Dr. Ritu Malhotra

Liposuction is NOT a weight loss procedure it is a body contouring procedure to reduce size. Diabetics with HbA1C greater than 7 have an increase risk of prolonged healing time, infection and skin slough but the procedure itself is usually successful.

Lasers used by plastic surgeons have made it possible to remove/erase birthmarks of all types without actually cutting them out. If the birthmark is red or purple (often called Port wine stain), a vascular pumped dye laser such as Candela VBeam Perfecta is used to target Hemoglobin in the birthmark and vaporize it! If the birthmark is brown or black like a Cafe au lait spot or a nevus of Ota, then an Alexandrite laser such as Candela GentleLase or Candela Alex TriVantage is used to target Melanin in the birthmark and vaporize it.

Liposuction is a remove FAT procedure- the fat cells removed do NOT grow back. There is always some remaining fat and therefore fat cells... if continued dietary restraint is not followed then the remaining fat cells can expand again...Abdominoplasty or " tummy tuck" is a remove skin procedure. Often with a second liposuction procedure staged to be done sometime after the tummy tuck.

Liposuction is neither a weight loss procedure nor a skin tightening procedure. It is a fat loss procedure that contours the body areas where it is done. It is great for those who want to look good in their clothes. You see, Fat itself does not weigh very much.

Botox is most commonly done for dynamic wrinkles( skin lines that happen from muscle movement or expressions) in the upper third of the face. Such as Forehead creases, "Angry 11" lines between the brows, crows feet lines on the sides of the eyes and nasal crunch lines that go across the top of the nose, bunny lines that are on the sides of the nose or creases that are under the eyes.
It is NOT for sagging skin or skin laxity in the lower third of the face. Skin tightening procedures work best for that whether they are noninvasive (Pelleve' or Thermage), Minimally invasive (J Plasma) or invasive such as Lifts to address gravitational aging.

Botox treatment is safe in Diabetes.

Scars can either be surgically revised to look better or treated with a laser to look better. Usually, we can make them flatter, more even toned, thinner (less wide), etc...

Laser resurfacing is a great option for hypertrophic scars

Treatment of scars in plastic surgery is usually done using a local anesthetic to numb the area. The treatment itself depends on the type of scar. If it is wide, then maybe it needs to be removed and reapproximated with better plastic surgery technique so that it will be a thin flat line. Sometimes it is hypertrophic or kind of piled up on itself, then maybe a laser resurfacing treatment would do the trick. Sometimes it is the skin tone of the scar and we can take the red out of it with a laser or the brown out of it with a laser.

The best treatment for stretch marks, specifically, recent ones, is Candela V Beam Perfecta. It is a pulsed dye laser that really is amazing as far as the improvement in one session.


Ritu Malhotra, MD