Dr. Khalid Alavadi, has 11 years of experience in Germany, and is now a practicing surgeon at the Drs Private Clinic. Hadi & Hofmann Clinic in Dubai.
Dr. Khalid, tell me, why are modern people so eager to change something in their appearance?
I think there are two main reasons. One is physical, if a person has a really clearly asymmetric face, for example, or protruding ears, he wants to correct this, and he turns to a plastic surgeon for help. The second is social, that is, a person, seeing some of his flaws in the mirror, even the first wrinkles that no one outsiders notice, believes that all his problems in society or business, precisely because of his unattractive appearance. His low self-esteem makes it difficult to feel 100%, so he goes to the doctor to change or improve something.
Now there is a trend among young people, especially young women, aimed at preventing the first signs of aging. That is, they strive to take all possible preventive measures before the skin begins to lose its elasticity and volume under the influence of age and natural aging processes. To do this, they begin to inject themselves with neurotoxins, such as Botox, undergo mesotherapy procedures and resort to other techniques and practices of aesthetic medicine.
Is it really necessary to run to the plastic surgery clinic at a young age, say 20 years old? And what will happen to this woman when she approaches the age of 50-60 years, how her skin and the whole body as a whole will respond to the intervention of doctors?
Everything is very individual and depends on many factors - heredity, the climate in which a person grew and lives now. A lot of women in countries with a hot climate, like in the UAE, begin to notice sagging skin and the first wrinkles as early as 19-20 years. Here Botox injections or other similar products, fillers or chemical peelings can come to the rescue. I do not see anything reprehensible in this. In our clinic, more than half of the patients are young people, mostly women.
Is Botox and fillers not harmful to health, because neurotoxins are still toxic, or, more simply, toxic substances? How many women after such procedures look like frozen masks, without a hint of facial expressions?
I would not say that Botox is poison. It began to be used in aesthetic medicine in the late 1980s, and its advantages are that the effect of this drug and similar neurotoxins is temporary. If a person did not like the effect of the procedure or something did not fit, he can stop and no longer continue, and the action of Botox will cease by itself after 4-6 months. If the patient likes everything, then the effect after repeated injection can last longer - up to 8 months. I am personally in favor of injecting neurotoxins, they allow a person to look younger and fresher, and the skin more toned. As for the "frozen masks", this is an inept or unprofessional administration of the drug, getting into those muscles of the face that you should not get into. In such cases, I would advise women not to take risks and go to specialized clinics, and not to engage in amateur activities, agreeing to give injections at home or in ordinary beauty salons.
What problems do patients mostly treat you with? And if you look at the segmentation of patients, women of which nationalities are more concerned with their beauty than others?
Plastic surgery is not at all a panacea for all ills. This is the very last step on the way to beauty, and if before that you can correct the appearance by other methods - peeling, Botox injections, fillers or the patient’s own adipose tissue, we offer this first of all. We are being contacted in order to carry out these procedures, as well as for operations that are very popular, especially in the countries of the Middle East region, to correct the shape of the nose, lips, and eyelids. In addition, we carry out operations on contour plastic surgery of the body, including liposuction. I must say that all operations are carried out by us in a hospital. As for nationalities, I’ll honestly say that all women, regardless of nationality, age or religion, want to be beautiful. Only their view of beauty is different.
But if we can help, we will gladly work on the face and body of the patient until she is completely satisfied with herself and does not feel confidence in herself and her strength. Our main task, as plastic surgeons, is to do everything possible for the patient so that no one even notices that the person went through one or a series of plastic surgeries. When the results of our work look natural, then the surgeon can put the highest score for professionalism.
Please tell the doctor, in what cases do people seek the help of a plastic surgeon, unless these are patients who need surgery after an accident or accident?
Patients come to us when there is an urgent need for it, whether physically or psychologically. It would be wrong to assume that the clients of plastic surgeons don’t peck chickens, and they simply don’t know where to put them and what to do with themselves. Many modern people need the help of specialists. Due to our rhythm of life, polluted environment, constant stress, we begin to get old earlier, meanwhile, modern society dictates its own laws, you are in demand, if you are young, fit, healthy, then you are successful in business and society.
What is your personal opinion about injections of neurotoxins and other manipulations of aesthetic medicine aimed at improving the patient's appearance, sometimes having the exact opposite effect, that is, disfiguring the face?
Botox injections (by the way, this is a brand of one of the drugs of the botulinum group, so I would prefer to call them generically neurotoxins), it is worth looking from different angles. On the one hand, of course, it is a poison of botanical origin, paralyzing nerve endings and relaxing muscles, which helps smooth out visible wrinkles in patients. However, many modern drugs can also be assigned to the group of poisons. It all depends on the dose and spectrum of their use.
Typically, neurotoxins are administered in such microscopic doses of 40-50 units that we can’t talk about their toxic effects on the body. As a preventative measure, they are quite effective, because when we age, the facial muscles become stronger, and the elasticity of the skin, on the contrary, weakens, since the body reduces the production of collagen and elastin, which are responsible for its youth. Neurotoxins make the muscles relax, so wrinkles are less visible. And in combination with proper daily skin care, injections of Botox and other similar drugs can delay the aging process. Believe me, people chasing beauty do much more terrible things than injecting neurotoxins. Moreover, one should not forget that Botox is prescribed for patients suffering from nervous tics, increased sweating, the consequences of a stroke and other problems that prevent them from living.
Incorrectly calculated doses of the drug, injected into the wrong place if not done by a specialist, as well as fillers, which can harden inside the muscle tissue if absorbed, can disfigure the face. Then surgical intervention is necessary, and often, removing fillers can be very difficult, and sometimes simply impossible. Each case is individual, and, in the end, to make or not to make injections, everyone chooses for himself, because even wrinkles in different people differ in their origin.
What are the main operations you do?
All that we talked about earlier is injections of neurotoxins and fillers, and I personally more welcome the introduction of patients' own adipose tissue instead of synthetic gels, since the fat pumped out from one part of the body and introduced into another stimulates the growth of new cells, the so-called "stem". Many patients seek rhinoplasty (nose shape correction), make lips plastic surgery (special implants have now appeared to make lips fuller and more beautiful so that they look natural), eye eyelids (tighten the upper and remove the bags under the lower). Liposuction procedures, breast enlargement or reduction, and body contouring are extremely popular. In a word, plastic surgery is not limited only to the face or some part of the body. And not always it is only aesthetic in nature, sometimes it is necessary to deal with the restoration of lost beauty in an accident or in an accident.
I perform operations to restore nerve endings, muscles, tendons and so on. That is why I work in a hospital, where all operations are performed under sterile conditions and by highly qualified specialists in order to avoid side effects.
How often do people come to you who want you to tell them what needs to be fixed in their appearance?
Often. But I can’t give them an answer right away. As a doctor, it’s important for me, first of all, to hear what the patient wants, and only after lengthy consultations and understanding what really prevents a person from gaining self-confidence, will I either agree or refuse any kind of manipulation with his face or body. My patients come from all over the world, including some Russian speakers. And, of course, they are mainly interested in face-lift or body-lift. Everyone wants to be young and beautiful. Another problem of our time is melanoma or skin cancer.
Here I always tell patients that this problem does not occur in one day. If you have melanoma at the age of 30-40 years old, it means the consequences of your stay in the open sun without protective creams when you were 15-17 years old. Such patients can be assisted if they contacted us on time and did not try to remove moles from the face and body, without first consulting with a dermatologist and surgeon, without conducting a preliminary diagnosis. But, on this issue we can dwell in more detail next time.
In parting, I want to urge all your readers and readers to approach the issues of improving their appearance with all seriousness and remember that plastic surgery is, first of all, an operation! With its postoperative period and special care conditions. Therefore, all aesthetic procedures should be carried out only in specialized clinics and only by doctors! I wish everyone to maintain health and youth for many years.
