A ^Retired Plastic Surgeon's Notebook

Seattle Plastic Surgeon ponders the meaning of all of these awards than just seem to arrive in the mail along with a place for credit card information.  

Dr. Sowder, you are really are the best.

I was dejunking my office this week and came across a bunch of letters and a few emails informing me how fabulous I am and inviting me to order various plaques and trophies (prices range from $99 – $530) so I can spread the news of my fabulousness.

Over the past few years I have been named one of “America’s Top Surgeons”, one of  “America’s Top Plastic Surgeons” (with honors of distinction and excellence), one of the “Leading Physicians of The World”, one of the “Best Doctors in America”, one of “Washington State’s Best Doctors”, “the 2015 Best Business of Seattle in the category of Cosmetic Surgeons”, “One of the 10 Best Plastic Surgeons for Washington”, “Top 100 Health Professionals – 2018”, and (my favorite), “Woman of the Year in Medicine and Healthcare.”

I have to say that I am honored and humbled by all of these accolades but I have a sneaking suspicion that these “associations” really don’t know anything about me or my practice and just want my money.  I’m pretty cheap so you won’t see any this stuff hanging on my wall.

But …………… I am not at all shy about letting the world know about the fabulous awards I actually have received without having to fork over a dime.  Going way, way, way back – here they are, at least the ones I can remember:

• Tidiest camper at Camp Sweyolaken as a Campfire Girl.  You would laugh at this if you could see my desk right now.
• Best Book Week Poster – 5th grade, Hutton School, Spokane, Washington (Mom was so proud).
• First Place Beginner Dog Obediance (shared with Mickey, the wonderdog), Spokane Canine Club.
• Best Undergraduate Research Paper, University of Washington, 1978 (I got $400 which back then was a boat load of money.  Actually it still is a boat load of money).
• Phi Beta Kappa – University of Washington, 1978.
• Alpha Omega Alpha – University of Washington School of Medicine, 1983.
• Best Paper, Senior Plastic Surgery Residents’ Conference, 1991.
• Golden Hands Award for the best cosmetic surgery case, Washington Society of Plastic Surgeons, 2005.
• “The Dom”. a.k.a. best presentation, Northwest Society of Plastic Surgeons, 2009.  It’s called “The Dom” because the prize is a bottle of Dom Perignon.

Oh, and this just in:  There is a new doctor in town who claims on his home page that he is ranked the #1 Plastic Surgeon in Seattle.  And his home page is cluttered with the aforementioned fake plastic surgeon awards.  Problem is that he has not spent one day in an approved plastic surgery residency, is not certified or eligible to be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (the only real plastic surgery board), and is not a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the Washington Society of Plastic Surgeons or the Northwest Society of Plastic Surgeons.  In other words, he is not a plastic surgeon!!!  Is he a good non-plastic surgeon?  Don’t know.  I do know that he is not an honest surgeon.

Thanks for reading and be careful out there when picking a plastic surgeon.  Make sure you pick a real one.  Check your surgeon’s credentials by visiting the American Board of Plastic Surgery 

Thanks for reading, (Multiple Award Winning) Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder

I would be honored if you followed me on Instagram @sowdermd and @breastimplantsanity.

Sientra Textured Breast Implants may be an advance in the continuing battle against breast implant capsular contracture.

The breast implant business is a funny one.  Implants come and go and then come back again and then there’s something new that becomes old that is reconsidered or tweeked and then comes back into use and so it goes.  This is why the skeptical Dr. Sowder (that would be me) is skeptical.  But……….I think I might be onto something really, really new and improved in breast implant surgery.  And it’s sort of a new implant shell and gel design.

But the thing that is really, really new is that Sientra, the manufacturer of these implants, is putting their money where their mouth resides.  They are providing a two year warranty for their implants that develop a significant capsular contracture.  Until now, capsular contracture was never covered by warranties.

I recently attended a presentation regarding these newish implants and asked the CEO of the company how Sientra can possibly offer a warranty for a problem that has plagued breast implants from day one and is considered almost an act of God by those of us who do everything in our power to prevent capsular contracture. 

Here is what may be different with implants manufactured by Sientra.

1.  Sientra textured implants have a different surface configuration that seems to allow more integration into the surrounding breast meaning that it does not scream “foreign body!” quite as loudly as a smooth implant or implants with other types of texturing.  It is the foreign body response that accounts for capsule formation.

2.  The Sientra implant cohesive gel is really, really adherent to the implant shell.  The shell cannot be torn off the gel.  The gel just sticks to the shell, even with strong traction.   So even if there is a tear or fracture in the shell, the shell and gel just hang together and the gel does not extrude outside the implant and possibly set up and inflammatory reaction leading to thickening or tightening of the implant capsule which is what causes capsular contracture.

3.  Sientra only sells its breast implants to surgeons who are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, a.k.a. Real Meal Deal Plastic Surgeons (me, for example).  Sientra feels that those of us who have put in the years and years of training in plastic surgery do it better than those who have come to do cosmetic breast surgery via the back door.  This is not the case with the other two manufacturers of breast implants in the United States.

Sooooo…………. I am now offering Sientra implants for breast augmentation.  All the warranty paperwork is filled out by our office and every Sientra patient is automatically enrolled in the warranty program.  And if I never see another capsular contracture in my life…………….

Thanks for reading.  Oh, and Sientra doesn’t pay me to say nice things about them but they did feed me the other night at the dinner presentation but I only had one glass of wine and I skipped dessert.  Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder