A primer on breast implants

Tired of not filling out swimsuits and T-shirts to her satisfaction, 32-year-old Kristin Brackemyre decided it was time to get some serious breasts. But before that could happen, she knew she had to do some serious homework.

She and her lawyer boyfriend researched breast-augmentation surgery as if they were preparing a case for trial. After three years of contemplation and scrutiny, Brackemyre got saline breast implants in August from Dr. Joseph Grzeskiewicz at La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre in California. Today, she wears a C-cup bra and describes her surgery and her new figure as 'amazing'.

"I feel so much better about putting on clothes, wearing bras and just the fact that I now need a bra," she says. "They (her new breasts) just make me feel better about myself."

Plastic surgeons wish all breast augmentation patients would be such diligent consumers.

Choice between silicone, saline implants is still not easy to make

After 14 years, women who want to surgically add more curves to their figures again have a choice: saline or silicone.

However, those who opt for the newly approved silicone breast implants may find their choice is padded in confusion, frustration and added costs.

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration lifted its ban on silicone gel implants, dismissing concerns about harmful effects from leaks as unsupported by extensive testing. But the agency, along with manufacturers of the implants, urged women to undergo a special magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) every couple of years "over a woman's lifetime" to detect ruptures.

The series of MRIs could cost women $10,000 in the first 10 years, on top of the costs of the original cosmetic surgery, usually $5,000 to $8,000.

More Hispanics are Opting for Cosmetic Surgery

In 2006, Hispanics led minority racial and ethnic groups undergoing cosmetic procedures (9.5% of all procedures performed, up from 6% in 2000), according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. This is especially the case in California, where Latinos make up a large portion of the population. More Hispanic women are seeking plastic surgery, according to Dr. Lloyd Krieger of Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery in Beverly Hills, California. Dr. Krieger, who has been featured in Fortune, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Access Hollywood, and other media, states that over 35% of the patients at his California plastic surgery center are Hispanic men and women. The majority of Dr. Krieger's patients who ask for his renowned "Rodeo Drive Mommy Makeover" are Hispanic women in their 20's and 30's.

Chinese woman gets cosmetic surgery to look older

A 60-year-old Chinese woman called Chen, who looks younger in the wake of a series of cosmetic surgery procedures, returned to the hospital this week in Hankou, Hubei, to ask doctors to restore her original old appearance.

Chen’s husband, surnamed Zhang, strongly opposed the cosmetic surgery and refused to talk to her for three days. Zhang wouldn’t even let her leave home after the surgery.

Zhang is said to be worried that Chen would fall in love with someone else, as many local old men have begun inviting her to dance since the operations. To save her marriage, Chen had to concede.

Just goes to show that some people are never satisfied.

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Cosmetic surgery group launches non invasive treatments

After 12 months of consultation amongst its medical and specialist non surgical solutions team of dermatologists, doctors and nurses, The Harley Medical Group is launching computerized photo-imaging skin analysis and personal treatment plans with treatments carried out by trained medical staff. Using the most up to date computerised photo imaging skin analysis technology, the surface and subsurface of the skin is analysed as the face is photographed and then microscopically examined - a photographic report is then printed out with a reading of the skin’s characteristics such as pore size, age spotting, pigmentation, skin unevenness and lines & wrinkles. Taking into account the patient’s age and lifestyle, it gives a score for each of the key factors relating to the skin’s condition using a grading relative to the 3,500 women and 1,500 men whose details are stored in the system.