Today's beauty and youth obsessed culture is overflowing with new treatments, tips, and procedures to tighten, flatten, lift, and turn our bodies into living designs.
The everyday woman, or man, hears or reads about a new, easier treatment daily, but New York plastic surgeon and beauty expert Dr Mia Talmor says chatter and headlines are easily misconstrued and can lead to misinformation that can be dangerous and unhealthy for patients.
Dr Talmor debunked a few of the most common myths to give patients greater insight on some dangerous and wildly misrepresented topics.
She says: ‘There are so many misconceptions in the beauty world. In an industry where most information is shared amongst friends rather than through credible physicians, details often get distorted and inaccurate information circulates. The industry is constantly evolving as well and what's true today can be wrong tomorrow. Straight-talking physicians are a necessity.’
Myth 1: Minimally invasive procedures should be your first cosmetic step.
Fact: Minimally invasive procedures can be expensive and painful without proven efficacy. Although quick and simple beauty is highly desired, these procedures should be performed by a respected medical professional who treats each individual case with meticulous care.
Some smaller procedures, like many cellulite treatments that claim to freeze the fat or melt it away, yield results based on short-time frames that can be skewed by other factors and become powerful marketing material.
While many long-established treatments, such as liposuction, may appear aggressive in comparison to newer, exciting alternatives, these treatments have consistent, reputable results documented in hundreds of medical journals. The sticking point is that patients are given the facts on procedures in order to choose the most personalised, effective solution, and not just the latest fad treatment.
Myth 2: Timing for touch-ups and repeat procedures can be taken lightly.
Fact: Timing is critical and patients should consult with their doctor to determine the hard lines of their personal, cosmetic calendar and personal red dates. Think of red dates as absolutes, which patients should not ignore or attempt to skirt.
The cosmetic calendar should be a guide you and your doctor follow closely to determine when to have specific check-ups, a retouch or a repeat procedure.
Botox serves as a great red date example as premature repeat Botox injections post-treatment can create antibodies that may render patients immune to the treatment. On the other hand, with breast augmentation, an area constantly evolving, MRIs are crucial, but timing for the scans varies greatly for a multitude of factors.
Myth 3: Age is just a number.
Fact: You can be too young or too old for certain procedures. Honesty from a physician may be hard for patients to hear, but that's exactly what they need from a professional. There's a way to deliver the facts without bringing a patient down, and sometimes, simply put, age affects the tissue and practicality of procedures. In cases of Botox, an age minimum is considered not only ethical but important because of the continued development of a young woman's face as it shifts fat deposits into maturity.
