What is Selphyl and is it a new anti ageing breakthrough?. Selphyl is a name brand of a treatment protocol for harvesting and injecting “platelet rich plasma”. This is a biologic substance derived from one’s own blood. Used successfully in orthopedic procedures for years ,“PRP’ treatments has helped promote healing by utilizing growth factors from harvested blood.
For cosmetic use, The procedure takes about 20 minutes to draw and process the blood of a patient. The substance is then injected in to wrinkles and scars to achieve a filling effect. The question is – does it work and how will growth factors improve wrinkles and scars which aren’t really a type of wound. Pros- this is a natural substance from one’s own body and it will have some sort of a filling effect Cons- it will unlikely have the same filling or lasting effect of many of the fillers on the market currently and it is unlikely that growth factors are going to dramatically change wrinkles and sundamage.
This may be a good option for those who cannot tolerate other fillers or as a adjunct to other procedures. The goal is that injecting one’s own growth factors may help to rejuvenate the skin over time. We shall see!

many cool sounding words….all “soon to be released” or currently available NON- invasive devices to reduce fat. Sounds great….but do they work?
Zerona is a rotating light source that is shined on the patient that is not even worth the explanation of the technology. It just does nothing. Zeltiq is an interesting technology that uses cold energy to damage fat cells. The technology is in its infant stage…so dont get so excited. Very few patients are candidates for now. It works only on very small areas of fat and treatment time involves sitting for HOURS!…stay tuned this may have its place.
Liposonix and ultrashape are focused ultrasound devices that supposedly melt fat…both are not available in the US. My research confirms that, again, very limited in efficacy compared to minimally invasive liposuction. Unfortunately, these technologies will be sold to patients with ALOT of dissapointment. They will be expensive and have barely noticeable differences. The standard of care is minimally invasive liposuction under local anesthesia…STILL! As for mesotherapy or lipodissolve- not approved, not considered safe, certainly not accepted as effective by the mainstream of cosmetic surgeons. see more info at – http://pfrankmd.com/mesotherapy.html or http://pfrankmd.com/liposuction.html

Body-Jet or water jet liposuction…..just when you think they have run out of ways to gimick fat removal. This is the water pick of fat removal. Using a water-stream to help break up fat while suctioning, this technology offers another means of supposedly easing the removal process. Helpful? Not likely better than any odevice such as the laser, the ultrasound, or powered liposuction technology. It certainly does’nt “change the game” at all. As usual, the results and ease of liposuction surgery are directly related to the surgeon who performs it and the type of anesthesia and microcannulas that are used. As usual, performing the procedure with solely local anethesia, on a good candidate, and by an experienced surgeon always provides the best results!
http://pfrankmd.com/liposuction.html

so….what is the skinny on laser fat removal? Is it new? does it work? Is it non-surgical? Well, the media and the companies that make these devices will have us think that removing fat safely, quickly and easily under just local anesthesia is relatively new. It is not. “Tumescent Liposuction” has been around for many years and it was created by dermatologists. The name represents a type of liposuction that is performed on awake patients using very small holes and tiny instruments to sculpt away fat. The recovery is 24-48 hrs and it is extremely safe. The use of laser and ultrasound devices, like smart lipo, try to melt the fat prior to suctioning it out. Their use are actually a part of the tumescent liposuction procedure. I can say from experience of aproximately 3000 cases in 12 yrs that, although i own several of these “fat melting’ devices, they are at most icing on the cake. At times they do help to get a better result but most of the time the standard approach is still the gold standard.