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FACIAL ENHANCEMENT
Dr Rami Anderi of the Muscat Private Hospital has options for you

Lips that are too thin or a neck that is too thick? A nose that disrupts the serenity of your face? A few years ago you would have had to live with it for the rest of your life. But now there is the option. You can get them corrected or recontoured. And that is what Dr Rami Anderi does – cosmetic surgeries for facial correction on a regular basis at the Muscat Private Hospital in Bausher.

With a clientéle that usually comprises men and women above 35 years, the objective of his operations are to improve, or remove if possible, the deep furrow that forms at the nose to the corner of the mouth, improve upon cheeks, jaw lines, double chins and to give more volume to cheekbones and lips.

Though there are different procedures that can be used for such corrections, in general none of the procedures that Dr Rami recommends use incisions. On the contrary most of his techniques use very fine needles. “To correct the neck we can use liposuction or syringe lipoesculture, improving the contours. We utilise the thinnest cânulas or needles for recontouring the jaw line, and injecting fat in the nasolabial, malar and glabela (between the eyebrows) regions, the lips and the eyelids,” he says, adding, “When liposuction is not necessary and we only want to augment any part of the face, instead of fat we can use the so-called ‘fillers’ like Perlane or Restylane, which can be temporary or lasting, according to preferences of the patient.”

Self-sustaining threads, also known as Russian Threads, are used when the procedures involve the elevation of facial structures. “To improve the quality of the skin we use a series of chemical ‘peelings’, which vary in intensity according to the type of skin. This combination can postpone the first facelift, or complement the result in our older patients,” he explains. However, refreshment techniques will not yield the same results as a facelift. It is a gentler way to improve facial contour and a complement to other techniques. Facelifts again can be of two types – a full facelift, where the patient undergoes the procedure over the entire facial area, and a mini facelift where only selected parts of the patient’s face are subject to the procedure.

With most of the procedures lasting between 30 to 40 minutes, the usual method is to administer a local anaesthetic on the patient instead of sedation, which increases risks to the patient.

On the downside of these procedures, certain patients might experience temporary equimoses, swelling for a patient who has undergone peeling procedures, and flaking of the skin. In most cases the patient is fit enough to return to work within five days and more stressful physical activities in about two weeks. However, Dr Rami recommends that patients who have undergone facial procedures should avoid direct exposure to the sun for about 30 days.

Like any medical process, facial procedures too have their fair share of complications. Risks include haematoma – accumulation of blood under the skin and infection. And now comes the most important question. Are these procedures permanent? That, says Dr Rami, depends on the way the procedure has been carried out and the patient’s age.

How much does it cost? The cost of any of these procedures depends on the patient’s case history, physical fitness, age and so on, among other factors. For many, he says, that is one of the first queries over telephone. However, that culture is slowly changing with people now realising that neither the surgeries nor the costs are readymade. Quite the contrary actually.