Cosmetic surgery is now more popular than ever with plenty of reality TV shows increasing public awareness about cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery procedures. Although in the past, cosmetic surgery was only available to the rich and famous, it is now becoming popular amongst the general public.
In this regular feature, WorkLife asks your questions about surgical and non-surgical procedures to offer you, our readers, the correct information and provide safer options.
Q: I’VE BEEN HAVING ANTI-WRINKLE INJECTIONS FOR A WHILE NOW, BUT I CAN’T STAND THE NEEDLE. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN SUGGEST I CAN DO?
A. All cosmetic injectors have their own method of pain management. They range from grin and bear it, to full on dental blocks.
While it is easy to ask someone to put up with a bit of discomfort for a short period, bearing in mind you will have spent a reasonable amount of money, it’s not really unreasonable for you to expect the treatment to be relatively painless.
A dental block is the other extreme where the whole area is anaesthetised, as would happen if you had major dental work. The downside is that you lose all facial tone, and may have problems in eating, or speaking immediately afterwards.
Dr Ravi Agarwal M.B.B.S M.S. is Surgeon and Medical Director at Castlefield Clinic on St. John Street in Manchester.
With over 30 years of surgical experience in Plastic and Reconstructive surgery, he has treated in excess of 20,000 patients.
Thankfully there is a happy medium. There are some very good topical anaesthetic creams on the market, and I am a big fan of this method. You won’t have any pain or discomfort, your facial tone will remain, which is important because your injector needs to know precisely where to put the injection, and you these creams work usually within half an hour.
This body of work puts him among the leading surgeons in the UK, and he is here to answer some of your questions.
Q: I THINK I NEED A TUMMY TUCK, BUT I HAVEN’T GOT THE FIRST IDEA WHAT TO CONSIDER. CAN YOU SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE PROCEDURE?
A. This is a great question, and one that I am faced with on a daily basis, so you ought not to worry. The tummy tuck, or abdominoplasty to give it its medical name, is a procedure where the aim is to return the abdominal area to its former tightness and shape. The key element being the shape. There are three ways in which we can achieve this; by cutting away any loose skin, by cutting loose skin and tightening and repairing the abdominal muscles, and finally by cutting away loose skin, repairing the abdominal muscles, and if required, repositioning the belly button.
The choice of technique depends upon a few factors and issues you need to consider. Firstly, the cause of the loss of shape. If there is only loose skin, it makes sense that there should be minimal intervention and only the skin should be cut away. If the loss of shape is caused by laxity in the muscle structure, then there is little option but to cut loose skin, and also repair the muscles by binding them back together. The loss of muscle structure is usually caused by pregnancy, and no matter how much exercise you undertake, the muscles will never return to their original position, and this is where the operation can help. A word of caution however, if you are intending on having children at any period after the operation, the muscle repair cannot be performed, simply because they will be bound with a very strong stitch, which would cause the muscles to tear during pregnancy.
The final option of repositioning the belly button depends entirely upon the extent of the loss of skin. If there is a lot of tissue to cut away, then it is natural to assume that the belly button would need to be repositioned. Now, it most probably sounds awful saying the belly button needs to be moved, but the results achieved are fantastic, and give a very natural look, with restored shape and subsequently confidence. I hope this has lifted some of the mystery from the procedure for you.
If you have any questions for Dr. Agarwal then you can email him at
castlefieldclinic@worklifemagazine.co.uk 14 - LIFE
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