact as it does not protect against dangerous UVA rays the US government have now issued a statement that SPF should no longer stand for sun protection factor but Sunburn Protection Factor (SPF).

PPD Permanent Pigment Darkening. It measures protection against UVA rays.

There have been moves to try and form a ratio or a scoring system for UVA rays however this is much more difficult to standardise. Boots have tried a star system where in Europe a measure of the amount of permanent pigment darkening (sunspots) protection is currently being used with anything of a score over 15 being a good protection, scores of over 25 are preferable.
It is this protection that will stop age spots, your skin becoming wrinkled and safe from melanomas.

Tip to improve sunscreen effectiveness? Use a vitamin C cream under a normal sunscreen.

This can increase its effect by between 50 to 100%. This is because the vitamin C helps ‘mop up’ the damaging free radicals caused by the UV radiation that, in turn, damage the skin.

Debunking a couple of myths – that clothing or glass block out the sun’s rays.

Many people think that, while driving with closed windows, they will be protected from UV rays. While this is true to a degree, we now realise that glass does not block out all rays.
Also, people believe that clothes protect them from UV, but that’s not true, and it’s especially important to realise that for children’s safety. For example, a lightweight hat gives an SPF of around only three to six and summer-weight clothing around SPF six. By contrast, sun-protective clothing gives a protection of up to SPF 30.

SUN-SAFETY RULES

Melanoma is now the third most common cancer among 15 to 39-year-olds and it is especially prevalent among those who burned as children and those who regularly used sunbeds as teenagers.
Cancer Research UK advises those who want to stay sun-safe and not sun-damaged:
Spend time in the shade between 11am and 3pm, make sure you never burn and aim to cover up with a hat, T-shirt and sunglasses.
Use cream with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher, apply 30 minutes before going outdoors and reapply it regularly (about every two hours). Remember to take extra care with children and ensure that they wear a hat and protective clothing.
It’s a myth that getting pre-holiday colour, either fake or real, will provide more protection against harmful rays. This misguided theory may wrongly tempt people to have a pre-trip sunbed session, but the intensity of UV rays from a sunbed can be 10-15 times higher than the midday sun, so it can result in damage and age your skin 10 times faster.
See our main website or contact us for advice on different sunscreens which we will be publishing here soon.

Dr Geoffrey Mullan

Sunscreens that we like:

Skinceuticals
Epionce

Grazia asks the UK’s leading female cosmetic doctors what treatments work.

“I don’t need foundation any more”

Leah Hardy is one of the UK’s top freelance beauty writers and editors. She recently spoke to 4 of the UK’s top female cosmetic Doctors as to what treatments they have done or would have. The following is an excerpt of the article that appeared in this August (2008) Grazia magazine.

Dr Vicky Dondos, 33, is a trained hospital doctor who now works as a cosmetic aesthetic doctor at Medicetics clinic in London (020 7402 3033; www.medicetics.com)

WHAT WORKS

Chemical peels and mesotherapy: “I’m a big fan of mesotherapy [a series of tiny injections into the skin, containing a cocktail of vitamins, minerals and amino acids], to give my skin a good texture and radiance.”

IPL (Intense Pulsed Light): “This laser treatment helps smooth pigmentation, sunspots and blemishes on my cheeks. I’ve only had two sessions and I don’t need to wear foundation anymore”

The Epionce Range: “I’m always testing new products and I adore this range- especially the peel, which contains malic acid derived from apples. I have two peels which are done a week apart. I’m red for an hour afterwards, but then patches of dryness disappear, and my skin looks well-nourished, firmer and glowing. The active shield sunscreen sits really well on my skin, is transparent non-greasy and comes in SPF30. I also use the foaming cleanser and the vitamin c serum.” (www.epionce.co.uk)

WHAT DOESN’T

Presuming expensive is always better: “I do like some cheap basic products, such as the cleanser Cetaphil, which is great and very gentle.”(www.cetaphil.co.uk)

MY SURGERY SHOPPING LIST

Sculptra: It’s an injectable volumising treatment, which rebuilds collagen and puts water back into the skin.” (www.sculptra.co.uk)

The hot new laser: Our clinic now has the new Portrait Plasma laser. It has about five days of downtime, where you peel and are very red, but gives phenomenal results. Lines and pigmentation just go, and the collagen keeps on building even after the treatment.” (www.portraitpsr.com)

To make an appointment click here or call 020 740 22033

Skin peels- nothing to be afraid of.

Skin peels are one of the oldest forms of cosmetic treatments for the skin. Ever since Cleopatra started bathing in “off milk” we have been using mild acids to improve the quality of our skin. In Cleopatra’s case the milk had formed a weak lactic acid the first recorded skin peel.

Since then, as you might expect, things have evolved significantly. After Samantha’s experience in SATC (she had a deep peel which very few Doctors do these days) many people are pretty terrified of skin peels but Sharon Walker, one of the UK’s leading health and lifestyle journalist recently had a skin peel at Medicetics in London and describes her experience in Shape Magazine 2008.

FACE OFF Peel first-timer Sharon Walker, 42, had a Mene& Moy glycolic peel at Medicetics clinic in London.

“Here’s how it went. I was prepared to jump in at the deep end with something quite hardcore- not the full Samantha from SATC, obviously, but maybe a mild TCA. But Medicetics’ Dr Vicky Dondos wanted to play it safe with a 20 per cent glycolic. Thank God, because my skin reacted more strongly than most. It wasn’t that bad, nothing like a TCA which sounds excruciating- more of a mild jellyfish sting or surface attack of pins and needles. Dr Dondos wiped the peel off areas like my chin, where it had flared up immediately and rinsed off the rest after a couple of minutes. I looked and felt like I’d spent the day on the beach with poorly applied suncream; a bit patchy and red.

Dr Dondos is very strict about applying suncream in the days following a peel, as the skin is sensitised and more vulnerable to pigmentation. Within a couple of hours my skin was back to normal and the next day my cheeks were flushed and my forehead was a bit flaky. The difference is very subtle; a bit of extra bounce in my cheeks like I’ve just had a good run or come straight from a facial. A course of treatments could make a real difference. Dr Dondos usually combines a mild glycolic with mesotherapy (lots of tiny vitamin jabs all over your face), which helps the peel penetrate deeper triggering a trauma response and therefore more collagen. Unfortunately my skin was too sensitive to risk it.”

If you want to find out more about skin peels click here or call 020 740 22033 to make an appointment with one of our Doctors. We have lots more information and are happy to answer questions, so if you do have any queries feel free to add a comment and one of our Doctors will give you our thoughts.

Dr Geoffrey Mullan

Mesotherapy; an über-facial

Times journalist Claire Mc Donald recently published her discussion with Dr Dondos in the Life and Style (Body and Soul section) of the Times. Below is a copy of the article, or click to read the original Mesotherapy/ Medicetics article on Times Online.

Mesotherapy, what is it? A series of at least 200 injections of vitamins, minerals and hyaluronic acid - it’s like mainlining a facial. The solution is injected into a tiny gap between the top three and four layers of skin on your face, where it stays until the skin is ready to absorb it.

The Medicetics Clinic

Medicetics is a Doctor led clinic that intends to bring a holistic modern approach to medical aesthetics whilst maintaining the principles of good medical care. Every detail has been carefully thought about. This is not to say that we think we are perfect by any means but we are certainly striving to be.

About the clinic: The sparkling white clinic has a boutique feel and has been thoughtfully designed for us at Medicetics. It accommodates our state of the art equipment and also reflects our love of design, as well as provide a comfortable place to relax in. When you get here, after entering through the discreet entrance you can relax with coffee, health drinks or wine. Afterwards, you are taken to have your face scanned by a specialist computer system in preparation for a consultation.

You are then led downstairs for treatment where one of our doctors will meet you and take you through your initial consultation and treatment. We make time to discuss issues, expectations and analysis of your facial pictures. Then we’ll produce a treatment plan and execution of the first treatment.

Dr Geoffrey Mullan

Welcome to the Medicetics blog

Welcome. At medicetics we are constantly trying to improve on the service we offer. Therefore we have decided to start posting regular blogs with some up to date information and the latest news in the world of Medical Aesthetics.

In recent weeks there have been a number of positive and negative articles about various treatments, some are very accurate, others are just spin. With all of our experience it is often difficult for us to tell which are which. Therefore we have decided that we will give our penny’s worth on these treatments or press releases that come out in as balanced a way as possible to add some much needed clarity to our section of aesthetic medicine.

Watch this space.

DrG

Dr Geoffrey Mullan Medical Director Medicetics