You'll pardon me, but I'm going to veer off the marketing/media/advertising trail today because to be honest, I'm a little stunned after a visit to my doctor yesterday.
Everything's fine - which I suppose should actually be the headline.
But as we were discussing my newly reached milestone (turning 50), the normal, female-related issues that come with age, and the five stress-related pounds I've gained in the past three months --she pinched my newly sprouted love handles and calmly said "you should consider liposuction."
WHOA! You turn 50, gain a little weight that still puts you in the lower range of BMI for your age, height and weight --- and a primary care physician with YEARS of experience suggests liposuction? Was she serious? "I had a little done," she said smiling -- and then moved onto taking my blood pressure. And that was the end of that.
The liposuction-bomb has had me reeling ever since.
When I got home, I immediately consulted Dr. Google and started my educational process on fat-sucking. Within a half hour I had learned that there's a new, quicker, less painful and less invasive form of liposuction called SmartLipo or LaserLipo - which also reduces a patient's recovery time.
I started reading testimonials by doctors and other plastic surgery "experts" on sites I'd never heard of before, like this one on MakeMeHeal.com: "one of the disadvantages of (traditional liposuction) is its tendency to leave behind unattractive, loose skin. This is where Smartlipo, an innovative laser-assisted device, enters the playing field. It is also one of the reasons it is rapidly becoming the gold standard for the removal of unwanted body fat."
""Smartlipo works well as a standalone body contouring option, but it is also very effective when combined with traditional liposuction, a tummy tuck, or other cosmetic procedures," a Los Angeles plastic surgeon says in this PR release issued by his practice.
And - if you can stomach it (pardon the pun) - you can read a "review" on RealSelf.com from a San Francisco woman who walks readers through her entire SmartLipo procedure including her recovery: "I don't have much bruises on front and back, just 2 spots like quarter sizes. and they are mostly gone." She posts "before and after" pictures to back her claims.
(FYI, since RealSelf is a review site, "76% say Smart Lipo was worth it. 24% say Smart Lipo was not worth it.")
According to this press release from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, over 10.2 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2008. The most popular nonsurgical procedure was (not surprisingly) Botox injections. But in the surgical category, there was a surprise. For the first time since the ASAPS began keeping statistics, liposuction slipped to the second most popular cosmetic surgery - behind breast augmentations.
Liposuction has an excellent chance to regain it's Number One ranking however, as word spreads about SmartLipo, which is exactly what my doctor was doing today when she dropped the Lipo-bomb. Not coincidentally, the offices next to hers are those of some high-end plastic surgeons.
Come to think of it, I guess I'm not as stunned by the suggestion as I thought, because as you can tell, I DID end up talking about marketing and advertising today.
I don't know if i'm just jaded or what, but a thrown out comment like that from your pcp sounds so unacceptable!
Posted by: Susan | April 23, 2009 at 05:14 PM