Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty)

 Alison, my office manager, just received this from one of our patients:

 Dear Alison,

I meant to get back to you sooner but life has been crazy. Thank you for the wonderful invitation. I would have loved to attend and was waiting to the last minute to rsvp in hopes that I would be able to be there. Unfortunately, I could not but would love for you to keep me in the loop whenever Dr. C. is doing something like this. He’s a wonderful doctor that I entrusted with my broken cheekbone. He’s my hero!  If  you do see him you can tell him I said hello and will never forget him!

Sincerely,  MM.

From November 3-11, I led a team of 5 other doctors on a surgical mission to Hanoi.  This was my third mission in 3 years, and was a huge success.  After arriving on Nov 3, the team rested until Nov 4, when we interviewed 28 patients for surgery.  Of the 28, we ended up operating on 15 (the others had untreated medical problems that made surgery too risky).  The surgeries ranged from cleft lip and palate to microtia (congenitally malformed ears) to secondary cleft nose repairs to scar revisions.  We also performed Asian blepharoplasties (eye lid surgery) and some facelifts and forehead lifts.  The purpose of the mission was not to perform a large quantity of surgery, but rather to perform a series of cases from which the local surgeons would learn.  We had 25 local surgeons assisting us in the operating room and looking on, and we also gave a series of lectures to them.  Why would we need to perform cosmetic surgery on a trip like this?  The reason is that facial plastic surgery is growing in demand everywhere, including Hanoi.  The local surgeons are eager to perform cosmetic surgery, but do not have the skills or knowledge to do so safely.  By demonstrating the safest ways to perform this surgery, we are helping to insure that the young field of Facial Plastic Surgery in Vietnam develops safely and with minimal risk to the patient.  The terrible complications that can result from poorly-performed cosmetic surgery became evident to me when I first traveled to Saigon 10 years ago.  There, I saw facelift incisions performed in the middle of the face, leaving grotesque scars that were impossible to correct.  To help avoid this in Hanoi, educational efforts such as ours are critical.  This trip was part of the international effort of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery’s Face To Face Program.

On October 30, we had an evening event here at NYU Medical Center, organzied by me and New Beauty magazine.  The “Night of Beauty” had great food, wine and vodka tasting, lots of giveaways of great gifts and beauty treatments, and presentations by 4 doctors.  My presentation led off the group on Advances in Facial Plastic Surgery, where I spoke about facelifts, blepharoplasty, and rhinoplasty.  Most importantly, I emphasized the importance of the patient-physician relationship in this ever-more-complex world that we live in.  Other speakers included Dr. Elliott Jacobs (plastic surgeon speaking on hand rejuvenation), Dr. Gerald Curatola (cosmetic dentist) and Dr. Laurie Polis (cosmetic dermatologist).  About 120 people attended, and reviews of the evening have been outstanding.  We hope to have a repeat performance in the Spring.