I had a consultation last week when a woman said two of her friends had a fat grafting (performed elsewhere) where the fat graft went away after two years. This comment made absolutely no sense to me. I use the analogy of a skin graft or a hair graft. Once a graft...
When we look at aging that occurs under the eyes, we typically think that there is usually a problem of excess, that is, eyebags. However, there are also cases where there are just simply hollow lower eyelids where you can see the exposed, bony orbital rim that also...
I am writing this post after finishing a 30-minute rowing workout at 6 am on a Sunday morning on vacation. I have never been an athlete. In fact, I was always the last to be picked in high school for any sport team because I was that bad. Perhaps that is a good thing...
Dallas facial plastic surgeon Dr. Sam Lam is proud to announce that his new book Male Facial Rejuvenation (Elsevier, 2024) in which he served as principal editor is just released. The book, which is part of Elsevier’s Facial Plastic Surgery Clinics series, is directed...
Brow lift and fat grafting are both excellent methods of facial rejuvenation of the upper face that can be performed together or separately and that achieve similar goals. Dr. Lam discusses when he performs a brow lift, fat graft, and/or upper blepharoplasty in this...
When people think of surgical volume enhancement, they usually consider two types of volumizing procedures: fat grafting and facial implants. Each procedure has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages, and I use each type differently based on the benefits of...
While there aren’t rigidly age-specific procedures when it comes to plastic surgery, there are broad periods of time when patients tend to gravitate towards particular plastic surgery treatments. This is primarily based on the symptoms the procedures are used to treat...
This past week I performed an otoplasty on a 72-year-old woman who could have benefited from other rejuvenative procedures but chose otoplasty as her number one concern. As you know, most people associate otoplasty, cosmetic pinning of protruding ears, as a childhood...
Botox - Is It Right for Me? Botox has been around for years in the cosmetic industry, helping numerous patients smooth away fine wrinkles. As popular as Botox is, many patients are still reluctant to include Botox injections in their skincare routine for skin...
I shot a very long 30-minute video on the subject a few months ago and in some respects that video is already somewhat outdated. I am very passionate about MesoBotox and perform it several times a day including on my own face and that of my wife’s. The word “meso”...
There are so many ways to enhance and rejuvenate the eyelids that the prospective patient can be quite confused at the end of an endless Internet search. I want to present my thoughts about the aging process around the eyes and why I have chosen the method that I have...
I perform a deep-plane facelift, which involves releasing certain facial and neck ligaments to allow a proper, unrestrained elevation of the midface, jawline, and neck. However, in certain patients, about half or more of my cases, I also perform an additional deep...
My singular invention is the treatment of both acute and chronic pain for my patients. I have used my unique technique to fix a ton of conditions that no one in the world can manage the way that I do including fixing migraines, TMJ issues, joint pain, plantar...
Dr. Lam was recently honored for being one of the best doctors in Dallas by D Magazine in the 2023 edition. He was voted by his peers and he has never solicited votes on his own behalf. This is an unpaid honor.
As a professional esthetician, I know firsthand the power of a good skincare routine. Skin quality is a huge component of aging— it includes elements like brightness, evenness of tone, and hydration. In this golden age of skin care, we have the ability to preserve...
Full Audio Transcript: I have really been focused a lot on skin and in the past few years I've been evolving my thinking over and over. I would encourage you to listen to my recent podcast, two podcasts I released a couple weeks ago on total Botox. I'm not gonna try...
Full Audio Transcript: This podcast is on Botox, or Botulinum toxin type A, and I think everyone knows about it. I don't need to really go into how to treat it for the forehead or crows feet. But I do want to talk about some new concepts and understanding what I like...
Dallas Facial Plastic Surgeon Dr. Sam Lam talks about why the lips should follow the face in terms of chronology and design. Full Audio Transcript: In this podcast about lips following the face, the golden rule is not to start with the lips. Now, that's an exception...
Dallas Facial Plastic Surgeon Dr. Sam Lam talks about the social media meme #NoMakeUp and what his thoughts are on it. Full Audio Transcript: I saw this article on the hashtag no filter, hashtag no makeup thing that's going around the Internet today talking about...
Dr. Lam and his family were featured in the local Stroll magazine to feature his work with the charity Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center of which he and his wife were the honorary chairs of the Art for Advocacy gala and where his painting Floris II sold for $20,000,...
Dallas Facial Plastic Surgeon Dr. Sam Lam talks about a new medication to help one’s eyes look more youthful in a matter of a quick eyedrop Full Audio Transcript: One of the things I talk about all the time during consultations is when patients have a very mild degree...
People always ask me about the recovery time, which I think is really important to discuss. The saying that my mentor taught me, who is an amazing surgeon, said that there's no amount of ice that will ever cover the gentle hand of a surgeon or lack of a gentle hand of...
Dallas Facial Plastic Surgeon Dr. Sam Lam talks about how he closes wounds in a plastic surgical technique and highlights some differences between those who are trained in plastic surgery techniques and those who are not. Full Audio Transcript: This is a podcast...
Cosmetic surgical procedures are increasingly becoming part of the mainstream. According to a report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, there were 2,314,720 cosmetic surgical procedures in 2020. This figure is up 22% compared to 20 years ago. The most common...
Dr. Lam is featured in this month's Forum International, the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS)'s official journal, on his eyebrow hair transplant and surgical correction of keloid scars and hair loss in the eyebrow region.
Dallas Facial Plastic Surgeon Dr. Sam Lam has been elected to the Board of Directors for the American Board of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery (ABFPRS). He has served as an oral examiner for the AFPRS for many years now and has helped to create the oral...
This Wednesday, July 18th, Dr. Lam will be appearing on Doctor Radio, channel 110 on both Sirius and XM radio! He will be speaking with Dr. Erich P. Voigt for one hour regarding facial plastic surgery and hair restoration. Tune in at 12 pm CDT/1 pm EDT. To ask Dr. Lam...
In the past, I was convinced that I needed to have very short lasting epidermal (outer skin) sutures and long-lasting dermal (deep, below the skin) sutures. I am now convinced of the exact opposite. In the past, I would use deep, dissolvable stitches that would take 6...
Reducing nostrils is an oftentimes major goal in rhinoplasty, particularly for ethnic noses but can be so for any ethnicity. There are many considerations when discussing this topic of alar-base reduction. The first is the importance of preserving the nostril shape...
This is one of my favorite maneuvers in rhinoplasty, and I use it when I need to do so in select primary and revision rhinoplasty cases. The tongue refers to the bottom part of the septum and the groove refers to the two inner nostril cartilages. The surgical maneuver...
Threadlifts suck. Yup, threadlifts suck. I tried them 10 years ago and nothing has changed. The company that bought Silhouette purchased ancient technology and has since repackaged it. I have yet to see convincing before-and-after results to me. Most often any results...
I have had too many patients who simply have very artificial-looking results from fillers. Lips that look like a duck, and cheeks that look like chipmunks. I do not create these results but I see them come to my office every day from other injectors. Just last week I...
Unnaturalness is the first and most important cardinal sin that must be avoided. I am very blunt, at times to a fault. If you look fake but you do not see it, I will point it out to you in a judicious and caring manner; but I think I owe it to you to mention it. One...
Applying art to facial rejuvenation is key to making a face appear optimally youthful and at the same time completely natural. I have spent my lifetime studying faces to determine what are the qualities that make a face look younger or older. I particularly like to...
Restylane is an injectable dermal filler that is used to "fill in" areas that may appear sunken-in due to loss of volume, or to enhance facial features such as the lips. Dermal Fillers are administered via injection in just a few minutes and require no downtime for...
Advances in plastic surgery happen all the time and it's pretty incredible how far we've come in such a short amount of time. Today we are able to make facial rejuvenations that are substantial while still looking natural. Dr. Lam approaches procedures with the eye of...
There are few facial features lusted after as much as round, luscious lips. For century’s women have been coveting their fuller lipped peers, celebrities and models and trying to emulate the look through make up tricks, and plump-promising glosses. For women who are...
The cosmetic surgical procedure to reduce an overly large ear or to reposition an ear that is protruding from the side of the head is known as Otoplasty Dallas. Otoplasty, also known as Ear Surgery, is performed for aesthetic reasons and does not alter the function of...
Nose Surgery is a procedure to improve the cosmetic or functional aspects of the nose. Nose Surgery, also called Rhinoplasty, can improve the aesthetic appearance of nose in patients who feel their nose is disproportionate to the rest of their facial features, has...
Children can be ruthless when it comes to calling each other mean and hurtful nicknames, particularly if there are any obvious physical attributes that make them stand out. Children who are born with ears that stick out from the side of the head or are overly large...
The forehead is often one of the first places people start to notice common signs of aging in. Wrinkles, lines, creases and a sagging, heavy brow can make us look not only older than we are or feel but more severe or upset than we wish to convey. Today there are a...
The Facelift is a procedure that reduces common signs of aging in the lower portion of the face. Today there are many options for facial rejuvenation available—more than ever before—so how do you know which one may be right for you? Some procedure as less invasive...
Nose Surgery is a procedure that has helped a number of men and women achieve the nose they desired. The Nose, front and center of the face, can either blend in seamlessly to your appearance or stick out as a sore and constant spot of insecurity depending on the...
Brow Lift is a cosmetic procedure performed to rejuvenate the appearance of the forehead. A sagging, heavy brow may be genetic, or may occur as a person ages along with lines, creases, and wrinkles in the forehead and between the brows. The brow lift procedure is...
As a follow-up to the blog on how we relate to babies, Nancy Etcoff in her book, Survival of the Prettiest, argues that men are more attracted to blonde women than to darker haired women, whereas women are attracted to the polar opposite, i.e., a darker-shaded male. ...
Dallas facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Sam Lam is scheduled to be one of the faculty members at the upcoming European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery Congress in Norway, commonly referred to as “THE FACE”. The international conference is being organized by the European...
Glass of Water Emptying: The Way I Explain the Aging of the Face When people ask me whether fat grafting is permanent, I say yes and no. Yes, it is permanent because if done well by an expert injector (which I consider myself one) then once the graft gains formal...
The Tent Pole of the Nose Revisited in Rhinoplasty I think it is worth exploring a concept that allows me to discuss with prospective rhinoplasty patients exactly how I approach noses and what the specific limitations are for a particular individual based on the...
Breaking down the Cheek into Aesthetic Subunits: Avoiding Chipmunk Cheeks There is nothing uglier than big, chipmunk cheeks other than perhaps a devil looking arched brow or a duck-like lip. How do you avoid this problem? Should one not fill the cheeks at all then? ...
Type 1 and Type 2 Eyelids One of my colleagues came up with the distinction between two types of youthful eyelids. Type 1 is a very full upper eyelid that hangs almost over the eyeball itself (not quite). Type 2 eyelid is an eyelid that is much hollower but at the...
Breaking the Brow into Subunits: Designing a Brow for Cosmetic Improvement In a previous blog we discussed why low, full brows are sexy, youthful and attractive. In this blog, we will delve into the exact subcomponents of a brow that need to be filled to achieve that...
I launched my new skin care line earlier this year entitled, OVA; and it has been nothing short of revolutionary both for my patients and for those who have purchased it elsewhere. I had some cast members of True Blood who heard about this miracle product and have...
Botox: Understanding Balance One of the most common things that I hear when I am working on a new patient for Botox is either “Don’t give me those Spock eyes” or “Don’t make me look too frozen.” Although Botox has become one of the most commoditized items in the...
When Do I Do an Upper-Eyelid Blepharoplasty and How? But should we always just add fillers or fat to the upper frame of the eyelid and never remove any tissues? The answer is no. If the eyelid skin is above the eyelash margin, I rarely if ever remove skin. Filling...
When Do I Do a Lower-Eyelid Blepharoplasty and How? Like the upper eyelid, I find myself performing many more fat transfers to correct the aging process than traditional eyelid surgery. Further, if I perform a traditional lower-eyelid procedure I will almost always...
Cut-off Nostrils Following a Nose Job (Rhinoplasty) One of the ugliest things that I see with a traditional rhinoplasty, or traditional nose job, are cut-off nostrils. A nostril should naturally taper and curve onto the face with a shelf like portion on the upper lip...
Recently, I had a lady who at the age of 57 started modeling for the first time in her life thanks in large part to the syringes I have put into her face to make her look better. Her new boyfriend remarked that she looked better than she had when he saw her 7 years...
I love stories because in a story I am able to convey a lot and make it memorable for a person. I remember a couple of stories that involved the Transport Security Authority (TSA) at the airport. I had one lady in whom I had done many facial fillers to make her face...
Notched Nostrils Following a Nose Job (Rhinoplasty) Another problem after a bad nose job rhinoplasty that to me is a telltale sign of bad work is a notched or V-shaped nostril. The curvature of the nostril rim should form a gentle upside U-shape. When it has been...
Correcting Fat Loss in IPL Damage: My Thoughts Unfortunately, I have heard a lot on the Internet about facial fat loss following a laser treatment like intense pulsed light therapy, or IPL. Fortunately, I have never seen a patient of mine with this outcome. I think...
One of the biggest concerns that I have from prospective patients is that they not look weird, the fear stemming from seeing unnatural celebrities that are frightening to them in magazines and on television. The question I get all the time is “If celebrity X has all...
Survival of the Prettiest Part 2: Do Blondes Have More Fun? As a follow-up to the blog on how we relate to babies, Nancy Etcoff in her book, Survival of the Prettiest, argues that men are more attracted to blonde women than to darker haired women, whereas women are...
Knowing Yourself and Your Plastic Surgeon: Clasping Your Hands and Determining If You Are Right-Brained or Left-Brained My Allergan business-development representative conducted a wonderful leadership seminar in my office that gave my staff a rousing and thoughtful...
Recovery and Cost of Fillers vs. Fat Grafting I would like to focus on two specific pros and cons with fillers and fat transfer: cost and recovery. In the younger patient (under 35 years of age), fillers typically are the most affordable way to make a face look more...
Getting Past Revision Plastic Surgery One of the toughest things that I have to deal with is a patient who is dissatisfied either with my work or with another surgeon’s work. I have many individuals who come to me with a sullen demeanor about what another physician...
In my effort to find the best filler experience for an individual, I am constantly evolving my injection filler methods and the preferred products that I use to accomplish those goals. In the past, I was a big advocate of Restylane injectable fillers but of late have...
Top 10 Things People Worry about After a Fat Transfer (During the Recovery Period) When I call one of my patients the night following a fat transfer procedure, I usually mention the top few things that can make them alarmed that will resolve over the period of the...
High or Low Brows?: What is Sexier for Men and for Women? I am reading a book called Survival of the Prettiest by Nancy Etcoff in which she says studies have shown that a higher brow actually looks less attractive to subjects who viewed various individuals with...
The Outer Face: Converting Double Concavities into Convexities The one thing that I cannot stand is seeing a face that appears disjointed, i.e., part of the face has been over augmented relative to another. Perhaps the two biggest problem areas that I see are the...
Cannulas for Facial Fillers: The Evolution of My Technique Although I would estimate that only 1% of injectors currently use cannulas rather than standard needles to perform facial fillers, I truly believe that they have become the standard of care in my practice and...
Cosmetic Facial Enhancement: A Mechanic vs. an Artist I had a lady come to my office a few months ago who said that she went somewhere else for a facial fat transfer because it was a couple of thousand dollars less than what I charged. She then came to me to touch...
Cartilage grafts for Nose Jobs/Rhinoplasties: Pros and Cons There are three principal supplies for cartilage grafts to build up a nose. They are the septum (from inside partition of the nose), the ear (conchal bowl cartilage), and rib (either cadaver or one’s own). ...
Fat Grafting: A Little Everywhere Good taste with clothing means that the items one wears are in harmony, possess style, cut well, and made of good material. Good cosmetic facial surgery is very similar. The products (materials) one uses can determine the outcome...
ARTAS: Robotic No-Incision Hair Restoration Although this website is really dedicated to facial plastic surgery matters, and I have a separate website, www.hairtx.com, for hair matters, every now and then something major comes up that is worth my mentioning even in a...
Revision Rhinoplasty: What Are My Standards of Naturalness I had a lady who came to me wanting to perform facial enhancement and I asked if she had any previous surgeries. She said, “No.” I asked her, “How about your rhinoplasty?” She was startled that I could...
Hollywood’s Pillow Face is a Problem As many of you know, I love facial volumization in which lost soft tissue of the face from aging is restored using fat grafting and/or injectable fillers. The word that has dominated the media is a “pillow face” to describe this...
The Happiness Hypothesis and Plastic Surgery A great book that I read last year was Jonathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis in which the author outlines many parameters for happiness. One of his points in the book is that great happiness that can last for years...
When to Perform a Lip Lift and When Not To Let me just get this out of the way: I hate lip lifts. Well not always. I just think they are too often performed creating lips that look unnatural. There are exceptions to this rule but there are very few, which I shall try...
Saving A Friend: When Maybe You Should Tell Someone You Had Plastic Surgery I had a patient of mine in whom I had done facial fillers and Botox treatments over a period of two years. In a word, she looked fabulous. At 47 years of age she looked like she was in her...
Fill vs. Lift in Facial Cosmetic Enhancement This article is a corollary to my other article called the “Two-Finger Rule”. In the article on the “Two-Finger Rule”, I argued that taking two fingers and gently pulling up on the skin would not be achievable with any type...
The Two-Finger Rule Almost every day a patient comes to me holding up the sides of her face and asking, “Can you do this for me?” The answer almost invariably is no, and I would like to take this blog to have you understand why that is. I like to call this the...
Downturned Corners of the Mouth: How To Fix Them One of the banes of women's existence is the downturned corners of the mouth. Whether they are mildly present or severe, almost every woman regardless of age is overly focused on them to their own detriment. I often...
Dr. Sam Lam Interviewed by Medical Spa MD For His Entrepreneurial Work and Facial Cosmetic Surgery Expertise Dr. Sam Lam was recently interviewed by Medical Spa MD, an online community comprised of over 5,000 physicians and medical providers actively engaged in the...
Understanding the Brow as a Balloon: The Role of Fat Grafting to the Brow One of the most confusing things that I do is to inflate a brow/upper eyelid with fat or filler when someone instinctively thinks that her brow is already too heavy and sagging. If someone...
Why I don’t use Sculptra First, let me say that I truly do not believe Sculptra is a bad product. In fact, I have many trusted colleagues who use it and use it well. However, I have used it in the past but I do not anymore for several reasons. The motivation behind...
Mastery Is An Asymptote: My Plastic Surgery Journey I am constantly refining my work so that you have a better and better result every time you see me. An example is I started to use microcannulas for facial fillers in November 2010. Since that time I have advanced...
Heidi Montag Plastic Surgery: What Are My Thoughts Obviously, when a famous celebrity gets plastic surgery, there is a thunderstorm of opinions that surround that event. Mostly these opinions originate from the lay press, and at other times these opinions appear as...
Understanding the Role of Artistry in Cosmetic Surgery and Enhancement One of the greatest compliments that I received was from an Italian plastic surgeon who flew from Italy trusting me to work on his wife’s face, which I performed in front of him. I undertook a fat...
Otoplasty Principles: Learned From Reconstructive Ear Cancer Operations Before I began my career dedicated to cosmetic otoplasty, or ear pinning procedures, I performed the full gamut of reconstructive procedures for cancers of the ear that required sophisticated...
The Road to Mastery in Plastic Surgery is an Asymptote The author Malcolm Gladwell argues that you need 10,000 hours doing something to become a master at it. An example is to be a world-class chess player who no matter how good he is or could be does not achieve...
Understanding The Importance of Lip Transitions When Creating Natural Looking Lips I have been thinking about transitions from the red lip to the non-red lip because of two women that I saw in the past few days. First, there was a woman who came from Oklahoma that...
Forgiveness in Cosmetic Surgery Many times I have individuals who come to me who are very depressed about a previous cosmetic surgery procedure that they elected to have done. I can see that for me to help them with anything new that I would first have to help them...
Concerns After Lip Reduction: Revisited Since I perform a very large number of lip reductions, I have worked hard to discuss with individuals all of the risks, complications, and recovery issues that I can imagine and that I have experienced over the years. This blog...
Globalization of Beauty: Trends and Concepts The traditional view on beauty has focused on the standard of the Caucasian, Nordic race. In the past two decades the trend has been to incorporate many models of mixed heritage. In fact, with the growing acceptance of...
Flow and Passion in Facial Plastic Surgery The Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi came up with the concept of flow, the time when skills and passion intersect and the person gets lost in his work. Think of a great sports player who is completely in sync...
Accent XL: Skin Tightening as an Important Adjunct to Cosmetic Enhancement Sometimes skin tightening is overrated and sometimes it simply does not work. In the past I used infrared technologies but abandoned it due to short-lived results. I have instead relied on...
Joan Rivers Plastic Surgery: From Overlifted to Overfilled Joan Rivers has been the poster child of bad plastic surgery for quite some time now. She was one of the most overlifted individuals that anyone has ever witnessed, but I believe that she may have gone...
When to Say No: Understanding Limits of Plastic Surgery I had a longstanding patient in whom I had done 5 rounds of micro silicone injections into her lips. Her results were stunning, natural, and feminine. She came back a year afterward wanting more. I humbly...
Dr Samuel Lam Featured In NewBeauty Magazine National Glossy Magazine Heralded As The Ultimate Cosmetic Enhancement Guide. Samuel M. Lam, MD, FACS, is featured in the Winter/Spring 2012 edition of NewBeauty magazine, which is due on newsstands in January 2012. The...
Kenny Rogers and Bad Blepharoplasty and Browlift Surgery Obviously, there is quite a bit of brouhaha about Kenny Rogers’ facial work. His alien appearance has clearly become the poster child for bad facial plastic surgery. If you are wondering what I see as far as his...
