Having said that, there is a more pleasant corollary: weight loss after the procedure seems to come off proportionately faster in untreated areas as well.  I personally and many of my patients noticed that losing even a little weight after liposuction meant that overall physique improved at a much faster rate.  The treated area looks better since fat has been removed there, but then fat comes off a little faster from all the untreated “problem” areas as well, making everything look better.  A very nice (and absolutely free – if you don’t count the blood, sweat and tears of dieting) bonus indeed!

Click here to see a selection of  before & after pictures of some of our patients To see many more pictures and to see if SmartLipo is right for you, call us now for a free consultation!!

What I’ve learned over the years is that some of what I believed is true, but there are definite exceptions to the “drugstore brands are just as good” rule. Especially when it comes to products where the depth of pigment are important, department store brands blow over the counter drugstore brands out of the water! Products like eyeshadows and lipsticks are often much more richly pigmented and longer lasting in high end brands like MAC or Chanel than the cheaper alternatives.

So my curbside advice? Pay a little extra for eyeshadows (and get the chance to try them out on your skin which you can’t do in the drugstore), find a lipstick that tastes good (my favorite is Yves St. Laurent) and the rest buy cheaper. On the less expensive side, I have to say one of my favorites is Nyx which is sold in grocery stores. Products usually run less than $3.00 and are fairly good quality with a good selection.

Band size makes a tremendous difference as well – within the same brand and style, a 36C cup is about the same size as a 34D cup. In many national surveys, very few women know what size bra they should actually be wearing right now much less what cup and bra size they want to be after surgery!

While I am certainly willing to listen to what the patient has to say about her future potential bra size, I take it more as a starting point for conversation than an absolute guideline. If I hear “C cup” I confirm with the patient that what shes looking for is a moderate enhancement, but not a super-full look. If I hear “DD” the patient and I can start our discussion about implant size in a larger, possibly higher profile range than if she wanted a more modest change.

In my practice, I try to approach the question of what size implant to use by first measuring different aspects of the patient. These measurements include height ,weight, the width of the chest wall and the breasts as they currently are, how much breast tissue there is, how stretchy or pliable it is and how much “droop” is present. Then we discuss what kind of look the patient is seeking based on drawings that show less to more full bust profiles.

My personal philosophy is not to go to the OR and just play around until I am happy with the results, because my happiness is not the issue. I want my patients to have a very good idea of what they are going to look like and what size implants they will receive, not get a surprise the first time they look in the mirror after surgery. The pre-operative consultation in the office is where the patient and I will decide together what size implant will achieve the results that the woman’s body can accommodate and that will satisfy her dreams. After all, this procedure is about feeling more attractive and more confident, not about a specific number of cc’s.

Now maybe it was because I grew up in NYC where cynicism is a competitive sport, but I never could generate a whole lot of enthusiasm for Snow White. Aurora was a little better, but as a vertically challenged brunette, I couldn’t really relate to a willowy blonde. But Maleficent….oh man!! The “bad” witch in Sleeping Beauty, she could turn into a dragon and wore a fabulous hat that could pass as a pre-cursor for the Madonna-Versace cone bra of the 80’s. Drawn in a palate of purple and black, she was stunningly beautiful, powerful and was never, ever going to be anybody’s doormat. Needless to say, whenever we played dress-up as kids I was always Maleficent (or the evil step-mother or evil Queen). The bad girls were the bomb. com

But the good girls remained the main event and a grotesque portion of our GNP has gone to purchase make-up to make our skin more dewy, our lips pink, our cheeks rosy. So imagine my joy to discover the new line from MAC cosmetics, “Venomous Villains.” Based on four of the great Disney villains (missing only the magnificent Ursula), the colors are all dark, brooding, sensuous,rich and bad-girl to the core. They scream “I ain’t waiting for Prince Charming, I depend on me (and my fabulous lipstick)!” Check them out here and indulge your inner vamp.