Episodes

It’s normal to feel nervous about anesthesia. Seasoned anesthesiologist Dr. Kalman Friedman joins Dr. Bass to dive into anesthesia and safety to alleviate the common anxiety of “going under.” From local anesthesia, to general anesthesia, to IV sedation, options are available when it comes to how you want to stay comfortable during your cosmetic procedure. Learn the advantages and disadvantages of each and find out which is the better fit for you. Modern anesthesia has significantly improved in...

Dr. Bass wraps up his “Lifting Without Cutting” series with a summary of non-surgical skin lifting and tightening options. For those who aren't quite ready for surgery, this series delves into non-invasive and minimally invasive treatments for milder degrees of skin laxity. While these treatments can delay surgery, they aren't a substitute for a facelift or neck lift if you have significant sagging. Explore the variety of treatments based on aging stages and areas of concern, keeping in mind t...

Cellulite can appear as dimples, ridges, or waves on the thighs and buttocks, affecting anyone regardless of age, body type, or skin type. It's not the same as laxity or crepiness, and it’s a tough issue to tackle. Subcision-based treatments like Avéli and Cellfina are effective for cellulite dimples but come with bruising and recovery time. Less invasive options like hyper diluted Radiesse or Sculptra injections can help but still fail to treat the entire area. Energy based treatments can trea...

In the past, looking younger usually meant surgery. But plastic surgeon Dr. Julius Few believes that dramatic results are possible with less invasive methods. He uses a “treatment ladder” to combine nonsurgical procedures to improve skin texture, volume loss, and sagging skin all at once. Stacking nonsurgical treatments, namely giving multiple treatments in a single sitting, used to be seen as too risky. Now, doctors see that combining them can often be done safely, delivering more complete rej...

How a plastic surgeon treats a patient’s mind is just as important as how they treat their physical appearance. Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jonathan Sykes joins Dr. Bass to discuss how both plastic surgeons and patients can succeed at seeing eye-to-eye with each other before, during, and after a procedure. Sometimes there’s a mismatch between what patients explain they want to look like and what plastic surgeons envision based on this description. To prevent an unhappy patient, it...

Sofwave is the newest generation of non-surgical tightening for the skin in the face and neck. Ideal for younger patients who aren’t quite ready for a facelift, Sofwave delivers ultrasound energy to tighten skin without the need for a long series of treatments. Unlike previous energy-based treatments, Sofwave gets the job done with fewer sessions and minimal discomfort. Radiofrequency treatments typically involve a series of several treatments. While also using sound energy, Ultherapy has a dif...

For people in their 70’s, Dr. Bass shares the surgical and non-surgical treatments you may want to consider, highlighting how beauty plans have changed in the last few decades. Many people do a major facial “reset” during their late 50’s or early 60’s. By the 70’s, it may be the last chance to do something major to improve facial appearance. Sometimes this is a first facelift and other times a secondary or repeat facelift if enough aging has taken place since the first procedure. Surgery may n...

Men get cosmetic treatments, too. Dr. Bass reveals the most popular aesthetic procedures for men who want to look and feel their best. As it’s not as socially acceptable for men to modify their appearance, they tend to opt for procedures that give them natural results and virtually unnoticeable scars, such as eyelid surgery. To enhance their masculine features, many younger men go for chin and cheek implants or body contouring around their chest and abs. Men focus less on skin care and recurr...

The eyebrow plays a vital role in how we express our emotions, so it’s no surprise that many people seek solutions when their brows start to droop, flatten, and lose their shape. The horror stories you may have heard about brow lift are nothing to worry about today, as techniques have greatly improved over the years. Longevity is difficult when it comes to the brows as you're constantly battling gravity. Luckily today, injectables and energy treatments postpone the need for surgical interventi...

Plastic surgeon Dr. Sherrell Aston, who uses FaceTite or AccuTite as a complementary procedure with almost every facelift he does, joins Dr. Bass in the 4th episode of our series "Lifting Without Cutting," to discuss how it delivers more complete rejuvenation. Dr. Aston often pairs these bipolar radiofrequency treatments with face and neck lifts to address what surgery alone cannot, such as wrinkles or localized areas of laxity. While FaceTite and AccuTite are in a large class of devices using...

For people in their 60’s, Dr. Bass reports that this is the time for big beauty projects. Even with a legacy of good preventive and restorative treatments, surgical rejuvenation is almost always needed to avoid looking worn out and tired. Dr. Bass shares the options in this fifth episode of our mini series “Decades of Face.” In this prime decade of business success and social events, the improvements from facelift and necklift will be seen by more of your friends and colleagues than when you ar...

As our bodies age, our cells are aging with us, and the messages they produce are decreasing. While growth factors have been used to take the message of youthful cells and use them to stimulate the skin, exosomes offer a more complete, natural, and protected version of those messages. Scientific researcher Dr. Jordan Plews, CEO and co-founder of ELEVAI Labs, joins Dr. Bass to discuss what's happening in the space of exosomes, stem cells, and regenerative medicine as a whole. Through experiment...

If someone looks unnatural after Botox, the injector is likely to blame. The goal with neuromodulators is to relax muscles restoring a youthful position with minimal wrinkling, but not frozen. People become obsessed with having no motion, but even young people will crease their skin with certain facial expressions. Dr. Bass shares how he carefully customizes Botox injections for each individual patient to minimize lines and maximize brow elevation while preserving function and expression. He ...

Non-surgical skin tightening is the “holy grail” of plastic surgery, and Ellacor is the latest and greatest step toward it. Since conducting the clinical trials for Ellacor, Florida plastic surgeon Dr. Jason Pozner has treated hundreds of patients – including himself! By punching out numerous tiny cylinders of loose skin and stimulating the surrounding skin’s healing response, Ellacor is designed to reduce laxity and generate healthier skin without leaving any scars. Dr. Pozner joins Dr. Bass...

In this fourth episode of our mini-series “Decades of Face,” Dr. Bass guides people in their 50’s who want to take appropriate and immediate action to avoid looking “old.” This decade is an active time for facial aging, requiring thoughtful effort around a beauty plan with larger and more frequent treatments. For many people at this age, skin laxity, dull skin, volume loss, wrinkles, jowling, muscle banding in the neck, and droopy eyelids are moderate to severe. While a surgical face and/or ne...

The sheer volume of questionable plastic surgery information, data, and photos available online has a powerful impact on our view of reality. To discuss the deception, Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jonathan Sykes joins Dr. Bass to reveal the trickery and share their advice to help us separate fiction from fact. Some aesthetic professionals are great surgeons who prefer not to spend their energy on marketing, and others are good at the marketing game, using puffery such as “top surgeo...

Guest expert dermatologist Dr. Vic Ross joins Dr. Bass to review technologies that have come to market in recent years and preview the pipeline for the future of aesthetics. Looking back on the history of aesthetic medicine, a pivotal breakthrough was the ability to precisely target abnormal areas of skin rather than damaging the skin globally. As this advancement transformed aesthetic treatments, researchers continued to find ways to make these technologies more powerful, cost effective, and ...

Dr. Gregory Mueller is the innovator of MyEllevate, a minimally invasive technology for lifting skin and muscle in the neck. He joins Dr. Bass In this second episode of our mini series “Lifting Without Cutting.” Using a light-guided delivery to lift the skin and muscle together as a composite, MyEllevate offers a research-based, data-driven approach with obvious improvement, minimal recovery time, and long-lasting durability. Early in his career, Dr. Mueller recognized many people needed atten...

The use of Ozempic/Wegovy and similar medications such as Mounjaro for weight management is rapidly evolving. As they continue to be studied further and receive FDA approvals, including the approval of Zepbound this month, the question becomes whether they can be a meaningful substitute for bariatric surgery. Ozempic has been used to treat type 2 diabetes since 2017. When used for weight loss, semaglutide is used at higher doses and marketed as Wegovy. Newer medications such as Mounjaro (tirzep...

Chicago plastic surgeon Dr. Julius Few joins Dr. Bass to discuss why skin care is not a one size fits all industry and debunk common myths surrounding skin care. Good skin care is a necessary adjunct to plastic surgery and beauty as a whole. There are thousands of product options out there, but it’s about finding a routine that’s easy to follow and works for you. According to Dr. Few, the secret to great skin is good cleansing (but not over-cleansing), good hydration with protection of that hy...

Facelift surgery has come a long way since the 1980’s, amplifying the degree of correction and preserving a natural look. Dr. Sherrell Aston, a leader in facelifting, joins Dr. Bass to discuss the evolution of facelift techniques and how they are customized to each patient. In the last 40 years, the focus has moved from lifting the skin to altering the underlying foundation, removing excess skin, and redraping over a changed foundation in the face, cheeks, neck, and jawline. Today, the facelif...

Lifting the face and neck without surgery is the holy grail of aesthetic medicine. While there’s no meaningful substitute currently available that can give the degree of laxity correction in the face, neck and jawline as the facelift, there are good non-surgical skin lifting and tightening treatments for mild to moderate signs of aging. Non-surgical skin treatments started with various smoothing treatments such as chemical peels. As doctors noticed the more aggressive use of these treatments cr...

In this third episode of our mini-series “Decades of Face,” Dr. Bass advises people in their 40’s actively fighting signs of aging and determined to take the best care of their skin. With volume loss and wrinkles becoming increasingly visible in this decade of life, Botox and fillers are almost universally part of the beauty plan. This is also prime time to take advantage of energy based treatments for skin changes such as wrinkling, pigment irregularity, age spots, rosacea, and skin laxity. F...

Although relatively small, the eyes are the first area of the face to show changes, and have a big impact on one’s appearance. When considering which procedure to have for the eyes, first identify your specific concerns: is it volume loss, crepiness underneath the eyes, crow's feet, low brow position, or fat bulging causing bags beneath the eyes? There's no meaningful substitute for eyelid surgery, but non-surgical treatments are useful for certain concerns around the eyes. Botox and fillers, ...