Beware of the marketers. Industry, companies, and doctors can all be guilty of making medicine more into a marketing arena than something based in science, what we call “evidence based medicine.” There are buzzwords thrown around in the media which tantalize… OOH. Do you do liposculpting? Liposelection? Laser liposuction? Or that plain old regular liposuction.
I just went to the TIPS meeting in San Francisco- Technology innovation in plastic surgery. One of the speakers talked about old buzzwords and the new up and coming ones. I found it interesting, as I trained in the early days of “laser”- where everything would be better if a laser was involved. Skin resurfacing by those old chemical peels or laser resurfacing. A breast lift or a laser breast lift. Eyelift or a laser eyelift. Lasers sounded so cool, so hip, so NEW. It must be better, right? But when people used the laser, what laser? How was it used? What did it do to make the surgery procedure better? There are hundreds of different lasers. Just throwing around that word does not make for a better result. Many of us found there was much more hype than real results. And when you looked at the cost, risks, and little effect, are you better to do the NONlaser resurfacing?
So beware of the new sexy words. In my blogs I will try to help demystify them. There are absolutely exciting advances being made. The new buzz on these advances is enticing for a reason. But unfortunately unscrupulous marketers, media, and some doctors are putting the hype before the scientific proof it works, and many are using the words without actually doing it.
OLD BUZZWORDS:
- Flap and micro surgery
- laser
- ultrasound
- antiaging
CURRENT SEXY NEW WORDS
- Antiaging
- Stem cell. (Stem cell facelift, stem cell fat grafting).
- Growth factors.
- Ultrasonic, radiofrequency, photo
- Laser, fractionated laser
FUTURE BUZZ WORDS
- Regeneration
- Gene therapy and modulation
These are all real true advances in cosmetic and plastic surgery, but be wary of those who claim big gains. With any product or claim, ask “Where is the science?” Ask for scientific papers and proof before blindly signing up. The speaker highlighted one of the products. His quote, which I loved, I will repeat:
“If you have to show the effect of the product on EM (electronic microscopy) and not a typical H&E histology stain, then you are likely not going to see a clinical effect.” In English what this says is if you have to blow it up a gazillion times under a microscope to see what it is doing, and can’t see it under a normal histologic slide, then it isn’t doing anything you, the patient who does not have eyes which focus as well as a microscope, will see.