Get Ready for Summer! - Center for Plastic Surgery

Now is the time to get ready for summer! Our patients are frequently looking to get themselves ready for swimsuit season—before the season starts. The most common plastic surgery procedures in Washington, DC, are breast augmentation, liposuction, and abdominoplasty. These are frequently combined in the popular procedure known as the Mommy Makeover.

The Makeover is usually for the postpartum patient who wants to have a combined breast procedure – such as breast augmentation, breast lift (mastopexy), or breast reduction – combined with an abdominoplasty.

The breast augmentation surgery recovery is better than ever, and now is a rapid recovery procedure with the introduction several years ago of our pre-op pain protocol and the use of long-acting local anesthesia given at the end of the surgery. Patients are able to recover more quickly and become active much faster than even 10 years ago.

Also, the quality, and variety, of breast implants has never been better. We have an excellent method for helping patients figure out the right implant size for them. Everybody is different about the size they want to be!

Liposuction continues to be a very successful and satisfying procedure for many patients. Now we have added a new piece of technology called J-Plasma, which can be used to help tighten skin. So a patient who has good skin tone is perfect for liposuction alone. Patients who have a lot of stretched out skin, such as those who have had babies or weight loss, most often need an abdominoplasty or full body lift.

However, there are patients who are in between and could benefit from some skin tightening, but don’t want a scar or need a full abdominoplasty, thigh lift, or arm lift. These patients may be excellent candidates for liposuction with the addition of J-Plasma.

J-Plasma can be done through the same small incisions used for liposuction and provides skin tightening through a proprietary technology that heats the skin from underneath and causes collagen tightening.

Depending on the combination of procedures, the surgery can be done as an outpatient procedure—either in our private OR in our Virginia office, or as an outpatient at Sibley Hospital. Patients who have combined procedures, come from out of town, or simply want help the first night, may choose to spend the night in our special post-op ward at Sibley Hospital.

Whatever problem or combination you might be thinking of, we would encourage you to visit us, so that you can learn about all the options and get yourself ready for the summer!