Love can lift our spirits and make our skin glow. No occasion matches Valentine’s Day for celebrating that love. If you’re starting to make plans for something romantic, here are three quick, simple things you can do now to help your skin look radiant in time for Valentine’s Day.

Exercise

If you’ve put off your New Year’s resolution to begin exercising more regularly, now’s the time to start. In addition to toning muscles and helping you lose weight gained over the holidays, regular exercise does wonders for your skin. Just 30 minutes of moderately intense aerobic exercise five days per week will maximize your blood-oxygen levels and increase blood flow to all parts of your body. Aerobic exercise increases the delivery of nutrients to skin cells and carries away damaging toxins, and it provides optimal conditions for collagen formation.

Sustained aerobic exercise will also cause your body to release endorphins, which are natural painkillers that promote an increased sense of well-being. And the stress reduction you’ll feel as a result will help decrease the hormones associated with skin flare-ups.

Drink Plenty of H2O

Drink water. It’s the easiest thing you can do to hydrate your cells and make your skin look radiant. Water acts as a purifier for your body, removing toxins and waste. Dehydration takes its toll on every cell of your body, including your skin cells, so next time you’re trying to decide what to drink, remember that nothing beats water for quenching thirst and restoring fluid to your cells.

Try a Non-Surgical Skincare Treatment

Sometimes a simple skincare treatment is all you need to take your skin from good to glowing. Here are some popular medical spa services that you could easily fit in before Valentine’s Day:

• FotoFacial® RF to tighten and brighten your face, reduce wrinkles, and even your skin tone
• BOTOX® Cosmetic injections to minimize forehead and crow’s feet wrinkles
• Facial fillers to achieve a “liquid” face lift on Long Island
• Lip enhancers to plump your lips
• Facials to cleanse and beautify your skin

If you’re interested in a skincare treatment, contact a board-certified plastic surgeon for a custom skin treatment plan.

By: Thomas Buonassisi, MD

Full lips give the face a younger and more attractive appearance, so many women (and men) are interested in how they can correct lost volume or improve the shape of their lips through lip enhancement in Vancouver. Here are a few basic facts you need to know in order to compare the options – injectable fillers and lip surgery – and choose the right one for you.

Injectable fillers:

• How they work: Injectable fillers augment the lips’ natural volume using gel-like dermal fillers such as JUVÉDERM® Injectable Gel or Evolence. Fillers differ, but the most common are made of collagen or hyaluronic acid, substances that occur naturally within the body.
• Pros: Because these treatments are not permanent, they also allow the surgeon and the patient more flexibility to adjust the results of the initial lip enhancement in Vancouver. Also, products like JUVÉDERM® Injectable Gel, a top choice for both injectable lip enhancement and correction of naso-labial folds, may actually increase the body’s natural production of collagen, which enhances the volume and firmness of skin tissues.
• Cons: Lip injections may create numbness for one or two days, and most have to be updated periodically as the gel is absorbed by the body.

Lip surgery:

• How it works: There are two main surgical procedures that can create permanent enhancement of the upper lip:
  • With a VY advancement, otherwise known as a “lip roll,” I reconstruct the lip from the inside to create an advancement of the vermillion (the red-tinted area of the lips). With this procedure, I use an intricate stitching technique to effectively “roll” the top lip outward without using any implants or fillers. The final appearance shows more of the soft pink area of the lip.
  • The second option is known as a bullhorn lip lift, in which case I will place a small incision just below the nose and lift the top lip closer to the nose, in the process allowing more of the pink vermillion to show. This technique for lip enhancement is ideal for Vancouver patients who have a longer-than-usual space between their nose and their top lip.
• Pros: Unlike filler treatments which are typically temporary and need to be repeated, surgical options last for years to come.
• Cons: Surgical approaches to lip advancement require more recovery time than do filler treatments:
  • With the VY advancement in particular, swelling and discomfort in some patients may take a few weeks to subside completely. Some patients find the trade-off worthwhile and are willing to endure a longer recovery period in order to enjoy fuller lips without having to receive regular filler treatments.
  • The bullhorn lip lift recovery is typically simple and involves very little discomfort. The patient does have a thin, permanent scar where the nose meets the lip; however, this scar fades significantly over time. When I perform this procedure at my plastic surgery clinic in Vancouver, I take extra care to ensure that it will not be easily noticeable after the patient has recovered.

By: Thomas Buonassisi, MD

Recently The New York Times ran an article about an art exhibit showcasing the work of cosmetic surgeons. As a facial plastic surgeon who performs British Columbia blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery) and other facial procedures highlighted in the exhibit, I have dedicated years of training to understand cosmetic surgery as an art, as well as a science.

Cosmetic surgery requires deep familiarity with highly involved aspects of anatomy, and it deals with some technical concepts of balance and proportion. But at the same time, great results require a personal, aesthetic perspective and the sensitivity to understand and create changes that mesh with the patient’s own vision.

Unlike other traditional artists, though, cosmetic surgeons have a few extra challenges that their work needs to take into account to succeed with the audience that matters – the patient:

• Cosmetic surgery is a collaborative art: An excellent surgeon will take an active role in helping a patient create reasonable and positive expectations, but at the same time focus on the patient’s own hopes and goals. This process requires passion and personal commitment on the part of the surgeon, but also active involvement by the patient.
• Cosmetic surgery changes over time: Cosmetic surgery procedures like British Columbia blepharoplasty can help turn back the clock 10 or 20 years, but an excellent facial plastic surgeon will aim to create results that not only look great in the months directly after surgery, but will also “age gracefully” over the years.

What you can do to find a surgeon who values the art (along with the science) of surgery:

• Research your options and your surgeon’s credentials: There is no substitute for accuracy in science or art, and board certification in a related specialty and fellowship training are the first and most important indicators of your surgeon’s skill.
• Ask about your surgeon’s philosophy of care. Most British Columbia blepharoplasty surgeons are more than willing to explain their surgical approach and how they will adjust your surgical plan to retain the characteristics that give your face its individuality.
• Consider whether you see “eye to eye” with your surgeon, or whether you seem to be having trouble making your goals line up. Some patients have unrealistic expectations that they will need to adjust if they are going to be happy with their results, but in some cases it may take time and effort to find a surgeon who genuinely cares about your goals.