Pages

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Doctors discuss a face-lift for Japan's plastic surgery societies

News photo
Beyond skin deep: A salesman at the 35th annual meeting of the Japan Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery on Oct. 11-12 showcases a Korean thread face-lift, which he says revitalizes facial skin and smoothes out wrinkles. TOMOKO OTAKE

Though it's hardly talked about in public, cosmetic surgery appears to be an increasingly popular option in Japan for people trying to enhance their looks and defy the signs of aging.

According to statistics released last December by the International Society of Plastic Surgeons, Japan ranked fourth in the number of cosmetic-surgery procedures performed annually, trailing the United States, Brazil and China. Doctors in Japan carried out an estimated 525,790 procedures in 2010, which ranged from liposuction to nose jobs, eyelid modifications and breast implants, in descending order of popularity. The same survey also noted that there were 1,831 plastic surgeons in Japan.


The 35th annual meeting of the Japan Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (JSAPS), held earlier this month at a Tokyo hotel offered an intriguing look into this booming and diverse industry. During the 50 seminars, symposiums and panel discussions, as well as another 50 or so oral presentations given over two days, practitioners shared numerous case studies of patients, showing before and after — and mid-procedure — images and information.

One major focus of discussion this year was the topic of surgical techniques that are most suited for Japanese physical features. Many experts said that, since many of the existing cosmetic procedures were imported from the U.S., they needed to be tweaked and improved to best match the demands and needs of Japanese patients. In a panel discussion on face-lifts, for example, Dr. Yorikatsu Watanabe of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Hospital said that many patients in Japan sought procedures that don't require hospitalization, and that are less invasive and less noticeable but still had long-lasting effects. He presented examples of 10 women between ages of 35 and 71, whose MACS (Minimal Access Cranial Suspension Lift) face-lifts were each performed in just a few hours and included some extra minor procedures, such as modifying the shape of the lower eyelids.

However, Dr. Yuki Shimizu of Showa University in Tokyo stressed that there are limits to such quick operations and instead advocated a "fat-reposition" procedure, which involves injections of fat harvested from elsewhere on the face, and hospitalization for a week. Dr. Yoshiro Suzuki of Spa Clinic in Tokyo, meanwhile, pointed out that the facial skin of ethnic Asians tends to be thicker than that of Caucasians, making it hard for face-lifts to get desired effects. "Japanese people also like to have smaller faces," he said. "So we often combine face-lifts with liposuction under the chin, to make the jaw line between the face and the neck more striking."

In a discussion on eyelids, experts talked about everything from eyelash transplants and reconstruction for victims of dog bites to double-eyelid surgery and lower-lid bag removal. Discussions also included non-surgical topics, including the possible anti-aging benefits of vitamins C and D. The wide-ranging topics reflect a growing awareness in the plastic surgeons' community that there is a need for a whole new area of medicine that meets people's "quest for beauty" — as the two-day symposium, which attracted hundreds of experts, was titled.

Hosting technical seminars is crucial to raising the overall quality of practitioners, which varies quite dramatically at present, said Dr. Kaneshige Sato, professor of plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery at Chiba University, who chaired the academic conference. "Aesthetic surgery in Japan has a dodgy side to it, in terms of reliability and safety," admitted Sato, who himself made a presentation on craniofacial surgery — major surgery involving the correction of skull deformities. "Because we don't have a proper, standardized education system for plastic surgeons in Japan, there are some unscrupulous doctors or practitioners who are not doctors performing (extremely high-risk) surgery."

What has further complicated the situation, he went on, is that for decades in Japan, there have been two academic societies of doctors that, despite having different English acronyms, bear exactly the same name in Japanese: Nihon Biyo-Geka Gakkai. The annual meeting, therefore, included a session aimed at eventually merging the two societies. Sato belongs to the Japan Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (JSAPS), which is mostly comprised of university doctors with backgrounds in plastic and reconstructive surgery, in which they have traditionally dealt in the reconstruction of facial features after accidents and treatments for congenital deformities.

Doctors in the other camp — the Japan Society of Aesthetic Surgery (JSAS) — practice at private-sector clinics, which are seen as standard bearers of general appearance-enhancing and anti-aging procedures in Japan. During the session, though he was not present at the conference, professor emeritus of Hokkaido University Dr. Takehiko Oura's proposal to merge the groups into a single academic society in 10 years was considered. Some speakers, however, pointed to the long-standing rift between the two societies, based on their ideological and work-ethic differences. Dr. Katsuya Takasu, a high-profile cosmetic surgeon who is a member of both societies, said that Dr. Fumihiko Umezawa, leader of the JSAS who heads Jujin Hospital in Tokyo, is dead set against the merger.

Many agreed, however, that eventually, cosmetic surgeons in Japan will have to come under one wing, so that a standardized accreditation and education program will be provided. Currently, many young doctors enter the highly lucrative specialty with little or no training at all. "Some clinics offer as much as ¥20 million as an annual salary to young doctors who have just completed their mandatory two-year internship training, with a promise of a pay rise to ¥30-¥40 million in several months," Sato said ahead of the conference. "You would think something fishy must be going on. There are doctors out there who persuade people who don't really need cosmetic surgery into undergoing a procedure. Those people will often pay hundreds of thousands of yen in monthly installments. There are also cases of people dying from cosmetic surgery and being sexually abused during operations. "As it is, it's very difficult for patients to tell good doctors from bad doctors. We need to bring this confusion surrounding the industry to an end as soon as possible."

Japan Times

Please share

12 comments:

  1. Rhinοplasty is conducted fоr a wide
    range of factοrs to сorrect both visuаl and aгсhitесtural concеrns.
    The Rhinoplastу Surgeon makеs inсisiοns
    оn either ѕide of the nοѕе
    or across the septum that divides the nose. Alеxanԁer
    Rіvkin MD iѕ a format Υale faciаl сoѕmetіc ѕurgeon and prοfesѕor at UCLA
    whο has сoncеntratеd his practice
    if patients wіth recent non-inѵasіve, non-ablative cosmetic tгеatments.
    my site - kakapo.offersbookmarks.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. ΕNT ԁoctοrѕ іn London pгobably addrеss maxіmum number of ear, nοse аnd thгoat relateԁ ԁisorԁers
    in Еurope. Cоsmetiс plastic surgeгіeѕ include surgicаl anԁ nonѕurgісal pгοcedurеs to impгοve appeaгanсe
    аnd self-esteem. ӏm eхcееdingly intriguеԁ cοnсerning the distinсtіon
    betwеen Νose Magіc and Nоse Huggiе.


    my ωеb blοg: Rhinoplastik

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you would like to get much from this post then you have to apply such techniques to your won weblog.


    Look at my page: SMART Lipo and COOLSculpting

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the valuable information you provide in your articles.

    I will bookmark your blog and check again here regularly.
    I am quite certain I'll learn a lot of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!

    Also visit my web blog Phuket International Hospital

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello! This post couldn't be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this page to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

    Look into my page :: plastic surgery without the surgery the miracle of makeup techniques
    My web page: breast bigger

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi would you mind sharing which blog platform you're working with? I'm planning to start
    my own blog soon but I'm having a difficult time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I'm looking
    for something completely unique.
    P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!


    Also visit my blog Stem Cell Therapy for Erectile Dysfunction

    ReplyDelete
  7. An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a coworker who has been conducting a little research on this.
    And he actually bought me lunch due to the fact that I found it for him.
    .. lol. So allow me to reword this.... Thanks for
    the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending the time to talk about this topic here on your website.


    Take a look at my page - How To Get Rid of Acne

    ReplyDelete
  8. I absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post's to be just what I'm looking for.
    Would you offer guest writers to write content in your
    case? I wouldn't mind publishing a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write related to here. Again, awesome site!

    Here is my page; how to get pregnant fast

    ReplyDelete
  9. Howdy! I simply want to give an enormous thumbs up for the good information
    you could have here on this post. I can be coming
    back to your weblog for extra soon.

    Stop by my site cherry bomb mufflers

    ReplyDelete
  10. Whats up! I simply would like to give an enormous thumbs up for the great data you
    will have here on this post. I shall be coming back to your blog for more
    soon.

    My web-site; laser and cosmetic surgery in maryland

    ReplyDelete
  11. Howdy! I simply would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great info you’ve
    got here on this post. I might be coming again to your blog for extra
    soon.

    Also visit my web blog; enesco cherished teddies christmas

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello! Quick question that's completely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My website looks weird when browsing from my apple iphone. I'm trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to
    correct this problem. If you have any suggestions, please share.
    Thank you!

    Also visit my website ... chiseled face

    ReplyDelete