Houston Plastic Surgery Blog

The FDA has approved the use of silicon breast implants for breast augmentation. Silicone implants are safe and natural looking. There are many advantages to having silicone breast implants. Houston Breast Surgeon Dr. Lapuerta will discuss silicone implants with you and answer all of your questions in a personal breast augmentation consultation.

Silicon breast implants are very sturdy and will not rupture with daily activities and other activities such as exercising. You can participate in all the activities you did before you had breast implants. This means that you can continue running, swimming, boxing, skiing, and all the other fun activities that you enjoy.

The FDA highly recommends that women with breast implants have checkups about every two years. This is to make sure that the breast implants have not developed any issues. It is very unlikely that your breast implants will develop issues, but it is still in your best interest to make sure with routine checkups.

These routine checkups will include an MRI that is non-invasive. The MRI will take a complete image of your breasts and breast implants. If there are any issues or if a rupture has occurred, the MRI will notice the problem.

Please contact our Houston breast surgery office to schedule a breast augmentation consultation with Dr. Leo Lapuerta.

There are two choices of breast implants for breast augmentation. You can choose to either have a saline implant or a silicone implant. There are benefits and drawbacks to each type of breast implant.

If you are interested in having breast augmentation, you will want to schedule a confidential consultation with Houston Breast Surgeon Dr. Lapuerta to discuss your breast implant options. He will explain the benefits to both types of implants and your options for placement.

Breast Implant Safety

There have been many studies about the correlation between breast augmentation surgery and breast cancer risks. There has never been a study showing that breast augmentation increases breast cancer risk. Breast implants have come a long way since they were first widely popular in the 1960s. Both saline and silicone breast implants are safe and FDA approved.

Rupture of breast implants is extremely rare. If a saline implant ruptures, the body safely absorbs the saline solution. The silicone solution inside a silicone implant is more difficult for the body to absorb, but will not cause your body harm.

Please contact our breast surgery office for more information about breast augmentation and breast implants. Breast surgeon Dr. Lapuerta will answer all of your questions and address any concerns you may have about the procedure. We serve patients in and around the Houston area.

If you have breast augmentation surgery, one of your concerns may be about how the breast implants will affect your mammograms. Breast implants may interfere with your mammogram, but there are steps you can take to make sure that your breast augmentation surgery does not affect your mammograms.

Breast Implants and Mammograms

There are steps you can take to ensure that your mammogram is a success if you have breast implants. These steps include:

• Ask your doctor for a referral to a clinic whose mammography staff has experience with breast implant patients. Experienced mammography technicians will be able to properly read your tests.
• Let the mammography technician know that you have breast implants. The technician will adjust the imaging equipment for an optimal image of your breast tissue.
• Have the breast implant placed below the muscle. You can choose to have your breast implants placed above or below the muscle. If the implants are placed above the muscle, they will most likely make reading your mammogram more difficult. Implants placed below the muscle are less likely to interfere with the mammogram.

To learn more about breast augmentation and how breast implants may interfere with mammograms, please contact our breast surgery office. We serve patients in the Houston, Texas area and are available to answer all of your questions.

Facelift surgery is a fantastic facial plastic surgery option to correct sagging skin, deep wrinkles, and facial folds. You have three choices when it comes to deciding what will best meet your goals. These choices are:

• Traditional Facelift
• Limited Incision Facelift
• Neck Lift
  

Houston Facial Plastic Surgery Dr. Lapuerta will explain all three choices and he will determine which one will best meet your needs. All three choices reduce the signs of aging in slightly different ways.

Traditional Facelift

Traditional facelift surgery uses an incision around the hairline beginning at the temples and continues to the ears and stops at the lower scalp. The incision is hidden under the hairline and will not be noticeable. A second incision might be needed near the chin to remove sagging skin around the skin and jowls.

The facial muscles will be tightened and the skin repositioned over the face and muscles. In some facelift cases, patients may need facial liposuction to remove fatty deposits that stretch the skin causing sagging and wrinkles.

A traditional facelift enhances the overall look of a patient and does not target only one area of the face. A traditional facelift is a great choice for patients who whish to improve their overall facial appearance.

Limited Incision Facelift

A limited incision facelift is very similar to a traditional facelift. A limited incision facelift improves the overall appearance of the face, but uses shorter incisions. The incisions are placed around the temple and around the ears. More incisions may be placed near the lower eyelids and the chin.

The results and process of a limited incision facelift are the same as a traditional facelift. A limited incision facelift is a good option for patients who do not have much sagging skin. Longer incisions like the ones used in a traditional facelift are needed to correct larger amounts of sagging skin.

Neck Lift

A neck lift targets the lower portion of the face around the chin, jowls, and neck. The incision is placed at the hairline near the ears and lower scalp. A neck lift is perfect for anyone who only needs sagging skin corrected in the lower portion of the face.

For additional information about your facelift surgery options in Houston, Texas, please contact our facial plastic surgery office.

Before you decide to have facelift surgery, you will want to schedule a consultation with Houston facial plastic surgeon Dr. Lapuerta. He will assess your face and what areas need to be targeted during your facelift surgery. Though every face is different and every patient has different and unique goals, all facelift surgeries have similarities.

A facelift will remove excess skin and tighten facial muscles to greatly reduce the signs of aging. The face will look older due to several factors that include:

• Excess skin around the face, neck, and chin
• Fine lines and facial folds due to less elasticity in the skin
• Sagging skin on the face due to stretched facial muscles

The excess skin on the face, neck, and chin will be removed and the skin will be repositioned on the face. The removal of the excess skin corrects the appearance of the jowls and sagging neck that adds to the aged look.

The muscles on the face will also be tightened. Loose muscles stretch the skin and cause wrinkles. The appearance of wrinkles are reduced by tightening the facial muscles. The skin will appear smoother and younger.

Most patients require some removal of fatty tissue. This is accomplished with facial liposuction. Some of the more common places for fatty tissue removal are:

• The cheeks
• The neck
• The chin

Removing fatty tissue will smooth out the skin, eliminate wrinkles, and reduce the risk of the skin stretching. You will look younger, slimmer, and rejuvenated.

Please contact our facial plastic surgery office if you are in the Houston area and wish to schedule a facelift consultation.

Labia reduction is another name for labiaplasty and involves the reduction of the size of the labia minora (inner lip). Problems with large labia, asymmetric labia, or other female related labia issues are more accepted today as things to fix. Rather than going through life in discomfort, Dr. Lapuerta can reduce the size of your labia so that you are comfortable in whatever clothing you wear, during exercise and during sex. Developing overly large labia may develop as you age or may become a problem after childbirth.

Traditionally, labia reduction is done by excising excess tissue, which shortens and reduces it. A newer procedure, called "new labiaplasty" or the Alter method, is done by excising a wedge shaped piece of the labia and then suturing the remaining tissue together. This new method leaves a scar across the labia rather than running the length of the edge.

Labia reduction surgery can be completed under local or general anesthesia and can be performed in Dr. Lapuerta's office. You should rest for five days and avoid sexual intercourse for four to six weeks.

If you are interested in finding out more about labia reduction surgery, please contact triple board certified Houston, Texas plastic surgeon Dr. Lapuerta for an initial consultation.

Before deciding to have any cosmetic surgery procedure, you will want to schedule a consultation with Houston cosmetic surgeon Dr. Leo Lapuerta. Your consultation with Dr. Lapuerta is very important. This is a special time set aside so you can learn about the procedure, ask all of your facelift questions, and discuss your goals with Dr. Lapuerta.

Dr. Lapuerta will listen to your goals and desires. He will ask you questions and help you decide which cosmetic surgery procedure is right for your needs. He will explain the facelift procedure and what results you can expect. If a facelift is not right for your needs, he will explain your other facial rejuvenation options. These options will include:

• BOTOX®
• Juvederm
• Restylane
• Radiesse
• Sculptra
• Skin Resurfacing
• Skin Medica

After he explains the procedure and discusses your options with you, you will have a chance to ask all of your questions. You may want to write down some questions before your consultation to make sure you ask everything you want and to make sure you do not forget anything. You may want to ask about recovery time, post-op instructions, and possible results.

Dr. Lapuerta will assess your face and figure out what areas need tightening and possible facial liposuction. There may be some areas of your face that can benefit from liposuction to aid in smoothing out the skin to reduce wrinkles and facial folds.

You will also be asked several questions about your health and health history. You will need to inform Dr. Lapuerta of any medications you are taking because he may need to alter the pain medications he gives you. Your medical history is one of the most important parts of the consultation.

You can schedule a facelift consultation with Dr. Lapuerta by contacting our facial plastic surgery office. Dr. Lapuerta serves patients in and around the Houston, Texas area.