Nobody wants to look their chronological age. And not everyone needs an invasive medical procedure to shave years off their face. That’s where dermal fillers come in. At the office of Dr. Bruce Kadz in Beverly Hills, CA, we are proud to offer several dermal fillers to help you restore your youthful countenance. Today, we are answering all your frequently asked questions about Juvederm, including where it can and should be used. What Is Juvederm? Juvederm is a type of dermal filler commonly known as an HA, or hyaluronic acid, filler. Its active ingredient is synthetic hyaluronic acid, a substance produced naturally by your body. Approved by the FDA in 2006, this is one of the most common anti-aging treatments performed in the world. Its purpose is to reverse the signs of aging in your face and restore youthful contours in under an hour. How Should I Prepare for Treatment? Before your dermal filler treatment, you should come in for an initial consultation. One of our experts will discuss your cosmetic goals, the appearance of your skin and your expectations. This is to ensure that this treatment will be the most effective for you. Treatment is so non-invasive that you can have your treatment on the same day as your consultation if we are not booked. Let us know if you have any dairy allergies or intolerances to any ingredient in the serum. Do your best to not smoke in the weeks leading up to your treatment, and don’t drink, either. Avoid taking St. John’s wort and medications such as aspirin and ibuprofen. This will ensure the best possible results. How Does It Work? Juvederm works because of its active ingredient, hyaluronic acid. HA is the chemical compound found in your body that stimulates the production of collagen. Collagen is the connective tissue that plumps up your skin. By the time you hit age 20, though, your body starts to produce collagen at a slower rate. By the time you’re 35 or 40, this gradual reduction really adds up. Hyaluronic acid fillers work by boosting your HA levels which stimulates collagen production. The collagen adds volume to the treatment site. Before treatment starts, our physician will use a pen to mark the areas you want treated. Then, he will inject the filler into the treatment area. To eliminate the risk of swelling, he will massage the area lightly afterwards to ensure that the filler is distributed evenly. Depending on the size of the area being treated, you can expect to be done with treatment in 15 minutes to an hour. There is no need to worry about the injections. The needles are so fine that they don’t hurt when they are being inserted. Even better, each formulation is of the “XC” variety, meaning there is lidocaine to keep you comfortable every step of the way. What Can I Expect After Treatment? For the most part, you can get straight back to your daily routine. However, for the first 24 hours after treatment, you should avoid strenuous exercise, makeup, alcohol and unprotected sun exposure. You should avoid exerting yourself too much to give the product time to settle in the treatment site and not spread outside its intended area. You will notice the results of the treatment immediately after the injections. Even better, results last between six months and two years depending on the particular formula used. Where Can It Be Used? The great thing about Juvederm is there are several formulations specifically designed to target a particular trouble area. Today, formulations ending in “XC” indicate the presence of lidocaine, a numbing agent that ensures you feel no pain or discomfort during your treatment. Let’s look at what you can expect from different formulations. Voluma Juvederm Voluma XC is specifically designed to add volume to sunken, hollow cheeks. If you have noticeable volume loss around your cheekbones due to drastic weight loss or age, you are an excellent candidate for Voluma. Depending on the rate at which your body metabolizes hyaluronic acid, this formulation can last up to two years. Vollure Vollure XC is similar to Juvederm XC in that they are both used to treat lax skin, wrinkles, and lines around the nose and mouth. The difference is Vollure lasts significantly longer than the original Juvederm formula. It lasts approximately 18 months while the original formulation only lasts around six months. Ultra, Ultra Plus and Volbella Ultra XC and Volbella XC were both designed to replace the need for lip augmentation. If your lips look thin, this is the right hyaluronic acid filler treatment for you. Ultra XC, Volbella and Ultra Plus XC can last up to a year. Am I a Good Candidate for Dermal Fillers? Good candidates for dermal fillers are looking to address volume loss in the cheeks or lips without the need for an invasive medical procedure. Good candidates may also have other concerns about their facial appearance, such as fine lines and wrinkles. Finally, they should be in good physical and emotional health and have realistic expectations about the outcome of treatment. Who Is Not a Good Candidate for Dermal Fillers? Dermal fillers aren’t right for everyone. If you have an allergy or sensitivity to injected local anesthetics, a serum without lidocaine may be a better fit for you. If you’re allergic to the serum itself, neurotoxic injections may be the right way to address your concerns about aging skin. It’s important to be in good general health before receiving this treatment because antibiotics, blood thinners and certain analgesics may affect the results of your treatment. If you have an active skin infection at the treatment site, wait until the infection has cleared before you come in for treatment. Moreover, this treatment is not recommended for pregnant or nursing women because the FDA has not tested it for safety and efficacy in such situations. What If Dermal Fillers Aren’t Right for Me? If dermal fillers aren’t right for you, you don’t necessarily need to get a facelift to reverse the signs of aging. Botox is another non-invasive, FDA-approved anti-aging treatment. Like dermal fillers, it works quickly, and the results last for several months. What Is Botox? Botox is a neurotoxic protein featuring the active ingredient Botulinum toxin type A. This protein is derived from certain bacteria species, including Clostridium botulinum. Botox works by blocking signals from your nerves to your muscles, preventing hyperactive muscles from spasming. Originally approved by the FDA in 1989 to treat eye muscle problems, such as blepharospasm, Botox is now FDA-approved to treat over two dozen conditions, including crow’s feet, moderate-to-severe forehead wrinkles and lines around the mouth. Am I a Good Candidate for Botox? For the purposes of anti-aging, a good candidate for Botox is looking to minimize active lines and wrinkles in their face. Such lines and wrinkles include smile lines around your mouth, frown lines between your eyebrows and laughter lines around your eyes. These moderate-to-severe lines become more prominent when your face is moving. How Can I Prepare for Botox? Like dermal filler treatments, not a lot of preparation is required before Botox. You’ll start with an initial consultation to determine if this is the best treatment for you. If it is, you’ll have to remove any makeup and cleanse the treatment area. You should also avoid taking any MAOIs or NSAIDs. Let us know if you have any known allergies. We will review your medical history, current skin quality and aesthetic goals, and you will be ready for treatment. What Can I Expect From Treatment? Botox is extremely similar to dermal fillers. If you’re concerned about needles, ask us to use ice or a topical anesthetic to numb the treatment area. You won’t feel any pain or discomfort. A very fine needle is used to inject the Botox into the targeted area. Depending on the area that will be treated, you should only need three to five injections at each site. The entire treatment takes only 10 minutes from start to finish. How Soon Will I See Results? Botox doesn’t work immediately. It may be between 24 and 48 hours before you see the results of your treatment. However, a minimized appearance of facial lines and wrinkles will last approximately four months. The best part about Botox is that the more regularly you receive treatment, the longer the results will last. This is because relaxed muscles, with time, “atrophy”. Hyperactive muscles resulting in wrinkles and lines normalize themselves with more infrequent treatments. Discover Beauty Redefined in the Hands of Excellence Today Are you ready to shave years off your face in just 30 minutes with no downtime or recovery? It’s not too good to be true, and it’s not just for the rich and famous. Contact the office of Dr. Bruce Kadz in Beverly Hills, CA today to schedule your initial consultation. We will walk you through everything you need to know about Juvederm, including if it’s right for you. Call us now and discover beauty redefined in the hands of excellence.

A well-sculpted, flat stomach is the goal for millions of Americans. Yet, despite spending hours in the gym and carefully counting calories, it can still seem like a distant dream. Kadz Plastic Surgery of Beverly Hills, CA, wants to make that dream a reality. With a tummy tuck by Dr. Bruce Kadz, you can restore your youthful shape to your body. What Is a Tummy Tuck? Although the term “tummy tuck” is used colloquially, the proper medical term is abdominoplasty. “Plasty,” as a suffix, refers to the shaping of body tissue, and the rest of the word you likely recognize as referring to the abdomen, or tummy. Like all parts of your body, your abdomen contains three main layers of tissue. First are the muscles, which are attached to your bones. Above the muscles are fat deposits, and finally, your skin sits on top of your fat cells. If you’ve worked out, then you know that your muscles define your form. Strong muscles are often visible even with a high percentage of body fat. Naturally, losing fat will make the muscles stand out even more and create a more appealing appearance. Abdominoplasty recognizes that both muscles and fat determine your overall look. Therefore, we shape both of these, as needed, and remove excess skin where needed. The end result is a firm, flatter stomach that is often unattainable for many people otherwise. Why Is Abdominoplasty Necessary? Although the procedure is purely cosmetic, for many people, it’s the only way to achieve the results they want. While losing weight can reduce the fat around your abdomen, weight loss alone does not reshape the structural muscles. Your abs form the foundation of the entire midsection, so these also need to be contoured. Nevertheless, spending every day in the gym might not be enough, either! Muscles can become distended from injury, lack of use, or even improper training. When this happens, even a strong set of abs can appear to be bloated or stick out far away from the abdomen instead of keeping the muscles tight against the body. Abdominoplasty is also the only way to get rid of excess skin—skin that you might have from pregnancy or excessive weight loss. No matter how much weight you lose or how many sit-ups you do, that skin is there to stay unless we intervene. Fortunately, abdominoplasty is a relatively simple procedure that is apt for most people. In just a few hours, you can greatly improve your appearance and turn back the clock on your body. Who Should Get an Abdominoplasty? It should be noted that abdominoplasty is not a substitute for natural weight loss. Patients who have trouble losing large amounts of weight should consider other options. Once you have reached a weight close to the ideal amount for your build, then abdominoplasty becomes a much more suitable option. In general, the results of your procedure and your recovery time will be better if you’re already in good shape prior to the operation. Many patients first try to achieve the look they desire naturally, and then turn to this procedure once they are no longer seeing improvement from diet and exercise alone. After Losing Weight Abdominoplasty is also right for people who have lost large amounts of weight in a short time. When you carry a lot of weight, your skin stretches and expands to accommodate the extra fat. This is what causes stretch marks. Furthermore, when you have excess weight on your stomach, gravity pulls your abs down and forward, causing them to loosen and get further away from your body. This is why, even if you begin a strict training regimen, you might find your abs are not tightening up as you expected. When you lose that weight, your skin doesn’t simply snap back, and your abs don’t automatically tighten up. An abdominoplasty is the best option to restore your natural shape and undo the damage done. After Pregnancy The effects of pregnancy are very much like what we have just described. In fact, pregnancy creates more problems for the abdominal muscles than natural weight gain, because weight, in this case, comes from behind the abdominal wall. The growing baby pushing out on the abdomen will usually separate the abdominal muscles, resulting in what is sometimes called “mommy tummy.” Abdominoplasty can be performed at any time after pregnancy, although doctors recommend waiting until after breastfeeding is over. If you had a C-section delivery, you should wait until you are fully healed before undergoing another surgery. History of Abdominoplasty It might surprise you to know that surgeons have been practicing this type of procedure for over 100 years! The first cases go all the way back to 1870, when modern surgical techniques became commonplace. Over the next several decades, doctors experimented with a number of methods. Damage Repair Many of the first abdominoplasty surgeries were not performed with aesthetics in mind. The goal, in many cases, was to repair damage to the body, such as a hernia or wound from an object. As a result, many of the old methods left large scars—something that we absolutely avoid in modern surgery. It wasn’t until the 1960s that abdominoplasty began exclusively using an incision from hip to hip, which would be easily covered by clothing afterward. Modern Developments In the 1970s, liposuction became an established technique that doctors could use to sculpt the body by removing or adding fat where needed. Naturally, this became a part of abdominoplasty almost overnight. We use liposuction to create a natural shape across the abdomen. More recent advancements have made the procedure even safer and less invasive. Recovery times are faster than ever. There’s never been a better time to get a tummy tuck than now. How Does the Procedure Work? Abdominoplasty can be performed in a matter of hours, making it an out-patient procedure for most patients. With good preparation and a skillful surgeon, your tummy tuck will go over smoothly. Before the Procedure Before performing an abdominoplasty, you’ll come in for a consultation. We will analyze your body’s structure and shape in order to determine the best course of action for you. We will also discuss your goals and desired outcome. If you meet the criteria for the procedure—and most of our patients do— we’ll set a date for the operation. You’ll receive instructions for the weeks leading up to the procedure. This may include a healthy diet to promote healing afterward. The days before the surgery, we will give you specific instructions regarding food and physical activity. During the Procedure Abdominoplasty requires some anesthesia, though what kind and to what extent depends on the nature of the procedure and your preferences. A “Mini abdominoplasty” can be performed with local anesthetic for minor procedures. More commonly, epidural anesthesia is used, although general anesthesia is an option for patients who prefer to be completely unconscious during the operation. After being prepared for the operation, you’ll proceed to our operating room, where we will administer the anesthetic and ensure that everything is going perfectly. A careful incision is made across the abdomen from hip to hip. Another is made in your navel to allow your skin to be adjusted. What We Do Loose skin gets trimmed while excess fat may be removed with liposuction. The abdominal wall is strengthened and tightened in the process. Your skin is placed back over the abdominal muscles in their new location and meticulously stitched into place. Your belly button is the final detail. The original material underneath your skin that forms your belly button is preserved, and a new navel is crafted into the skin above.    The end result is a stomach that you and those who know you best will see is completely natural. The entire procedure typically takes around two or three hours. You can be in and out in a single morning or afternoon. After the Procedure You should arrange for someone to pick you up, as you won’t be able to drive right away. The doctor will have applied a dressing and given you some easy-to-follow instructions for how to keep the incision clean. You’ll also need to use an abdominal garment for a few weeks to help everything heal in the correct location. You’ll also receive prescriptions for antibiotics to prevent infection. Our staff will coordinate follow-up visits with you to ensure that you are recovering according to plan. Before long, you’ll be ready for beach season. Are You Ready for Your Tummy Tuck? If you’ve been thinking about getting an abdominoplasty or simply want to know more about the procedure itself, we’re here to help. We also work closely alongside CareCredit and Alphaeon to provide financing options for our clients.    When you’re ready for a new you, contact Kadz Plastic Surgery of Beverly Hills, CA, to schedule a consultation and find out how we can help you achieve your goals.