Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes, MD
About
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes, Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes, MD is a Harvard-educated, Harvard-trained board-certified plastic surgeon in Los Angeles catering to the most complex revision plastic cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries on the planet with patients from all over the world.
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Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes performs the entire array of plastic surgery including butt augmentation, Brazilian buttlift (BBL), liposuction, liposuction revision, butt implant surgery, tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), breast augmentation (with fat or implants) and breast lift (mastopexy), mommy makeover, arm lift (brachioplasty), thigh lift (thighplasty), body lift, bra-line back lift, facelift (rhytidectomy), neck lift, rhinoplasty, rhinoplasty revision, eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), ear surgery (otoplasty), labiaplasty, vaginoplasty, gynecomastia correction and male breast reduction, pec implants, calf augmentation (with fat or implants), fat death and dead fat removal and butt reconstruction, silicone, PMMA, hydrogel, and biopolymer injection removal and butt reconstruction, and many complicated revision and correction procedures deemed too difficult to perform.
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For more information on Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes please visit
https://www.hughesplasticsurgery.com/los-angeles-kenneth-hughes/
Education
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes, MD received his honors degree in Biological Sciences from Harvard University in 1999. Dr. Kenneth Hughes then graduated from UASOM with high honors and AOA in 2004. Dr. Hughes was then selected as one of 70 medical students in the United States to the integrated plastic surgery programs for 6 additional years to training. Dr. Kenneth Hughes, MD then completed an aesthetic plastic surgery fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA.
Employment
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes, MD held a junior professor position at Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 2010-2011.
Since 2011, Dr. Kenneth Hughes has been working in private practice and most recently started a solo practice in 2015 in Beverly Hills. Dr. Hughes has now built his fully accredited, state of the art surgery center in 2016.
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes in the News
https://www.prlog.org/12779332-bodytite-tightens-skin-without-the-scars-of-conventional-surgery.html
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https://www.prlog.org/12781775-los-angeles-plastic-surgeon-dr-kenneth-benjamin-hughes-reports-on-new-brazilian-buttlift-technique.html
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https://www.prlog.org/12782656-rhinoplasty-without-the-scars-with-los-angeles-plastic-surgeon-dr-kenneth-benjamin-hughes.html
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https://www.prlog.org/12789293-dr-kenneth-benjamin-hughes-and-the-removal-of-dead-fat-fat-necrosis.html
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https://www.prlog.org/12791312-smokings-effect-on-plastic-surgery-complications-including-flap-death-fat-necrosis-wound-healing.html
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https://www.prlog.org/12793448-evaluating-plastic-surgery-patients-for-risk-of-blood-clot-with-dr-kenneth-benjamin-hughes.html
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https://www.prlog.org/12793504-silicone-and-biopolymer-injection-and-patient-deaths-by-plastic-surgeon-dr-kenneth-benjamin-hughes.html
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https://www.prlog.org/12794599-coming-back-from-near-death-experience-with-dr-kenneth-hughes-los-angeles-plastic-surgeon.html
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes's Condensed CV
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Undergraduate Education
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Harvard University
BA, cum laude in Biology
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College Awards:
Harvard College Merit Scholarship 1995-1999
Varsity Letterman in Track and Field (shotput and discus) 1995-1999
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Medical Education
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University of Alabama School of Medicine
MD, AOA
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Medical School Honors/Awards/Associations:
Scored 99% in the NATION on Steps 1 and 2 of licensing boards
Member of Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) (top 5% in medical school)
General Surgery and Plastic Surgery Residency
Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency
University of Kansas Medical Center, Integrated General Surgery and Plastic Surgery Program
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Plastic Surgery Fellowship
Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Fellowship
Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Harvard Medical School
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Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes's Current Practice —
– performs about 1200 total surgical procedures each year
– performs full spectrum of plastic surgical procedures including
– endoscopic, coronal, direct and temporal brow lift, internal brow pexy
– face and neck lift
– facial fat grafting
– upper and lower eyelids (blepharoplasty)
– rhinoplasty, both closed and open
– chin implant (intraoral, with no scar)
– otoplasty (to fix prominent ears)
– breast augmentation including TUBA
– breast lift (mastopexy, all varieties)
– breast reduction
– breast augmentation revision or corrections
– breast reconstruction (post-mastectomy, constricted breast, Poland’s)
– inverted nipple correction
– arm lift (brachioplasty)
– body lift
– thigh lift
– liposuction, liposculpture
– Brazilian butt lift
– tummy tuck (abdominoplasty)
– labial rejuvenation (labiaplasty)
– vaginal rejuvenation (vaginoplasty)
_ inferior buttock lift
_ buttock implants
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What Is Courage? by Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
As a background, Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Los Angeles, who has performed thousands of Brazilian butt lifts (BBL). 8 years ago, Dr. Hughes developed a new fat grafting technique due to his concerns about the safety of intramuscular injections and the development of fat emboli (little pieces of fat migrate through the bloodstream and potentially block function of certain organs including the lungs). Before the turning point in 2015, Dr. Kenneth Hughes along with the vast majority of board-certified plastic surgeons in the United States, transferred at least a portion of the fat to the buttocks into the muscular tissue. This technique had been adopted to produce greater fat survival rates due to the enhanced vascularity of muscle tissue. At that time, this method of injection was the standard of care and remained the standard of care until less than 2 years ago with no formal recommendation until August 2018.
At this time in 2019, the plastic surgery community as a whole knows that intramuscular injection of fat into the buttocks can lead to fat embolus. The current theory is that larger diameter vessels in the muscles allows for a small risk of intravascular introduction of fat. Some of these fat emboli do not cause respiratory collapse, but can lead to significant morbidity even if the patient recovers. These emboli can migrate throughout the body affecting other organs. Some of these fat emboli will even lead to patient death.
In an effort to reduce the incidence of fat emboli, Dr. Kenneth Hughes developed a subdermal fat transfer method for the Brazilian butt lift. In this subdermal method, Dr. Hughes places fat directly under the skin, visualizing the tip of the fat transfer cannula at all times. There were many unanswered questions at the point in 2015 when this subdermal method was introduced. How would the subdermal technique affect the percentage of fat graft that would take or live? What was the likelihood for fat pooling, fat necrosis or fat death, and infection? However, these complications could be managed, whereas the complication of fat embolus could not be managed in any meaningful way.
Over the past 4 years, Dr. Kenneth Hughes has performed the fat transfer and Brazilian butt lift procedures with the subdermal transfer method. Dr. Hughes tabulated complications for this subdermal method. Of the approximately 1500 patients, infection occurred only 3% of the time. There were no instances of fat necrosis with this method of transfer. The fat resorption rate was believed to be greater though no MRI testing or volumetric analysis to confirm was performed. There were no instances of fat emboli observed with this method so far.
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In 2017, The Report on Mortality from Gluteal Fat Grafting: Recommendations from the ASERF Task Force by M. Mark Mofid, MD, et al was published. They tried to determine the incidence of fatal and nonfatal pulmonary fat embolism associated with Brazilian buttlift or BBL. In their study, surgeons reported 32 deaths from pulmonary fat emboli as well as 103 pulmonary fat emboli that did not lead to death. They also recommended against fat injections into the deep muscle, using cannulae smaller than 4 mm, and pointing the injection cannula downwards. These are all technical maneuvers, which Dr. Kenneth Hughes put into practice in 2015.
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To see more specifics about the Brazilian buttlift and Dr. Kenneth Hughes, Los Angeles BBL expert, please visit Dr. Kenneth Hughes's website dedicated to butt augmentation https://www.drkennethhughesbbl.com
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What does it take to stand against the masses? What does it take to stand against a room of 10 people or 100 people or 1000 people or 10,000 people all yelling vehemently that they are right and you are wrong? What does it take to articulate your truth that is, in fact, the uncorrupted truth? What kind of individual personality and what kind of character does it take to hold resolve when everyone else tells you that you’re wrong over a few days, a few weeks, a month, a year, 5 years?
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes has encountered this type of abomination several times throughout his life, and, although it is never easy to stand alone on principle, a grounded faith will allow you to do this. It is also the result of knowing one's own abilities, intellect, and self-worth that allows one to move forward in this situation. No one who invented anything or changed the paradigm or fought against the status quo was ever met with favorable support at the time of the articulated premise. Galileo did not. Einstein did not.
Everyone wants to hold to the status quo and everyone wants to hold with what is more common or expedient. The truth of the matter is is that uncommon understanding is the thing that allows society to advance. It is the thing that allows the injustice and societal mores to be overcome. It is this uncommon understanding which allows us to transcend some of our earthly shackles.
While it is much easier to embrace the status quo or ride the shoulders of a mighty stream or the waves in the ocean, this is not the life that Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes chose to lead. If one wants to be a forerunner or the pioneer in a discipline, one simply cannot afford to be consumed by this type of thinking. Dr. Kenneth Hughes has never been one to care about popularity or what others think, and he has chosen to remain above the fray.
Improving Safety in Brazilian Buttlift (BBL) by Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes, Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon
How Do Patients Determine Who Is the Best Plastic Surgeon? by Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
How does a patient determine who is the best plastic surgeon? Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes gets this question every day from patients. The overall confusion and consternation of sifting through all of the wild and misleading claims made by various machines, gadgets, and marketing campaigns can be difficult to demystify for patients. This is particularly true in Los Angeles where advertising and marketing is ubiquitous.
Dr. Kenneth Hughes considers part of his duty as a plastic surgeon to be an educator who helps distinguish science from hype or chicanery. What is done in plastic surgery should be bound by the laws of science and substantiated by laws of science. These laws obviously are open to change with improved understanding, but, nonetheless, Dr. Kenneth Hughes strives to embrace the scientific laws at that point in time. Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes takes the knowledge and expands this realm with innovative technological advances in surgery to advance plastic surgery as a whole.
There is no question that extreme intellect is of paramount importance in any academic pursuit. So patients must determine who they feel is infinitely more qualified to make plastic surgery decisions. If the patient does not immediately recognize through diction, syntax, breadth of knowledge, and lexicon that the surgeon in front of them is this superior individual worthy of trust and respect, then that patient needs to find another surgeon.
Beyond intellect and the accumulation and mastery of knowledge, a plastic surgeon must have the ability to technically execute surgical procedures. In the world of sports, commentators and pundits criticize another's athletic ability, but upon a demonstration of their prowess their attempt looks so awkward that it is laughable. The execution of surgery is no different. It is not enough to talk a good game. You must be able to deliver results.
But it is yet more than these two components that determines your best surgeon. The surgeon also has to have imagination and creativity to solve the underlying problems that plague many. With exposure to a great number of practitioners, surgical problem are created that have never been encountered. There are no textbook answers as the authors who have written the textbooks have never encountered the problem and thus have not addressed the problem. The plastic surgeon must become the innovator. Without that creativity and innovation, the plastic surgeon will never be able to solve all of these ever emerging problems.
Finally, there is a fourth quality. This is the perseverance and dedication to the perfection of results. This is simply part of a person’s character that allows him to go beyond and to persevere beyond what others think is possible. There are times in surgery where it is truly just an exercise in perseverance. Some will give up because it is difficult physically and mentally to get to the end. When a plastic surgeon has all four of these attributes like Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes, this represents the perfect storm that enables the person to succeed beyond measure beyond his peers and to assume the title of world's best plastic surgeon.
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Power of Positive Thinking and Prayer by Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
Dr. Kenneth Hughes has observed thousands of patients throughout the preoperative and postoperative courses and believes that patients who maintain a positive attitude tend to manage better after surgery. Patients with a positive attitude not only tend to manage anxiety better prior to surgery, but patients who may experience any healing difficulties after surgery tend to manage the situations better. Patients who are proactive in the doctor patient relationship and inform Dr. Hughes in a timely fashion of any potential problems will ensure the highest probability of success. Dr. Kenneth Hughes, MD views the doctor-patient relationship as a team and he wants the patient to succeed.
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A significant portion of Dr. Hughes's patients will ask for prayers prior to surgery, and, though Dr. Hughes was reluctant about honoring such requests in the past or felt uncomfortable in these situations, Dr. Kenneth Hughes has come to embrace these requests. These times for prayer allow for patients and Dr. Hughes to bond on a more personal, spiritual level. This type of bonding and interest in faith on the part of the surgeon and patient alike only helps ensure the best possible outcome and outlook for the patient and helps establish trust.
The Versatility of Free Fat Grafting with Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
Free fat grafting (autologous fat transfer) refers to the harvesting of fat tissue from one area by liposuction and placing the fat tissue into an area of deficit. Free fat grafting has a great deal of versatility in cosmetic and reconstructive techniques alike and has been refined and mastered by Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes. Free fat grafting relies upon the vascularized tissue at the recipient site to generate blood supply to the newly grafted fat cells. If this process of angiogenesis does not occur, the fat grafts will not survive and will be phagocytized or the fat cells will die or necrose in a process referred to as fat necrosis. Some of the fat cells can be removed by macrophages of the immune system and designated for excretion from the body. The fat cells that die undergo dystrophic calcification, which frequently results in a very hard, calcified block of dead fat. This hard area can be disfiguring in the area visually or can cause pain or discomfort due to its placement and its hard nature.
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Free fat grafting has been used in postmastectomy breast reconstruction for decades. It has also been used to reconstruct areas of tissue deficit like the face or arm or leg when a vascularized tissue transfer is deemed cosmetically unacceptable, likely to fail, or simply impractical for a number of reasons. Fat grafting is used for many cosmetic purposes as well including facial rejuvenation, breast augmentation or revision or asymmetry, Brazilian buttlift (or BBL), fat transfer to the hips, calf augmentation, hand rejuvenation, labia majora or vulvar rejuvenation, and in many liposuction revision cases.
Exercise and Nutrition to Maintain a Plastic Surgery Result with Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
There is no question that plastic surgery can generate a result that can seldom be achieved with exercise alone. However, it is also imperative to understand that the patients who frequently get the best possible results are fit and take care of themselves for the years leading up to surgery.
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For example, every fit person still has body fat. That range of body fat may be small 10% to 20% and still be considered a healthy individual. Those pounds of fat can be distributed in places that may be objectionable to the patient. These lipodystrophic areas can be liposuctioned to remedy this situation. This fat can then be used to fill areas that may be lacking like the breasts or butt or hips or face.
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Patients who maintain these lower fat percentages tend to have better results. The skin tends to be in better condition and the patients tend to be healthier and have fewer complications, allowing Dr. Kenneth Hughes to get the possible result for the patient.
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These patients also tend to maintain the results better over a longer period of time. They tend to be less prone to weight gain or weight fluctuation. In addition, the skin tends to maintain itself better without the stretching from the deposition of fat.
The Decay of Morality in Society by Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
Dr. Kenneth Hughes truly has to deal with some unbelievably dishonest, morally bankrupt, and outright evil people. About every month, Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes will receive a charge-back request from a credit card company for a patient who had surgery just a couple of weeks prior. Some patients have the gall to request charge-backs on surgery that has already been performed and lie in writing to the credit card company that the services have not been performed.
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Patients will sign a cancellation policy and then try to cancel the surgery at the last minute and then want their money back.
Dr. Kenneth Hughes had one patient who sent over 1000 emails and several hundred direct messages through instagram, which contained some of the most vulgar and inappropriate language, and she did not even have surgery with Dr. Kenneth Hughes. It is truly amazing that the society has gotten to such a point of decay. Morals have gone out of the window, and con-artists and criminals must be prosecuted with impunity.
Even sadder, any attempt at niceness is interpreted as weakness. Thus, Dr. Hughes has learned that trying to be the good guy in a situation ultimately makes that person the fall guy. You must fight every single dishonest and morally bankrupt individual. Dr. Kenneth Hughes considers it his duty and a moral obligation.
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Before and After Gallery of Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes is the best at shaping the human form with liposuction and Brazilian buttlift (BBL)
Dr. Kenneth Hughes in Los Angeles performs liposuction and Brazilian buttlift every day
Liposuction 360 (5 liters) with Dr. Kenneth Hughes, plastic surgeon in Los Angeles
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes is the best at shaping the human form with liposuction and Brazilian buttlift (BBL)
Cosmetic Surgery Means So Much More Than We Think by Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
Many years ago, a patient came to Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes's office for some revision cosmetic surgery. Dr. Kenneth Hughes did what she asked, and she was happy with the improvement. A year or two later she returned to his office in Beverly Hills requesting additional surgery for reconstruction of additional areas. Although Dr. Hughes felt confident that he could improve her physique further, she mentioned at the time that she was not working and that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
When she first revealed this, Dr. Hughes's immediate reaction was that he could not understand why she was not focused on the brain tumor and dealing with those life-threatening issues. However, as she talked, Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes became more and more aware of something that he had not considered. Some of these body issues, which are considered cosmetic as a society, represent so much more than the issue itself. These cosmetic issues occupy an important register in the mind and in the spirit. These cosmetic issues that many consider insignificant or trite are in reality inextricably tied to self worth and self esteem in people in all phases of their life, even those confronting death experiences.
Dr. Kenneth Hughes has never looked at these surgeries that he performs as something insignificant or less significant than other surgeries that other surgeons may perform. There is no doubt that these plastic or cosmetic surgeries change patients' lives and can give them a new lease on life. These surgeries can be much more significant to patients than some of the surgeries that we deem necessary.
So, for this particular patient, Dr. Kenneth Hughes told her that he would be willing to perform the surgery for her, but he requested that she get clearance from the neurosurgeon and neurologist. She did get clearance, the surgery was performed, and she was happy with the additional improvement.
The patient only paid a small fraction of the surgery fees, promising to pay in the future. Dr. Kenneth Hughes agreed to this, not because he thought she would ever pay, but merely because he felt it was the right thing to do. She has followed up over the years through emails in her quest to be cured. More recently, Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes learned that she is indeed better and that she intends to return to her career. Throughout the emails, she always expressed regret for not having paid. Dr. Kenneth Hughes told her repeatedly that it was probably more important for her to focus on just getting better than worrying about things of that nature.
Oddly enough, Dr. Kenneth Hughes did see her in 2018 at his office and surgery center in Los Angeles, and she wanted to do another procedure. Though she did not schedule the new procedure, she did pay a portion of the old debt. Dr. Kenneth Hughes was surprised, honored, and humbled by her gesture. With all of the con-artists and frauds all around, she reminded everyone that there are good people out there who do have a moral compass and who will actually return to settle up with an old friend.
The Kindness of Strangers
by Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes was seeing follow-up patients in the office on a Tuesday, and he received a unscheduled visit from a lady who had a problem with breast implant surgery in the past. She was middle-aged, respectful, and did not speak any English. One of my employees helped to translate. She had breast implant surgery about 4 years prior, and she had some type of complication with a chronic wound. She visited the old clinic, and they told here that there was nothing that they can do.
Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes examined her and determined that she had a sinus tract that would require surgery to remove the implant and excise the tract. She agreed with the plan, and was sent to the office where the consultant normally gives estimates for surgical procedures. She had began crying and had related a story to one of the employees.
She had said that for the past year or so, her son who was 3 years old had been diagnosed with some sort of cancer. It was a blood related cancer. She said that multiple doctors told her that none of the treatments had worked. As a last resort, she mentioned that she was going to some alternative doctor to do some sort of stem cell treatment for the child. The office staff did not hear from her for about a couple of weeks. At that point, she called the office and told the girl on the phone that she wanted to do the procedure. She also mentioned during that same phone call that she was going to use the money that the family had saved for the stem cell treatment for her son.
Dr. Kenneth Hughes performed the procedure for free that day for her in the afternoon. She continued to heal well from the procedure. Her son did actually pass away not long after the treatment. Dr. Hughes thinks about situations like this and how surgeons sometimes feel there is not a great deal that can be done, especially under dire circumstances. In this case, Dr. Hughes likes to think that maybe performing that surgery for her gave her some small solace in her time of need.
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Dr. Kenneth Hughes Video Galleries
Visit Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes's You Tube Channel for More Great Plastic Surgery Videos
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Evaluating Plastic Surgery Patients for Risk of Blood Clot with Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes
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Dr. Kenneth Benjamin Hughes, Harvard-trained board certified plastic surgeon in Los Angeles, has performed thousands of elective cosmetic surgery procedures. The patient base is generally healthy as this is elective surgery. However, some of the patients who elect to pursue elective plastic surgery may have medical issues or mutations, which may make them more susceptible to blood clots.
What are blood clots and what relevance do they have in regard to patients seeking elective plastic surgery? Blood clots refer to clots in occluded vessels in the deep venous systems of the legs and sometimes arms that may dislodge and produce pulmonary emboli. These migrating clots may then prevent air exchange and lead to patient death.
Obviously, these blood clots or DVTs are not favorable outcomes and they are to be avoided and prevented to the extent possible. These are many risk factors which can increase the risk for blood clots, pulmonary emboli, and death. Some of these are summarizes in the Caprini risk assessment index. Patients with previous blood clots or pulmonary emboli are particularly susceptible to a repeat occurrence. Patients who have family members with blood clots may have inherited conditions.
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The Problem with Genius in Plastic Surgery
The problem with genius in plastic surgery or in any scientific field is that it goes largely unrecognized by the general public. Even contemporaries overlook genius due to jealousy or similar human interest or self preservation. Plastic surgery is a seemingly accessible field to the masses, because everyone can have an opinion about one’s external appearance without knowing the first detail about how a surgery is done or how a result is created.
The realization of genius requires understanding or cognition that something spectacular is being done. However, people are largely unspectacular by their very nature. If Tom Brady throws a game-winning touchdown, people will talk about this for years and catalogue it in the annals of human history. However, if a plastic surgeon revolutionizes a type of surgery by impeccable execution or implementation of paradigm shift ahead of his or her time, this will not register on anyone’s radar. Certainly, this is a function of society’s warped value system that praises and elevates athletes and entertainers above all else. Perhaps, it is a decay in the morality of society that now looks upon doctors with contempt rather than respect. Maybe it is also a function of the fact that these triumphs are poorly understood and inaccessible despite plastic surgery being a part of mainstream knowledge.
What makes something genius above that of the ordinary or mundane? Only those with the most sophisticated knowledge and understanding in a field can even speculate as to the answer to the question. Everyone else has an opinion and is entitled to offer one, but it is an opinion without standing or substance.
Everyday, we, as a society, look at successful people with disdain and those with money with contempt. We revel in seeing people fall from grace. Why is it so hard to acknowledge greatness when it is present? Everyone makes such an effort not to offend anyone for anything, but very little is done to recognize those individuals truly worthy of praise. We should embrace genius so that it does not stagnate or burn out.
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To contact Dr. Kenneth Hughes in Los Angeles
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