Recently, our entire Santa Barbara community was affected by the Jesusita fire, from Goleta to Montecito. Personally, my wife and I hosted evacuees from the foothills, and my wife additionally volunteered at the call center to help provide information regarding the Jesusita Fire. Only by the outstanding work of the firefighters was the home of our nurse, Suzanne, spared. Homes all around hers were unfortunately destroyed, and despite the fire burning down the tool shed in the back yard, and even charring the house itself, the firefighters were able to save her home and we are all so very grateful to them.
Although I’ve been buying dinners for firefighters at any restaurant that I see them at, I’m hoping to do more for the brave men and women that fought the Jesusita fire here in Santa Barbara. I am going to be donating 100% of our profit from all injectables- fillers and additionally BOTOX® as well, from now to the end of June, to the Santa Barbara Fire Department. I’m calling the event, “FILLERS FOR FIREFIGHTING”.
Soft tissue fillers including Retylane®, Juviderm™, and Evolence™ will be available, as well as BOTOX® used to treat dynamic wrinkles. I hope that our patients will enjoy not only the outstanding results obtained from getting their fillers and BOTOX® performed by a plastic surgeon himself, but also receive a sense of pride that the means to enhance their beauty will additionally be going to a good cause. We are expecting to raise several thousands of dollars to donate to the Santa Barbara Fire Department as a thank you for their skill and valor fighting the Jesusita Fire.
I’m posting this on our “What’s New” page of this website as well, and I hope you will tell your friends and spread the word as much as possible. I’m hoping to raise as much as possible by donating the entire profit from our medical injectables for the next 6 weeks.
The other day I was riding my bike through the beautiful Carpentaria country side, and met a fellow rider with whom I began to chat. We discussed bikes (of course), and then ventured into a discussion of plastic surgery in Santa Barbara. She asked some excellent questions about facial anatomy and the changes that come along with the aging process. She also had questions about specific areas, and in particular the vertical lines on the forehead which we call “glabellar frown lines”.  I explained that the quick and easy way to treat these were with Botox and this was done very commonly. I was interested to hear her response, however, which was concern about Botox as a “poison” that would make you sick.
It is not infrequently that I have this type of conversation in both the professional plastic surgery as well as the casual setting, as classic teaching is that botulism toxin, which Botox is made from, is poisonous when ingested in large doses (as from bad food).  This substance is poisonous because it paralyzes many muscles in your body when ingested in large quantities. When refined and used in minuscule amounts with specific placement, as we do with injections of Botox in my plastic surgery office, this toxin does not affect the entire body- only the individual muscle that it is applied to. By paralyzing the very small muscle that contracts just under the skin, the Botox injection prevents the contraction of that muscle and therefore prevents the wrinkle in the skin overlying that muscle from appearing. In this application, Botox is therapeutic, and not poisonous at all.
Lots of research has gone into development and purification and safety of Botox. I would not use it on my patients if I had reservations about it, and it ranks highly as one of the most satisfying patient therapies short of surgery. We must remember that like so many of the medications and even vitamins that we take, the proper dosing of the therapy is key. Too much vitamin A can kill someone if taken in overdose amounts. Similarly with Botox, the right dose, indication, and application by a certified professional are key to a safe, youthful appearance.
Today I had a call from the concierge at the Four Seasons Resort here in Santa Barbara. One of their guests wanted a Botox® treatment and was curious if we were available today, Sunday. I spoke with the concierge and explained that I would of course love to provide services to their guests. This woman decided that she wanted to have her injection later in the week, and so I’ll look forward to seeing her then. It did get me thinking, however, about who, what, and where patients are getting their Botox® done. (more…)
Plastic surgery in Santa Barbara- what’s in a name?
The term plastic surgeon is getting more confusing to understand, every day. Cosmetic surgery, cosmetic medicine, plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery, facial plastic surgery- many patients, and unfortunately some physicians, are using these terms interchangeably.
This is largely because any physician with a medical license can call themselves anything they want. A general surgeon can advertise themselves as a plastic surgeon. So can a physician who is trained in obstetrics and gynecology. A family medicine physician, who has a very limited training or experience in invasive medicine, nonetheless surgery, can even advertise under a variety of self-deemed terms from cosmetic surgeon to plastic surgeon. And in fact, it’s hard to blame them. (more…)
