It's Never Too Late to Start Wearing Daily Sunscreen

Big Sur redwoods 2

The new sunscreens are fantastic compared to what existed in the past. There are two spectra of damaging light that sunscreens need to block: ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB). The UVB are the burning rays, and the chemicals that are typically used in sunscreens do a pretty effective job of blocking these rays. The new chemicals don’t usually cause sensitivity or allergic reactions, either.

The big problem is UVA. These rays penetrate deeply into the skin, destroy facial fat deposits, and cause long-term damage that isn’t marked by immediate sunburn. There had been no chemical way to block these, so the clever scientists were able to make physical particles smaller and smaller until they could be rubbed into the skin and actually block out a great deal of the radiation. Formerly, zinc oxide (or Desinex) cream was used by skiers, lifeguards and other people who needed heavy-duty ultraviolet protection. Zinc oxide preparations were available in colors, so you may remember skiers putting colored cream on their noses and cheeks like war paint. However, the new preparations contain micronized (very, very small) particles that can be rubbed in, and are virtually colorless on the skin. These also generally don’t cause any allergies, but they might be a little bit less elegant than the more creamy chemicals that are used to block UVB.

Our particular proprietary sunscreen contains the particulate zinc and iron that can be rubbed into the skin and is a good alternative, particularly for those with dark skin. For those needing the total block, such as those being treated for dark spots on their skin, or people who’ve had cancers or who really understand how important it is to keep the sun off of their skin, we recommend Fallene Coat Total Block. This contains both the particulate block for the UVA and the chemical block for UVB. You can buy this online or in many pharmacies.

One last consideration is vitamin D deficiency, which is somewhat controversial but thought to be a relatively common thing due to the sunscreens. It doesn’t do any harm to take a vitamin D supplement, 5000 IU per day, which is more than is generally recommended by the FDA.

Scared of Needles But Want the Benefits of a Cosmetic Specialist?

Seattle Harbor at Night

We are specialists in “scaredy-cat” patients. Are you afraid of needles? Dr. Yoho has special techniques to make your experience in surgery or even a minimally invasive procedure as painless as possible. For example, he has a method where he starts an I.V. using a very tiny needle and a tiny amount of local anesthetic and almost no pain is perceived by the patient. Before the local anesthetic is put into the skin, he scratches the area in order to fool the nerves and most people feel nothing at all.

Also, many “non-invasive” procedures are performed with just numbing cream placed on the face. Dr. Yoho believes that all of his patients should have a chance to go to sleep briefly if they wish, and accordingly, offers his “non-invasive” patients no-charge sedation for their procedure. Of course, they need to be accompanied by a person who can drive them home, but they generally feel fine within 15 minutes of waking up, because the sedation medicine is so short acting.

Additionally, we use a special Botox needle that most people can’t feel. It’s a 32-gauge needle, which is smaller than was ever available a few years ago. By pressing the fingernail into the area to be injected, the nerves again are fooled and often the patients feel no injection for the Botox.

About Breast Implant Warranties

For all patients that have had Mentor implants within the last ten years: you can switch to saline whether you have a deflation or not, and all you have to do is pay $300 for each implant to go from saline to silicone, which are over the muscle and much better. They’ve come out with a new silicone implant that’s made of gel and FDA-approved and people have had a great success with it.

Allergan implants are a little different, and you can call our office and give us your information. If you are ten years out, you still get $1,200 or $2,400 if you upgraded. And they will replace one side, possibly two.

But you’re more than welcome to call our office at 626-585-0800 and ask us about the warranties on the implants, because many people are coming up on the ten-year cutoff.

Massage Therapy of Breast Implants and Breasts After Breast Implantation

On the beach in Trinidad

Most surgeons believe massage to be of critical importance after breast implantation, as it is thought by most to decrease the chances of firming of the breast or capsular contracture. We generally recommend massage, but it must be done in specific ways, so please discuss this with Dr. Yoho during your follow-up visits.

During the first few days after breast implantation, you do not have to massage your breasts because generally they are too tender. But if you can handle a little light massage, this will help you get the best results. The first object of massage is to keep the area above the implant open. In order to do this, you squeeze the bottom of the breast implant and breast with your thumb on one side and your fingers on the other, several times a day. Again, these techniques must be individualized, so if your breasts are taped up or you are in a special garment, don't massage it until after your first follow-up visit.

The other wonderful thing about massage is that you can reshape your breasts, particularly in the first few months after your implantation, with the proper massage. For example, in order to lower or increase the pocket in an area that seems to need a larger pocket, in other words, if there is a little flat area, pull up on the skin right next to the fold, push the implant down, and massage right along the fold with your other hand. We will demonstrate this technique in follow-up. If your fold seems too high on one side, you can lower the fold a bit by doing this type of massage. Examine the lower part of your breasts where the chest skin meets the upward swell of your breast, so you can understand the curve and how each breast is different, because they are always a little bit different. You can dramatically improve your breast implant results by the proper massage.

We also use a variety of support bras to improve the result. We strongly recommend that most patients wear bras continuously for the first nine to twelve months after the breast implant procedure. Many patients are a candidate for a properly fitting under-wire bra relatively soon after the surgery, but if you have an under-wire bra that sticks into your breast, that's not proper so please don't wear anything like this. If you're having discomfort, we want to know about it and see you as soon as possible. Please stay in close contact over the telephone and by coming in for your follow-up as directed in order to achieve the best results. Remember that your surgery is not done the moment you leave the office, because if you don't follow up and you don't follow our instructions properly, you may have breasts that hang too low, or have one breast higher than the other, or run into a variety of other complications. Rarely do we need to perform a second surgery to improve a result, and this is generally not necessary in a patient who is able to follow directions about bra wear and massage properly.