The Pacific Center for Plastic Surgery is remodeling its office in Newport Beach, which will become its new main office in January 2013. We look forward to being able to better serve our patients in this facility which has been designed specifically to our needs. Here are some recent photos of the construction. Check this blog for further updates on progress!
Tag Archives: nichter
The Importance of Compression Garments after Liposuction
Dr. Larry Nichter
A compression garment is required and beneficial after liposuction because:
- It restricts the amount of edema that forms and hastens its resolution by mechanical pressure.
- It decreases the amount of bruising.
- It assists the loose skin in retracting or shrinking.
It is common to have weight gain due to edema, serum that collects in the area, and the tumescent fluid that was injected. This will resolve over time. The more you wear the garment initially, the quicker this fluid resolves.
Edema: a condition characterized by an excess of watery fluid collecting in the cavities or tissues of the body.
The length of time that the garment should be worn varies depending on the amount of fat removed, the elastic nature of your skin, how much loose skin remains, and other factors. Your surgeon would give you the best advice, however this is the general routine for my patients.
The first garment should be fitted for you in the office prior to surgery and applied in the operating room. Often it will become loose as the edema is mobilized, and then it will need to be replaced. Spanx is a reasonable compression garment if it gives enough support and is the right size. I have my patents bring them in so I can confirm that it fits well.
Most important advice is to listen to your surgeon, as he or she knows how much fat was removed, the elasticity that remains in your skin, and amount of skin redundancy.
I recommend that my patients wear their garments for a minimum of three weeks full time then for twelve hours at a time (day or night). If there is not a lot of redundant skin, this continues to a maximum of six weeks.
To be effective, the garment needs to fit snugly—but not too tight as that can make it difficult to sleep or cause pressure problems (inspect your skin when it is exposed if you are uncomfortable). As the edema resolves it is common for patients to switch to a smaller garment that fits. A Spanx-type garment would work fine, rather than ordering one or paying more at your doctor’s office.
—Dr. Larry Nichter, MD, FACS
Is your diet responsible for your acne breakouts?
Are You What You Eat?
Millions of Americans are plagued with acne and are doing everything they can to make better decisions towards improving their skin. A common place people begin looking for what is causing their skin to break out is their diet. Linking foods to acne breakouts has been debated in literature for decades. It can sometimes be hard to tell if some of the foods you are eating are causing you to have acne flare-ups, but there is convincing evidence that can possibly make people think twice about how the types of foods they’re eating may affect their skin.
Dairy
Let’s start with dairy: a set of ingredients in most processed foods we consume. Migration studies have shown that people who are not accustomed to “Westernized diets” that are high in processed ingredients, sugar, beef, and dairy products have increased occurrences of acne. Individuals who reported drinking more than three servings of milk a day were shown to develop acne more often than those who drank milk infrequently. However, keep in mind whether it is skim, 2%, or whole, there is no correlation between fat content in the milk that is consumed and acne.
Glycemic Index
Studies have demonstrated a notable connection between dairy and high-glycemic-index foods with acne.
The glycemic index is a numerical index that rates how fast your body is able to breakdown carbohydrates in foods. This system is on a scale from zero to 100. Foods on the higher end of the scale indicate that they cause a rapid increase in your blood sugar levels; foods on the lower end of the scale do not cause such a sharp spike in blood sugar levels and increase blood sugar levels slowly.
High-glycemic index foods include:
- potatoes
- white bread
- sugar (of course)
Foods that are on the lower end of the glycemic index include:
- bean sprouts
- grapefruit
- apples
When compared to those whose diets have a high glycemic load, those who ate low glycemic-load foods had a lower number of acne blemishes and lower body weight. Low glycemic-load diets may not only help to regulate weight, but may reduce acne and improve insulin sensitivity.
Dairy, especially low-fat and non-fat, have not always had an obvious connection to acne, whereas chocolate tends to get the blame. It seems to be quite the contrary; there is no correlation to eating chocolate and causing acne breakouts or worsening existing ones. Studies have shown that chocolate seems to have little to no effect on acne. On the other hand, dairy, even non-fat dairy, has been linked to acne flare-ups.
If you have any questions about these diet and acne myths or facts, you can always ask the docs! Dr. Larry S. Nichter and Dr. Jed H. Horowitz can answer your questions and also share with you what they’ve learned throughout their years as medical doctors.