Girls Night Out: The New York Group for Plastic Surgery

Beautiful friends Izabella and Christine

I have a  wonderful, long standing relationship with the doctors and practitioners at The New York Group for Plastic Surgery.  Dr. Andrew Salzberg is a personal hero of mine.  He compassionately and brilliantly did my breast reconstruction nearly 14 years ago, when I opted to do a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy, (think Angie),  and yes, I was way ahead of the curve.

When it came time to address my anti-aging concerns, it never occurred to me to go elsewhere. Though I think plenty of women don't fess up to all their tweaks, Botox, Restalyne, Sculptra, peels and lasers are as much a part of beauty maintenance these days as facials, highlights and root touch ups.

Lately, I have noticed a discouraging trend; Botox parties, Dentists doing injectibles, Groupon, Amazon and Living Social offering cut rate deals on anti-aging treatments and a new entry Zendy Beauty, modeled like Priceline, where you name your price and see if any of the doctors in their network will accept it.

I think it's begging for trouble.  After all, we wear our faces everyday, this is not an area you want to bargain hunt.

Truly, your very best bet for excellent, natural results is to select your practitioners based on their experience and friends who have had great results.

Accordingly, I gathered a group of 15 friends for an event at the NY Group for Plastic Surgery in Tarrytown, N.Y., where they had the opportunity to meet Dr. Salzberg, Dr. Aydin, Physician's Assistant Tami Healy and Ashlea Hoess. Nicely, there was champagne, munchies and goodie bags for all and their cheerful staff on hand to make sure everyone was comfortable and attended to.

Readers often email me for help and information. I also wanted my friends to have the benefit of hearing about all the latest in anti-aging advances too. As a jumping off point, I put together a list of questions to ask the experts and the Girls chimed in with their own as well.


Here were some of the questions asked and answered by their team of experts:

Tami Healy P.A. Expert injector, Ultherapy, Surgical Assistant

Ultherapy: Keeping a Stiff Upper Lip

OY!!!

I no longer subscribe to magazines.  Much of my eyeball time is now devoted to reading them online, devouring other blogs and  new book downloads on my Kindle.  Of course there are times when nothing less then a good glossy will do...like any salon visit.  I immediately jump to the table of contents to peruse the beauty articles.

Sometime last month, I was reading an article on the latest "cutting edge" anti-aging treatments.  Famed N.Y. Dermatologist Pat Wexler,  (who was featured on a recent cameo on The Real Housewives of N.Y.  wielding a syringe instead of scalpel  performing  a "liquid facelift" on Jill Zarin), has also embraced using Ultherapy. Ultherapy is the FDA approved non-surgical, no down time procedure that lifts and tightens without cutting. I blogged about my own treatment in November and included my interview with Dr. Andrew Salzberg and Courtney Dunavant to explain this non-cutting cutting age procedure in "Are You Heading South"?

Sooooo, why did I speed dial Courtney???  I had just read that Dr. Wexler has been using Ultherapy on the upper lip, successfully banishing  those pesky, hard to treat lip lines.  In fact, she believes it is the single most effective treatment available.  While lip injections are sometimes used for the same purpose, it not done expertly, can result in dreaded "trout pout", so women often won't risk it....moi included.  Botox can be effective, but because our mouths are in near constant motion, the results can be short lived.

The Wizard is Oz

I am a working Girl, so I don't  get to spend afternoons with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the brilliant Turkish-American Cardiothoracic surgeon, who cut his T.V. teeth on Oprah.  Apparently, his credibility with  viewers is so high, that if he features a procedure related to health and beauty it is taken as Gospel. 

Recently, Dr. Oz did a  feature on Ultherapy as part of a segment called,  "How to Look 10 Years Younger in Less Than 30 Minutes"!  Ultherapy uses ‘uplifting ultrasound’ to improve skin laxity of the face and neck in a meaningful  but completely non–surgically way.  In just  one treatment,  the body’s own regenerative process of building new collagen to lift and tighten the skin is triggered ---happening gradually and naturally,  from the inside out.  It sounds too good to be true, but apparently it isn't...it works!!!