CoreGrady - Core Plastic Surgery

It's a huge accomplishment to lose a significant amount of weight. Your health, your appearance and your attitude have all undergone major improvements. Now that you've achieved your weight loss goal, you shouldn't have to be embarrassed by large amounts of loose skin.

When skin is stretched out of a long period of time, it loses its elasticity. This prevents it from shrinking back to fit the shape of your new, fit physique.

Excess skin can not only be bothersome by making it hard to find clothes that fit right; it can also have a profound affect on your lifestyle - it can limit mobility and create hygiene problems with continual skin-to-skin contact.

The only way to remove excess skin resulting from this kind of weight loss is through surgery. Body contouring surgery involves making an incision, removing excess skin, and suturing the area with fine stitches to minimize scarring. With these types of procedures, scarring is unavoidable. Liposuction may be used in conjunction with some procedures.

At Core & Associates in Birmingham, Alabama, you will receive the best possible care and attention. If you would like to schedule a private consultation, please send us an email or give us a call at (877) 397-2100 or (205) 397-2100.

Being rid of fat is every man and woman's dream come true. That's the hope of all who consider liposuction - but it isn't as easy as it sounds.

The procedure can range from minimal to with little risk to a serious operation with the potential for major complications. Liposuction isn't the ideal method for weight loss. It's merely a tactic to remove stubborn areas of fat that are unresponsive to diet and exercise and it is more appropriate for improving body contours.

Contrary to popular belief, liposuction cannot eradicate cellulite or the appearance of rippled or puckered skin. You must be in good health and have a stable body weight to be a candidate for liposuction. I frequently see patients who present with excess skin of the abdomen and want me to "fix it" using liposuction. You also need to be at low risk for heart disease, diabetes, or any condition with a weak immune system that could complicate the operation. As with all plastic surgery, smoking is a bad idea.

I do not use traditional liposuction but instead uses a method called ultrasonic assisted liposuction or "liposelection". This method employs sound waves to specifically cause fat cells to disrupt without affecting the surrounding tissue. The resulting liquid is then removed with very low power suction using very thin cannulas. As opposed to the rather rough and crude action of traditional liposuction, ultrasonic looks like the operator is playing a violin and has much less local tissue trauma and thus less bruising. If you would like more information on this technique ,send us an email or give us a call at (877) 397-2100 or (205) 397-2100. Also be on the lookout for our next blog entitled, "Smart. smarter, or smartest lipo"

Transaxillary Endoscopic Augmentation Mammoplasty (TEAM) is really just a fancy way of saying the scar from your breast augmentation procedure will be in your armpit, and not on your breast. Because many, if not most, women who get breast augmentation would prefer their new appearance to be scar free, this is an ideal procedure to avoid having to explain to people where that scar on your breast came from.

Procedural Benefits The TEAM procedure has been done for 15 years by Dr. Core mainly for those women having saline implants inserted, and now Dr. Core has adapted the procedure to where it can also be performed for those receiving silicone gel implants. Under general anesthesia or IV sedation, a 2.5 centimeter incision is made in the armpit and for silicone a 'T' shaped incision is made which is 4 centimeters in longest dimension, and an endoscope is placed through the incision and used to visualize the space under or above the muscle where the pocket for the implant is created. An endoscope is a tube attached with a camera to allow Dr. Core to see the procedure from a television screen in a very clear and up close manner which allows for extreme precision. The benefit is that the endoscope will let Dr. Core have complete control; there is no "blind dissection" of the pocket area. Blind dissection leads to trauma, bruising, and potentially increases the risk of the implant getting hard through a process called capsular contracture. The endoscopic procedure Dr. Core has used has a very low rate of hardening of around 1% where as the national average is around 3%.

In addition to avoiding a scar on the breast, TEAM works well for those whose areolar is small. Because the incision is made in the armpit, most people will never know it's there and it will fade quickly. Finally because Dr. Core is able to clearly see what he is doing, the chances of asymmetry are lessened.

Dr. Core is one of the originators of this procedure, which first came into practice in 1992. He has more experience than most cosmetic surgeons when it comes to transaxillary endoscopic augmentation mammoplasty.

If you are interested in finding out more about this type of breast augmentation procedure, please contact Core & Associates.

Welcome to our new website blog. In this space we will be posting short entries about all aspects of cosmetic surgery and skin care. We will give updates here, information about new products, perhaps thoughts about procedures or devices that are not approved yet by the FDA but are in trials and testing programs for that approval.

Cosmetic surgery continues to surge in popularity worldwide, which gives a strong incentive for people to devise new technology and more effective surgical techniques. We do not necessarily adopt every new invention right away. We like to wait until it has proven itself – wait and watch for a while and then make a reasoned and informed decision about whether or not to purchase it.

As you may know, cosmetic surgery has been featured in several television programs in recent years. This space may comment on some of that, perhaps correcting any false notions that the media promote.

Watch this space in the coming weeks and months and you’ll find a regular stream of interesting posts about all the procedures we offer, and many other topics connected to them. As always, we are ready to give you a personal consultation whenever you would like to contact us to schedule one. We hope to hear from you soon.