As many of you have heard, Dr. Sheffield is planning on retiring at the end of the year. His presence will, of course, be missed by all of us in the office, as well as so many of his patients who have worked with him here in Santa Barbara for over 15 years. Dr. Lowenstein will certainly be looking forward to providing ongoing plastic surgery care for all patients in Santa Barbara, and we anticipate that there will be a seamless transition at Montecito Plastic Surgery. We have hired some new staff (like me!) to aid in patient coordination, and many of our staff, like our outstanding nurse, Susanne, will remain with us (forever, we hope!). We are also not letting our front desk receptionist, Hayden, leave as we are unsure how we would cope without her!

We do want to remind our plastic surgery patients that as the end of the year approaches, both Dr. Sheffield and Dr. Lowenstein are trying to accommodate all of the patient requests for surgery that we can. The schedule is filling up, however, and so we encourage our plastic surgery patients to plan ahead and accordingly, especially if you are looking to have your plastic surgery before the end of the year. In fact, as January is a popular month for plastic surgery in Santa Barbara, Dr. Lowenstein’s plastic surgery schedule is getting filled already.

Please feel free to call us with any questions or requests and we will do our best to accommodate you!

-Alexandra Essex

With every breast augmentation patient in Santa Barbara, I go over the various types of breast implants, the various pockets that breast implants can be placed in, and additionally the different incisions that can be used to place the breast implant into the breast pocket.  With respect to this last issue, I think there is some helpful information that has recently been published.  (more…)

It seems that more and more and more surgeons are performing breast augmentation in the same techniques that Dr. Sheffield and I have been proponents of for quite some time.  The dual plane breast augmentation seems to be gaining favor by many plastic surgeons around the country.  On of the most respected breast surgeons in the world, Dr. Dennis Hammond, is a friend who has been kind enough to participate on my panel at the ASPS meeting for two years running.  He and I additionally share responsibility for much of the educational program at the ASPS meeting pertaining to surgery of the breast, and I have the highest opinion of Dennis as a great, thoughtful surgeon and educator.  He is also a proponent of the dual plane approach for many patients, and like me, believes in an individualistic approach to breast augmentation and breast lifts.  Breast implants should be chosen on the basis of individual patient anatomy, including length and width of the chest wall and torso, as well as specific patient expectations. (more…)

I’ve been given permission by one of my patients who came for breast augmentation in Santa Barbara to post a video of the transition between her pre-operative breast form and her post-operative breast form. This video is on our YouTube Channel, “videoplasticsurgergery” with several others.
-Dr. L

Deciding on any plastic surgery, especially breast augmentation, is a very personal decision and one not to be made casually or lightly.  Finding the right operation, and having it performed by the right surgeon, is key to increasing your likelihood of a long lasting and great result.  We have seen so many patients over the years, and the vast majorities have come to our office for plastic surgery in Santa Barbara for great reasons.  Here are 5 common reasons we perform breast implant surgery in Santa Barbara: (more…)

The following is a reproduction of one of my transcripts that was published in Breast Disease in 2002. It focuses on discussion of breast reconstructive surgery and I though it an appropriate addition to the BLOG of our website.

BREAST RECONSTRUCTION- PRE-OPERATIVE ASSESSMENT AND EDUCATION

- by Adam Lowenstein, MD, FACS

Breast reconstruction can be one of the most rewarding aspects of health care, not only for the patient, but for the surgeon as well. The diagnosis of breast cancer and its associated anxiety can be devastating to anyone. (more…)

As we begin to utilize our new Blog on our website at the Montecito Center for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in Santa Barbara, I want to touch on a question that I frequently get asked- “Should I use saline breast implants or silicone breast implants for my breast augmentation?� While this is somewhat of an involved question and many issues factor into it, I thought I would briefly discuss a few of the things I think about when discussing this issue with patients before having plastic surgery in Santa Barbara.

The first thing I think about in evaluating you is your age. The FDA has approved silicone breast implants only for those women 22 years of age and older. While this seems somewhat arbitrary, this means that there needs to be a specific reason to use silicone in a woman who is younger than 22 years of age, such as failure of a previous implant or some type of reconstruction.

Secondly, when you come to be evaluated for breast implants in Santa Barbara, I assess the amount of breast tissue that you already have. (more…)