LA Times Article on Donda West

Yesterday the L.A. Times ran a comprehensive article featuring more information on the tragic death of Donda West after plastic surgery. They cite evidence that she had possible severe atherosclerotic heart disease, hypertension, borderline diabetes, and evidence of pneumonia due to aspiration. These are some very worrysome factors when one considers she underwent 5 1/2 hours of body surgery, which is more traumatic than facial surgery such as a facelift or blepharoplasty. To her surgeon's defense, however, patients sometimes don't inform their plastic surgeon about all their medical history, so as not to be turned down for the procedure. What Donda West told her surgeon and anesthesiologist, however, is not publicly known. The story continues to unfold...

Link to article: here

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Update on the Death of Donda West

The final coroner's report on Kanye West's mom, Donda West, was released Thursday. Although the results are inconclusive, there was no sign that surgery error caused her death. According to CNN.com:

The exact cause of death couldn't be determined but there was no sign of "surgical or anesthetic misadventure" in the death of Donda West, Kanye West's mother, a coroner's report said Thursday...
The report noted that coronary artery disease, the liposuction and mammoplasty, and multiple postoperative factors could have played a role, but said the exact contribution of each factor couldn't be determined...
The investigation found "therapeutic levels of medication" but no unusually high levels....
"The final matter of death could not be determined," the coroner's office said in a statement.
Asked if West would still be alive if she hadn't undergone the surgery, Winter said: "She could, possibly. But she could have also died because of pre-existing cardiac issues."

If one good thing can come out of this tragedy, hopefully it is that prospective patients will ensure their plastic surgeons are board-certified and take all the safety precautions necessary to prevent something like this happening. It has reinforced the rule in my practice that all patients over 40 must get preoperative clearance from their internist of family doctor.

Photo credit: prphotos.com

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Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

VelaShape Anti-Cellulite Treatment in Massachusetts

You'll be hearing more about VelaShape body contouring for cellulite as it is scheduled to be a topic of conversation on both the Rachael Ray and Dr. Phil shows. Massachusetts plastic surgeon Christine Hamori, MD, offers VelaShape in her Duxbury, MA cosmetic surgery + skin spa center.VelaShape replaces VelaSmooth (by the same manufacturer, Syneron) as a more effective process requiring fewer

Quick links

Here are a few quick links if you have a few minutes to kill:

1. Body Philosophy presents: 26 Good, Bad, and Downright Unkissable Celebrity Mouths. See photo to the left. Do you recognize any of these lips?

2. Celebrity Plastic Surgery is Hot, from Cityrag.com.

3. Catholic hospital sued for refusing breast augmentation on a transgender person. Now I've heard everything... Link.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Heidi Montag Lips Bad Plastic Surgery !

Heidi Montag has been photographed recently with extremely large lips. There are three possible reasons for this: (1) She’s had her lips augmented with Restylane and too much was used, (2) She was only a day or so from having them done so they are still....Celebrity Plastic Surgery

Lisa Rinna Sounds Off on Hollywood Plastic Surgery

Lisa Rinna has recently discussed her views on plastic surgery in an interview with TV Guide. Here is an excerpt:

TVGuide.com: As for plastic surgery... is it pretty much assumed that women in Hollywood will get certain things done?
Rinna: You have to if you're going to work in this business for a certain amount of time; you just don't see older women with a bunch of wrinkles on television. It's not aesthetically as attractive to look at. If you don't fit the norm, you're not going to work...Whatever you want to do personally is absolutely 100 percent what you should do. But if I'm really honest, if you want to work in this town in your fifties, people have plastic surgery, that's what they do!

It's refreshing to see that she is not bashing plastic surgery and people who have it, like some Hollywood stars do. While I think her lips look pretty darn bad, she has always seemed like a down-to-earth, nice person from here.
For the rest of the interview, including more thoughts on plastic surgery, click here.

Photo credit: prphotos.com

Thanks for reading.

Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.:

Heidi Montag's Lips - Swelling or Overdone?

Click here for image and my comments on PageSix.com.

Heidi Montag has been photographed recently with extremely large lips. There are three possible reasons for this: (1) She's had her lips augmented with Restylane and too much was used, (2) She was only a day or so from having them done so they are still extremely swollen, or (3) She accidentally ran into a wall.
Hopefully her 15 minutes will be up soon... (but then what will I have to write about?)

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.: