Plastic Surgery Press Releases

September 21, 2006

DR. BEN LEE BASED HIS MASTERS DEGREE ON STUDY OF IMPLANT MANUFACTURERS

Denver, CO – Ben Lee, MD, Plastic Surgeon practicing in Englewood, CO understands a little bit more than the average person about the market implications at work among manufacturers of breast implants. Lee, who graduated earned his bachelor’s degree with highest honors from the University of Colorado in Boulder in molecular and cellular biology and his M.D. with highest honors from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver followed by an MBA from the University of Colorado Denver. It was for his MBA thesis that Lee studied the only two implant manufacturers in the United States who have offices in California, nearly across the street from each other.

Since the FDA approval of silicone implants for general use in breast enhancement in November, Allergan shares were up 6 percent from within a week after the FDA approval to a closing price of $112.50. Mentor's were up 13 percent from $47.58. Experts insist that the difference in stock performance between the two manufacturers has more to do with how much they rely on breast-implant revenue. Mentor earns nearly 90% of its sales in implants and Allergan is more diversified with products ranging from Botox to other cosmetic-surgery products and eye-care medications.

Dr. Lee calls the limited U.S. maker market a “cartel” vs. a monopoly. Unlike industry mergers of the traditional sort, the implant industry is by its very nature the merger of reality and artifice. Silicone implants—until now restricted to breast reconstructive surgery patients—are more realistic in their form and function than saline implants.

“The approval of silicone implants has already moved a lot of women on the edge of opting for implants to proceed with the surgery,” notes Dr. Lee. The differences in silicone over saline implants include less downtime and less pain, both results of the silicone implants being placed on top of the muscle tissue vs. underneath it like saline implants.

Dr. Lee completed his surgical internship at the University of California at San Francisco and trained in otolaryngology/head & neck surgery at Duke University Medical Center where he worked closely with the plastic surgery division on trauma and head and neck cancer patients. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Board certified in Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and is a lifelong resident of Colorado.

His office serving the Denver metro area is located at 3701 S. Clarkson St. in Englewood, CO. His website is www.drbenlee.com.