Blog

Throughout our specialty—at meetings, in our journals, and in our clinics—patient safety has become not only a buzzword but an important focus for plastic surgeons. The cover of this month’s Aesthetic Surgery Journal bears a banner reminding us that 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the first dedicated instructional course in patient safety at the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery’s annual meeting in New York City.

The Park Record features an article about the third annual American-Brazilian Aesthetic Meeting, a gathering founded and organized by Dr. Saltz.

According to the Journal of Adolescent Health, the two most popular procedures for teens are liposuction and breast implants. Some social networking sites have noticed an increase in teens talking about Botox and other beauty enhancements, and seeking advice on how to ask their parents for the money to get some form of cosmetic surgery.

“The number of cosmetic-surgery procedures in the U.S. sagged for the second year in a row in 2009, according to an annual survey released Tuesday by a plastic surgeons’ association. There were 10 million surgical and nonsurgical procedures last year, down 2% from 2008, according to a survey of 928 board-certified physicians by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, a Garden Grove, Calif., group of plastic surgeons specializing in cosmetic surgery.”

Cosmetic surgeons are trying to rally their patients in opposition to a new tax on tummy tucks, face-lifts and breast augmentations that Senate Democrats are proposing to help pay for overarching health reform. And leading the charge is Utah physician Renato Saltz, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

A proposal to slap a 5% tax on wrinkle fillers, botox shots, breast implants, and other elective cosmetic medical procedures as part of President Obama’s health-care reform package is raising disapproving eyebrows among some groups.

A letter to the editor concerning a recent article about surgical treatments in less-than-reputable medical spas in the US.