Monday, October 1, 2012

Imitation is...

How does the saying go...Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.  Well, I guess so.

My office is proud to have been the first in Louisville to introduce lots of things.  Here's a partial list:

Plastic Surgery office-based prescription skin care
Computer Imaging
Sciton Contour Profile Laser for facial rejuvenation
Shaped, anatomical tear-drop saline breast implants
"Quick Recovery" Breast Augmentation technique
VASER ultrasonic liposuction
VASER 2.0 High-Definition Liposuction with Fat Transfer
VASER Shape
High-Lateral Tension Abdominoplasty with Circumferential Liposuction
Style 410 form-stable, fully cohesive silicone gel breast implants (Gummi Bear implants)
Sculptra Aesthetic
Extended Deep-plane SMAS facelift

It's a great list, and it speaks to the breadth and scope of practice that my office strives to offer cosmetically inclined patients in our community.  I am pleased that as leaders in the field, other offices have watched what we do, and have decided to add many of these facets to their cosmetic practices as well.

When it comes to being the first to offer something meaningful in clinical practice, nothing takes the place of having a thorough understanding of the patients we serve and for truly understanding their needs... for that is what really allows visionaries to provide the products and services of tomorrow that will have lasting relevance in plastic surgery.  It's also just as important to be able to weed out the new techniques and technology that just don't stack up, and to vow to offer only new technology - or to stick to the tried and true over what may be newer -  because it's the best option for patients.

You can follow trends...or you can set them.  I'll bet you can guess which I prefer.

J.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

VASER Shape Clinical Study...College Road Trips

Summer is over...
School is well underway...

My girls are riding their hearts out...Kaitlyn won 8th place out of a very large division of qualified riders at the American Eventing Championships in Atlanta last weekend, winning 8th place out of over 80 riders from across the country...Go Kaitlyn and Buck!  A year and a half ago, her father, trainer and I all offered to trade Buck in on a newer, more forgiving version of horseflesh, but Kaitlyn convinced us there was a "winner in there", and she was determined to get it to come out...so we persisted.  Sometimes our kids do have the answers (or maybe it's blind faith), and if we can allow ourselves to follow their wisdom and instinctual desire every now and then, that willingness to let nature take its course (btw...when, in our formative years, do we "learn" to become such control freaks?), sometimes things just seem to work out.  Anyway, Buck certainly found his way into just the right teenager's heart...I still think he could easily have ended up in the circus...

Kaitlyn's twin sister Lexie is transitioning toward a higher level eventing horse, and while lovingly finding the will to part with her first "dream horse", is showing us a level of maturity and patience that we hadn't realized she'd even learned. 

Even though their father and I have had a full 16 years to prepare for this time...thinking about careers and colleges is here.  I love to say it is the time I've been "dreading" since they were born...the day they will leave...but do kids EVER really leave anymore?  Anyway, it is an exciting time too, and they are so excited about what lies ahead, so I am trying to get into it as well.  Every weekend we go somewhere really cool to think about whether we could really be happy students there and achieve the best we can be, we investigate the "fit", and then we come home again and wonder if it will really all be okay.  The family is supposedly coming up with a plan for mom's survival when the girls leave home together...I hope it involves more horsey time for me...

And here in the office we are preparing to begin the first clinical VASER Shape study.  The study will begin at the end of October and will hopefully provide more definitive data regarding how the technology works so well, and at the same time, shed new light perhaps on upcoming innovative design change which would further improve results.  Many of you may have seen the article in the fall issue of Her Scene this month comparing VASER Shape with CoolSculpting.  The reader can form their own opinion, but having had both treatments myself, I can tell you that we are very pleased with our decision to incorporate VASER Shape into our body sculpting options and would make the same decision now regarding which technology to choose...a full 24 months following our original selection date...VASER Shape is still the best noninvasive body contouring technology...results are achieved faster and with fewer treatments (and more comfortably) than any other noninvasive technology.  This will be born out by the clinical study, and we hope to have results to share soon.  We are still accepting study pateints at this time, so if you know of interested patients, tell them to call us to be included in an upcoming evening informational seminar about study participation.

The office surgical menu is expanding once again...many of you may know that the office has acquired the new VASER 2.0 device, which incorporates improved internal ultrasonic capabilities for liposuction, comfortably performed here in the office setting, while also simultaneously allowing the fat harvested to be immediately available in injectable form to enhance areas such as the face, lips or other muscle groups for enhanced definition (High Def Lipo with fat injection).  We also continue to offer eyelid lifts (blepharoplasty) to pateints who would like the convenience and cost savings of having surgery outside the surgery center setting.  Inquire about an office consultation if you are interested in our office surgery offerings to see if you would be a candidate!  

We are also planning a Holiday Open House for Wednesday December 5th, so stay tuned for more details about that or call Cynthia to be placed on the guest list.  We will be showcasing surgical and nonsurgical options for facial rejuvenation, and breast and body contouring enhancement techniques, as well as live demonstrations of popular procedures, including VASER Shape.  There will be skin care and injectable product vendors on site, and lots of door prizes and festive refreshments!

Laters followers!

Julene         

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Do You Have Cowgirl Smarts? ... Then exercise them!

Hi everyone!  I just had a birthday, and a special gift that I received from my dad was a little book called, "Cowgirl Smarts...How to Rope a Kick-Ass Life".  I was told by my mother that in a rare "together shopping moment", my dad encouraged my mom to "get this book for Julene", which, mostly to shut him up, my mother did!  As fate would have it, this little book of course, turned out to be one of my favorite birthday presents.  I haven't had the chance yet to sit down with my sweet father and ask him exactly why it occurred to him that his oldest daughter should have a copy of this book, but I am hoping that, and until I can ask him for clarification I will go on assuming that maybe the reason is that he thinks I might have "cowgirl smarts"...of course, the other alternative is that he thinks I might NEED more "cowgirl smarts"!

This little gem of a book is about Life Lessons obtained from cowgirls who tamed the West, and when you think about it, some of those women had to have been pretty tough and potentially gutsy role models for many generations of women to come.  My parents and schoolteachers taught me and inspired me from a young age to believe that I could become whatever I wanted to be in life.  They inspired in me a sense of self-confidence that was genderless. 

So, for years I believed I could easily become anything or anyone I wanted to be, but as I looked toward the top surgical residencies after medical school, and then for Plastic Surgical residencies after General Surgery residency, I realized that in the "real world" of the career I had chosen, there were not hundreds of women who had gone before me.  Where were my female role models?  I had chosen a career that, throughout most of my training, was not totally devoid of female physician/surgeon role models, but there were few.  I then chose a surgical specialty and residency where I was the 11th female Plastic Surgery resident to complete the program.  When I finished Plastic Surgery residency, women represented less than 5 % of practicing board-certified plastic surgeons. 

Now, I have never been a true feminist in every respect, but I do think, and as I read this little book I came to wish, that all girls everywhere could make decisions like a cowgirl, and set big goals for themselves like a cowgirl.  This little book helps women realize, by reading chapter after chapter, how they might aspire in their lives to find their cowgirl spirit and use it to exercise their sense of freedom and independence in their everyday lives, whether it is spent on the golf course, running for a political office or volunteering for the Peace Corps. The little book documents characteristics in cowgirls of the Wild West by telling stories about the lives of true cowgirls.  The author has summarized some of these cowgirl characteristics into a set of unwritten rules that cowgirls lived by for over 100 years, and she calls it The Cowgirl Creed.  Here it is...

The Cowgirl Creed
 1.  Dare to be a cowgirl
 2.  Buck the rules
 3.  Stay balanced in the saddle
 4.  Ride the trail of adventure
 5.  Dream as big as Texas
 6.  Be tough, but be feminine
 7.  Attack life like it's a 1000 lb. steer
 8.  Saddle your own horse
 9.  Rein in your fears
 10.  Dress for success - the cowgirl way
 11.  Ride high in the saddle
 12.  Ride high, but stay grounded
 13.  Give others a leg up
 14.  Always get back on the horse
 15.  Ride beside your man
 16.  Recharge your cowgirl spirit
 17.  Die with your boots on

I hope you find a way to lasso your cowgirl spirit and think outside the ranch!  Like a plaque I have in my kitchen reminds me everyday...Here's to a good woman...may we know them...may we be them...may we raise them.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again!

Julene

          

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Here's to Excellent Holidays!

"We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."

The Holiday Season is upon us...Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you loyal Sculpt followers!  I hope that you all have an excellent holiday season, and enjoy a happy and prosperous New Year.  When I was the age my children are now, I think I thought I'd be living in space by the year 2012, or at least travelling there regularly, but here I am still  in Kentucky.  But it is the holiday season, and I am pretty sure it's no easier to be ready for these holidays on the Moon than it is here on Planet Earth...I'd still have a "List", which is actually how you know I'm really frazzled, as I don't make a List any other time of the year. 

Since my List is pretty long, I'll have to keep the Blog short this time, and wish only to make sure everyone knows that I truly appreciate the friendship and loyalty shown by you to myself and my staff this year, and I hope we will see you often in the coming New Year!  Thank you for all the cards and gifts this holiday season (especially the chocolate ones), but thank you mostly for the gifts of your friendship and loyalty.  I hope we have enriched your lives just a little this year, and we hope that in addition to wonderful time spent with family and friends, that you will find warmth and enjoyment in some of life's "liitle" pleasures this holiday, since it can be a rather hectic time of year.  These are a few of the tiny pleasures I enjoyed just this week...

the smile and friendly greeting of a total stranger
the door being held open for me by a handsome young man when he encounterd me...the Bag Lady... dropping it all
Kevin at Tassels who gave my Christmas tree mouth to mouth and a new beginning
a bright starry evening over the horses playing in the pasture
a morning run...rare these days...compliments...Cynthia
the horses looking up and trotting over to me at my first hello
Kona (my horse) really just needed to pass gas and didn't really have colic
Lexie asking for her Mommy upon waking up without wisdom teeth
the smiles on the faces of my beautiful staff at a Christmas dinner in front of the fireplace at Harmony Landing Country Club...their wonderful gifts to me and the girls
lovely cards from friends and family in the mail
the $10 I found in my old jeans (that got a little LOOSER!...compliments Sound Surgical Technologies and VASER Shape)
Kaitlyn's goodnight kiss
my mom and dad's phone calls literally every night this week calling to check on us in a busy week
a random text from my mother in law telling me The Coconut Cake is baked
a lovely dinner evening with my awesomely interesting neighbors
a heartfelt thank you from a patient who could NOT have been feeling very well, but loves me anyway
a friend's email sharing a Bible secret I never knew existed
the pleasure of meeting a delightfully friendly elderly lady who backed up into my front fender in the drive-thru at Wendy's but magically hurt neither of our cars or herself


...and these are just a few!

May you also find excellence all around you this holiday season!

Blessings,
Julene



  

Monday, October 24, 2011

Imagine...

"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions."

We're blessed to be able to enjoy four really beautiful changes of season here in Kentucky!  I sometimes have to stop and remind myself not to let each one pass me by without my taking the time to notice and to enjoy all that an approaching new season has to offer.  Each new season is a time of change...change in the landscape and in the nature that surrounds us...changes in the number of daylight hours we have to spend outside...shifting our lives to more time spent indoors...changes in the lives of our loved ones and families...it's a constantly changing world. 

My family spent last weekend readying our neighbors' barn and pastures for the arrival of two of our horses for a new winter home, and I realized the change in our lives that this will bring...more early mornings for the girls who will be responsible for the morning feedings now...the beauty we will behold as we watch our beloved boys playing in our neighbors' beautiful pastures through the winter...our children are getting older and learning more responsibilities, and with this will come new challenges and changes for us.  (Tom, you're still teaching them to drive, right?) 

I personally LOVE change, which may come as a surprise to those who believe that doctors are creatures of habit and hate change.  I certainly like the stability of tried and true techniques which lead to predictability of results, and following routines in clinical practice that leave very little room for error or surprises for patients, but when it comes to being creative... for always striving to deliver an even better patient experience...we absolutely MUST leave our minds and hearts open to change.  We need to look for ways to answer more of our patients' common needs...deliver better quality of care in more comfortable or affordable ways.  This is certainly something I spend considerable time and effort in thinking about, and I enjoy the opportunity to share these ideas with more new patients every week...as well as with many of our older, more established patients in the practice...and I hope that I get the chance to continue to do this for many more years.

Changes we plan for the practice coming up really soon include evolution to electronic records systems, the addition of new non-invasive treatments for rejuvenation of the problematic face and neck, and a new location for the practice next year.  We are also hoping to explore new ways of interacting with you to learn more about what issues our patients are facing, and how we might help.  Please feel free to contact me or my staff through our website, by calling the office to chat with us, or by suggesting new ideas for the Blog or for upcoming activities you'd like to see us offer!

Please join us this Friday, October 28th for a day of Fall Specials, including 30% off skin care, Botox and Juvederm, 40% off laser procedures, and some fun door prizes and appetizers. 

Our Holiday Open House is scheduled for Thursday, December 1, 2011 from 10AM to 4PM and will feature VASER Shape demo's, special holiday discounts on skin care, laser procedures and injectables, and festive appetizers and beverages.  Bring a friend!

Hope to see you soon!
Julene     

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Fall Specials

Hello to all!

Fall is here, and with it a whole new reason to enjoy some pampering!  Now that all of our offspring are back in school, you may have found yourself with just a little extra time for you.  Just in case back to school hurt your pocketbook, we have some fall specials to share with you!  Check our website for special pricing on skin care, lasers, and injectables...I'm sure your favorites are on the list of things we want you to enjoy this fall. 

Not sure about you, but after a summer in the sun, one of my favorite things to catch up on is the BBL and Skin Tyte laser combination to fade sun spots and tighten skin of the face, eyes and neck.  This is really one of my all-time favorite treatments because there is no downtime, and no pain.  A series of 6 treatments will leave your skin tone more blended and tighter...LOVE IT for the eyes and neck!

I personally use the fall also to do a microlaser peel or ProFractional treatment for smoothing, tightening and fine line control, and will add a hydroquinone product to my nighttime favorite Essential Serum for improving tone, texture, and pigmentation of face and neck.  The Holidays are just around the corner, as well as class reunions!  Can't be showing up all haggard and worn for events like that, now can we?

For a limited time only, we are including Sculptra on our list of discounted injectables.  Sculptra is a fabulous product that creates a tighter look to the face, brows, and jowls.  It addresses very well the other part of the facial aging problem (besides laxity due to gravity), and that is restoration of volume lost due to aging.  A series of 2 to 3 injections stimulates your body's own collagen deposition to create a tighter look that can last up to 2 years.  Check our website for photo results and use the special link to get more information.  Call my office, and we will send you a complimentary DVD that fully explains why there is so much "buzz" going on right now about this product! 

In addition to the annual fall specials, which are designed to reward our patients for their support throughout the year, we welcome new friends and referrals, so please ask any of my great staff about our patient referral program... and a new VIP Program you will hear more about real soon to reward our most loyal patients.

Lastly, a thought for fall...that season of introspection before winter comes...
    "Think of something that would be wonderful, if it were only possible. 
     Then set out to make it possible."
                                                                                                                                     Armand Hammer


Have a great Fall season!
Julene



 

     

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Back to School...and Martha's Vineyard...

Hello all,
A short entry this week to let you in on a secret or two...and I won't make you wait until I get back from Martha's Vineyard to learn of it...(haha)...no, I'm not going to Martha's Vineyard either...the only vineyard I'll be frequenting this month is one that grows in a tall, skinny glass bottle with a cork stuck in it...

This will be an interactive blog, so read on for contest rules!!!

Secret #1: There is a great SCULPTRA special going on in my office right now. Each vial of Sculptra is on sale for a limited time only for $775. each (regularly $900.). See my website or previous blogs regarding Sculptra and why it is clearly my favorite "liquid facelift" option. There is a lot of info on my website and a great link to the Sculptra Aesthetic website for viewing before and after photo's of results. Our office has the most experience in the region using this facial rejuvenative option, so you should call us and inquire. Limited time only on the special pricing!

Secret #2: VASER Shape results are continuing to amaze us and our patients! I just reviewed photo's of our last 20 patients and am truly amazed by these results! Guess I'll be Vasing my thighs again this weekend...there are also some new, very enticing pricing options for patients interested in trying VASER Shape. Call Cynthia, Mindy or Terry in my office for more information, as we are always trying to help patients afford to try this new, non-invasive method of body contouring. It really does a much better job than any other method I've investigated and well worth the money. We are looking forward to some one-on-one time with the chief technological engineer for Sound Surgical Technologies who is coming for a short visit to the Bluegrass state, all the way from Denver, to spend some time with us and a few of our patients, and to discuss with us a new tool that may help to optimize treatment settings for faster results. Stay tuned!

Secret #3: There is a factoid embedded in our new breast augmentation microsite (accessed by going to breastaugmentationky.com) that could win you and your BFF a free VASER Shape treatment. This is a contest, and the first person to email the correct response to Part 1 of the question to me will win a free VASER Shape treatment for themselves. If they also get Part 2 of the question correct, they'll aslo win a free VASER Shape treatment for their BFF! You need to email me with the correct responses before my next blog in order to win!!! So...are you quite ready??? Here's the two part question...

1) What are the manufacturer incentives for patients interested in silicone breast augmentation right now? (BTW, this is the absolute BEST time to have that breast augmentation at Eastpoint Surgery Center...go find the clues...)

2) Which are the most interesting pages on this site: racingpaparazzi.smugmug.com? HINT #1: my girls and I competed in the family division of the Long Run Hounds Club Hunter Pace last weekend, and are very proud of our first place blue ribbon on August 13th! HINT #2: There are 2 pages to peruse the most carefully...

Thanks for being a follower, and have a great Back to School season!

Julene