Plastic Surgery Blog

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 found a real passion for Juvederm Ultra Procedures.  Is Juvederm great […]

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 lips and the cheeks.  In fact, I have come up […]

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 I would hope the industry soon. I have been using cannulas […]

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 and certain fillers, e.g., fat, Restylane, and Juvederm, work better in certain […]

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 of cosmetic procedure since it cannot be exactly […]

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 mastery until he has been […]

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 featured article discusses some of Dr Lam’s facial rejuvenation procedures and techniques that minimize […]

Unfortunately, celebrities seem to be victims of shysters and crooks.  As far as what I have heard, Priscilla Presley had silicone injected into her face by an unlicensed individual leaving her permanently scarred.  As you can see in this photo, her cheeks were made way too large, whereas her upper and lower face was left […]

How I use Permanent Facial Fillers: Fat Transfer, Silicone, Bellafill(Artefill) In my clinical practice I use both temporary and permanent facial fillers depending on a mixture of budget, desires, and safety. Although permanent fillers carry the risk that they are indeed permanent, I believe that it is important to delineate safety guidelines and also to […]

Notched Noses: How To Fix Them Without Rhinoplasty For me one of the biggest telltale signs a nose underwent previous rhinoplasty is the nostril is notched like an upside V-shape rather than a gentle upside U-shape. This notching that occurs after previous aggressive rhinoplasty may remain unaware to the individual that it is unnatural but not […]

Runner’s Face News Story Featured on 33 News Tonight I was featured on 33 News tonight at 9 pm on a segment entitled “Runner’s Face” for those hyper athletic individuals who prematurely age due to volume loss.  Melinda Arai goes through multiple syringes of fillers to help plump her face back naturally into a more […]

Leveraging the Hardness of Products in Cosmetic Injectable Fillers How hard an injectable product is can be a very good thing or a not so good thing. In any case, I try to use products based on its hardness factors for differing effects on the face. One of the softest materials that I use is […]

Use of Microcannulas: A Revolution in My Practice Using Fillers Many of my patients who have been with me for many years have witnessed the revolution in techniques that I have developed for injectable fillers.  Early on I started with rudimentary needle injections.  I then progressed to larger cannulas that I adapted from fat grafting […]

The Liquid Facelift Debunked A term that has become the bane of my existence is the “liquid facelift” due to a recent appearance on Dr. Oz that has caused quite a media stir.  Although I perform a huge volume of facial fillers and fat grafting in my practice, it is not the same meaning of […]

Fillers Versus Fat: Shifting Sand Concept Many of my patients try to weigh the merits of fat grafting versus fillers since they both seem to be equally beneficial to fill in the hollows of an aging face.  However, I would disagree.  For younger faces still replete with enough fat and in whom I worry about […]

Megan Fox’s Lips In general, I am not opposed to a more aggressive policy with lip augmentation for women in their late teenage to early twenties.  A full set of lips can actually look natural in this narrow window of time.  However, even by the late twenties when the face is slimmer, very full lips […]

Injectable Rhinoplasty: When, Why and Why Not With the desire for non-invasive techniques today, many patients are turning to injectable rhinoplasty to make themselves feel better about their nose shape without undergoing surgical rhinoplasty. However, is this a good thing?  Who is a good candidate? First, let’s define what injectable rhinoplasty is.  It involves injecting […]

Managing Fine Lines Around the Mouth Fine lines around the mouth is perhaps the most important and at the same time least important topic for a written blog on facial plastic surgery.  Why is that the case?  Because almost every woman young and old is bothered to some degree about what they call “smoker’s lines” […]

Fat Grafting Using a Hair Transplant Model for Understanding Part 1:  Graft Growth Looking at my fat grafting results I was puzzled initially as to why I saw results continue to improve in patients somewhere between 6 months to 2 years after a procedure.  Being a very careful student of my own work by photographing […]

My first experience with Restylane® was awful, painful and lasted a very short time not as told!!! I screamed everytime the needle went in. I have never had a painless dental block until now. This was truly painless and I hate needles. I did not feel a thing. This was the best experience I have […]