The Cosmetic Surgery Blog

A common misconception, and one perpetuated by many industries, is that "beautiful" and "sexy" are synonyms. An even more common confusion is between the "sensual" and the "sexual." When considering cosmetic surgery procedures, however, it is important to make the distinction between these terms. If you want to look beautiful, you don't necessarily want to look sexy. And if you want to look sensual, it doesn't necessarily mean emphasizing your sexuality.

Maxfield Parrish is an ideal artist for making the distinction between the two concepts. His figures are beautiful without being sexy, sensual without being sexual. Although Vettriano's paintings often portray a narrative with sex as its obvious end and goal, filled with figures characterized by lust, Parrish's figures are free of lust, although they are not free of desire. The figure in Ecstasy, for example, is full of passion as she holds back her hair in the wind and raises her young face to the sky. Although Parrish is sometimes referred to as a neo-classical painter or illustrator, this is based on his use of classical (really Romantic) backdrops for his figures. The proportions of his figures are more slender than the classical norm, with thinner arms, legs, and torsos consistent with his themes of timeless youth.

More than sexual desire, his paintings with multiple figures usually evoke feelings of friendship, and the desire is not for fiery consumption, but for airy continuation. In Contentment, for example, these young friends are where they wish to be. The rosy complexion of their smooth, youthful skin reflects the soft light of morning, and their figures are positioned languidly in poses they might maintain for hours.

In The Lute Players, you can see the eagerness with which the women attend to one another's conversation as they pause from play. Note the well-proportioned profile of the woman on her stomach, the well-shaped nose, feminine but not weak. Or the definition of the chin of the woman on the left. Their faces have much more curvature than their bodies. The casual bunching of their garments conceals their figures, obviating the need for intense body contouring or liposuction, although these figures are unlikely to need it, of course.

Maxfield Parrish gives us a world without sex, but one that is as laden with desire and with sensuality as any ever painted.

Labels: anti-aging, art, beauty, satisfaction

In a recently-published comprehensive assessment, doctors took a closer look at the technique of TransUmbilical Breast Augmentation (TUBA), and found that the procedure, although criticized by some doctors, is a safe, effective procedure with a high incidence of patient satisfaction.

TUBA is an endoscopic surgery for breast augmentation where an inch-long incision is made in the patient's navel. Then the endoscope is inserted to make tracks from the navel to each breast, creating paths through the fatty tissue to guide the implant. In general, only saline implants are used for this technique, because the implant must be fitted through the narrow tracks, and pre-filled, factory-sealed silicone implants cannot be rolled up to follow the track. Once the implants are fitted into place, they are inflated to the appropriate volume to achieve the desired augmentation.

In the study, the authors looked at 245 TUBA breast augmentations conducted by one doctor over the two years from 2002 to 2004. They looked at overall patient satisfaction, and correlated it with:

• Implant placement
• Numbness
• Firmness
• Size satisfaction
• Rippling
• Post-operative pain

In an interesting correlation with yesterday's topic, a strong negative correlation was found between subglandular placement and overall satisfaction. This may partially be related to the negative correlation between firmness and satisfaction. On the other hand, the only positive correlation with overall satisfaction was submuscular placement of the implant. Post-operative pain and rippling, which have always been believed to correlate with overall satisfaction, were not found to have any statistically significant coincidence.

Complications that were seen with a frequency of greater than 1% as a result of the procedure were:

• Asymmetry (4.1%)
• Capsular contracture (3.7%)
• Umbilical wound infection (3.2%)
• Tunnel seromas, or clear, benign fluid pockets in the endoscopic tracks (2.0 % )
• Deflation (1.2%)

The authors of the survey concluded that the procedure was a safe, effective method for breast augmentation that should be considered by women electing breast augmentation surgery. If you would like to learn more about this technique for augmentation in Newport Beach, Orange County, California, consult the website of breast augmentation expert Dr. Douglas Hendricks, at the Pacifica Cosmetic Surgery Center.

Labels: breast augmentation, incision type, satisfaction