California bans teen tanning

Beginning January 1, 2012, teens under age 18 in California will no longer be permitted to use tanning beds.

This makes California the first state to prohibit minors from using commercial indoor tanning devices, regardless of parental consent.

The measure was sponsored by the California Society of Dermatology and Dermatological Surgery and the AIM at Melanoma Foundation. A spokesman for the Indoor Tanning Association said the ban will hurt businesses, since 5-10% of ITA members' customers are under 18.

If teens want a tan, they'll have to do it the old-fashioned way: outside!

"Botox Bandit" gets 5 years of jail time

This week in Orange County, California, the "Botox Bandit" was sentenced to five years in prison for committing multiple burglaries, fraud and identity theft against several Orange County businesses. The California woman got her nickname after using fraudulent checks to pay for more than $3,000 worth of Botox treatments, in addition to a string of other crimes.

Melissa Chesney, 46, pleaded guilty to 21 felony counts, including nine counts of burglary, five counts of identity theft, four counts of forgery, two counts of grand theft, and one count of possession of a controlled substance.

According to the D.A.'s office, Chesney admitted using fake identities and fraudulent checks at six different businesses between February and May 2009. She also admitted to committing burglary and grand theft against a department store in January 2009, and burglary, forgery, possession of a fraudulent driver's license and possession of methamphetamine in February 2009.

Sounds like her facial wrinkles were the least of her problems!!

Source: O.C. Register

Don't Inject your Buttocks (or anything else) with liquid Silicone

The Orange County (California) Register is reporting the death of a 22 year old California woman following illegal silicone injections to her buttocks (link here).

It's a tragic story. Combine the ingredients of a young, uneducated patient with an unlicensed practitioner working in a non-medical setting, and add injections with some adulterated, non-medical-grade liquid silicone material, possibly mixed with other unknown substances. Bad news.

Just like the recent death of the former Miss Argentina under similar circumstances, pulmonary complications, due to the embolization of the injected material to the lungs, are believed to be the cause of death.

Other than retinal detachments and certain other specific ophthalmologic issues, I'm not aware of any legitimate (FDA-approved) cosmetic use for silicone injections. Long term problems caused by liquid silicone injections can be extremely difficult to repair. Just don't do it. Even if it "seems like a good deal".

Proven ways to improve the shape of the buttock area include:
1) liposuction of the waist, hips and thighs to shape the area;
2) fat grafting to the buttocks;
3) FDA-approved solid silicone buttock implants;
4) lower body lifting surgery.

Currently, there is no FDA-approved injectable material for large volume soft tissue augmentation.

Can anybody perform liposuction?

When it comes to crowded markets, Southern California has got to be tough for those offering liposuction. There's competition around every corner, it seems.

Recently, a study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery did a survey of liposuction providers in Southern California, and the results were eye-opening in terms of surgical training and experience.

They found that in the 45,000 square mile area encompassing Los Angeles and San Diego, there are 1867 cosmetic practitioners of all backgrounds.

- Of these, 834 offered liposuction.
- only 495 of the 834 were trained in plastic surgery,
- 140 were trained in ENT (ear/nose/throat),
- 63 were trained in dermatology.
- Most of the rest were primary care doctors, Ob-Gyn, Ophthalmologists or General Surgeons.

The study found that nearly 40% of liposuction practitioners in Southern California had no surgical training in liposuction before entering practice.

Not surprisingly, the mainstream media picked up on this. Here's the story presented in the LA Times. (link)

So it becomes a question of patient safety versus free-trade. Traditionally trained plastic surgeons, like myself, favor limiting liposuction to those specialties that have actual surgical training, and in particular, training in liposuction. After all, liposuction is an invasive surgery, with potential for real complications. Patient safety is certainly an issue. The non-surgical types, on the other hand, counter with cries of "turf battle" or "restraint of trade".

My opinion: Not just anyone should be allowed behind the controls of a 747. Do you want a Captain Sullenberger (miracle landing on the Hudson river) as your pilot, or do you want some guy who's seen the movie "Top Gun" a few times?

I know what my choice would be. Lawmakers and consumers need to make up their minds.

The SoCal "Boobie Bandit"

And now, one of those "News of the Weird" stories...

Allegedly, a woman in Huntington Beach, CA, recently used a stolen identity to open a line of credit, which was then used to finance a breast implant exchange and liposuction surgery, worth $12,000. The woman lied to her doctor and the staff of the surgery center about her name and personal information, but when she didn't show up for any of the post-operative appointments, the staff became suspicious.

The shapely criminal might have gotten away with this theft - except for one minor detail. Her old breast implants had a registered tracking number, as many implanted devices do. This was used to track down her true identity...

The woman turned herself into custody last week, one day after the story and her photo were made public on the national news and internet.

No news yet on whether the upcoming trial will be televised, or if the stolen property will be repossessed!