Category: Surgery

Dr. Koplin Featured in Glamour Magazine

We are excited to share that Dr. Koplin was interviewed for an article in Glamour Magazine titled, “7 Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting Breast Implants.” Check out the story here.

April 27, 2021

First-Time Brotox Patients Receive 10 Free Units!

Hello Brovember!

In honor of Brovember, we’re offering first-time Brotox patients 10 FREE units through November 30!

 

We’re celebrating the men in our lives.

The goal of Movember is to “change the face of men’s health”–so we thought, why not change the face of men’s wrinkles!

Botox is a fabulous way to maintain a youthful glow—rejuvenate, refresh, and restore the face.

Early adoption of Botox is the best way to prevent wrinkles, postpone surgery, and minimize the need for expensive facials and products.

The Rule of Threes

Not only does Botox prevent wrinkles, it also has an equally powerful effect—it weakens muscles! This phenomenon, called “disuse atrophy,” occurs when a muscle is continuously unused over prolonged periods of time. This is the genius of the Rule of Threes: using Botox every three months for a minimum of three years effectively weakens the muscle so that eventually it can be used less often to create the same effect.

Benefits of Botox:

  • Protects your skin
  • Prevents wrinkles and smooths fine lines
  • Provides long-lasting maintenance and beauty
  • Creates a healthier more youthful complexion

Doctors Tip:

Wrinkles don’t stand a chance if you relax them every three months. Let us help you make your Man Plan.

 

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Coffee with Cica and Caroline


IMPORTANT NEWS: COFFEE WITH CICA AND CAROLINE

To my wonderful and loyal patients,

Cica Huston-Fleiner, who has been my surgical coordinator and wizard-of-everything in my office, has elected to choose a more leisurely pace for her life. As I can’t really disagree, I have reluctantly accepted her resignation and am wishing her the very best as she and her husband Kenny prepare to retire and enjoy the benefits of a lifetime of successful work. They have sold their home here and plan to move to a lovely abode in La Quinta next month.

You might all imagine, and you would be correct, that I am excited for her and sad for myself, as our entire office will miss her smile, charm, wisdom and expertise. Fortunately for me, Cica has already reached out to find a most wonderful and talented person to replace her. Caroline Alexander has her own history of running extremely successful plastic surgery offices, and does so with a similar Cica-like smile and wise demeanor.

As the two of them transition over the next month, all of us at the office celebrate the wonderful history that Cica has given us and are already missing her (even thought she hasn’t left yet!) We would like to invite all of you who have known and loved Cica to join with us in the process. If you are in the neighborhood, in the mood and have the time we would love to see you all and I know that Cica would love to give you a hug. Share a cup of fresh coffee with her. Introduce yourself to Caroline and get to know her. Drop by, or call, or send her an email or all of the above so that we can all remind Cica how important she has been in our lives, how much we love her and how much we will miss her.

Thank you for listening, and the coffee’s on me.

Dr. Koplin

July 31, 2019

Dr. Koplin Honored in LA Business Journal

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Lawrence Koplin has been honored with a spot in Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Top Doctors Los Angeles: Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery” article, published last week.

Read Dr. Koplin’s short biography as seen in the LA Business Journal:

Dr. Koplin has been recognized as an innovative artist in the field of plastic surgery. With more than 20 years of experience, he has pushed the boundaries of plastic surgery, refining facial and body rejuvenation techniques to achieve revolutionary, natural-looking results. Dr. Koplin holds double board certification in both General Surgery and Plastic Surgery, and these qualifications allow him to perform advanced, complex procedures that other surgeons shy away from doing. Dr. Koplin’s areas of specialty are breast enlargement and reduction, body sculpting using liposuction, rejuvenation of the aging face, neck and eyelids, and natural fat transfer.

In fact, Dr. Koplin has participated in the development of a cutting-edge procedure that uses a serum made from a patient’s own fat cells to directly improve their skin quality and tone. This serum, which Dr. Koplin has termed “NanoStem Serum,” is injected into the skin to create a healthier, more youthful complexion.

The serum is often used in conjunction with an innovative technique called Natural Fat Transfer, also known as fat grafting, which restores the softness and fullness of youth naturally and without traditional surgery. Natural Fat Transfer is the process of transplanting live fat cells from an area of your body where you don’t want it—such as your tummy or hips—to an area where you do want it, such as your lips, facial lines, temples, breasts, hands and even earlobes.

Dr. Koplin is ambidextrous, and is so attentive to detail that he custom-built his office with two operating rooms: a right-handed operating room and a left. He specially designed the rooms so that if a patient is getting a procedure on their right side, he operates in the right-handed room.

Achieving lasting, natural-looking results is a top priority for Dr. Koplin. As his expertise and experience indicate, he is an artist, a revolutionary, and a perfectionist in the field of plastic surgery—which explains this prestigious acknowledgement by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

NanoStem Serum Success Story

Recently, I had a 12 year-old patient who fell and split her left upper lip when she was 9 months old.  The lip was repaired at UCLA Hospital but the wound separated, leaving her with a depressed, discolored scar.  At age four, she had a mole removed from her chin, which also healed very poorly and was depressed on both ends.  She had fillers injected which were extremely painful, did not last very long, but temporarily improved the deformity- and did not want to continue this for a lifetime.  She was sufficiently self-conscious to be willing to undergo revision surgery to permanently improve the situation.

I confided that surgical revision- which would involve cutting out both scars- would not guarantee significant improvement, and that she would have to endure at least a year of swelling and redness as the new scars matured.  In other words, she would have to get worse to get better.

After discussion with her and her mother (who is a physician), we settled on a plan to fill the depressed scars with her own natural fat by injecting it directly into the skin.  In the operating room, a small amount of fat was removed from the lower abdomen under extremely low vacuum liposuction.  The fat was washed and centrifuged.  The lowest (most dense and rich in stem cells) portion of the fat (closest to the tip of the syringe) was injected via tiny needles into the left upper lip indentation.  Impressive improvement and resolution of the concavity was noted.  The chin indentation on both ends were also injected.

The remaining portion of this “supercharged” stem-cell rich fat was then prepared for extraction of the stem cells and stromal vascular fraction for injection into the scars.  It was emulsified to destroy the fat cells and then strained through a sterile Nano screen to remove the cells.  The liquid was then centrifuged to separate into three segments: oil, yellow Nanoserum and pink Nanoserum.  The oil was discarded.  The yellow particulate Nano Stem Serum was injected directly into both ends of the transverse chin scars (where they were indented).  The clear pink Nano Stem Serum was injected directly into the left upper lip scar.

The “After” photos (to view, click “Natural Fat Transfer”) are taken one full year after her procedure.  She notes that she is thrilled that not only is the depression corrected, but that the scars look much better.  Additionally, the dark discoloration (particularly at the top of the upper lip scar) has completed faded to normal.  The chin scar has faded as well.  Note that she is not wearing makeup in any photographs and how the texture of her scars has improved as well as the color and the indentations.

Shallow End or Deep End?

I’ve met and treated a lot of patients in my career, and have come to the conclusion that there are two basic personalities when it comes to decision making.  I compare them with the two options we have when deciding to swim in a cold pool: Shallow End Steppers or Deep End Divers.

The pool is cold—how do we choose to get in?

Most people go in slowly.  Toes first, then feet to the top step.  Get acclimated.  Down to the next step, get acclimated again and continue.  It takes time and patience, but it gets the job done.  That’s a Shallow End Stepper.

A smaller group of individuals find it easier to make the decision, are certain in their choice, and just jump in.  They have weighed the options, know what to expect, and are eager to get on with it.  That’s a Deep End Diver.

You have seen this many times before.  At the beach, most people go in slowly and scream every time the water moves a bit higher.  But a few brave (or reckless) souls run in full throttle, diving under the approaching wave and surfacing with a shout and a shake of their head.  Some kids wiggle a loose baby tooth for days and weeks, not allowing anyone to touch it until the last thread breaks loose and the tooth is out.  Other children (not many) grab and pull that tooth to get it out as quickly as possible- and under the pillow for a Tooth Fairy reward.  In a vaccination line, most of us want to be at the very back, but a few others push to the front to “get it over with.”

Plastic surgery is a very personal choice, and making that final decision to proceed isn’t always that easy.  I notice that most successful business individuals seem to be able to make a quick decision: to move ahead, have the surgery and make plans for their schedules during and after recovery.  Most of us don’t decide quite that easily!

I have also noticed that the “first” decision is often the most difficult.  You don’t know us; you don’t know the temperature of the water.  Familiarity, trust, comfort and great results make it much easier to dive in.

My job, and the job of everyone in my office, is to make the decision making process as stress-free as possible.  We won’t pressure you.  We won’t push you.  If you need to talk with us several times, we are here for you.  Patients who consider future surgeries after knowing us find the water to be much warmer.  We will always respect your pool personality!

Timely Death of the Lifestyle Lift

The Wall Street Journal reported today the shutdown of the cosmetic surgery chain Lifestyle Lift. Will this leave a gaping hole in the facial rejuvenation universe, or is this Darwin cleaving the weakest member of the herd?

The answer is the latter: Lifestyle Lift is a shopping-mall bargain basement embarrassment to the plastic surgery universe whose loss will not be eulogized by anyone other than the owners and staff. Started by an osteopath trained as a “facial” plastic surgeon in 2001, it had bloated into a national embarrassment Continue reading “Timely Death of the Lifestyle Lift”

March 4, 2015
  News

Does it Hurt When I Push Here?

What is it with doctors? We’re supposed to be knowledgeable, intuitive and compassionate. We’re supposed to cure illness, repair injuries and relieve pain. We’re supposed to be kind and sensitive.

What’s the first thing doctors do when something hurts? WE PUSH DIRECTLY ON IT TO SEE IF YOU’RE LYING! Why do we do this? You’ve told us it hurts, you described the quality and intensity and you’ve pointed exactly at the spot. Continue reading “Does it Hurt When I Push Here?”

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”