Blog

It used to be that you would go to a salon to get your hair and nails done but these days salons offer all kinds of beauty treatments including cosmetic injectables and even more invasive procedures. The prices can be very cheap, but the results can be catastrophic.

On this episode of KVUE’s HealthVue, Dr. Jennifer Walden is interviewed on why it is crucial for consumers to take a second look and ask more questions. Notably, there was a dramatic case out of Miami last year when reports surfaced about illegal cosmetic injections being performed on several women. “Doctors” were accused of injecting these women with substances like mineral oil, super glue, concrete, and Fix-a-Flat. The women reportedly were getting buttock injections in hopes of attaining a healthy “backside”, but they could have lifetime disfigurement as a result.

Last month, in Tyler, Texas, a salon owner was arrested for injecting clients in the breast and buttocks with an unknown substance (likely automotive grade silicone) and closing it with a superglue-type sealant. Why would someone get this done to their body? Perhaps it is the very low cost and the lack of information about what these victims are being injected with.

As Dr. Walden explains, it is important that patients are educated about the three P’s: Product, Practitioner, and Place.

1. Product - Make sure the product you are getting injected with is an FDA approved product for the particular area you are wanting injected. The FDA has approved certain products for injection into different regions of the face for cosmetic purposes, like Botox, Juvederm, Restylane, Radiesse, and Sculptra. There is no synthetic material that has been approved by the FDA for injection in the breast so that is a red flag itself. Ask what neurotoxin or filler is being used, and even research the product labeling online. If a provider refuses or is unable to tell you what material you are being injected with, do not let that person treat you.

2.Practitioner – Know what type of practitioner to go to like a physician trained to do cosmetic procedures or his/her designee such as a physician’s assistant, nurse practitioner, or registered nurse with cosmetic injection training. Go to a doctor in one of the core specialties like plastic surgery, dermatology, or otolaryngology who is also board-certified in that specialty.

3. Place - Don’t get injected in a place that you feel uncomfortable undergoing a procedure in such as a salon, mall, or private home. These are medical procedures and they ideally should be performed in a medical office or medical facility due to its sanitary environment with resources at hand. Often the price may seem too good to pass up, but if you hear of a Groupon ad that’s too good to be true or a salon owner that is offering rock bottom prices on something that is going to be injected in your face or body, let the buyer beware as it be dangerous or even fatal. Even at a Botox “party” or event, a physician must be supervising anyone who is doing these procedures and they must the appropriate credentials, meaning they have to be a registered nurse, nurse practitioner, or physician’s assistant with special training to administer cosmetic injectables.

In other words, do your research, ask questions, and become informed!

With an 88% increase in male Plastic Surgery procedures in the last 15 years, you may have noticed that it has become more acceptable and common for men to keep up with their appearances just as their wives have done for years. You may have also noticed that couples like Brad Pitt and Angenlina Jolie, Jay-Z and Beyonce, and the Beckhams continue to look refreshed and even younger as the years roll by. It seems that the new trend is for couples to have Plastic Surgery procedures together.

In the younger years, Liposuction is common for couples to undergo together to maintain their figures. As the couples age together, electing for couples Face Lifts is very common. Often times, the wife will go first and then coach her husband through the healing process based on her own experience. Dr. Walden recently appeared on Good Day Austin on Fox 7, an Austin News Station, to discuss this. See what she had to say about Good Day Austin’s anchor Joe Bickett:

September is one of the busiest months of the year for everyone and there’s no exception here in the office! We have been so busy that our patient of the month for September got a late announcement. Well, here she is…the beautiful Lorraine. You can tell from the picture that she can light up a room and we are honored to have such a beauty as a patient. What a great way to start the fall!

Whether you’re ready or not, summer’s here and we all know what that means…bathing suit season is officially back! Now as an all female staff, we know what it’s like to dread that statement. We all have our problem areas that we are uncomfortable with and bathing suits leave little to the imagination. This year, since we want our patients to be confident and happy when they take off their cover up, we decided to do a special for breast augmentation for the summer.

Call the office today to find out more, (212)-288-9009, or visit bit.ly/iuuDfF and fill out the form online and we’ll get back to you.

Make that “someday” you’ve been talking about today…

Dr. Walden was on CBS News this week discussing the reasons some teenagers are getting plastic surgery these days. We have all seen one of the reasons in the news but maybe not directly related to plastic surgery: bullying. Bullying is the age old form of torture that children and adolescents just love to inflict on each other. While this may seem like a rite of passage or just a tradition, it can be detrimental to the kid being bullied. This can have long lasting effects on a child’s self-esteem, confidence, and social skills and these are essential to success in school and later on in the workplace. In the last few years there have even been suicides and school shootings because of bullying! It is a serious topic.
We all know kids can be cruel and very blunt, especially when appearances are involved. A large nose or ears that stick (both are seen in the segment)are targets for such ridicule. That’s why these days more and more teenagers are looking into plastic surgery to fix such things. I believe that having something that bothers you everyday fixed can change your life so much for the better. This is much like when parents get their kids braces so they have straight teeth because teeth are a large part of one’s appearance. We want our kids to be happy and confident and sometimes it takes a little more than buying them a new outfit. These days there are more options out there and I think parents should explore them if they feel their child could benefit from them.
See what Dr. Walden had to say about it:

Our patient of the month for March is Teneia! After coming to the decision to have a breast augmentation, Teneia did her research and came to Dr. Walden for it. She wanted a natural look and she looks and feels great! She is so happy with her results, she spoke with LXNY about why she wanted to have the procedure done (video below). Teneia talks about the right reason to have plastic surgery done: she did it for herself. She is a confident and beautiful young woman and we are so happy to have been part of her experience. See what she had to say about it…enjoy!

I’m sure those of you that saw Rose McGowan on Law and Order SVU on Wednesday night were as disappointed as I was to see what she has done to herself. Her face just looks awful and fake. Her lips are over-injected, her cheeks are over-injected, and it looks like she has had her nose worked on again. Her whole face seemed puffy and abnormal. She could have done some correction without over-doing it, which she clearly did. By looking at early pictures of her (the Charmed era), you can see she had a little work done on her nose but it fit her face beautifully and I think she looked great. Now she has just gone too far and it is disappointing.

The sad thing is that I thought she was a pretty girl before all this and I liked her. She took on tough-girl roles and that’s why women liked her and why men were attracted to her. I was willing to overlook the whole Marilyn Manson relationship and the chain-link dress but not this. When you take a pretty face and do this to it, it is just a shame. For those of you that forgot how pretty she used to be, I have added an older photo of her.

You can see Dr. Walden’s comments on this on Popeater.com at http://www.popeater.com/2011/03/24/rose-mcgowan–plastic-surgery/

Check out this article below where Dr. Jennifer Walden is asked for her expert opinion about the new one stitch facelift on NY Daily News!

Is the so-called “one-stitch face-lift” really a fast pass to a youthful appearance?

The wrinkle-free results may not be as long-lasting as with a traditional operation, but the minimally invasive procedure is a hot ticket right now in cosmetic surgery.

Two reasons. It’s quicker and cheaper than a traditional face-lift, which requires more inpatient care time.

“There’s a strong trend right now to perform less invasive procedures for facial rejuvenation,” Dr. Jennifer Walden, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital told the Daily News. “People want instant results and minimal down time, so there is a demand for these procedures. No one can take two or three weeks off from work to recover.”

The “instant” face-lift consists of four stages, Walden explained: the insertion of the barbed thread, then the deployment of the suture material, followed by the anchoring of the soft tissues and then the fixation into place.

There’s one superlong, supersneaky suture. And yes, the needle is big.

Angelica Kavouni, 47, told the Daily Mail that she was unhappy with her “increasingly jowly” appearance. She decided to give the “one-stitch face-lift” — also called a thread lift or an iGuide — a try with plastic surgeon.

Hardy experienced minimal side-effects from the 40-minute procedure and said that with makeup, she could return to work that day.

So can one stitch hold up, or hold back all those years?

Not exactly, according to Angelo Cuzalina, president-elect of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.

The face, he notes, “has a lot of ligaments and tissues that tend to pull back down, so it’s not like a single suture could ever hold up a face or a portion of the face.”

But the technique is getting better and better all the time, Walden says. “Our methods are getting better so they will last longer.”

In the meantime, Hardy told the Mail that if she didn’t like her “new” face, the surgeon had said that the face-lift was reversible. Basically, it was a matter of pulling out the suture.

Here is another wonderful review of Dr. Walden’s practice from the web….Read below!

Highly recommend. All female staff!!
by valwelsh at Citysearch

Went to Dr. Walden for breast augmentation. Receptionist was friendly. Dr. Walden took her time and answered a bunch of my questions. Very relaxed atmosphere. I ended up having surgery and I love my results. Dr. Walden and her nurses were always accessible!

Dr. Jennifer L. Walden and other experts in the field of plastic surgery weight in on the tragic fatalities in plastic surgery. Donda West mother of pop star Kanye West and Miss Argentina are just two of the tragedies discussed in the video below. Take a look!!