Monmouth County, New Jersey Plastic Surgery Blog

Skin Cancer Screening

doctor — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:50:09 +0000

With the coming of summer 2012, people are once again taking off their shirts and are wearing shorts. Areas of our body which were not exposed to the sun all winter long now get a healthy dose of solar exposure. Everyone needs to be aware that an overdose of sun may lead to the development of one of three common types of skin cancer. Simply put they are listed as Basal Cell Cancer, Squamous Cell Cancer or Melanoma. All three forms of skin cancer have some relationship to sun exposure. If anyone develops a skin lesion or rash which does not completely heal and go away with conservative treatment they should seek the advice of a medical specialist for a possible biopsy of this area. Anyone who has a history or a prior skin cancer should get yearly “total body exam” to examine for the development of a new skin cancer.

American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery|2011 Statistics

doctor — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:21:43 +0000

The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) has recently released it 2011 plastic surgery statistics. This is similar to a recent blog I posted from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons however concentrates on cosmetic surgery. It is reported that over 1.6 million cosmetic procedures were performed in 2011. The top five cosmetic surgical procedures were: Liposuction, breast augmentation, abdominoplasty,eyelid surgery, breast lift. This was an increase of approximately 1% from the prior year.

New Jersey Plastic Surgeon Honored for Charitable Facial Reconstruction Surgery

doctor — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:44:48 +0000

Dr. Stephen Chidyllo, New Jersey plastic surgeon honored by the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association at their annual recognition gala. Dr. Stephen Chidyllo was recognized and honored at the annual recognition gala for his charitable contribution to the health care of Elaine Ruth Ferri. Ms. Ferri who is well known within the New Jersey horse racing community, and was a horse trainer for years at Monmouth Park, Oceanport New Jersey. On July 8, 2007 she was severely injured while training a horse in her hometown of Arkansas. The horse kicked her in the face shattering all of the bones on the left side. Elaine was emergently treated at one of the local medical centers and eventually transferred to the University of Arkansas Medical Center.

Approximately one year after her injury she was brought to New Jersey where Dr. Stephen Chidyllo performed multiple secondary reconstructive surgical procedures for the correction of her post-traumatic facial deformities. All of the services for the surgery was donated by Dr. Chidyllo and all of the doctors caring for her. The surgery took approximately 5 hours and she spent approximately one week in the hospital. To view a video of Elaine’s unbelievable story and testimony review the section on this website titled “patient stories” and click on the video player. http://plasticsurgerynewjersey.org/patient-stories.html

Local Surgeon Collects Clothing For the Local Homeless

doctor — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:09:06 +0000

Dr. Stephen A. Chidyllo and staff at Central New Jersey Plastic Surgery are Collecting unused clothing for the local homeless.

Approximately three summers ago when the local economy was slowing down my office decided to start a summer charity program to collect clothing to be distributed to the local homeless. Unfortunately there is a large homeless population located in “Asbury Park” and “Long Branch” New Jersey. My office posted some fliers in our office and distributed them to the other offices within our complex. We also posted it on our website. When our patients and friends found out about it the response was overwhelming. People were bring bags of clothing to the office daily. I needed to use one of the office rooms just to store all of the bags. Then I started to move the bags to my garage which eventually became full. Our only issue was how to distribute the clothing in an orderly and controlled fashion. Several charities would take the clothing and re-sell them at a discount. I didn’t want that. I wanted the clothing to be given away for free to families in need. Believe it or not this was not as easy as one would think!! As this was going on, the bags were still coming in and the garage was getting fuller. Oh Yhea I was also caring for my patients during my “day job”. Finally we found a local church which ran a “clothing pantry”. It was like a well organized rummage sale, but no one paid for the clothing. The person in charge instructed me to bring the clothing to the church on Monday morning, but don’t come until after 12 noon. So it did and after several trips from my house I emptied my garage!! I asked why I shouldn’t arrive before 12 noon when the sign on the door says that you open at 10am. I was told that on Monday morning there can be as many as 50 people waiting outside the door when they open, and they didn’t want for my to be stampeded. (are you for real) Well this summer project has been going on now for three years and two winters. Winters are the worse because the people need more clothing to stay warm!! We cant stop this “summer project” because people keep bring the clothing to our office every week!! What started off as a summer project ended up being a “healing” project for me as a learned more about my community and those in need.

Cosmetic Eyelid Surgery, Upper Lower or Both

doctor — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:28:02 +0000

Cosmetic eyelid surgery is not a procedure which one should take lightly. It is not a mater of having your plastic surgeon just excise excessive skin from your upper eyelids or removing fatty deposits from the lower eyelids.

The peri-ocular anatomy (about the eyes) is very complex and delicate. There are many muscles, nerves and blood vessels within this small compacted area. a common error which is ofter made in the preoperative evaluation of the patient is whether or not the patient has “eyebrow ptosis or brow ptosis” in combination with the drooping eyelids. If the patient has drooping of the eyebrows a discussion of a “brow lift” should be performed by your surgeon. If the patients issue is accurately determined to be excessive eyelid skin, then an upper eyelid blepharoplasty should be reviewed. In some cases the patient requires a combination of an eyelid lift along with a brow lift. A second common error is for a patient to believe that a lower eyelid surgery will treat or remove “dark circles” underneath the eyes. In actuality, in most cases, it will not. These circles are commonly caused by a combination of factors including blood vessels and the optical appearance of blood and shadowing directly beneath the skin. After the initial evaluation is complete, the issue of whether one needs only a upper eyelid surgery, lower eyelid surgery or both. In younger patients fatty deposits beneath the lower eyelid skin or laxity of the upper eyelid skin needs to be addressed. In older patients it is commonly seen that both the upper and lower eyelids needs to be treated. When I treat patients requiring either lower eyelid surgery or upper eyelids surgery, I strongly recommend that a complete eye exam be performed prior to the planned surgery.

Breast Augmentation, Breast Lift, When a Women is Considering Enhancing Her Breasts She Needs to Consider Both

doctor — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:25:02 +0000

Dr. Stephen A. Chidyllo, is a New Jersey Board Certified Plastic Surgeon and the the Chief of Plastic Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Dr. Chidyllo is also a regional “Spokesperson” for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Dr. Chidyllo States that Breast Augmentation (breast implants, breast enhancement) is one of the most frequently performed cosmetic surgical procedures in the United States. There has been reported by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, that over 307,000 breast augmentation procedures were performed by member surgeons in 2011. Due to Dr. Chidyllo’s extensive experience and training, he actually performs more secondary revision surgery (re-do breast augmentation) which are referred to him form other surgeons, than primary breast augmentations. By reviewing the difficulties that other surgeons encounter when performing breast augmentation surgery assists Dr. Chidyllo in the pre-operative planning of his patients requesting a primary, first time, Breast Augmentation.

Women have many options available to them today when considering cosmetic breast augmentation. Breast implants are available to women both as saline or silicone implants. The breast implants are also designed as smooth or texturized, round or anatomical (tear drop), moderate or high profile. The breast implants can be surgically placed either above the muscle, below the muscle or dual planer (partially above and below the muscle). At the time of the consultation, Dr. Chidyllo will review with the patient all of their options as they pertain to their individual case. Breast Implants and Breast Augmentation is not the same cosmetic surgery for all women. It is not like buying shoes, “you can’t take them off the shelf and put them on”. Every case and every women is individual and distinct.

When a women is considering breast augmentation surgery, years after childbirth, she may present with some excessive, loose breast glandular and skin tissue. This is especially true if she choose to “Breast Feed” her children. Many plastic surgeons will try to correct both the small breast size (Hypomastia) along with the loose breast tissue (Breast Ptosis) by performing a breast augmentation alone with a larger that anticipated breast implant. It is true that a breast augmentation will result in some degree of “breast Lifting”, however, sometimes the size and volume of the breast implant required to obtained the needed lift results in a larger size breast than desired by the patient. This ofter becomes a vicious cycle of frequently replacing the breast implants for larger ones every few years to adjust or keep up with the resulting laxity and drooping of the breast tissue and skin.

In cases where the women is requesting a breast augmentation, and that there is loose breast tissue and skin which needs to be taken into account, then a Breast Lift (Mastopexy) is often recommended. The breast lift may be performed at the same time or shortly after the breast augmentation. Dr. Stephen A. Chidyllo frequently performs a breast augmentation and breast lift (mastopexy) at the same operation. We set the final size of the breast with the implant, which can be placed either, below or above the chest muscle, and then the excess or drooping skin and breast tissue are shaped over the breast implant.

A women always needs to review all of these issues prior to her breast enhancement surgery. If she has excessive loose skin and breast tissue and she desires larger enhanced breast, she always needs to consider the possibility that her plastic surgeon will recommend a breast lift as part of her overall treatment of her cosmetic breast surgery. So remember that all breast augmentation surgery are not created equal. If the women desires larger breasts and she does not have a great deal of excess skin, then a breast augmentation may be performed alone. However if the women desires lager breasts and does have a significant amount of loose skin and breast tissue, then a breast lift in conjunction with a breast augmentation may be the recommended surgical procedure.

Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Statistics, 2011

editor — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:04:34 +0000

5 Percent Increase Leads to Second Consecutive Yearly Gain

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The plastic surgery market continues to show significant growth – two years in a row. According to statistics released today by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), 13.8 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures (both surgical and minimally-invasive) were performed in the United States in 2011, up 5 percent since 2010. In addition, 5.5 million reconstructive plastic surgery procedures were performed last year, up 5 percent.

“While the rate of economic recovery in the U.S. is still uncertain, 2011 proved to be a good year for plastic surgery,” said ASPS President Malcolm Z. Roth, MD. “Consumer confidence was up, auto sales rose 10 percent, so it is not surprising that we would also see increased demand for plastic surgery procedures.”

Cosmetic surgical procedures increased 2 percent, with nearly 1.6 million procedures in 2011. The top five surgical procedures were:

• Breast augmentation (307,000 procedures, up 4 percent)
• Nose reshaping (244,000 procedures, down 3 percent)
• Liposuction (205,000 procedures, up 1 percent)
• Eyelid surgery (196,000 procedures, down 6 percent)
• Facelift (119,000 procedures, up 5 percent)

Facelifts are among the top five cosmetic surgical procedures for the first time since 2004, replacing tummy tucks. Interestingly, a procedure popular with men, chin augmentation, nearly doubled in 2011, with 21,000 procedures performed, up 71 percent. Lip augmentation also rose significantly – up 49 percent, with more than 25,000 procedures performed.

“We are seeing notable increases in surgical procedures, such as facelifts, that reflect the demands of an aging boomer population,” said Dr. Roth. “However, the overall growth in cosmetic procedures is being primarily driven by a substantial rise in minimally-invasive procedures.”

Cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures increased 6 percent, with nearly 12.2 million procedures in 2011. The top five minimally-invasive procedures were:

• Botulinum toxin type A (5.7 million procedures, up 5 percent)
• Soft tissue fillers (1.9 million procedures, up 7 percent)
• Chemical peel (1.1 million procedures, down 3 percent)
• Laser hair removal (1.1 million procedures, up 15 percent)
• Microdermabrasion (900,000 procedures, up 9 percent)

Soft tissue fillers like hyaluronic acid (Restylane®, Juvederm Ultra®, etc.), calcium hydroxylapatite (Radiesse®), and fat injections experienced some of the largest growth in the minimally-invasive market during 2011. More than 1.3 million hylauronic acid procedures were performed in 2011, up 9 percent; 286,000 calcium hydroxylapatite procedures, up 36 percent; and 68,000 fat injections, up 19 percent.

Reconstructive plastic surgery, which improves function and appearance to abnormal structures, increased 5 percent in 2011. The top five reconstructive procedures were:

• Tumor removal (4.2 million, up 3 percent)
• Laceration repair (303,000, down 15 percent)
• Maxillofacial surgery (195,000, up 125 percent)
• Scar revision (175,000, up 9 percent)
• Hand surgery (120,000, up 13 percent)

Breast reconstruction rates continue to rise, with more than 96,000 procedures performed last year, up 3 percent since 2010.

“While insurance coverage for breast reconstruction is mandated by law, continued strides to provide coverage for other reconstructive procedures has contributed, in part, to the sizable gain that we are seeing with these procedures,” said Dr. Roth. “Reconstructive surgery is a critical pillar of the specialty, and it is encouraging to see that increasing numbers of patients entrust board-certified plastic surgeons to reconstruct their bodies after disease or trauma.”

To view the 2011 National Clearinghouse of Plastic Surgery Statistics report, visit www.plasticsurgery.org/2011-statistics. Visitors can also find information about procedures and referrals to ASPS Member Surgeons.

Reconstructive Surgeons Caution Against Injuries Caused by Lawnmowers

copywriter — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:35:06 +0000

247,000 people were treated for lawn mower-related injuries last year and more than 18,000 of them were children under age 19, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports. Lawn mower-related injuries have increased 7 percent since 2008.

With the summer mowing season approaching, the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (ASRM), American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons (ASMS), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) are working together to prevent injuries and educate adults and children about the importance of lawn mower safety.

“Lawn mower injuries are not only among the most devastating I’ve seen in over 20 years of practice, they are also the most preventable,” said ASRM President Peter Neligan, MD. “When a lawn mower injury happens to a child it is even more devastating because it is invariably due to the inattention of an adult. Don’t let your life or the life of your child be irrevocably changed by a moment of inattention.”

Many lawn mower-related injuries require a team of physicians from various specialties – plastic surgery, microsurgery, maxillofacial surgery, pediatrics, and orthopaedics – to properly repair them. Often, patients must endure painful reconstructive operations for months, sometimes years, to restore form and function.

“Lawn mower injuries often include deep cuts, loss of fingers and toes, limb amputations, broken and dislocated bones, burns, and eye injuries,” said ASPS President Michael McGuire, MD. “Most are caused by careless use and can be prevented by following a few simple safety tips.”

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