Plastic Surgery Resource Articles

Beauty Glossary

Botox: Injections that block chemical signals from the nerve to the muscle and stop the muscle from contracting and creating wrinkles. Effective in treating brow furrows, forehead wrinkles and the tiny lines at the outer corners of the eyes.
Breast Enhancement: A procedure to increase the size of the breast where an implant of either saline or silicone is placed beneath the breast tissue.
Breast Lift: Corrects sagging, incisions are made to put the breast in a new position, reduce excess skin and reposition the nipple.
Breast Reconstruction: A reconstructive surgery most commonly seen in breast cancer patients where the breast is reconstructed and brought back to it’s original condition.
Breast Reduction: The removal of fat and breast tissue to achieve a smaller breast size. Most often performed in women who have back pain or confidence issues because of their breast size.
Brow Lift: Smoothes the wrinkles in the forehead and corrects a low or hooded brow by raising it to a natural position. Corrects stern and tired looks, wrinkles, furrows, etc.
Chemical Peel: High concentrations of trichloroacetic acid are used to penetrate and slough off layers of skin.
Clearlight: High-intensity light penetrates the skin and kills acne-causing bacteria.
Electrolysis: Hair removal where an electrical current destroys one hair follicle at a time.
Endoscopic Facelift: A surgical telescope is used to reposition muscle and fat to create a more youthful look.
Eye Lift: Incisions are placed at the natural arch and crease of your eye so they remain unseen. Through the incision, fat and skin are removed or repositioned and muscles are tightened.
Facelift: Incisions are made along the ears and the hairline to reduce sagging skin and wrinkles on the face.
Fat Injections: “Autologous fat transfer” used most often to plump up the back of the hands using fat from the abdomen, thighs, hips or buttocks.
Fraxel: Laser used to improve the skin’s tone and texture while improving the appearance of wrinkles and irregular pigmentation.
Hair Removal: A beam of light sent to hair follicles disables the root of the hair without damaging surround areas.
Hyaluronic Acid: A naturally occurring sugar molecule that helps moisture bind to the skin.
Hyperpigmentation: Freckles, pigment and melasma due to sun exposure and occasionally hormonal changes.
IPL Photorejuvenation: Pulses of light stimulate collagen production to obtain youthful, revitalized skin by reducing fine lines, blemishes, broken blood vessels and age spots while reducing poor size while improving skin tone and elasticity.
Light Alpha/Beta Hydroxy Peels: A “quick-fix” for fine lines, age spots and sun damage. A light peel solution uses alpha, beta or sometimes both to exfoliate and regenerate skin.
Lip Injections: A small amount of filler is injected along the lip line through a very fine needle for a beautiful, pouty look.
Microdermabrasion: Extremely fine crystals sandblast the skin resulting in exfoliation.
Minimal-Incision Facelift: Incisions are made only along the hairline so they remain unseen. This type of facelift only works for certain conditions such as tear troughs, nasolabial folds and marionette lines.
Necklift: Vertical bands in the neck are released and the natural muscle sling beneath the chin is recreated. Excess fat is reshaped or removed as well.
Photomodulation: Uses light-emitting diodes to reducing the telltale signs of aging to activate new collagen formation and to stop the breakdown of existing collagen.
Rhinoplasty: A procedure to reshape or resize the nose, to remove a bump, reshape the tip, improve the angle between the nose and the upper lip, etc. Sometimes nasal operations are performed through incisions made inside the nose while other times an external approach is necessary.
Rosacea: Chronic dermatitis usually found on the face usually accompanied by inflammation, redness, skin sensitivity, blood vessel formation and eye problems in addition to unsightly acne-like lesions.
Sapphire 3: Improves skin tone softens wrinkles and reduces pore size by red light emitted from a hand piece to stimulate cell turnover and collagen production.
Sculptra™: Injected to the skin because their own fat is unable to be harvested to restore and correct facial fat loss. Often used in individuals with HIV.
Thread Lift: Suture threads are inserted under the skin through a hollow needle. As the needle is removed, barbs on the sutures grip the skin and pull it upward, making the skin taut.
Thermage: Tightens and renews collagen. Heats the skin’s underlayer and the web of collagen in the inner layer to tighten and tone the skin.
Titan: Used for tightening the abdomen, thighs and underarms as well as the face and neck.
UV Photography: A picture is taken of your skin using a UV filter, which highlights the areas of latent sun damage. Shows pigmentation, freckles, melasma and sometimes even precancerous changes.