WHAT I LEARNED AT THE ANNUAL AAFPRS (AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FACIAL PLASTIC AND RECONSTRUTIVE SURGERY) MEETING LAST MONTH
First and foremost, it’s nice to see that most of what the “experts” are teaching isn’t much different than what I am already doing in my practice. There were two rhinoplasty seminars with excellent talks by Drs. Bahman Guyron, Dean Toriumi, Ira Papel, Pietro Palma, Jack Gunter, Norman Pastorek and Peter Adamson to name a few. A few of the take-home messages that I got were tips on reducing pain for the patient in rib cartilage harvesting and techniques for straightening out a crooked nose, which is the most difficult skill for perfecting a rhinoplasty.
Facial fillers have always been a hot topic at recent meetings and still were in Boston. Of course, everyone has their favorite fillers. The fillers change with the volume and applications. For smaller volumes, hyaluronic acid fillers such as Juvederm and Restylane still rule. For fine lines, Prevelle Silk. As we get to larger volumes, Radisse takes over and for the most volume and longest lasting results, Sculptra is likely best. Dr. Rebecca Fitzgerald gave a 1 hour breakfast seminar on Sculptra that actually lasted for two hours. Sculptra is now injected deeper under the facial tissues, just on top of the bones in most areas of the face.
What new products did I discover? Finally PDS foil is FDA approved for use. This has been used very successfully for years in Europe for nasal support in very crooked deviated septum repairs, revision rhinoplasty and other areas of the nose as well. I was invited to attend a special meeting in St. Louis in early November to learn the nuances of this new product. I was fortunate to have received a sample, which I used to help repair a much deviated septum. This particular patient had two prior attempts at correction, but the nose was still very crooked. I will discuss this procedure next week.
As much as I have learned in my past 22 years of medical practice and teaching Facial Plastic Surgery, it’s still important to keep on learning and modifying my patient care techniques.