Southwest Plastic Surgery

At one point in your life, getting a tattoo may have seemed like the best idea in the world. Now, you may be second guessing that idea. The tattooed name of an ex, a symbol of a previous affiliation, or a faded, warped tattoo could be causing you painful regret every time you see it. Tattoos can even pose difficulties for your relationships or chosen career. Regardless of your reason for getting a tattoo in the first place, there is an effective, new treatment for tattoo removal called PicoSure®. PicoSure® tattoo removal can successfully remove your tattoos to eliminate the “permanent” markings from your skin.

How PicoSure® Works

PicoSure® is a new technology that delivers laser energy pulses directly into the skin at lightning speeds to remove the tattoo ink. The rapid pulses of laser energy force the tattoo ink to break into minuscule pieces. With the ink dispersed, your body can quickly absorb the ink particles and flush them out naturally, leaving you with smooth, unmarked skin.

Advantages Over Other Tattoo Removal Treatments

Because of the nature of tattoo ink, tattoo removal usually requires multiple treatment sessions to eliminate even a fraction of the tattoo pigment. In comparison to other tattoo removal methods such as Q-Switched lasers, PicoSure® treatment is the superior choice because it has more success and requires fewer treatment sessions. While several treatment sessions may still be necessary, each PicoSure® treatment causes less pain and has a shorter recovery than previous forms of tattoo removal. Indeed, tattoo removal treatment with PicoSure® is far less painful than getting a tattoo in the first place. Results from PicoSure® treatment leave you with smooth, unmarred skin and no more regrets.

Our tattoo removal specialists at The Med Spa of Southwest Plastic Surgery are certified to perform PicoSure® for effective and revolutionary tattoo removal. To schedule your appointment for PicoSure® tattoo removal, please call our El Paso, TX office at (915) 590-7900. You may also fill out our online contact form for more information.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 24th, 2015 at 10:38 am and is filed under Tattoo Removal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

As with any surgery, recovery from rhinoplasty is different for every person. It can be comforting and indeed helpful to ask others about their experience with healing from the procedure, but your particular experience will be unique. This is especially true because you may not require the same improvements as another person, and your surgeon may not have the same approach to the surgery.

In general, however, there are a few things that are common during recovery for all rhinoplasty patients: downtime, a splint or packing, and swelling and bruising.

Downtime

The length of downtime following a rhinoplasty varies, but patients are encouraged to take at least one week off from work or school. Recovery may be a little longer with an open rhinoplasty. Patients who have to have their nose surgically broken may have more swelling, so they typically do not feel comfortable going in public for a couple of weeks. After two weeks, it is usually safe to return to strenuous activities and regular exercise.

A Splint or Packing

Most patients have an external splint or cast that covers the nose after surgery. This will protect the nose, help it take on its intended shape, and reduce swelling. It is typically left on for one week. Packing inside the nose will prevent excessive bleeding. This can be uncomfortable the first week after surgery, but not all patients will need it.

Swelling or Bruising

Swelling and bruising typically occur beneath the eyes and around the nose but can also extend to the cheeks and upper lip. One of the most important things to note is that swelling will dissipate over time, but it may not completely disappear for several months. That said, your nose will take a significant amount of time to conform to its intended shape.

After one week, when the cast or splint is removed from your nose, you will first notice swelling. By the end of the second week, the swelling and bruising may have dissipated enough that others may not be able to notice you have had surgery. Because you can closely inspect your nose and you have become accustomed to what it naturally looks like, the swelling will be obvious to you for several months. It can take up to a full year for the final results of your rhinoplasty surgery to become apparent.

To schedule your rhinoplasty consultation at Southwest Plastic Surgery, please call our El Paso, TX office at (915) 590-7900. For your convenience, you may also fill out our online contact form.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2015 at 10:42 am and is filed under Rhinoplasty (Nose Surgery). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

A woman’s breasts are a fundamental sign of her femininity, which is one reason so many women desire breast surgery. But while many want breast augmentation to enhance their curves, a surprisingly large number of women consider breast reduction surgery. Here are some of the reasons why a woman might want to have surgery to reduce the size of her breasts.

Physical Pain and Problems

A major reason women undergo breast reduction surgery is to relieve physical pain or physical problems. The massive weight of overly large breasts can weigh you down, causing back pain, spinal problems, neck problems, shoulder pain, and more. Celebrity Ariel Winter, who recently underwent breast reduction surgery for her excessively large breasts, stated how she was forced to hunch over all the time because standing for hours caused her intense pain. Large breasts can cause skin conditions near the breast crease or on the shoulders where the bra strap lies. Heavy breasts can cause the underwire from bras to break and stab you. They can also cause premature breast sagging at a very young age.

Emotional Pain and Self-Image Issues

Women with excessively large breasts are also likely to experience great emotional stress or self-image issues. Ariel Winter reported that, at the young and vulnerable age of 14, she received comments, unwanted attention, and ridicule about her naturally large breasts. Her bust size even impeded her acting opportunities because she looked older than she was, and this caused her further emotional distress. Sometimes, self-image issues arise when one breast grows to be significantly larger than the other. Even when the breasts are symmetrical, excessive breast size can make your body look disproportionate.

Clothing Difficulties

Finding clothing as a large-busted woman can be quite a feat. Young women with large breasts may have difficulty finding age-appropriate clothing that will fit without looking excessively revealing. Some women need to have every dress or shirt tailored or custom made because while the clothing fits at the bust, it is too big everywhere else. Swimsuits and bras are a particular nightmare for these women, who are often forced to forget about looking cute, beautiful, or sexy and are just lucky enough to find something that fits and provides the needed support.

Inability to Participate in Physical Activities

Having large breasts can be cumbersome on a daily basis. Even routine tasks can be hindered by limited mobility, pain, or the weight of large breasts. Many women with large breasts are prevented from engaging in physical activities because of the extreme pain and difficulty caused by their breasts.

If any of these experiences seem familiar to you, your large breasts could be significantly lowering your quality of life. To make a positive change today, contact Southwest Plastic Surgery about breast reduction surgery. Schedule your personal consultation by calling our El Paso, TX office at (915) 590-7900. You may also fill out our online contact form for more information. We look forward to helping you live a healthier and happier life.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2015 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Breast Reduction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Manscaping describes the current trend where men pluck, tweeze, wax, and shave their bodies. The goal of manscaping is to achieve a clean-cut, well-groomed appearance. It is common among men in the business community who pride themselves on their appearance. When the trend first came about, many guys did it in private. Back then, if you were a man, you didn’t admit you manscaped.

However, the growing popularity of manscaping has many men comfortable admitting that they do pluck their brows, shave their arms, and wax their chests and backs. There’s nothing wrong with being a put-together guy who cares about the way others perceive him. However, men are now facing the troubles that women have been dealing with for years.

Problems With Traditional Hair Removal

Traditional hair removal is generally considered tweezing, shaving, and waxing. Men are beginning to realize what women have known all along: these methods can be exasperating. Common drawbacks of traditional hair removal methods include:

• Time: Many hours are often devoted to ensuring you have a smooth, hair-free body. Sometimes, it just isn’t possible to commit to that time every day or every week.
• Longevity: It always feels like just hours or days after you shave or wax before the hair grows back and you have to do it yet again.
• Ingrown hairs: These can be painful, unsightly, and, if not treated properly, they can permanently damage your skin.
• Long-term cost: This is often overlooked by many people. What’s a couple of dollars for razors here and some more for waxing there? However, over the years, these numbers add up and hurt your wallet.

The Answer Is Laser Hair Removal

Laser hair removal has increased in popularity for women because it painlessly and effectively removes leg and bikini-area hair. It is ideal for medium to large areas of the body that you want to have stay hair free 24/7. For men, laser hair removal can be an effective treatment for hair on the:

• Arms
• Chest
• Legs
• Back

Laser hair removal treatments gently heat the hair follicle to damage it. Over a series of three to six treatments, the follicle is destroyed, so it no longer produces hair. Treatments last anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes. Other benefits of laser hair removal include:

• Permanent hair removal
• Effective treatments
• Safe procedures
• No downtime
• Long-term cost-effectiveness

To see if laser hair removal is right for you, schedule your consultation at Southwest Plastic Surgery today. Call our El Paso, TX office at (915) 590-7900. For your convenience, you may also fill out our online contact form for more information.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2015 at 10:02 am and is filed under Laser Hair Removal, Laser Treatments, Non-surgical Procedures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

If you are creeping closer towards that dreaded mid-century birthday, fear not. There are more ways than ever to age gracefully and preserve your youthful appearance, but it requires due diligence and skin care. It is important to maintain a healthy mindset and of course, eating a healthy diet and exercising goes a long way to remain young, both in mind and body. However, the face has a way of revealing one’s age, since it is the most vulnerable to damage from the sun and other toxins that we have consumed over the course of a lifetime.

At The Med Spa at Southwest Plastic Surgery of El Paso, TX, we offer more ways than ever for women and men to continue looking younger than their true age. Many of our methods are simple, outpatient visits that can be done within our board-certified facility. Modern technology has offered more convenient, non-invasive measures of preserving youth, so now it truly is possible to look ten to twenty years younger than your actual age.

Here are 5 Secrets to Look 10 Years Younger:

1. Protect Your Skin: How often do we walk out of the door every day, forgetting to apply sunscreen? Even in the winter or on cloudy days, people forget that the UV rays are constantly “out there” and it is important to use a minimum of SPF 30 for protection. Our Med Spa Colorescience “Sunforgettable” series is a perfect solution and easy to remember to apply, since it can be used just like makeup.
2. Hydration: As mentioned earlier, a healthy lifestyle goes a long way to preserve your face and skin. Drink enough water – and not the flavored kind – and you will help to maintain your skin’s elasticity.
3. Rejuvenation: Try getting a chemical peel or microdermabrasion, which removes the dead skin cells from your face and helps it to appear radiant, smoother, softer and younger.
4. Keep up With Dental Care: Just as important as it is for your face to look good, having regular dental care can help you stay younger. There is a direct link between periodontal disease and the toxins it can emit throughout your body, so keep up with those teeth cleanings and make sure to get professional whitening at least once every decade.
5. Ongoing Maintenance: Southwest Plastic Surgery offers a number of fillers that can add volume to your skin, which also makes you look younger by filling in those unsightly fine lines and wrinkles that; may creep up on your face.

 

It may sound like common sense, but don’t wait until you turn 50 before applying proper strategies to preserve your age. The younger you are, the better your chances of starting a great routine early and living a longer life at the same time.  

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2015 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Med Spa, Skin Treatments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

According to the latest statistics, at least 20% of all people who get tattoos regret the choice they made, and for a variety of reasons. Some regret it when they get rejected for a job they really wanted, or if they got denied entry into the military. Many branches of the military do not allow tattoos to be visible.

Other big regrets occur when people become parents or grandparents, especially when their tattoo that once seemed “cool” now lead to inquiries from children that they would otherwise prefer to bury under the rug. And then there are a few tattoo wearers who mistakenly etch the names of ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends on their skin, thinking the relationship will last forever.

For all of these regrets and more, the need for tattoo removal has become a popular alternative to living with the shame of a tattoo. In fact, the rise of tattoo removal services in the Southwest and other parts of the country has increased by 43% in the last five years. But now the rates might increase even more, due to the introduction of new technology available that will make tattoo removal an easy thing.

What is the easiest method of tattoo removal?

Residents of the Southwest can get PicoSure™ tattoo removal, which is a brand new, laser technology that makes it very easy and convenient to remove a tattoo. Whether small or large, the PicoSure™ advanced laser gives patients a flawless look that brings your skin back to its “pre-tattooed” condition, using rapid, pulsating energy waves that get down through the layers of skin. It doesn’t require any touching of the skin and is virtually painless, especially compared to the pain of getting a tattoo.

PicoSure™ is the latest technology offering tattoo removal for all colors in the least amount of treatments. Even if you have attempted tattoo removal with other lasers with little or no results, PicoSure™ tattoo removal can offer better clearance.

PicoSure™ tattoo removal is often recommended by tattoo artist to help in modifying present tattoos or helping in performing better cover-ups.

At Southwest Plastic Surgery in El Paso, we are pleased to bring this revolutionary new tattoo removal service to our MedSpa side of cosmetic enhancements. Most patients will require multiple sessions to get the full effect of PicoSure™ laser removal, but the secret is out and now more people than ever are coming to El Paso to get old, unsightly or undesirable tattoos plucked off their bodies.

If you are interested in removing a tattoo in Texas or New Mexico, schedule a consultation or PicoSure™ consultation with Southwest Plastic Surgery today.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 at 9:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

We have Hollywood starlets like Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian to thank for the fastest growing cosmetic procedure of our time, which is the butt augmentation. What was once a characteristic women tried to hide under clothing is now something they want to make bigger or more shapely. Having an ample booty gives women a more curvaceous, voluptuous appearance, although when amplified, it may require a new wardrobe to accommodate the larger size backside.

The ASAPS – American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery stated that the number of women who received butt augmentations last year had grown by 86% – which is in large part attributed to the major stars that are setting the trend.

There are several methods of butt augmentation that are popular, with one being the “Brazilian Butt Lift” which is done through fat injections. Also known as BBL, Dr. Agullo of Southwest Plastic Surgery in El Paso takes the excess fat stores from a patient’s thighs, waistline or hips and redistributes it to the buttocks. It not only makes the butt appear fuller and rounder, but also gives the patient a round, firm looking derriere.

Some patients opt for other types of butt procedures, such as a butt augmentation with implants, which is reserved mostly for patients who do not have enough fat stores from other body parts to do the fat transfer.

Dr. Agullo recommends everyone to avoid any type of other injections to the buttock. There have been some serious big booty mishaps in the news recently, with two women in New York dying from getting silicone injections done. Alejandra Guzman and others have had serious complications from cement or PMNA injections. Dr. Agullo has reconstructed over twenty patients with mineral oil or “collagen” injections. There is no other product, other than your fat, which should be injected into te buttocks.

Dr. Frank Agullo is a board certified plastic surgeon in Texas and New Mexico and performs hundreds of cosmetic enhancements and surgical procedures each year. He has won numerous awards, including Rising Star SuperDoctor of 2012, as well as holding the title of Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health sciences Center and University of Texas in El Paso. Dr. Agullo is one of the few buttock experts offering the full array of buttock procedures in the Southwest.

 

Those considering butt augmentations or butt lifts should contact Dr. Agullo at Southwest Plastic Surgery today to schedule a consultation. You can even see “after” photos of what your potential new butt will look like through a remarkable technology called the 3D Vectra Imaging System. Contact the office at 915-590-7900 today.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2015 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Brazilian Butt Lift, Butt Lift, Buttock Augmentation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

When you prepare for plastic surgery, it can be both exciting and nerve wracking. Having anxiety is perfectly natural, and Dr. Agullo and his kind staff do our best to put your mind at ease about all of the preparations to ensure smooth sailing and successful healing. However, part of being prepared for your big day is to understand everything fully, which can ultimately ease your worries and help to make the process go as planned.

Because you are so focused on the procedure itself, you may overlook the other aspects of plastic surgery that require full knowledge and understanding. One of those big things is anesthesia. There are three types of anesthesia, and they are both very different. General anesthesia is necessary for procedures that require a patient to be “sleeping”. For example, if you are getting a tummy tuck, which is considered more major than liposuction, most patients would receive general anesthesia.

A second type is local anesthesia, which literally isolates the specific area of the cosmetic procedure. It is also called “regional” anesthesia or AWAKE procedure. A lot of plastic surgery procedures can be done with local anesthesia, which is safer because it does not put the patient to sleep. As another example, if you are just getting a chin liposuction or blepharoplasty (upper eyelid) correction, then the area can be localized with local anesthesia. It numbs or blocks the pain to a specific body part in which the anesthesia has been applied, rather than being completely asleep.

The third type is conscious sedation. Think of it as a happy medium. You have the advantage of local anesthesia combined with sedation, but your body continues to breathe on its own. You are relaxed, will likely not remember anything, and have a decreased risk of aesthetic complications.

With local anesthesia, you will be awake and remember everything, although you may not feel anything in that part of your body until the anesthesia wears off. However, with general anesthesia, it will require longer recovery time and you cannot eat or drink anything on the day of (and evening before) your surgery.

You must understand that there are many more risks with general anesthesia. Local anesthesia poses little to no risk, unless you happen to get an allergic reaction, which is extremely rare. While it is important to understand this, you should also know that such incidents are very rare. Today’s monitoring equipment and equipment makes it possible for you to receive top quality care while you are being operated on. Make sure whomever you choose to do your surgery with also partners with a top, reputable anesthesiologist.

Dr. Frank Agullo has a hand picked anesthesia group to give his patients peace of mind that their surgery will go smoothly. Whenever possible, he will recommend local anesthesia if your cosmetic procedure is not something that requires a long time to complete. A happy medium for most procedures is the combination of local anesthesia with sedation, known as conscious sedation. Dr. Agullo particularly likes this because his patients are comfortable, remember very little or nothing at all, and you can get back to your day with less recovery time, less risk and less expense. Ask him your questions about anesthesia prior to any plastic surgery operation.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 25th, 2015 at 8:56 pm and is filed under Anesthesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Men go through great lengths to achieve those coveted six pack abs like models, but for many men who want flat abs and lack the time or ability to achieve them naturally through diet and exercise, are there any alternatives?  The answer is, yes, sort of.

Liposuction for men in Southwest Texas is available at Southwest Plastic Surgery of El Paso, and a growing number of men are forgoing the more traditional methods of rigorous diet and exercise to get a nip, tuck and liposuction done to achieve flatter abdominals. Is this fair? It all depends on how you look at it.

Let’s take a look at the strict dedication and time commitment that is required for a man to get six-pack abs. For some, even an hour of more at the gym each day would still never cut it, not to mention the very rigid diet that even the best bodybuilders have a hard time sticking to.

Getting a little help from a plastic surgeon is not necessarily a bad thing, especially for men who are only a little overweight and not obese. Men who get liposuction from a board-certified plastic surgeon such as Dr. Agullo can get stubborn ab fat, love handles and beer bellies whittled down and the fat can even be redistributed to other parts of the body which might need extra definition, such as the butt or chest. It takes a very talented plastic surgeon to achieve the sculpted look of perfectly defined pecks (pectoral, chest), and even men with the best of intentions may not be able to do it the old-fashioned way.

However, men’s liposuction is not always a fit for every man. A strong male candidate must have good skin tone and elasticity, with only moderate body fat. Men who have too much fat will not see a big change in the look of their abdomen, except for a decrease in the size. When there is too much loose skin, this will not give a man the sculpted look he seeks. Another surgery would be required to remove the sagging or baggy skin that is leftover, and even then, much work would be necessary in order to bring that tummy down to a desired fit.

Also it is important for men to allow enough time to recover and not expect to jump up off the surgery table and head out to the beach. After any surgery, Dr. Agullo recommends not exposing any incisions to UV rays for at least six months, and there are sensitive parts that may feel tender for a few weeks post-operative surgery.

Men who want great results must have reasonable expectations when it comes to fixing their biggest problem area, which is often the abs, belly, tummy, gut or stomach area, where men are prone to carry the most body fat. If you are wondering if you are a good candidate for men’s abdominoplasty in El Paso, contact Dr. Frank Agullo of Southwest Plastic Surgery and come for a visit and assessment.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Liposuction, Procedures for Men. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

It’s what is on the inside that counts, or so the saying goes. However, a new study done by the Georgetown University School of Medicine suggests that the outside matters too, at least in how strangers may perceive you.  

Depending on your own point of view, a facelift procedure can definitely do wonders to improve your appearance and self-esteem, but most people go through facial surgery for themselves, rather than because of someone else. There comes a certain age when people start noticing little details or lines and wrinkles popping up. Facelifts can include tightening, firming and can also include complementary prcedures such as eye lift, fat injections and brow lift.

However, if you are considering the advantages of whether or not to get a facelift, these new insights may interest you. The professors showed both preoperative and postoperative facelift photos to people who had never seen thirty women who were part of the facelift study, as well as surveying another one hundred seventy people. The strangers were asked simple questions about whether or not the women in the photos seemed likeable, trustworthy, and attractive – or contrarily – whether they seemed like risk-takers, aggressive, extroverted, etc. None of the respondents saw the same women in both the before and after photos, just to make the study more reliable and fair. Hence, no one interviewed was told whether or not any plastic surgery had been done to the women in the photographs.

The results were surprising! There were four specific characteristics pointed out by the reviewers. Femininity, attractiveness, social aptitude and likeability. A fifth runner-up trait mentioned by several respondents was trustworthiness. Based on these conclusions, the professors pointed out that having a lower eye lift and facelift procedure were the two perceived as most favorable; with the lower eyelift garnering the most.

Trying to determine why is anyone’s best guess, but perhaps people who carry more “serious” lines on their face may look tired, angry or unhappy simply because of the repeated expressive contours.

So, if there is anything we can take away from this interesting study, it is just another point that getting a facelift in El Paso, TX might make you seem more likeable, attractive, and trustworthy. Why not give it a chance? Come talk to Dr. Agullo today and get a free consultation to discuss whether a facelift plastic surgery is right for you!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2015 at 8:18 pm and is filed under Facelift. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.