The Blog Has Relocated to our New Practice Website

We've relocated the blog to our new practice website. Please follow us at our new location. If there are topics you'd like to learn about please email your ideas to info@weberfacialplasticsurgery.com and we'll get to work on generating new content.

Sincerely,

Stephen Weber MD, FACS
Weber Facial Plastic Surgery, PC

We've relocated and are seeing patients at our new Lone Tree office!

Weber Facial Plastic Surgery has relocated and is open for business! Give us a call at (303) 792-2224 to schedule your next appointment.

9695 S. Yosemite Street, Suite 359
Lone Tree, CO 80124
(303) 792-2224
weberfacialplasticsurgery.com

Check out our Addy for more information and turn by turn directions to the new office.

See you soon!

Steve

Stephen Weber, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Are Blood Clots a Common Problem in Plastic Surgery Patients?

Recent media accounts regarding Hillary Clinton's blood clot have prompted several of our patients to ask what the real risk is of blood clots after Facial Plastic Surgery procedures. 

The good news is that the risk is low for healthy people without any underlying clotting conditions. There exists a perfect storm of factors referred to as Virchow's Triad. The triad includes pooling of blood in the legs, existence of a hypercoagulable state (more clotting) and injury to the inner blood vessel wall. 

Patients undergoing Facial Plastic Surgery procedures can minimize the risk by revealing any underlying blood clotting problems in themselves or family members. Further, depending upon the level of risk of blood clots (referred to as deep venous thrombosis), many maneuvers can be performed to prevent clot formation. These options include minimizing operative time, placing compressive stockings on the lower legs and using sequential compression devices to prevent pooling of blood in the legs. In more extreme cases, patients can be treated with short-term blood thinning medications to further reduce the risk. 

We are vigilant in identifying warning signs such as swelling, discomfort or pain the calf muscles following surgery. However, in our typically healthy population of patients, the risk of deep venous thrombosis is low.

Stephen Weber, MD, FACS
Lone Tree Facial Plastic Surgeon

Buyer Beware - "Illicit Botox Sparks Alert"

Illicit Botox Sparks Alert reads a recent headline in the Wall Street Journal. In the current case, physicians purchasing illicit Botox from outside the US likely received counterfeit medications. It is unclear whether the vials contain Botox and if they do whether the drug is provided at safe concentrations. 

Only MDs in the United States are allowed to purchase Botox from its manufacturer, Allergan. There are illegal arrangements where nurses, estheticians or those with even less training  obtain Botox from an absentee physician and then perform unsupervised injections. This practice is unsafe, unethical and unfortunate. This is, however, increasing in frequency as poorly trained "practitioners" or "injectors" swarm the field of cosmetic medicine and, in some tragic cases, plastic surgery.

Like many ethical issues, these practices result from financial pressure. An ethical physician would never put his or her patients at risk to make a profit. However, there are those physicians and other providers who have decided that offering cut rate injectable treatments (Botox, Dysport, Juvederm, Restylane, Perlane) is the path to a tidy sum. For very good reasons, legitimate FDA-approved drugs are not cheap (hence the higher cost of being treated by a reputable Plastic Surgeon or Dermatologist). 

When the $8 per unit Botox provider realizes that they lose money on every unit injected, there is tremendous pressure to reduce costs. This can sometimes involve overly diluting the medication such that patients receive fewer units of Botox than they paid for. Alternatively, medications can be purchased from foreign companies in India, China and Canada, to name a few. In some cases, there is no active medication in the purchased product. In other, more dangerous cases, there is excessive or non-medical grade product masquerading as an FDA-approved, safe medication. 

I am reminded of a case in which research grade Botulinum toxin was reconstituted and injected by a chiropractor. He injected himself, his (soon to be ex-) girlfriend and another couple. All four survived but wound up in the hospital for prolonged periods due to a ludicrous overdose of the drug. This type of complication is a "never event" and does not occur when Botox is purchased from its manufacturer in the US. 

The take home message is that there is an increasing number of unscrupulous providers entering the practice of cosmetic medicine. There will always be those that look to make a quick buck rather than building relationships and providing exceptional, long-term care to their patients. Warning signs include:

1. non-core physicians (those other than Facial Plastic Surgeons, Plastic Surgeons and Dermatologists) offering cosmetic services. Many among us have seen ads for injectable treatments at their internal medicine or OB-GYN office. A patient of mine was actually offered Botox by his gastroenterologist! 
2. non-physician "injectors" with no physician affiliation are suspect. To reiterate, they cannot legally buy the product they're offering to inject at bargain basement prices. Thus, you must ask where the product came from. 
3. prices that are too good to be true. In fact, they are. 

It is important to note, that fixing bad Botox is much more expensive than having it done right the first time. There is no substitute for exceptional training and experience.

If you would like to discuss Botox or other injectable treatments with a board-certified Facial Plastic Surgeon in the Denver area, schedule a consultation.

Stephen Weber, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Lone Tree, Colorado

What Can Be Done About Aging Hands?

My patients spend countless hours researching the best preventative and maintenance regimens for care of their facial skin. They return like clockwork for chemical peels, Botox and filler treatments. They perform exhaustive online research to evaluate surgical options for facial rejuvenation. Together, we make decisions on what treatments to pursue to achieve their goals. 

The one issue that is often falls through the cracks is aging of the hands. Second only to our face, the appearance of the hands is a dead giveaway of a person's age and the amount of sun damage they've experienced. Most importantly, if we don't address the hands, there is a discordance in the appearance of the face and hands that is noticeable.

So what options are available to rejuvenate and "spruce up" the appearance of hand aging? 

We perform an increasing number of filler treatments to the back of the hands and laser resurfacing of the hands to fill, tighten and rejuvenate the hands. Two syringes of a dermal filler such as Radiesse can be used to fill the back of the hands with several painless injections. The filler is then smoothed and massaged into the valleys between the tendons of the back of the hand to turn back the clock and plump the hands. These results last for over 12 months.

Once the hands have been filled and plumped we perform laser resurfacing to tighten the skin, eliminate irregular pigmentation and eliminate wrinkles in the hands. With the addition of topical numbing cream, this treatment is painless.

Before - Radiesse Hand Rejuvenation

After - Radiesse Hand Rejuvenation

This combination of treatments is safe and effective for both women and men. The treatments have a very high satisfaction rate and represent the icing on the cake that complements all of the effort we put forth to care for our faces.

Schedule a consultation today to learn more!

Stephen Weber, MD, FACS

Dr. Stephen Weber becomes Fellow of the American College of Surgeons

I am really excited to announce that I've been granted Fellow status in the American College of Surgeons. The college has a very rigorous screening process during which they extensively evaluate a candidate's education, training, professional background and competence in their area of specialization. Fellows must be board-certified in their practice specialty and embody strict ethical and professional principles in order to receive the F.A.C.S. designation. Most importantly, this distinction is one more indicator to our patients that they will be well cared for by an ethical and highly experienced Facial Plastic Surgeon.

Stephen Weber, M.D., F.A.C.S.

We've Just Rolled Out a New Website

We've just rolled out a new www.lonetreefacial.com . Please check it out and let me know what you think!

- Stephen Weber, M.D.