With the heightened airport security around the world, terrorists are trying to find better ways to bring bombs on board planes. U.S. Department of Homeland Security and British Intelligence reported that terrorists may be planning to surgically implant bombs into the body to elude detection. Explosive materials could be implanted into the abdominal cavity, inserted into the rectum or even hidden in a breast implant.

That would be one bombastic set of boobs.

The use of silicone breast implant for breast augmentation has always been the  gold standard in the practice of Plastic Surgery  in the Philippines. But not  until November 17, 2006,  when the FDA finally approved the use of silicone gel implants, its use has been limited by a moratorium while investigative studies were made to find out whether silicone gel-filled breast implants are associated  with connective tissue disease or cancer. These studies have concluded that there   is no convincing evidence that silicone breast implants are associated with either   of these diseases.

Some of the complications reported in the studies included hardening of the area around the implant (called capsular contraction), breast pain, change in nipple sensation, implant rupture and the need for additional surgery. However, the majority of women in these studies reported being satisfied with their implants.

After attending a recent symposium of the  Philippine Association of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgeons, my colleague and good friend Dr. Jay Recasata presented his experience with the use of  polyurethane covered silicone breast implants made by Silimed.  Surprisingly, the Brazilians have been using this type of silicone implant as early as 1970′s. After 18 years of experience using these implants and 1,257 surgically treated patients, the authors can draw some new conclusions. Their postoperative follow-up evaluation of 300 patients for 5 years, 250 patients for 10 years, and 180 patients for 15 years has shown the lowest incidence of fibrous capsular contraction (1%) with these implants. lower incidence is due to the special architecture of the capsule that is formed, which results from the presence of the polyure- thane in the coating.

Their wide experience shows that although the use of polyurethane-coated silicone gel breast implants can generate some difficulties for insufficiently experienced surgeons in the beginning, if a correct technique is observed, once the learning curve is surpassed, excellent results are achieved, even superior to those achieved with other types of implants. These implants confer greater naturalness to the breast and have a lower incidence of complications.

Based from their 18-year experience, the authors stated that the Polyurethane-coated Silicone breast implants are the best option for breast augmentation today, offering the lowest incidence of fibrous capsular contraction (1%).

http://www.aspide.com/pdf/PublicationVazquezPellon.p

I recently received an uncommon inquiry on my website: If I do hair transplant for eye lashes. Understandably, women have always desired thick, long eyelashes in ages. Artificial eyelash enhancers range from mascaras to eyelash extensions, has been part of their armamentarium to draw attention to the eyes.

Technically, it is similar to doing a normal hair transplant for the scalp: Starting from harvesting the donor hair from the back of the scalp, dissecting them to a single hair micro graft, doing stab incisions on the eyelash plate, and finally inserting the hair grafts. Here’s the difference:
1) The hair from the scalp will not match that of the eyelashes; therefore it would entail regular trimming.
2) The transplanted hairs may grow in different directions, which may be more acceptable when done on the scalp than the eyelids.
3) The thickness or density of the resulting eyelashes may not be achieved in one transplant session.

To those not willing to accept the down side of eyelash transplant, here’s a better alternative: Eyelash grower. Allergan, the company that popularized the use of botulinum toxin A (Botox®) has done it again! Their new product Latisse® is the first and only FDA-approved prescription treatment out in the market today for hypotrichosis (inadequate or not enough lashes), growing them longer, fuller and darker.

It’s active ingredient, Lumigan, was originally intended as an eye drop (bimatoprost ophthalmic solution 3%) for patients suffering from glaucoma or ocular hypertension. They observed that patients began growing longer, fuller and darker lashes as its side effect.  It is a prescription treatment that you can apply nightly in the convenience of your own homes. Significant improvement can be seen starting from 8 weeks.

So for those wanting to have more desirable eyelashes, but has gone tired of having artificial eyelash extensions, Latisse may be the perfect (topical) solution for you.