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Plastic Surgeon Dr. Michele Koo’s Blog | St. Louis | Kansas City

What Questions Do you Ask Your Plastic Surgeon When Considering Breast Surgery??

July 28th, 2010

So, you’re thinking of having breast surgery…augmentation, reduction, lift, or perhaps implant exchange. What do you ask your plastic surgeon and how do you know she is qualified? Most importantly, how can you be sure she will take care of you and keep you are safe?

First, you want to make sure your plastic surgeon is Board Certified and a Member of the Aesthetic Society if you are considering any kind cosmetic procedure.

Second, do your research. Insist upon seeing photographs of your plastic surgeons previous patients and ask to speak with them regarding their experience. Check out your surgeon’s website. Does their philosophy and approach resonate with you?

Third, during your consultation, ask yourself if you feel comfortable with your surgeon. Do you trust her? Do you click with her? Do you like her? These impressions are imperative when choosing your surgeon, because your relationship is just as important as the results with which she will provide you. This bond will not only make you feel safer but also provide your doctor with the insight to give you exactly what you want.

Last, ask your friends who they’ve seen. Were they happy with their results? Would they go back? This will help you make an informed decision.

Good luck with your search!!

Delicious Low Calorie Recipe for your St Louis HCG Drops Weight Loss Program

June 28th, 2010

For those of you using Dr Koo’s HCG diet management protocol, we have a new
delicious low calorie recipe for the summer for you!! After you have used the
HCG weight loss drops for at least 1 month then you can try this recipe. Count
the total calories depending on what you substitute for ingredients and apply
that number to your total calories for the day.

This is a delicious taste treat that will satisfy your need for some flavor without
piling on unnecessary calories.  If you are on maintenance for the HCG weight loss program, this will be a
delicious low calorie recipe you can modify and continue to use. 

This recipe has become a favorite on the weekends during the summer with a lovely refreshing
lemony flavor. Try it this coming weekend for the 4th of July and let us know how you like
it!!

                     Lemony Herbed Miracle Noodles with Tomatoes, Olives and Feta
 
2 bags of angel hair, fettuccini or orzo Miracle Noodles
3 tablespoons cold pressed extra-virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 medium-large ripe plum tomatoes (about 3/4 pound) cored, seeded and diced
1/4 pound drained feta,  crumbled
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
1/2 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons finely chopped tarragon
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1) Empty Miracle Noodles into colander, draining the water that the noodles
are packed in. Boil for one minute, drain, pat dry with a small hand towel
and set aside in a large bowl.
 
2) In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon
salt. Pour the dressing over the Miracle Noodles and toss well. Add the tomatoes,
olives, feta, green onions, parsley, mint, tarragon, rosemary, thyme and a generous
grinding of pepper. Toss well and serve within an hour or so of completion.
 
The herbs can be found very easily during the summer season and provide an
enormous flavor punch without the salt!
 
The above combination of herbs does wonders on just about anything.  Try
the fresh rosemary and thyme on chicken and get ready for the compliments.
Put that on a bed of Miracle Noodles and you have a great meal.
 
To a Healthy, Low Cal Summer!

 


Why Can’t I Lose that Next 10 lbs??

June 9th, 2010

If you’re among the millions of people who have ever tried to lose weight, you are probably asking yourself the exact same question of…”why can’t I lose any more weight when I eat healthy and stay active?”

If you’ve been starving yourself, your body is most likely in a calorie preservation mode and you won’t lose any more weight unless you kicked up your activity level significantly. Most of us can’t do that easily, no time, no energy, and no will power!

You need to change your body’s hunger set point, or what I term your hungerstat. HCG, human chorionic gonadotropin) can definitely change your hungerstat by working at the level of the hypothalamus (a region of your brain that regulates hunger and temperature, etc).

What does hcg, hypothalamus, and all that mean exactly? What that means is that your body and brain (your psyche) are used to eating to the point of feeling FULL, which for your level of activity may actually be way too many calories even though you think you’re not eating hardly anything at all or eating so healthy.

Weight loss is actually extremely simple. You must intake fewer calories than you burn. The hard part is how do you do that?? The answer: HCG drops or injections.

HCG will suppress your appetite and is NOT a stimulant or speed. It is a gonadotropin that is normally produced by the placenta during pregnancy. While you will see HCG advertised and available all over the internet, you do not know where it is from and how pure it is or if it is exactly as what is advertised.

I obtain the HCG from a US Pharmaceutical Company that manufactures the HCG and I have a CERTIFICATE OF PURIFICATION with the specifications of purity that is sent with the product. You can be sure that what you are receiving for weight loss is indeed what I say it is, pure HCG.

The HCG acts at the level of your hypothalamus to suppress your appetite while simultaneously increasing your metabolism to burn the “stubborn brown fat” of the internal and external abdomen, waist, hips, and inner and outer thighs. Read the rest of this entry »

HEALTHLY ZERO CALORIE NOODLES - DELICIOUS RECIPE For Your Skinny Waist

June 4th, 2010

If you’ve been following the HCG DIET by DR MICHELE KOO & you’re starting to come off the Phase I and moving into maintenance, try this recipe to add some zing and flavor without the calories. After your strict 500 calories you will love the taste variety.

This is a delicious recipe fro Stacy from Denver, Colorado who is a regular Miracle Noodle user and a real foodie so you know this recipe will be good AND VERY FEW CALORIES WITH ZERO CALORIES IN THE PASTA!!!

After perusing her June issue of Food and Wine magazine, she adapted the following recipe using MIRACLE NOODLES.

You can add your favorite protein: grilled shrimp, chicken, fish etc. or eat as is.

Chinese Coleslaw Recipe adapted from a recipe in the June issue of Food and Wine magazine.

Makes 6 Servings

2-3 bags of Miracle Noodle pasta
3 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups packed mesclun (2 ounces or any mixed salad greens of your choice)
1 1/2 cups finely shredded red cabbage
1 1/2 cups finely shredded green cabbage
1 large celery rib, cut into 2-inch julienned strips
1 small carrot, cut into 2 inch julienned strips
1 scallion, cut into 2 inch julienned strips
One 2 ounce piece of jicama, peeled and cut into 2 inch julienned strips (1/2 cup)
1/3 seedless cucumber, peeled and cut into 2 inch julienned strips (1/2 cup)
1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro (chinese parsley)
2 Tablesppons thinly sliced basil leaves

Instructions

1. Empty Miracle Noodles into a colander draining the water that the noodles
are packed in and rinse in cool water. Boil for one minute, drain in colander and squeeze dry with a
small hand towel. Cut noodles into smaller pieces with a scissors
Set aside and let cool.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the hoisin sauce with the vinegar, lime juice,
sesame oil and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

3.  In a large bowl, toss the mesclun with the red and green cabbages, celery,
carrot, scallion, jicama, cucumber, snow peas, cilantro. Add the dressing and
Miracle Noodles and toss to coat. Garnish with fresh basil.

What do you do when your breast implants become rippled, wrinkly & hard or worse yet…DEFLATE?

May 19th, 2010

As women who have had breast implants age along with their silicone or saline breast implants, the number of breast implant failures and problems with deflation, rippling, and capsular contractures continue to increase.

This is not unexpected as the life of a saline implant may only be 10-15 years and the life of a silicone implant 20-25 years. The breasts may become firm or actually very painful and hard, they may become misshapen and asymmetric, they may become malpositioned or start to droop with the breast and become very unsightly for the woman.

Many women keep putting off the inevitable which is to have the breast implant replaced or removed entirely with or without a simultaneous breast lift.

The first thing you should know is that breast implant replacements are safe and may take 1-3 hours of surgery under general anesthesia. The surgery time depends on how much capsular contracture (scarring) there is and whether a breast lift is performed at the same time. Some women opt to have the implants removed and not replaced and have a breast lift to remove the excess breast skin that remains after the implant is removed and want a smaller maintenance free breast in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s Involved in a Mommy Makeover & When Can You Have One After Delivery?

May 13th, 2010

So you’ve had a few kids and now you’re 20-40 lbs heavier with breasts that are deflated, stretch marks all over your tummy, belly button & breasts. You have skin that hangs over your pubic area that prevent you from being able to tuck in any shirt or find clothes that fit nicely.

You try to eat well, exercise, and be healthy but all you see are your flat saggy breasts and hanging tummy skin. You get discouraged and depressed and you eat that extra piece of cheesecake because … what’s the use, nothing makes any difference!

Let me tell you, break the vicious cycle and take charge of your life. It is true, you will not be able to make the skin shrink or lift your breasts with diet and exercise but it will make you mentally feel better until you can get a MOMMY MAKEOVER!!

What is a MOMMY MAKEOVER? It can consist of a breast augmentation with a breast lift, tummy tuck with liposuction, and/or brachioplasty to reduce the skin of the arms. You can have all of these surgeries done at one time with one recovery depending on how much excess skin and fat will be taken off.

Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the Truth Behind Liposuction and Lipodissolve? Were you Among Those Who Spent a Great Deal of Time and Money with Lipodissolve Without any Results? Let Us Hear Your Story.

April 25th, 2010

The FDA has finally issue a warning and information about the ineffectiveness of “LIPODISSOLVE” which the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has cautioned about ever since its inception.

What makes you think that injecting a significant amount of toxins in your body to kill the fat cells would not hurt or effect you the rest of you? Furthermore, if you kill the cells and don’t remove them, why would you think that there wouldn’t be major irregularities and a minimal change in contour?

Many people suffered fairly profound discomfort and pain after the injections and complained of being even bigger than before the injections due to the swelling and inflammation that resulted from the toxin injections. Lipodissolve was not cheap and could cost upwards of $5000 by the end of the required sequence of injections. Most patients believed since it wasn’t “surgery,” lipodissolve was safer and could be done without down time. The part that they didn’t understand was that the results were also not as advertised!

Liposuction often does require anesthesia but it also completely removes the fat cells that create the contour deformity that may be causing the lumps and bumps of your body, i.e., saddle bags, the pooch of the tummy, and the round pear hips. It can’t remove every last bit of fat since your body needs some subcutaneous fat for your skin to appear smooth, but liposuction can significantly change the shape of your body whether it is in men in the love handle areas, or women for the stubborn outer thigh saddle bag area.

Read the rest of this entry »

Can Breast Implants Feel REAL?

April 14th, 2010

So you’ve been considering a breast augmentation forever but you just don’t know if you will have breasts that look and feel REAL afterward…will he be able to tell that you have breast implants??

Do not worry, let me reassure you that an augmented breast DOES look and feel REAL!

How is that possible…?

Because the implants will become integrated with your own breast tissue and feel like one. They will bounce when you bounce and remain soft. The big difference is that you will have beautiful full round breasts. Of course, you will have firmer breasts, which is one of the reasons you are getting breast implants in the first place. They will remain soft and feel very natural. You want breasts that don’t sit flat on your chest. You want breasts that stand away from your chest and only have a little bit of skin contact with your upper abdomen (to hold only 1 pencil and not an entire pack of pencils)! That is what a breast implant will do for you, firmer, fuller, rounder breasts that are soft and move when you move.

There are now an entire spectrum of different sizes and profiles (height to width ratio) of breast implants that will deliver not only the most proportionate beautiful cup size of your choosing but also the shape that is in keeping with the length of your torso and how soft a drop you wish.

Some women want that full, up, round, in your face breasts that sit high and round. Some women prefer a slope and gentle fall and a slightly lower breast. You can actually bring pictures to your plastic surgeon’s office and discuss the actual contour of breast that you want.

When the swelling resolves, your breasts will be soft, move, bounce and be part of you. No one looking or touching your breasts will be able to tell you have implants…the give away that you MIGHT have breast implants…they will be TOO PERFECT to be real!!

What you decide to say to him is totally up to you, and truthfully you never have to say a word if you don’t want. The scars will fade and can be placed in your own natural creases so they actually look just like a skin crease.

After Breast Augmentation

After Breast Augmentation

Before Breast Augmentation

Before Breast Augmentation

Frustrated and Trapped by my Heavy, Saggy Grandma Breasts, What Can I Do?

April 5th, 2010

If you are a prisoner of your heavy saggy breasts that cause rashes from the breast sweat, sick of the neck and shoulder pain, and the extra pounds you continue to carry because you can’t even walk much less exercise, you need to explore the possibility of a BREAST REDUCTION AND BREAST LIFT which is most of the time covered by insurance to relieve all of the above symtoms. Read the rest of this entry »

Why Am I Aging? The Science of Facial Aging…Science of Skin Care

March 29th, 2010

The Science of Facial Aging.

LATEST CLINICAL INSIGHT

Collagen loss: A primary factor in facial aging.

Degradation of collagen, elastin, and fat impact the structure and volume of the skin; the dermis becomes thinner, less hydrated, and less elastic, causing skin to sag and form lines, wrinkles, and folds.

Lines, wrinkles, and folds—hallmark signs of facial aging—are caused by disruptions in the framework of the dermis, such as collagen loss.

  • Facial aging begins at around 20 years of age, and continues throughout a person’s life.
  • Normal aging decreases collagen production and weakens the dermis’ framework of support, hindering the growth of blood vessels and other vital support structures.
  • Degradation of elastin reduces dermal elasticity, and deficiencies in hyaluronic acid cause a loss of hydration: elastin and hyaluronic acid can no longer bind themselves to collagen scaffolding.
  • Ultraviolet exposure also breaks down and impairs the synthesis of new collagen and decreases the elasticity of the skin.

Degradation of the extracellular matrix in facial aging.

A gradual process.

  • The face does not age overnight—the disruptions in the framework of the dermis described above are an underlying cause of changes in 3-dimensional facial topography that occur over time.
  • In addition, fat is redistributed and/or lost, disrupting smooth contours in many facial areas.
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