Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Buyer of Beauty Beware - The Four Corners Report



"As Australians queue for breast enhancements, tummy tucks, nose jobs and liposuction, Jonathan Holmes asks if safety lags behind profits in the booming and sparsely regulated business of cosmetic surgery."

Click here for more

Dr Cynthia Weinstein - Cosmetic Doctor


Dr Cynthia Weinstein seems to know how to find trouble.

She's been in the 'bad books' with authorities, over and again.

She's a member of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS).

Have a read about her!

Dodgy Doc's Bubble Bursts in Plastic World

Dr Skin Accused of Botched Operations

A Blemished Career

Pioneer Cosmetic Surgeon Faces New Peer Probe

Dr Daniel Lanzer - Cosmetic Surgeon


Back in 2006 Today Tonight got a drubbing from Media Watch for a credulous story it ran on a procedure that was being offered by Dr Daniel Lanzer.

Dr Lanzer is a member of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS)

Click here to read more

Pamela Noon - Cosmetic Surgery Consultant


Pamela Noon is a cosmetic surgery consultant.

She was recently featured on two Channel 9 programs.

So... should we believe the good news we saw on the 'Kerrie-Anne Show' or the bad news we saw on A Current Affair? And to what extent should we rely on media representations at all to derive our information about cosmetic surgery?

Check out the Media Watch story by Jonathan Holmes and enter into your own deliberations!


Pamela Noon has been getting a pretty bad wrap (she says its a bum wrap) from Channel 9's A Current Affair (ACA) concerning the way she runs her cosmetic surgery cosultancy business, for the last 10 years or so.


But paid advertorial on Channel 9's, Mornings with Kerrie-Anne paints a different, more alluring picture.


Pamela Noon with Ros Switzer on the Kerrie-Anne Show.
She reckons "good facial surgery will have you looking as young as you feel".

Click here to view the Media Watch story

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Breast Implants and Suicide



We're talking about one of the leading forms of cosmetic surgery and if we are to believe the advertising hype of some practioners it's a very safe form of surgery involving high rates of satisfaction.
Other sources present a more troubling picture.

Study: Breast Implants Up Suicide Risk 7 Aug 2007 ... Study: Breast Implants Up Suicide Risk, A new study of more than 3500 Swedish women concludes that women with breast implants have an ...
Breast implants Triple Rate of Suicide Swedish study, published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery, reinforces several others that have shown women who have breast enlargements have higher suicide risks.
Can breast implants lead to depression and suicide?

Breast implant surgery gone wrong. CHOICE Magazine identifies breast augmentation as high risk surgery.

Liposuction/Liposculpture

Looking through some of the ads on the Internet and judging by what we sometimes see on TV and in the glossy mags, anyone would think that this kind of surgery is a walk in the park.

It's certainly one of the leading forms of cosmetic surgery in Australia and I believe this is similar to the situation which obtains in the US and the UK.

Women and girls who are thinking of undertaking this procedure should aquaint themselves with the literature on excessive liposuction.

Excessive Liposuction
Excessive liposuction is not safe. This patient had too much liposuction on a ... Excessive liposuction might be defined as a volume of liposuction that is ..


Excessive Liposuction
Aggressive surgeons endanger patient outcomes and well being.

What about unnessesary liposuction?

Think Tara Reid.

This is what she has been reported as saying in relation to her lipo surgery gone wrong; "I got lipo because even though I was skinny, I wanted – I’m not going to lie – a six-pack. I had body contouring, but it all went wrong. My stomach became the most ripply, bulgy thing.”
Click here to read more



Tara Reid is scarred from liposuction, but good enough and brave enough, to warn others about the perils of cosmetic surgery. Her case should be an example and a warning to those who are inclined to believe that if celebrities are getting these procedures, then everything must be 'A ok'. Unfortunately as you can see, it doesn't necessarily work that way, does it?
Liposuction is booming - and the vast majority of patients are women. What makes them submit to such a violent procedure - especially when it removes only a few pounds of fat? Kira Cochrane asks why? Click here to read more

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Death and Disfigurement in the US, Celebrity Surgeon not Board Certified!



Kanye West attends Mother's funeral.

  • Julie Coleman (below) is not a celebrity. Her story of disfigurement after surgery with Dr Jan Adams only came to light after the death of Kanye West's mother.

Click here to read more

Monday, November 3, 2008

How do I Make Sure My Surgeon Really is a Plastic Surgeon?

It's not always as straight forward as it should be, as believe it or not, practioners have been known to lie or mislead about their qualifications, so unfortunately you can't always rely on what they say, or even what they publish about themselves!

If you want to be sure that your doctor really is a genuine, formally trained and accredited plastic surgeon, call the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons to verify his or her membership.

What about doctors who are members of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS)?

Members of the The Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery are not usually plastic surgeons, however they may be formally trained surgeons of other kinds eg. ENT's and general surgeons or they may not be formally trained, Australian Medical Council (AMC) accredited surgical specialists at all, they may be dermatologists or GP's.

The AMC is the only body which is officially authorised within the Australian system to endow medical entities, be they individual doctors, or organisations, with government accreditation.

Therefore whilst the individual members of the ACCS will be AMC accredited as GP's and so on, any cosmetic surgery training with the ACCS, will not be AMC accredited.

The ACCS itself is not an AMC accredited body.

So if a doctor tells you he is 'ACCS accredited' in cosmetic surgery you need to bear in mind that that so-called accreditation itself, has no standing with the AMC, it is not recognised specialist training.

It is legal albeit highly controversial for non plastic surgeons, including GP's to perform cosmetic surgery, and to describe themselves as cosmetic surgeons.

Bone fide plastic surgeons are AMC accredited surgical specialists with at least 7 years of training further to their basic GP degree attainment.

Plastic Surgeons V 'cosmetic surgeons'.

What's the big difference? They all do boob jobs don't they?

They sure do, but there's a little more to consider than just that!

Actually 'plastics v cosmetics' is one of the most controversial issues in cosmetic surgery, and if you're thinking about having cosmetic surgery of any kind, it's an issue you need to get your head around before you take the big leap.

Another thing you need to get your head around is that this industry is not well regulated, in fact it's barely regulated at all, and this may be hard for some to believe.

Many consumers assume wrongly I'm afraid, that because it's surgery, the regulators must be right across it. That's the way it should be of course, but unfortunately that's not the way that it is.

Did you know that anyone with a basic medical degree is legally, albeit to many, controversially entitled to perform complex, invasive cosmetic surgery procedures, and describe themselves as  cosmetic surgeons?

Its a matter which has most Plastic Surgeons fuming- they have 7 to 10, and often 12 years, of formal Australian Medical Council (AMC) accredited specialist training further to their basic GP qualification.

Click on the following links to learn more about your surgeon choices in this industry.

Buyer of Beauty, Beware - The Four Corners Report
"It’s plastic surgeons versus cosmetic surgeons, scalpels drawn. The plastic surgeons deride cosmetic surgeons as lacking qualifications and breadth of"... By Jonathan Holmes

Patients at Risk in Ugly Cosmetic Surgery Wars - "A turf war between plastic surgeons and self-styled "cosmetic surgeons" has left the industry dangerously unregulated, despite a damning report calling for change seven years ago." By Louise Hall

Cosmetic Surgery Regulations Lag in NSW -Nearly10 years after the State Government commissioned a report on cosmetic surgery, most of its main recommendations have not been implemented. By Valerie Lawson