This Season on Dr. 90210

I have really been enjoying this season's Dr. 90210. It's been nice seeing my friend Dr. Gary Motykie get a good deal of airtime, and for some reason I find Dr. Will Kirby fun to watch. Maybe it's because he does such simple things (Botox, lip injections, chemical peels, laser tattoo removal) that I am astounded the show is spending so much time on procedures so basic and less interesting (at least to me).
This past week's episode left me in stitches (sorry about the pun) with Dr. Robert Rey and his family's terrifying camping trip. If you catch any episode this year, see this one or the one where Dr. Rey goes back to Brazil to meet his dad. You'll see that there is much more to the good doctor than you've seen on TV so far.
Overall, I think this season may be the best one since the first season 3 years ago. It only seems to be missing one thing...hmmm....me! jk

To view a clip of my appearance on the first season of Dr. 90210, click here.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Chuck Hagel - Politician Most in Need of Plastic Surgery

I recently had a magazine ask me which male celebrities are most 'in need' of plastic surgery but haven't had anything done. Lots of politicians came to mind, including Bill Clinton (lower eyelid bags), John Kerry (oops, he already had Botox), and John McCain (saggy neckline). It seems that politicians don't appear to get as much plastic surgery as most other famous people (with the possible exception of Nancy Pelosi).
The person who always struck me as being a great candidate for plastic surgery is Senator Chuck Hagel, he with the hound dog eyes. Everytime I see him on Meet the Press or the Evening News, I can't help but think how much more awake and alert he would look with an upper and lower blepharoplasty. Heck, his upper eyelids are so droopy his congressional health insurance plan would probably cover his upper blepharoplasty anyways!

Upper blepharoplasty is one of the only aesthetic plastic surgeries that can, at times, be covered by health insurance. If your eyelids are so droopy that you have problems seeing due to the hanging skin, you may be a candidate for an insurance upper blepharoplasty. I quite often refer potential patients to an optometrist for evaluation first, as the visual field testing they perform is key to determining benefits. I expect someday the insurance companies will find a way to get out of paying for this surgery.

Photo credit: View Images.com

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Demi Moore Laughs Off $3 Million Plastic Surgery Rumor

According to Daily India.com, Demi Moore has laughed off rumors that she's had 3 million dollars worth of plastic surgery. She apparently stated:

"I was in getting a facial recently and there were reports that I had been in there for countless hours, saying I'd had surgical procedures. Am I going to sue? Do I really care?"

Three million dollars worth of plastic surgery is crazy. Currently I charge about $7000 for a breast augmentation (gel implants). If you divide that by $3 million, that means she'd have the equivalent of... a ton of breast augmentation surgeries! Now, some other surgeons charge more than me (the Michigan economy is currently in the toilet so I don't charge exorbitant fees), but I still believe the rumor is likely false.

Photo credit: pr photos.com

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Ashlee Simpson - Botox Injections

The new issue of In Touch Weekly magazine claims that Ashlee Simpson has been getting Botox injections from a Beverly Hills Facial Plastic Surgeon. Twenty-three years old is a bit young for Botox, although I do occasionally perform it on people in their twenties. My average Botox patient is in their thirties to fifties, with visible frown lines and crow's feet not usually present in a twenty-something.
Botox is now the number one cosmetic treatment today, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Last year over 4.1 million Botox procedures were performed, with the next most common treatment being chemical peel at 1.1 million. Whether Ashlee is having Botox or not, she does look good as long as she is conservative with the Restylane lip injections.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Jessica Simpson Re-signs with Proactiv for $3 Million

According to Hollywoodrag.com, Jessica Simpson has recently re-signed to be the face of the anti-acne skin system Proactiv. According to their site:

The blond actress - who angered Proactiv bosses in 2005 when she put her clear skin down to prescription medicine Accutane - has filmed new TV adverts for the company. Jessica previously praised the treatment, saying: "I just had so much build up and so many clogged pores that once I started using Proactiv Solution, my face was just shining." Jessica is one of many female celebrities to promote the "three-step treatment system", others have included Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Proactiv contains benzoyl peroxide, which is a common ingredient in over-the-counter anti-acne skin products (such as Oxy). For my patients who ask about acne treatment, I recommend that they consult with my skin specialist Otilia Wingert. She usually starts them on a medical grade skin care regimen, like Obagi's CLENZIderm M.D. system combined with Retin-A or a retinol product. We've been really happy with what we've seen with this. Laser treatments can also help some people with acne problems.

Severe acne may be best treated with Accutane, which is a prescription medication that decreases the oils produced by the sebaceous glands. It can cause serious side effects, however, and should not be taken by someone who is trying to get or is pregnant. Accutane is usually prescribed by a dermatologist and can create some amazing results, but with a price.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Kimberly Stewart - Rhinoplasty?

Cityrag.com revealed this very convincing before and after photo set of Kimberly Stewart's possible rhinoplasty. If she has indeed had the surgery (which looks like it to me), the surgery was a success. I always say that a good rhinoplasty de-emphasizes the nose and allows other, more attractive parts of the face to be more noticeable. This looks to be a great example of that.

It also helps that her hideous 'Mo' / Bowlcut was restyled...

Photo/story credit: cityrag.com

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Janice Dickinson Has Had More Plastic Surgery

It's been recently reported that "The First Supermodel" Janice Dickinson has had some more plastic surgery. While she has admitted to having various other plastic surgeries such as breast augmentation, browlift, botox, and blepharoplasty (check out that alliteration!), apparently she's recently undergone a tummy tuck and mini neck lift.

She never looked to me like she needed those surgeries. I probably would have turned her down for everything except a psychiatry referral...

Story credit: dailyblabber.com
Photo credit: pr photos.com

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Angelina Jolie - Plastic Surgery?

Much has been made about Angelina Jolie's possible lip augmentation. Here are some photos that were sent to me by a reader which appears to depict a rhinoplasty (very tastefully done) and maybe even a browlift (although I doubt this). I have no definite proof the 'before' photo is legit (comments are welcome) but if it is, her nose looks quite a bit different.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Share |

Ryan Gosling - Rhinoplasty?

Has Ryan Gosling had a rhinoplasty? According to Starpulse.com he has recently denied having the bump on his nose shaved down, but the photos on GoodPlasticSurgery.com appear to show otherwise. However, according to his rep,
"It's ridiculous. There is no truth to it."

His nose looks pretty darn good from here, and much smaller than the 'before' photo.

Photo credit: prphotos.com


Thanks for reading.

Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

His Other Eye Shoots Out Cookies!

I saw this photo on Dlisted.com and had to comment on it. How is this guy shooting milk out of his eyelid?
There is a small drainage duct, or punctum, in the inner aspect of each upper and lower eyelid which drains tears out of the eye and through the nose. This is one reason why your nose runs when you cry. Although this duct mainly runs in one direction, I suppose it is possible for a dumb fool to stick milk up his nose, plug his nostrils, close off his palate and push the milk back through his punctum and out his eye...giving him his two seconds of fame on blogs like this one.
What a hideous sight.

Photo credit: dlisted.com
Thanks to Ryan Desmond for the Title

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Jai Rodriguez Gets 'Toxed

The latest episode of Dr. 90210 has Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Jai Rodriguez getting some Botox, collagen (or so it looked), and a mild chemical peel from dermatologist Will Kirby. He looked good afterwards, and the segment was an entertaining, funny diversion. It was nice to see Dr. Kirby perform a procedure on someone other than a good friend or his mom, too.

Photo credit: prphotos.com

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Dr. Terry Higgins - Las Vegas Plastic Surgeon

A few months ago I wrote a post on one of the plastic surgeons who has served as one of my mentors, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen. Every so often, I'll post on a plastic surgeon who I know well and can vouch for. Dr. Terry Higgins is one of them.
Dr. Higgins is one half of a prominent plastic surgery practice in Las Vegas. We went to residency together and he is one of my good friends, as well as an outstanding plastic surgeon. Dr. Higgins is probably the most gracious plastic surgeon I've ever met. He is one of very few plastic surgeons whom I would consider going into practice with, and I would trust him to operate on me if I needed it. I think this is one of the best compliments a surgeon can give to another surgeon.

To visit Dr. Higgins' website, click here.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Wayne Newton - Plastic Surgery?

While switching channels past Dancing with the Stars, I couldn't help but notice Wayne Newton's odd, odd appearance. What is going on here?

It appears to me that his eyebrows are elevated and don't move. At all. This is a possible consequence of Botox, which if overly injected can create a "frozen forehead.' However, while it does smooth the forehead wrinkles, it doesn't create elevated eyebrows like his. That is a possible consequence of a browlift. He also has very little excess skin of his upper eyelids, a possible result of an upper blepharoplasty. His jawline is also extremely sharp for a 65 year old man. This could be due to a facelift. There are some other things that may be going on here, but I think these are the most obvious. As a plastic surgeon I would recommend that he let the Botox wear off a bit, avoid the sun and tanning, and focus on his great voice, not his dance moves.

To view a segment I did on Fox News regarding Awful celeb plastic surgery, click here.

Photo credit: prphotos.com

Thanks for reading.

Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Share |

The Evolution of Carrot Top

TMZ.com has a post on the Evolution of Carrot Top, the comedian with the frizzy red hair. He's undergone quite a few changes over the years, not the least of which is an excessively arched brow possibly due to a combination of Botox and a Browlift. His face looks extremely smooth as well, and may be the result of laser treatments or chemical peels.
No matter what he has done, one thing doesn't change: My delight that his extremely annoying 1-800 Call ATT commercials are no longer on the air.

Photo and story credit: tmz.com

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Share |

Which Presidential Candidate Most Matches Your Views?

Every so often there is an interesting non-plastic surgery website that I like to pass on to readers. This is a good one.
Selectsmart.com has a questionaire that matches you up with whichever presidential candidate most matches your views. There are 26 questions in all (takes 5 minutes, tops), and it allows you to place certain emphasis on issues which are most important to you (Iraq War, Health Care, Reefer, etc.). Try it and let me know if you are surprised at your results!

FYI: My top two matches were Rudy Giuliani (62%) and Hillary Clinton (61%), so I'm still undecided! Not surprising, since I am somewhat of a 'moderate.'

Link to site: click here.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Quick Hits

1. A 32 year old Toronto woman dies after having liposuction performed by a family physician/cosmetic surgeon. This is an unfortunate reminder that there are too many non-plastic surgeons who are performing plastic surgery without informing their patients of their lack of training and credentials. A cosmetic surgeon is not the same as a plastic surgeon. Click here for the article. Click here for my website page on how to choose a plastic surgeon.

2. Heidi Montag confirms that she's had a breast augmentation and rhinoplasty. Really? I didn't notice. Click here.

3. The Australian navy spent over $1.1 million for aesthetic plastic surgery (tummy tucks, breast augmentation, etc.) on its service personnel. I've heard stories about this with the U.S. military too, but have no concrete information on it. On a not-quite-so-related note, did you know that Medicare pays for penile implants for old men with erectile dysfunction? We have people living on the streets and children going without proper health care, and our tax dollars pay for this? Sigh. Click here.

Photo credit: prphotos.com

Thanks for reading.

Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

The Formula for Perfect Breasts?

A British cosmetic surgeon has announced that he has developed a 'formula' for determining what he believes are the perfect breasts. He spent hours pouring over topless models to develop his theories. In his opinion, the celebrity with the most perfect breasts is Caprice, and the one with the worst breasts is Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice). According to the Daily Mail:

Mr Mallucci said: "These findings allowed me to form a template around which to plan a breast augmentation, and set a standard of aesthetics.
Obviously personal interpretation and expression has to be accounted for, but this has allowed me to develop a template that I have been using successfully for some time. The key aesthetic elements are nipple position and the proportion between the upper and lower halves of the breast, he said.
The ideal is a 45 to 55 per cent proportion - that is the nipple sits not at the half-way mark down the breast, but at about 45 per cent from the top..."

Mr. Malluci is not the first plastic surgeon who has attempted to simplify beauty into a mathematical formula. Dr. Steve Hoefflin is a plastic surgeon who developed a very complex mathematical equation for facial beauty, which he described in his book "The Beautiful Face." In it, he uses the 'angles' and 'highlights' of a face to develop a numerical score of beauty. It's extremely complicated, but definitely interesting.

Here's my take: I don't like the idea of distilling everything down to mathematics. While it seems that everything nowadays can be explained by math (such as why music sounds melodic), I believe that beauty is not something that needs to be completely explained in this way. When performing plastic surgery, I do use some of these mathematical formulas to help determine what will give my patient the best result, but there is definitely an element of 'using my eye' to it as well. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. (And I'm sure that David Beckham likes his wife's breasts!)

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Barry Manilow's Plastic Surgery

Barry Manilow recently performed for the Today show. Wow, has he had some work done! According to the National Enquirer (Aug 6, 2007), he underwent a facelift in 1995, another facelift with upper and lower blepharoplasty in 2003, and an additional facelift in 2006, as well as regular Botox injections.

When you compare his 'before' photo (1978) with the photo taken just a week ago, you can see that his brows and eyelids look very similar. His cheeks, however, are quite a bit fuller now, possibly signifying overdone fat grafting, cheek implants, or both. His skin is unnaturally taut for a 61 year old man, a sign of the previously mentioned facelifts with possible chemical peels or laser treatments.

While it's nice to hear that his voice sounds as pristine as ever, I'd like to see a bit more natural aging to his face. I believe that facial plastic surgery can create a very natural appearance when the goal is to take 10-20 years off someone. When we start to go after 25, 30, or even 40 years then people start looking fake. Maybe he should dedicate his song, "I Can't Smile Without You," to his plastic surgeon (no, not me).

Photo credit: pr photos.com

Thanks for reading.

Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Share |

Man wakes up during his own autopsy

An interesting, non-plastic surgery story: A Venezuelan man woke up in a morgue after a car wreck in extreme pain-- during his own autopsy. According to Reuters.com:

Carlos Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realize something was amiss when he started bleeding. They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face.
“I woke up because the pain was unbearable,” Camejo said, according to a report on Friday in leading local newspaper El Universal.

I'm just a plastic surgeon, but whenever I declared someone dead (as a general surgery resident) I would usually check to make sure they weren't breathing and had no pulse. Just a thought.

Thanks to Kevin MD medical blog for the story.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Breast Augmentation News Story on Fox 2 Detroit

I was recently featured on a the local Fox affiliate here in Detroit in a segment about the rising popularity of silicone gel implants. They follow one of my patients through her breast augmentation surgery with Memory Gel implants. Check it out here if you have a minute and are interested.

Thanks to Lila Lazarus and Sean Lee of Fox 2 Detroit for the nice story!

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.: