Anti-aging goes skin deep

That face-lift that leaves you looking as if you're standing on the prow of a ship in a stiff breeze is so 20th century.
True, more than 10.2 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures are performed annually, a number that's increasing by about 10 percent a year, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
"For many, cosmetic plastic surgery is the new take on growing old gracefully,'" says Dr. Bruce Cunningham, ASPS president.
But the types of procedures are changing. For the first time in many years, the numbers of face-lifts are declining, he says. Instead, there is consumer demand for minimally invasive, injectable wrinkle fillers that, in theory, combat facial aging, Cunningham says.
"I see this whole beauty industry going toward skin.

Doctors' Hidden Secrets

JACKSONVILLE, FL-- Marcia Beaird is a flight attendant whose true passion is not travel but instead the outdoors. She loves boating and kayaking, hobbies she can't do anymore. Life stopped for Beaird a year and a half ago when the 46-year-old decided she wanted a change. "It was an easy fix in my eyes and everyone around me was having lipo done," says Beaird. She says she went to a Miami plastic surgeon, Dr. John Tiller. Beaird says she had liposuction done on her stomach and knees. "Everyone said it's so easy you go in and two days later you can be back to flying." Within hours of going under the knife, there were problems. "I was feeling a lot of like a burning sensation behind my right knee." Two days after surgery, Beaird says paramedics rushed her to the hospital.

Body Contouring, a Plastic Surgery Trend

A new shape is what Maria Diaz is focused on these days. Diaz, a 29-year-old mother of four from St. Paul says, "You know, four kids and a lot of weight loss you get some saggy skin. It's not very attractive." It was three years ago, when her size 26 pants didn't fit anymore, that Diaz decided to have gastric bypass, a form of bariatric, or stomach reduction, surgery. "I was just getting too heavy and I was worried about heart attack or diabetes," she says. After the surgery, Diaz went from almost 300 pounds to around 175. What she didn't lose was her stretched out excess rolls of skin. "It makes it hard to get clothes because a lot of stuff, with that excess skin, it doesn't quite fit right." So Diaz is having all the excess skin cut off to redefine her figure.