How to Pick a Cosmetic Surgeon & What’s the Difference [Infographic]
Cosmetic Surgery
Your Timeline to Plan Pre-Wedding Body Contouring Surgery
On your wedding day, few details are as important as how you look and feel in your dress walking down the aisle. For this reason, more and more brides-to-be are scheduling cosmetic procedures like breast augmentation and body contouring to help them look just as amazing and beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside.*
To make sure you’re able to enjoy your results for your big day, take a look at these guidelines when planning your timeline for plastic surgery before your wedding.*
Six+ Months before: Breast Implants and Tummy Tucks
If you’d like to get breast implants or a tummy tuck for your wedding, plan your procedure at least six months before. Although many women are able to return to their normal routines within a week or two after breast augmentation and abdominoplasty, you’ll still experience swelling and changes to your body shape over the next weeks and months.*
Bear in mind that you’ll want your body contouring results to be complete prior to getting fitted for your dress, so make sure your timeline includes enough wiggle room for multiple fittings.
Don’t be alarmed if your breasts look like they’re sitting too high after breast enhancement – this is a normal part of the healing process.
Three+ Months before: Liposuction
Even if you’ve been killing it in the gym months before your wedding, you might notice that some problem areaslike love handles and belly pooches just won’t go away. In this case, you might want to get a little liposuction so you can look flawless in your wedding dress.*
Schedule lipo three months or more before getting hitched so you can fit into the dress of your dreams.*
*This information is for education only, and is not meant as a guarantee of results. Your results may vary.
How Cosmetic Surgery Is Different from Plastic Surgery [Infographic]
6 Little Med Spa Treatments to Be Very Thankful For [Infographic]
Can You Get Stretch Marks from Breast Implants?
Updated for 2019
One of the most common questions, when a woman goes for an initial consultation for breast augmentation surgery, is if she’ll get stretch marks from her breast implants.
Although it’s a possibility you could get stretch marks, there are a few reasons why this isn’t a common occurrence.
Taking Necessary Precautions
Now that breast implants are getting smaller, stretch marks from surgery are very uncommon. In fact, stretch marks are rarely seen unless there is a very large increase in breast size.
The other way stretch marks may be seen after breast augmentation is if they were faintly present before surgery and the swelling makes them more obvious until the skin returns to normal. These types of stretch marks should only be temporary.
During your initial consult, your cosmetic surgeon will check your tissue thickness and your skin’s ability to stretch, as well as your overall breast and chest dimensions. After measuring all these factors, your surgeon will make sure that your expectations are in line with your measurements.
If the size that you want your breast implants to be is greater than your skin’s ability to stretch, then your cosmetic surgeon should properly warn you about the possibility of stretch marks.
Post-Breast Augmentation Safeguards
In addition to ensuring that your breast implants are not too big for your frame, there are other preventative tips that may help lower your chances of seeing stretch marks.
For instance, it’s important to keep your skin well-moisturized after your breast augmentation (as soon as your surgeon tells you it’s okay). Other options — like using silicone based scar gel, specially formulated stretch mark cream and med spa treatments — can be used during the first couple of months after surgery to help prevent stretch marks from breast implants.
Why You Don’t Have to Have Children to Get a Mommy Makeover
Updated for 2019
It may be called the mommy makeover but it isn’t just for moms. While the procedure is specifically designed to target post-pregnancy concerns, the mommy makeover can help nearly any woman attain a more youthful figure, especially those who have lost weight, suffered from illness or seen the effects of aging on their bodies.
What Is a Mommy Makeover?
A mommy makeover can mean something different to each woman but usually includes a tummy tuck to smooth and tighten skin and repair separated muscles, as well as some form of breast enhancement.
Customize Your Makeover
By working together with a skilled cosmetic surgeon, you can customize your mommy makeover to fit your body and lifestyle.
Some women choose to include a breast lift instead of breast implants, for example. Liposuction can help contour the abdomen, back, love handles, thighs, arms or neck to target specific problem spots.
Women may also elect to combine their mommy makeovers with nonsurgical cosmetic treatments, such as BOTOX® Cosmetic, dermal fillers, laser resurfacing, laser hair removal, spider vein treatment or chemical peels.
The Benefits of a Mommy Makeover
Loose abdominal muscles, deflated breasts, and sagging tummy skin can happen to any woman, not just moms.
One of the benefits of a mommy makeover is less overall recovery time when procedures are combined rather than performed separately. Depending on the practice, another benefit of getting a mommy makeover can be the smaller price tag compared getting separate procedures.
The greatest benefit of all, though, is the greater sense of positivity women can feel after reclaiming a more youthful figure as they move forward in life, whether as a mother or not.
Cheap BOTOX®: Is It the Real Thing?
We’ve all heard of fake Rolexes and fake
designer handbags. But did you know that some shady cosmetic practices are offering imitation BOTOX®? It’s true – fake BOTOX® products continue to find their way into practices around the country, and the FDA is cracking down with raids and fines.
This is some scary stuff. A knock-off BOTOX® injection has the potential to cause major problems. This isn’t just a matter of your fake handbag that falls apart in a few weeks. There could be a real safety concern and it’s critical that you ensure your provider is using only the real thing.
Paying Less Now Could Cost You Later
Almost every BOTOX® provider will run specials or discounts now and then, and you can expect to save a few dollars a unit when they do. But if you come across someone who’s offering what they claim is BOTOX® at a much lower price than you can get it anywhere else, it’s time to take a step back. There’s a pretty good chance that what would actually be injected into your face isn’t BOTOX® at all.
So what’s the harm? BOTOX® is a special formulation of the botulinum toxin. A home-brewed mix could cause all kinds of side effects, including long-term muscle paralysis. Simply put, there is just no way that the risk is worth saving a few hundred dollars.
The Good News
FDA-approved BOTOX® can work wonders. From eliminating crow’s feet to treating migraines, the real stuff has successfully treated wrinkles for millions of Americans over the past decade. The FDA is actively combatting the illegal rings and unethical providers profiting from counterfeit products. But you can’t count on them to be able to trace everyone who is offering illegal products, so it’s important to make sure your provider has an established and positive reputation in your community.
Getting a good deal is a nice way to stretch the dollars you spend looking your best. But remember, if an offer sounds way too good to be true, it probably is.
Why a Mommy Makeover Can Be Perfect after Pregnancy
Pregnancy is notorious for impacting your breasts and tummy, due 
to hormonal changes and your body’s accommodation of your new little family member. If you find yourself feeling self-conscious about your figure after your baby has arrived, there’s something you can do to regain your old confidence. A combination of procedures known as the mommy makeover can be the perfect solution.
The Effects of Pregnancy
Any mother can tell you that pregnancy impacts far more than just the tummy. The breasts swell during pregnancy and nursing, only to subside in size again after weaning, sometimes leaving your breasts looking deflated or droopy.
That’s not to say that that pregnancy doesn’t take a toll on the stomach as well. Moms can end up with excess fatty tissue, loose abdominal skin or a condition called diastasis recti: separated abdominal muscles.
How Cosmetic Surgery Helps
A mommy makeover targets these two areas specifically, sometimes along with a few other procedures tossed into the mix as well.
While each mommy makeover differs from woman to woman, breast enhancement of some type is nearly always included. Small or sagging breasts can benefit from a combined breast augmentation and lift, while women with larger breasts may be more interested in a breast reduction.
Pregnancy often leaves women with a waistline that they’re less than happy with, making a tummy tuck another procedure that’s almost always included in a mommy makeover. During a tummy tuck, your surgeon can remove saggy skin as well as repair separated abdominal muscles.
The combination of breast enhancement plus tummy contouring results in a terrific figure that’s much closer to sexy and sensual than it is to soccer mom.
Eyelid Surgery vs. BOTOX® for Crow’s Feet: Which Is Right for You?
Updated October 2018
The development of crow’s feet commonly occurs with aging and is caused by the contraction of tiny muscles located near the eye. Habitual facial expressions over the years also can contribute to crow’s feet, including squinting, smiling and frowning. If you’re bothered by these tiny wrinkles at the outer corners of your eye, you may be considering either eyelid surgery or BOTOX®. Which is the best option for eliminating crow’s feet and reducing their recurrence?
How BOTOX® Works
A BOTOX® injection is a relatively quick procedure that essentially paralyzes the muscles that contract and cause crow’s feet (or other dynamic wrinkles) to form. At your appointment, your surgeon will inject the BOTOX® at specific points to prevent the muscle contractions responsible for deepening fine lines and wrinkles around the eye area.
Cosmetic eyelid surgery can help reduce the signs of aging and restore a youthful, refreshed appearance.
How Eyelid Surgery Works
Eyelid surgery can be performed either on the upper or lower eyelids or both, and can reduce the amount of sagging skin in the eye area. During surgery, a small incision is made in the eyelid crease or along the lash line to remove excess skin, tighten the lids and restore a more youthful appearance. Eyelid surgery can fix droopy eyelids, but won’t improve existing crow’s feet or prevent future lines from developing.
A Combination Approach
Both BOTOX® and eyelid surgery have their limitations. By combining eyelid surgery and subsequent BOTOX® treatments, your surgeon oftentimes can reduce or eliminate crow’s feet as well as restore a refreshed, alert appearance throughout the eye area and help to ensure much longer-lasting results than either procedure performed on its own.
Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
We recently celebrated our grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony held by the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce and are proud to be part of such a vibrant business community!
Can my child have surgery to make his/her ears smaller?
Children with big ears or ears that stick out are often singled out and teased by other kids. This kind of teasing can affect the self-confidence of a child and remain and issue well into adulthood.
For many children and adults with ears that are abnormally large and/or protrude from the side of the head, ear pinning surgery, called otoplasty, can drastically improve the way they see themselves and move through the world.
The actual ear surgery procedure takes about 2 hours to complete. Incisions are made behind the ears and the ear cartilage is reduced and/or reshaped.
Dr. Koehler Named “Best of the Best” in Cosmetic or Plastic Surgery
Before Dr. Koehler came to Mobile, he practiced for 10 years in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His practice, Tulsa Surgical Arts, was voted “Best of the Best” in the category of Cosmetic or Plastic Surgery for the first time in the July 2007 issue of Oklahoma Magazine, and won the honor of being named “the best” every year from that point forward.
Patients voted for the winner each year, an honor that couldn’t be bought or paid for by anyone in the running for the title. The distinction of being named the “best plastic or cosmetic surgeon” in the state was especially important because it included the whole state, not just the city of Tulsa.
Dr. Koehler was quoted in the article saying, “We all want to look our best, so when we need help with a trouble spot or to erase the imprint of time, it’s good to know there are talented cosmetic and plastic surgeons ready to help.”
Family Turns to Cosmetic Surgery for Daughter Who Was Dullied Because of Her Appearance
For much of elementary and middle school, the child featured in this story was taunted and bullied about the shape of her ears. She finally decided she’d had enough and went to see a plastic surgeon about an otoplasty.
Cosmetic surgery isn’t always about breast implants and face lifts… for many patients, it’s about changing their lives. Ear surgery is one of the most rewarding procedures there is because of the incredible impact it has on the lives of those who need it. In this news story, they mention the cost of ear surgery being approximately $6000, but they’re in Cleveland. The price of ear surgery here in Mobile at our office is roughly half that at $3145.