The Impact of Upper Blepharoplasty on Facelift Surgery

Aesthetic and reconstructive facial surgery is particularly enjoyable to me. The deep plane facelift is a technique that I commonly use in my aesthetic practice and which I frequently use in conjunction with an upper and lower blepharoplasty as well as a coronal brow lift.

Analyzing my own results is an important part of my practice so that I can continually improve. While the correction in the nasolabial folds, jowls, and neck are more obvious from the deep plane facelift, I continue to learn more about the impact of the aperture of the upper eyelids as their appropriate placement can yield a significant result on the overall youthful appearance of the face.

It is very common for women as they age to have an accumulation of skin on their upper eyelids. This accumulation of skin has been given the medical term, dermatochalasis. Often this accumulation can be asymmetric-meaning greater on one side versus the other and can create differences in the aperture of the eye. It is important when correcting this asymmetry to note the location of the tarsal fold or eyelid crease. As you can see in the above photograph the patient's right eye has significantly more skin pre-operatively than the left eye. Careful notation of these asymmetries is important so that post-operatively the eyes can have equal apertures and yield an optimal aesthetic result.

I continue to see great improvements in the overall skin texture and quality with the deep plane facelift.

Brian P. Dickinson, M.D.
http://www.drbriandickinson.com/

Hand Surgery:Flexor Pollicis Brevis

The flexor pollicis brevis is an intrinsic muscle of the hand that originates from the flexor retinaculum of the wrist and tubercle of the trapezium. The muscle inserts on the radial side at the base of the proximal phalanx of the thumb. The recurrent branch of the median nerve and the deep branch of the ulnar nerve provide motor innervation that allows the flexor pollicis brevis to flex the thumb at the first metacarpophalangeal joint.

Laceration of the flexor pollicis brevis due to trauma significantly impairs hand function as the patient is unable to fully oppose the thumb to the small finger.

I prefer repairing the tendon of the flexor pollicis brevis tendon with 3.0 and 4.0 nylon suture with a modified Kessler stitch and horizontal mattress sutures. A 5.0 epitendinous suture allows an adequate contour to the repair and facilitates opposition of the thumb to the small finger.

Brian P. Dickinson, M.D.

http://www.drbriandickinson.com/

Fitness Model Revsion Aesthetic Breast Surgery

Revision breast augmentation in Fitness Models possess unique challenges to the surgeon. Aesthetic results are usually quite optimal after complete capsulectomy, but the thinning tissue often allows implant visibility or rippling. I often choose to perform complete capsulectomy to allow the breast to re-drape over the implant. It is important for the surgeon to have a thorough knowledge of the previous operations, as implants may have been in prior planes, or neosubpectoral pockets may have been created from prior capsules and have subsequently contracted. I have used the neosubpectoral pocket on many occasions for revision aesthetic breast surgery and have found it useful. However, in women who present with recurrent capsular contracture, it is important to remove the capsules to allow the breast to re-expand and produce an optimal aesthetic shape.

Often in patients who have undergone previous revision aesthetic breast surgery and who are competitive athletes, fitness models, or clothing models, the breast and surrounding subcutaneous tissue is thin. To prevent implant visibility or palpable rippling in this population, I have found Strattice to be quite useful.

The Roxbury Clinic & Surgery Center continues to grow as a center for capsular contracture as well as revision aesthetic breast surgery. An increasing number of women choose to undergo their mastopexy/augmentation, capsular contracture surgery, breast augmentation, removal and replacement, as well as second stage breast reconstruction surgery at the Roxbury Clinic & Surgery Center.

Brian P. Dickinson, M.D.

http://www.drbriandickinson.com/

Strattice for Revision Aesthetic Breast Augmentation

We are starting to see many patients come from out of state to have their revision augmentation procedures or capsulectomy surgeries performed at the Roxbury Clinic & Surgery Center. I have been using the Strattice in the manner as taught to me by Neal Handel, M.D. When working through small incisions, I have found the use of appropriately and carefully placed marionette sutures to align the Strattice in correct position while the remaining sutures are performed through the limited incision.

I have found Strattice to be very helpful in the revision breast augmentation patient who has rippling, implant palpability, synmastia, bottoming out, and fold asymmetry. I have also found Strattice to be helpful as a barrier between the nipple areola complex incision and the capsule of the breast implant.

I remember repeatedly, the lessons on tendon healing by one of my great mentors, Malcolm Lesavoy, M.D. He would always describe the "one wound/one scar" theory for tendon healing. I find that the same theory can apply to breast implant capsules.

Frequently, I see patients who present for capsular contracture surgery who have a thickened scar beneath their periareolar incision with a "scar rind" that is aggressively fixed to their underlying capsule. It is my belief that the interposed Strattice may prevent the "scar rind" that I frequently see beneath the periareolar incision that is firmly fixed to the capsule. I hope this has great implications for reducing capsular contracture.

Brian P. Dickinson, M.D.
www.drbriandickinson.com

Autologous Fat Transfer: Self Study