Dr. Steven P. Bloch

I usually do it all through liposuction. In the worst case, if it's glandular tissue, I use a power shaver that goes in through the liposuction entry point, grinds up the tissue and extracts it. There is virtually no scarring.

Slim Lipo (laser liposuction) has two wavelengths, one unique for melting fat and one for heating tissue, inducing collagen, tightening and contracture.

My objective is to have the patient out in public with some makeup in one week.

It depends on how wrinkled the skin is. Generally, only one time treatment is needed, and the objective is to get skin healed enough so after a week the patient can put makeup on. For the first week there is weeping and crusting, and we have to keep ointment on the skin and compresses. After the skin is sealed, they can apply makeup. The pinkness or redness after treatment lasts about a month or so. Because it is non-ablative, healing is much faster with Fraxel Restore, one weekend and then you are fine; but obviously the results are not the same as with the Fraxel Repair. It depends on the degree of improvement they are hoping to achieve and how bad their skin is that determines which technology is best suited to fit that patient.

I fully understand that many patients want to look better but are not seeking surgery. Injectables can be a great option, because they offer a temporary, yet long-lasting, way to turn back the clock. While I have seven aestheticians on staff, all injectables are performed by myself or by a physician, so you can rest assured you're in the hands of a doctor.

Not always. Breast augmentation can be done at any time. If you are planning on having children soon, then, I'd advise you to wait on a tummy tuck. If, on the other hand, you are not comfortable in your own skin and it's affecting your life, than it's appropriate to have it done whenever it's needed. If things change as a result of pregnancy, we can do further body contouring or a tune-up after.

No, there is virtually no scarring. Bruising is variable. There is less bruising with laser liposuction than traditional liposuction, but it depends on how much fat you have to remove and how aggressive you want to be.

In a lower body lift, there is an incision completely around the body in the waistband area. It is a combination of a brazillian butt lift, lateral thigh lift and a tummy tuck. The recovery is not as bad as it used to be. We usually have patients up and walking the same day because there is a pain pump involved at the time of operation. Patients are observed overnight, and then go home the next day. No strenuous exercise for six to eight weeks, but they can return to work in two weeks.

I've used the erbium but have stopped. Right now the laser of choice is the Fraxel Repair CO2 laser which gives you better skin tightening than an erbium laser. The problem with the CO2 previously was that you could wind up with delayed hyporpigmentation (at end of year used to see skin was lighter than they wanted it to be). With the CO2 Fraxel Repair, I have never seen a reported case of hyporpigmentation. I find the Fraxel Repair is best of all worlds. We abandoned the original CO2 and went to the erbium, which was pretty good, but along came the erbium fractional laser, which healed faster. Then they came out with the CO2 by Fraxel, which wins hands down. What we see with the Fraxel Repair, as compared to conventional laser resurfacing technology, is less down time (faster healing) and no cases of hypopigmentation

Its a semi-permanent injectable that the company claims lasts for more than five years. This is sometimes good and bad. I have found that patients would always like to have filler that lasts longer, but maybe not quite that long. So, the ideal filler has yet to be developed. The ideal filler would be one that is permanent, but if they didn't like the way it looks, we could inject something to dissolve it. We don't have that yet. I do use Artefill, but sparingly. You can't get rid of it once it's injected. With hyaluronic acid fillers, you can get rid of them if you don't like them.

The body heals by forming scar tissue around the breast implant. Otherwise it would never heal. But sometimes it has the tendency to contract; making it firmer than the patient would like it to feel, that's capsular contracture. To avoid this, we actually put patients on off-label use of asthma medication post-op, which has shown to decrease the capsular contraction rate. I have done this for 5 years and it does work. I also have patients massage post-op. And, if they are having dental work, then I give them prophylactic antibiotics.

Post-op after liposuction, there is a certain amount of bruising and swelling. Endermologie is a mechanical massage of the treated area that helps to diminish swelling and even out the skin texture. I usually recommend it after liposuction.

For most women a reduction is needed if their nipples are lower than they ideally would like and if their breasts are pendulous. We raise the nipple to a higher location, removing excess skin and breast tissue and make it into a more conical shape. Yes, there is scar tissue around the nipple, down the breast and under the breast; basically, the scar is in shape of an anchor. But, at the end of a year if they heal ideally, there will only be a fine white line. To minimize scarring we also have patients use silicone sheeting on scars and laser treatments post-op.

I do a lot of it. I think it is the only form of liposuction that helps to promote skin tightening. We are not always sure how much tightening we are going to get, but it's more than other methods. It's great on the underarms and the periumbilical area (upper abdomen), an area that usually with traditional liposuction, laxity of skin is often a problem. I also use laser assisted liposuction (Slim Lipo by Palomar) on patients' necks who really need, but refuse to have, a facelift and I get a good result, something I would never do before there was laser lip. I get results that could not have been achieved any other way.

No strenuous exercise for six to eight weeks. Patients are up and about fairly quickly because I use pain pumps for minimal discomfort, and they are back to work in a week to 10 days. I really try to make every effort to make the scar as low down as possible. I have the patient bring the briefest outfit so I can place the scar down far enough so it is well hidden.

I often use a lot of pain pumps which aids in post-op discomfort. The objective is to get them back to work in two to three days and back to exercising in three weeks.

Patients can shower the next day and exercise in a week. I have them wear a compression garment for four weeks.

It's a lower eyelid lift where the incision is made from inside the lid so there is no external incision; as opposed to an external approach with a scar under the lash line. There are several advantages. It eliminates virtually all risk of droop of the lower eyelid, it will not change shape of eye, and combined with external laser resurfacing of the skin, it provides a more natural look to the lower lid.

I usually use round silicone gel implants. With size, there are two ways. One is that I have all the implants here, and I have patients put them on and they are assed based on their anatomy on how it looks. We are about to launch the capability where we can photograph the patient and modify that photograph based on what size implant and how that would look.

Yes. All patients are advised that the neck and lateral portion of the face will be numb after a facelift and that it could last for several months.

Below the muscle. I think statistically there are less problems with capsular contraction, and there is a more natural appearance and a more natural slope and from chest to breast area. There are also fewer problems with rippling.