Category: Life Wisdom

Toilets – A Good Thing

There is an eye-opening article in NPR entitled, “How a Lack of Toilets Puts India’s Women At Risk of Assault”.

They make a compelling argument that women who are forced to go outside to defecate in the middle of the night are prey to sexual assault, rape and murder. Unbelievably, of the two countries who have more than a billion people, China has a rate of 1 in every 100 people forced to defecate in the open. That’s Continue reading “Toilets – A Good Thing”

THE THREE COMPONENTS OF SUCCESS

We all strive for and admire extremely successful, talented people – in business, in art, in music, even (selfishly) in medicine. What many of us fail to understand is the amount of blood, sweat and tears all successful people invest in the journey. “Outliers” is a book by Malcolm Gladwell which brilliantly peers into a number of outwardly unrelated success stories: hockey stars, The Beatles, Bill Gates and others. It is an easy, fascinating read which I cannot recommend highly enough. Continue reading “THE THREE COMPONENTS OF SUCCESS”

NATIONAL FOOD DAYS- A GOOD IDEA?

June 6 was National Donut/Doughnut Day. Don’t get me started about abbreviations- I just found out my initials stand for “Let Me Know”; so much for my imagined popularity in the world of acronyms.

But I digress. What is with our obsession with naming every day of the year after something, especially food? Unhealthy food at that. It so happens we recently celebrated National Hamburger Day on May 28, and my nephew DJ has the privilege of sharing Continue reading “NATIONAL FOOD DAYS- A GOOD IDEA?”

Observations of a plastic surgeon visiting Myanmar

Visiting Myanmar this past February, my group travelled from remote villages further west toward the Bangladesh border to visit two villages containing the last generation of women having fully tattooed faces. Sixty years ago the King of Burma would travel or send emissaries to choose the most attractive pre-teen women and bring them back to the capital to become concubines in his royal palace. To dissuade him from taking their children, the villages Continue reading “Observations of a plastic surgeon visiting Myanmar”

Part 3 Oscar Weeps Over Kim Novak’s Lost Beauty

Part 3- Just Say No!!

Responsible plastic surgeons and dermatologists have the ability to recognize when a patient has achieved maximum benefit and have the responsibility to tell them “No More”. Somehow this skill has eluded many of these doctors, or they simply don’t have the motivation to conclude treatment.

We need to have the strength to say “No”. Of course we want to count Continue reading “Part 3 Oscar Weeps Over Kim Novak’s Lost Beauty”

Part 2 Oscar Weeps Over Kim Novak’s Lost Beauty

Part 2- It’s Okay to Blame the Doctor!

Why do entertainment icons allow this to happen? How do they move so far down the road toward youth that they look deformed, unnatural and unrecognizable?

We saw at the recent Academy Awards an astonishing display of gorgeous women. The freshness of youth, the classiness of middle age and the timeless beauty of our veteran actresses all create the magic of Hollywood. Many, if not most, of the women in the middle and veteran categories have had work done; do Continue reading “Part 2 Oscar Weeps Over Kim Novak’s Lost Beauty”

Part 1 Oscar Weeps Over Kim Novak’s Lost Beauty

Part 1- What Are We Doing to Our Icons?

Contrary to what many believe, some plastic surgeons do indeed wring their hands and wail aloud when they observe ruinous outcomes; particularly when the unfortunate victims are broadcast live and globally around the world. Such was the case last evening when the 86th annual Academy Awards were televised from the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. That does not excuse publicly cruel comments such as those uttered by Ellen DeGeneres regarding Liza Minnelli, even though I sympathize with Ellen’s Continue reading “Part 1 Oscar Weeps Over Kim Novak’s Lost Beauty”