Tips on avoiding the plastic surgery nightmares of some celebs

BY VIRGINIA ROHAN

STAFF WRITER

THE RECORD

"If it looks like plastic surgery, then it's bad plastic surgery"

The signs of aging have been creeping up for years — marionette lines around the mouth, under-eye pouches, the dreaded neck wattle just like the one your mom had. But then, one day, you look in the mirror and think, who the heck is that person looking back at me? And that's the day when you may resolve to look into what cosmetic facial procedures are out there.

Kim Novak, 81, took much flak for her appearance at the Oscars.

But then you tune in to one of TV's many star-studded awards shows and see something scarier than "The Following," "Hannibal" or "Bates Motel" — once beautiful and familiar faces that are now lumpy, puffy, frozen, barely even recognizable.

Critics say John Travolta bungled more than Idina Menzel's name.

Take, for example, the recent Academy Awards, when the appearance of 81-year-old Kim Novak, 68-year-old Goldie Hawn and 60-year-old John Travolta generated lots of tweets and morning-after buzz. They join a long list of celebrities — including Mickey Rourke, Joan Rivers, Bruce Jenner, Kenny Rogers and Priscilla Presley — whose apparently bad facial work has inspired online ridicule and troubling questions. One of them: If Hollywood's rich and famous could end up looking so bad, what chance have I of looking good?
"The nagging problem in our industry is that our good results — Mother Nature gets the credit. And our bad results are there for everyone to see," says Dr. Richard D'Amico of Englewood, the 2008 president of The American Society of Plastic Surgeons, who saw enough of the latter to have been cringing as he watched this year's Oscars. "If it looks like plastic surgery, then it's bad plastic surgery. Good plastic surgery is something you'd never think of. You look at the person and say, 'She looks good and she looks natural.' That's the good plastic surgery, and we get no credit for it."

Goldie Hawn generated lots of post-Oscar buzz — not in a good way.

D'Amico and other North Jersey board-certified plastic surgeons say that patients often mention famous people that they do — or do not — want to wind up looking like. "Earlier today, I had a woman who came in for facial rejuvenation, and she said, 'I just don't want to look like the people I saw on TV the other day,' and she was referring to the Oscars," says Dr. Luis Zapiach, who has offices in Paramus and Franklin Lakes. "I told her, 'I'm a very conservative plastic surgeon. I will make you refreshed and that's it. … And she was very happy with what we had done, just with fillers. She was very concerned about not having her cheeks too full. Some of the things that we see sometimes on TV is their cheeks are too full."
Dr. Valerie Ablaza, who does 80 to 85 percent cosmetic work (much of it facial rejuvenation) in her Montclair private practice, often has to reassure patients who bring up celebrity mishaps.
"Everyone says the same thing, 'How did someone do that?' " says Ablaza, last year's president of the New Jersey Society of Plastic Surgeons. "I don't know why those people and their handlers don't see that just like the common people see what happened to that person. But I know that no one that walks out of my office looks like Kim Novak or Goldie Hawn.
"Even Priscilla Presley and Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Burnett — they all just look a little bit freaky and you say, 'Really, who's giving you advice?' Why did Priscilla Presley have silicone injections in her face when it's not even approved by the FDA in this country? ... You'd think that they have all the money in the world and all the exposure, they must be going to the best. But they aren't. They're just in their own little bubble of thinking."
Ablaza believes that some celebrities "get carried away … and keep making changes, little by little, and they get so far off the mark," they may even lose sight of their "starting point." (She speculates that this may be the case with Joan Rivers.)
D'Amico has also had patients say, " 'I don't want to look like blank.' Fill in any number of those blanks," he says. "People come in and they say, 'Don't change me.' And what I explain to them about facial rejuvenation surgery is that time and the environment and stress has changed you. So, it's restoration, never alteration. What you saw in Kim Novak and Goldie Hawn is alteration, and that's always a mistake."
Dr. David Abramson, chief of the department of plastic surgery at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, says, "I think, unfortunately, a lot of these people do too much, whether it's surgery or fillers. If you overdo something, you wind up with abnormal facial expressions. They always talked about that 'Joker' look from having too many face-lifts, but I think when people have too much non-operative stuff they can look just as bad because they can look puffy, swollen."
To be sure, many older actors and actresses look great, including 64-year-old Meryl Streep and 56-year-old Ellen DeGeneres, the Oscars host, who quipped that night that "the most important thing in the world is youth."
"The ones that looked good, but didn't look like they had something done, you bet your boots they had something done," says D'Amico, an assistant clinical professor of plastic surgery at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Although women in general account for the vast majority of all cosmetic procedures — 91 percent in 2012, the most recent year the American Society of Plastic Surgeons released data — the gender breakdown is surely less lopsided in Hollywood, where looking good is in everyone's job description. Travolta, after all, was among the Oscar-night stars who raised eyebrows (and not just for mangling Idina Menzel's name).
While a character actress like 84-year-old June Squibb may feel no need to hide her gray hair and wrinkles, aging can be especially tough for those once known for their looks, as Cameron Diaz told Oprah Winfrey on the March 16 episode of "Oprah Prime," which also featured Sharon Stone. "It's almost as if we have failed if we don't remain 25 for the rest of our lives," Diaz said.
While most of us don't have millions of strangers watching as we age, the process is the same for celebrities as for everyone.
"When we're young, the skin has a lot of elasticity, so all the rubber bands are nice and tight and the dermis is very thick with collagen and plump, and tight skin and plump skin is young skin, and that looks very good," says Dr. Barry DiBernardo, a Montclair plastic surgeon and past president of the New Jersey Society of Plastic Surgeons. "Somewhere around 35 years old — it's different in all of us, it depends on your genetics, your sun damage, your smoking — those cells will slow down the production of collagen and elastin, and that's when you'll start to see the lines come in. The skin thins. Things start to fall."
The good news, the doctors say, is that there are now many non-invasive and minimally invasive options for rejuvenating faces, including toxin injections (such as Botox, for forehead wrinkles) as well as fillers like Radiesse or Voluma (for, say, cheeks); Juvéderm (for nasolabial folds); a newer, lighter filler called Belotero (good for lower eyelid hollows); and fractional lasers to resurface and tighten the skin.
"We now have more tools in our toolbox than ever," D'Amico says. "It used to be, you held out and you went right into the operating room at some point. Nowadays, we have all different levels of intervention."

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/celebs-plastic-surgery-mishaps-trouble-professionals-too-1.750110#sthash.U3KUpY3e.dpuf

Call 954.585.3800 for a FREE CONSULTATION.

Don't have time to visit us at the office? We offer Skype meetings with our Board Certified Plastic Surgeons. 

5 Anti-Aging Procedures Worth The Money

According to Shape Magazine the wrinkles on our skin suggest some of us have been folded a little too long. The aging process is sneaky. One day you’re a fresh-faced teenager who forgot to apply sunscreen during a long weekend at the beach and the next, you’re looking back at a reflection that reveals years of sun damage and general wear and tear. You can’t stop the clock, but, thanks to plastic surgery, you can certainly keep it at bay and look as young as you feel. If you’re interested in plastic surgery, here are five procedures that are worth the investment.

Facelift – As the face ages, elasticity and muscle tone are lost, creating sagging skin, jowls, creases from the nose to the mouth, and even the dreaded double chin. A facelift (rhytidectomy) improves these conditions by repositioning and trimming away excess skin. The underlying foundation of connective tissue is tightened as well to produce a naturally lifted look. Incisions are typically made at the temples, ear and lower scalp. Your plastic surgeon may suggest a neck lift procedure in conjunction with the facelift. This is recommended because it improves sagging skin and wrinkles at the chin and neckline.

Eyelid Surgery – They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, but as the years go by, those windows are going to need a little TLC. Eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) can be performed on the upper eyelid, lower, or both, depending upon your desired outcome.  Eyelid surgery can improve droopy upper eyelids, sagging lower eyelids, and in general, create a more well-rested and alert appearance.  

Browlift – Also called a forehead lift, this procedure aims to correct a droopy brow line and helps to smooth creases in the skin that often make a person look worried or angry. Incisions are well hidden in the frontal hairline. When complete, the browlift helps to achieve an overall smooth appearance of the face, particularly when combined with blepharoplasty of the eyelids.

Lip Augmentation – Ladies, think plump, healthy, robust lips. The lips of your youth, not the lips of a certain former soap opera star. To achieve a full, natural look, your plastic surgeon may use a safe injectable filler (popular brands like Juvederm or Restylane), or choose to use your own fat, harvested from the thighs or buttocks.

Facial Implants – Sophia Loren may have been blessed with the high cheek bones of a model well in to her retirement years, but the rest of us probably won’t be so lucky. Thankfully, chin, cheek and jaw implants can be used to create a smooth contour and improve a recessed chin or flattened cheek area.

Together, you and your surgeon will determine the type of procedures needed to achieve your desired results. As with any procedure, prices will vary and insurance does not cover the cost - so do your homework, get referrals, and always choose a board-certified plastic surgeon.

Call 954.585.3800 for a FREE CONSULTATION.

Don't have time to visit us at the office? We offer Skype meetings with our Board Certified Plastic Surgeons. 

Source: www.shape.com