Seattle Plastic Surgeon blogs about the lessons learned in the play, Pygmalion, now playing at Seattle’s Intiman Theater.

Mark Anders as linguist Henry Higgins and Jennifer Lee Taylor as Eliza Doolittle. Her décolleté is so lovely, he dare not look!

Last night I soooo enjoyed attending Pygmalion at Seattle’s Intiman Theater.  There is something about live human beings on stage telling a story through words and action that just touch my soul so much more than film or television ever does. 

Pygmalion, as most of you probably know, refers to the story of the artist who fell in love with his own sculpture of the “perfect woman”. 

The play, written by George Bernard Shaw and made into the musical My Fair Lady, tells the story of Linguist Henry Higgins turning the gutter snipe Eliza Doolittle into a Duchess.  In the end of course, he learns as much from her as she does from him.  It’s a great story of class and money and manners and empathy and for the plastic surgeon in the audience, the importance of sun protection on the ever important  décolleté .  

The  décolleté  is so often exposed to the sun and, unlike the face, is not amenable to deep chemical peels or laser treatments to treat the sun damage.  Therefore, prevention is paramount.  I recommend adding quick spray of Neutrogena spray-on sun block every morning to the décolleté  to every woman’s morning skin care routine.  It takes but a second or two and helps maintain skin health in this most important female landscape. 

I also highly recommend seeing this delightful play!

Thanks for reading.  Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder

Seattle Plastic Surgeon breaks the ice at a party with her Tuzzie Muzzie!

There’s a Tuzzie Muzzie to complement any party frock.

Last Friday I attended my very first Twelfth Night Party.  It was a fancy affair with cocktails, dinner, dancing, and dessert buffet at Seattle’s Women’s University Club.

You readers of my blog may find this a little hard to believe, but I am quite shy and I was a little concerned that I only would know one person at this fancy affair.  I needed a little wardrobe courage  so I wore my playful Tuzzie Muzzie.  This little, whimsical party hat is a great ice breaker and conversation piece.  It has served me well over the years. 

Shorty after walking in the door into a sea of strangers, I was approached by a lovely gentleman who knew a lot about this particular party accouterment.  I learned that the generic name for these fancy head pieces is “Facinator”  and they are all over the place in the British party scene and the Kentucky Derby.   I had no idea.  I guess this Seattle gal needs to get out more or at least pay more attention of Royal Weddings and horse races!

I had a lovely time at the party and I know that my Tuzzie Muzzie was a big help.

I now feel lucky that Seattle has it’s own Facinator milliner.  You can either shop online or go to Crackerjack in Seattle’s Wallingford Center and try one on.  And make sure to wear it to your next party, especially if you won’t know many people and are a little on the shy side.

Thanks for reading!  The rather shy Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder

Lip enhancement can be subtle. It doesn’t have to be bizarre.

Seattle Plastic Surgeon is thrilled to share news of the FDA approval of Restylane for lip enhancement and/or augmentation.  It’s about time!

Earlier this month the FDA approved the hyaluronic acid filler Restylane for lip enhancement.  This puts what is sort of like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on a procedure that I have been doing for several years.

Lip enhancement/augmentation gets a really bad rap in the popular media because it is so overdone in many high profile individuals.  But really, it doesn’t have to be that way.  No Donald Duck lips are necessary.  The enhancement can be really lovely and subtle like the lady in the photo.  She had just 1 cc of filler placed in her lips with most of it going to her lower lip.  Nice, huh?   This is yet another thing I love about practicing plastic surgery in Seattle.  Patients want lovely and subtle, not LOOK AT ME.

Most lip enhancement/augmentation patients can go about their usual business and social lives the day after injection.  The bruising and swelling is usually pretty minimal if the patient is careful not to take any medication that can encourage bruising (aspirin and ibuprofen are the most common offenders) for a week before injection and is vigilant about icing the area for a few hours after injection. 

So from now on when you hear lip ehancement/augmentation/enlargement etc., don’t think bizarre Donald Duck lips ala the First Wives Club.  Think lovely and subtle and now FDA approved!

Thanks for reading.  Seattle Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder

Seattle Plastic Surgery, Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder blogs about her newest obsession and Seattle’s lousy summer.

Last weekend my daughter and I went to Swanson’s, which is a lovely nursery in north Seattle.  We had a light lunch at the cafe and then went browsing.  (Now that I am most definitely a woman of a certain age, I would rather cruise a nursery than a boutique).

Marie and I saw it as the same instant, just sitting there like a beautiful young orphan, so tiny and out of place with the much taller quotidian deciduous ornamental trees.  And we fell hard for this Japanese Umbrella Pine.  I put it on our cart and found a staff member to ask about it.  He could have said you need to water it with sterile thrice deionized water 4 times a day and apply platypus feces as a side dressing in the spring and fall and I would have still purchased this beauty.  Actually all he said was that it will grow to 20 feet over 20 years and I can’t let it dry out.

And drying out won’t likely be a problem, at least this summer.  While the rest of the nation is sweltering and frying, Seattle is experiencing the coldest and wettest summer in any one’s memory.  But this is good for my sweet, beautiful Japanese Umbrella Pine.  It is native to the rain forests of Japan and I’m sure I can keep it happy in the rain forest of Seattle.

So what does this have to do with plastic surgery?  Okay, how’s this?

• Just because it’s cloudy, you still need sunscreen!
• And the real reason I do plastic surgery is to support my gardening habit.

Thanks for reading!  Seattle Plastic Surgeon and Plant Freak, Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder

Another lovely day in Seattle

An article in the Seattle Times today confirmed that Seattle has had one of the wettest, coldest springs in recorded history. My Vitamin D level is probably undetectable. But……..

I still love it here and here is why. Earlier this week I was at the annual meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (www.surgery.org) and got a little taste of what patients in some other parts of the country want in the way of plastic surgery. When it comes to breast implants, it’s “go big or go home”. Ditto for buttocks. Ditto for lips. With liposuction, it is the six pack look for women. Some of these patients after surgery reminded me of some comic book heroines.

I love having patients who have a healthy and realistic idea of what the beautiful human form ought to look like. Almost all my patients share my idea that it would be nice to come out of surgery looking like it could have – on a very good day – occurred in nature.

Maybe my low Vitamin D is just making me cranky, but I just don’t like that totally fake look and (as further proof of an ever loving God), neither to 99% of my patients.

Beautiful moss weather we're having

The front page of the Seattle Times today featured a great story on moss. We’ve had one of the wettest and coldest springs in recent memory and the moss is just loving it. I must admit, when I was in college and taking botony, I had a great admiration for moss, especially when I got down to moss level and really looked at it. And under the microscope – wow.

Everyone with a moss garden is estatic about this weather and I also think anyone who cares about their skin should be estatic too. I spend the winter months slathering on skin cream because I get so dried out and the summer months I slather on sun block, but the last two months I’ve headed out the door with just a dollop of sun screen on my face and that’s it. It’s so moist here, my dry skin just soaks up the ambient humidity and with this cloud cover, I can be a little lax about endless my battle with the UV. Let’s here it for Seattle’s moisture festival!