Cosmetic Surgery

Dr. Harry Fallick, cosmetic surgeon, says he doesn't really need to advertise. But he does so aggressively. His ads feature attractive models and beckon readers to "Join the Firm" by undergoing cosmetic surgery. As a result, Fallick's name has become familiar to many local magazine readers. Advertising "has merely allowed me to focus my practice and make my name familiar," Fallick says. "I love cosmetic surgery; it's what I believe I should do. " In other cities, particularly New York and Los Angeles, advertising by cosmetic surgeons is far more provocative and prolific, with pictures that could make a pin-up calendar seem tame by comparison.

ATLANTIC CITY - The latest casino promotion in Atlantic City gives new meaning to "going bust. " The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort plans to give $25,000 worth of plastic surgery to the winner of a player's card contest. The lucky one can mix and match surgeries including breast enhancements, tummy tucks, liposuction and face-lifts, until the total hits $25,000. "We wanted to change the face of a typical casino promotion," said Kathleen McSweeney, senior vice president of marketing for Trump Entertainment Resorts.

People thinking about cosmetic surgery face a daunting array of questions: Is this right for me? Can I afford it? How do I find a doctor qualified in the procedure I want - and how do I even decide what I want? Experts recommend thinking carefully and researching thoroughly before moving ahead. When selecting a surgeon, it can be helpful to seek out others who had the same procedure. Great-looking friends who had face-lifts may be able to recommend good surgeons. Make sure that you are comfortable with the doctor and his or her staff, and that all your questions are being answered.

Christopher Reitano was 44 and quite chipper most of the time, but he was always getting sympathy from people he met. "Do you have a cold? How are your allergies?" they would ask. Reitano was getting awfully self-conscious. "Basically, my eyes were baggy, especially on the upper eyelids. It was starting to get aggravating," said Reitano, who lives in Voorhees and is an international service manager for Siemens, the global electronics firm. "I decided to do something about it. " What Reitano did nearly four years ago is what a lot of baby-boom men are doing these days - heading for the plastic surgeon.

For a long time, Doris Newton thought about getting a face-lift. But she didn't have the nerve until she watched the television show Extreme Makeover. "It's amazing what they can do. You see a person looking one way, and after they do their magic they're transformed," said the Upper Pottsgrove grandmother, whose own transformation, her husband swears, took 10 years off her face. Other than in Beverly Hills, there are few places where the wonders of plastic surgery are more evident than on TV shows like ABC's Extreme Makeover, Fox's The Swan, and MTV's I Want a Famous Face.

A dozen years ago, a patient told plastic surgeon Bahman Guyuron that her forehead lift made her feel fabulous. Sure, she looked better. But the wrinkle-smoothing operation also endedher migraine headaches, something that decades of drugs and lifestyle changes had failed to do. After a similar case of serendipity, Guyuron became intrigued by the possibility that he had stumbled on a new way to help some of the 36 million hapless Americans who...

'A psychiatrist with a scalpel" is the way Mark Solomon describes himself. Solomon, who has been performing cosmetic and other plastic surgery for 26 years, said judging patients' expectations is just as important as operating skill. "If I can't deliver, my answer is, 'I'm not doing it,' " said Solomon, whose practice is based in Bala Cynwyd. He estimated that he rejects up to 30 percent of prospective patients, most because their expectations are unrealistic. Jesse A. Taylor, a plastic surgeon with Penn Medicine, said he turns down an even higher estimated number, up to 40 percent.

VANCOUVER'S Jenna Talackova , who looks like a busty Lisa Kudrow , was disqualified as a contestant in May's Miss Universe Canada pageant last week. Seems she was born male. But even though she no longer has a scepter, the rules of the contest run by the Donald Trump organization say that entrants must be "naturally born" females. The pageant's New York-based parent backed Miss Universe Canada's decision. "After review, organizers discovered that Jenna Talackova falsified her application and did not meet the necessary requirements to compete in the 2012 Miss Universe Canada pageant," a statement said.

John Harlan Moore Jr., 58, of Radnor, a plastic surgeon and educator at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, died of lung cancer on Monday, Sept. 26. Early in his career at Jefferson, Dr. Moore traveled with Operation Smile to developing countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Nicaragua, as well as to Africa to treat cleft lip and palate deformities. After a trip to Liberia in 1988, he told the Philadelphia Daily News, "There's tremendous satisfaction knowing you made an impact on one family by a simple operation.

Vagina envy is real. So, instead of leaving well enough alone, some women are opting to get a so-called designer vagina and undergoing labiaplasties to contour floppy, protruding inner lips. Some also are seeking liposuction to slim fatty pubic mounds. Although some patients request medical intervention because the way their bodies are configured makes them feel uncomfortable riding bicycles or doing other physical activities, the single biggest reason women request genital cosmetic surgery is aesthetics.

We send our love to Jessica Simpson, who must be relieved now that she's finally been delivered of the baby she's been talking, tweeting, writing, chatting, whispering, murmuring, dreaming about for the last nine months. Jess and fiance Eric Johnson on Tuesday welcomed a healthy, 9-pound-13-ounce daughter named Maxwell Drew Johnson. "This has been the greatest experience of our lives!" Jess wrote on her website. The ‘X Factor' follies Simon Cowell continues to scour the seven continents for new X Factor judges to replace Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul.

A dozen years ago, a patient told plastic surgeon Bahman Guyuron that her forehead lift made her feel fabulous. Sure, she looked better. But the wrinkle-smoothing operation also endedher migraine headaches, something that decades of drugs and lifestyle changes had failed to do. After a similar case of serendipity, Guyuron became intrigued by the possibility that he had stumbled on a new way to help some of the 36 million hapless Americans who...

VANCOUVER'S Jenna Talackova , who looks like a busty Lisa Kudrow , was disqualified as a contestant in May's Miss Universe Canada pageant last week. Seems she was born male. But even though she no longer has a scepter, the rules of the contest run by the Donald Trump organization say that entrants must be "naturally born" females. The pageant's New York-based parent backed Miss Universe Canada's decision. "After review, organizers discovered that Jenna Talackova falsified her application and did not meet the necessary requirements to compete in the 2012 Miss Universe Canada pageant," a statement said.

CAIRO - A lawmaker from Egypt's most conservative Islamist party resigned from parliament after he was caught lying to cover up a nose job, claiming the injuries to his heavily bandaged face were from a carjacking and beating. Parliament member Anwar al-Balkimy represented the Al-Nour party, whose members, known as Salafis, follow a strict interpretation of Islam that forbids cosmetic surgery as meddling in God's work. The party said Monday he had resigned; Al-Nour was forced to issue an embarrassing and apologetic statement.

Vagina envy is real. So, instead of leaving well enough alone, some women are opting to get a so-called designer vagina and undergoing labiaplasties to contour floppy, protruding inner lips. Some also are seeking liposuction to slim fatty pubic mounds. Although some patients request medical intervention because the way their bodies are configured makes them feel uncomfortable riding bicycles or doing other physical activities, the single biggest reason women request genital cosmetic surgery is aesthetics.

'A psychiatrist with a scalpel" is the way Mark Solomon describes himself. Solomon, who has been performing cosmetic and other plastic surgery for 26 years, said judging patients' expectations is just as important as operating skill. "If I can't deliver, my answer is, 'I'm not doing it,' " said Solomon, whose practice is based in Bala Cynwyd. He estimated that he rejects up to 30 percent of prospective patients, most because their expectations are unrealistic. Jesse A. Taylor, a plastic surgeon with Penn Medicine, said he turns down an even higher estimated number, up to 40 percent.

David Sarwer, of Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, an authority on mental health issues in cosmetic surgery, offers a course at the annual convention of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and has drawn up lists of three questions physicians should ask of patients requesting cosmetic surgery and three questions the patients should ask themselves. For the physician Can the plastic surgeon really see the defect?   Does the patient report impaired daily function based on his or her appearance?

ATLANTIC CITY - The latest casino promotion in Atlantic City gives new meaning to "going bust. " The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort plans to give $25,000 worth of plastic surgery to the winner of a player's card contest. The lucky one can mix and match surgeries including breast enhancements, tummy tucks, liposuction and face-lifts, until the total hits $25,000. "We wanted to change the face of a typical casino promotion," said Kathleen McSweeney, senior vice president of marketing for Trump Entertainment Resorts.

John Harlan Moore Jr., 58, of Radnor, a plastic surgeon and educator at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, died of lung cancer on Monday, Sept. 26. Early in his career at Jefferson, Dr. Moore traveled with Operation Smile to developing countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Nicaragua, as well as to Africa to treat cleft lip and palate deformities. After a trip to Liberia in 1988, he told the Philadelphia Daily News, "There's tremendous satisfaction knowing you made an impact on one family by a simple operation.

SAO PAULO - Newly crowned Miss Universe Leila Lopes wants to help her native Angola further escape a history of war and impoverishment and said she plans to focus on combating HIV around the globe. Speaking early yesterday shortly after taking the crown in South America's largest city, the 25-year-old Lopes said that "as Miss Angola I've already done a lot to help my people. " "I've worked with various social causes. I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV. I work to protect the elderly and I have to do everything that my country needs," she said.