Current News

Aesthetic News – May 2013

Personal Art in the 21st Century

These days, when it comes to our personal vision of how we want to look, each of us has developed into something of an artist. We have a vision of how we want to look and what our perceived imperfections are, and most often these can be improved or erased without a single cut! Facial asymmetry can be balanced; acne scarring can now become glowing smooth skin; a nose bump can be removed; neck or tummy skin laxity can be tightened; and the list of concerns that can be addressed in this way goes on and on… Oh the miracle of modern medicine – how lucky we are!

Whatever you want to “fix,” together you and I will form a working partnership in which you create and communicate your personal vision to me. Then, using my experience, knowledge, medical and artistic background, I will apply mixed media to paint and sculpt your expectations. It’s a beautiful partnership.

Here are a few examples to get you thinking:

Recreating the Youthful Countenance You Remember

Let’s start from the premise that many imperfections come from an aging process called “deflation”. As we age, all the components of our face resorb (shrink) – bone, fat, muscle, collagen. The result is sagging skin over a shrunken infrastructure. To achieve a natural result, it is necessary to “reflate” the face to its youthful contours. To achieve this, a variety of fillers are available – fillers that provide literally instant gratification for you.

In my experience, while instant gratification is awesome, the long term but not so immediate result of bio-stimulant products (such as Sculptra) is even more gratifying. The effect can last years with relatively little maintenance. Even better, I can combine a treatment plan that includes Sculptra with filler, for an instant pick-me-up with long term benefits. The combination of products allows me to construct a stronger chin and jaw line, define cheek bones, and create a face-lifting effect that can help re-suspend some neck skin sag and even improve skin quality.

Liquid Nose Job

The nose and ears keep growing as we age, so they too show signs of aging. Fortunately, many of the aging changes can be reversed. From Botox to fillers to laser and light treatments, noses can be artfully rejuvenated!

Lip Repair

As we age, lips tend to become thinner and longer, vertical fine lines creep up around them, and downward creases develop at the corners, causing some of us to look sad or angry. Fortunately, we now have many ways to address this tell-tale sign of aging. Often combinations of therapies work best: fillers, Botox, laser collagen remodeling…they are all part of the art of rejuvenation.

Fat Sculpting

Fat transfer has been around for a while. We can take fat from an undesirable area and move it to a deflated area. But now we can take fat and eliminate the unhealthy, damaged fat cells and the bad parts of such extract, and have good, healthy fat to transfer to needy areas. Researchers suspect that fat that is processed by special techniques contain stem cells that can actually promote the production of new collagen. This can allow for longer lasting reflation as well as improvement in skin quality.

You Be The Artist

Take a look at yourself and be honest in your personal assessment. If you see something you don’t like, then come in for a consultation. My staff and I will teach you about the amazing tools available to bring back your youthful appearance…or enhance it! Together we can be artists and I will guide you on the artistic journey to combine the appropriate elements to achieve and maintain your youthful look indefinitely!

Aesthetic News – April 2013

Aesthetic Skin & Laser Center presents
“A Young Heart, A Youthful Face”
Benefitting
“Open Your Heart – Go Red for Women”

Pittsburgh, PA….On May 2, 2013, the Aesthetic Skin & Laser Center, 4424 Penn Avenue, will partner with the “Open Your Heart – Go Red for Women” project of the American Heart Association for a program called “A Young Heart, A Youthful Face.” The event will be held at the Aesthetic Skin & Laser Center (ASLC), at the corner of Penn and Friendship, across from the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. This Open House celebrates the expansion of the ASLC facility.

Admission is free. Proceeds from the Silent and Chinese auctions, aesthetic services and “Francesca Skin Care,” Dr. Barad’s natural, nontoxic, herbal-based skin care products, sold that night will go to the “Open Your Heart – Go Red for Women” program.

“After a woman goes through a heart attack, she’s often fearful that any twinge is another heart attack. She looks and feels depressed. The work we do at the ASLC will be a wonderful way to help those women, because when you look good on the outside, it definitely helps you feel good on the inside,” relates Roxana Barad, M.D., board certified physician, Founder and Medical Director of the ASLC.

“Heart disease is the number one killer of women, killing approximately one woman every minute. Go Red for Women empowers women to take charge of their health because heart disease is largely preventable,” said Jill Sandilla, chair of Pittsburgh’s 2013 Go Red for Women Luncheon and Conference. “We appreciate Dr. Barad and her staff for opening their hearts and supporting our cause. It is our hope that more business leaders and local residents join us in our fight to generate funding and raise awareness. Together, we can end heart disease.”

All the women of the ASLC know women who have or are going through treatment for heart disease. Heart disease is the number one killer of women and far more deadly than any form of cancer, making this fundraiser an ideal team-up with the American Heart Association.

Dr. Barad and her staff of talented aestheticians are well known for their artistic and technical abilities, using the most advanced lasers, light systems and constantly evolving techniques to address their patients’ concerns. Dr. Barad is the area’s only surgeon offering SlimLipo^© to contour and shape the body using a unique laser system to melt away fat and tighten skin with minimal downtime. In addition, the ASLC is the only medical spa in Pittsburgh to use the Palomar Icon Aesthetic System, the newest standard in improving clinical outcomes for the most popular laser treatments including skin resurfacing, wrinkle reduction, scar and stretch mark treatment, permanent hair reduction, vessel, pigment, tattoo, and leg vein removal.

For more information, call Suzi Neft at 412-721-4320.

Aesthetic News – March 2013

“SlimLipo® is the VERY BEST type of liposuction.” A Testimonial.

“I would never consider any type of laser liposuction other than SlimLipo®. Dr. Barad and her entire staff were knowledgeable, helpful, informative and thorough. As soon as I met Dr. Barad, I liked her, found her to be kind, professional and patient; she never rushed. And within a week I could see that the procedure had been a success.”

These are the words of a well-informed and very satisfied SlimLipo® patient (pseudonym Vanessa) who is also a doctor. Vanessa was interviewed for this article and gave her insights into why she chose the SlimLipo procedure, her experience with Dr. Barad and the staff at the Aesthetic Skin & Laser Center (ASLC), and her impressions regarding recovery, recuperation and final results. Vanessa was interviewed just 9 days after her SlimLipo procedure and already could see differences in her body.
Vanessa was a perfect candidate for SlimLipo. After a car accident and the resultant stressful recovery, she gained about 20 pounds and was struggling to take it off; the areas around her waist and abdomen were particularly recalcitrant and no amount of dieting or exercise helped. As she has friends who had undergone Smartlipo and even traditional liposuction, Vanessa was prepared to go one of those two routes. That is – until she read about SlimLipo®.

Like many patients these days, Vanessa was not prepared to undertake such a momentous step as liposuction without multiple consultations and extensive research. Off she went, searching the internet and consulting with two of Pittsburgh’s best known plastic surgeons. Unsatisfied, back to researching on internet she went.

Reading about SlimLipo on the ASLC website, Vanessa was intrigued because of the apparent simplicity of the procedure, relative lack of invasiveness, and minor downtime. SlimLipo’s small laser wand gently melts fat away and provides smooth results with less contour deformities and skin irregularities than any other liposuction option. Upon finding that Dr. Barad is the only doctor in Pittsburgh who performs the procedure, Vanessa made an appointment.

Her decision was reinforced when Dr. Barad insisted on a specific preoperative preparation regimen. Neither of the other two physicians with whom Vanessa had consulted mentioned any pre-operative safeguards in speaking to her. Vanessa describes Dr. Barad as having done “everything right.”

On the day of surgery, Vanessa was made to feel completely comfortable. She recalls no pain during two-hour procedure, saying that the initial shot of lidocaine “pinched.” She felt nothing when the 6 incisions, each one of them about 2 mm, were made. None needed sutures. The laser itself she describes as feeling “ticklish, wavy and warm.” In what seemed like no time at all, after Dr. Barad performed an additional procedure to tighten her skin, Vanessa was securely snuggled into a body stocking and on her way home.

She was unsure what to expect her first night home. Were the stories of minimal pain really true? “Yes” Vanessa says, “Absolutely true.” While she felt fluid draining and some numbness, and needed help changing pads, she experienced no pain. The second night she describes as a littler harder as inevitable swelling occurred, but there was no more drainage and the strongest pain medication she needed was Tylenol. Vanessa describes the pain as always minor, “sort of like when you do a million sit ups and your abdomen is sore the next day.” She experienced virtually no bruising. She was out of bed every day and by day three Vanessa was up and walking around, recalling how her friends who had tried other liposuction techniques had been in bed and in considerable amounts of pain for a week or more.

Just 5 days after the procedure, Vanessa returned to the ASLC for a follow-up appointment. The swelling was starting to subside and the results were stunning. Already the changes she seeks are observable and she is confident that once the swelling is gone, she is going to have a smaller waist and tighter abs – just as desired.

If you are interested in talking directly to the real Vanessa, please call our office at
412-683-3358, and we will gladly arrange it.

Also, be sure to check out our upcoming events on March 7th and 13th.

Warm Regards,

Dr. Roxana Barad, MD

Board Certified Physician and Oculoplastic Surgeon

Aesthetic Skin and Laser Center

Aesthetic News – 2013

“Beautiful Inside and Out”

There’s no question about it: there is a great synergy, even codependency, between our inner and outer beauty. It’s enjoyable to be told, “You look absolutely beautiful today.” But it’s heart- warming to hear, “You have a beautiful heart and soul.” Best of all is when our outward physical appearance matches the inner glow we feel from the blessings and successes in our lives. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross provides us with a thought provoking definition of inner beauty: “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”On March 7th, the Aesthetic Skin & Laser Center will host an open house featuring world-recognized Neuro Emotional Coaching® creator, Dr. Barbara Schwarck, CEO of Clear Intentions International. Dr. Schwarck will demonstrate how to discover our talents, often hidden, and what may be keeping us from using those talents to the fullest. Her technique is designed to ease the way to making our inner lives complement our outer lives, desires and expectations or, in the words of Kübler-Ross, to find the “light from within.”

Beauty is more than external. Beauty from within comes when we glow because we are contented and fulfilled; when we smile as we share our successes; when we feel good about ourselves when we are recognized for our contributions and ideas; or when we are satisfied because we helped another person or solved a difficult problem.

If you feel that you have more inner beauty just waiting to come out, then Dr. Schwarck’s session is a “must” for you. Here you will be given the chance to have a one-on-one interaction with Dr. Schwarck as she practices Neuro Emotional Coaching® in real time. She will help you discover what may be blocking your business success or holding you back from a satisfying relationship. Her technique is not magic, but it may seem magical as you actually experience the difference you feel when your inner beauty matches and even enhances your outer beauty.

Also to be featured is the Center’s new ground breaking technique Slim Lipo®. With this cutting edge technology, you may have liposuction one day and be back on your feet in no time at all. It is available in Pittsburgh only at the Aesthetic Skin & Laser Center. Dr. Barad will share her knowledge of this innovation with you.

So please join us for these very special presentations on March 7th. The event is free, but preregistration is requested. Please email Linda@aestheticpittsburgh.com and let her know your name and how many guests you may bring with you. We look forward to seeing you and sharing this experience with you.

Date: Thursday, March 7, 2013
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Place: Aesthetic Skin & Laser Center, 4424 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224
Cost: Free