Billboards advertising $2,999 bargain boob jobs from a “surgeon to the stars” have sprouted on the California 405 Freeway, while many other signs found throughout the country proclaim you can “Buy One Implant, Get One Free,”  or receive “$8 Botox” injections.

While these catchy campaigns may seem appealing to the frugal customer, horror stories like that of former Miss Argentina, who died at age 38 following a butt augmentation, prove that some bargain-basement procedures have their price.

“To get the cost down, they could be cutting back on things like general anesthesia. They make you feel like the procedure must be easier and not so serious if you’re just getting local sedation. Nothing could be further from the truth,” says Long Beach, Calif., plastic surgeon Dr. Marcel Daniels.

In fact, The New York Times recently published an investigative piece on the increase in doctors offering breast augmentation without anesthesia. The doctor featured in the story, Dr. Robert L. True of Colleyville, Tx., props up locally sedated patients halfway through surgery so they can confirm that they like the size of their implant before he stitches their breasts closed. What most patients don’t know is that Dr. True is actually a gynecologist.

This type of foray into plastic surgery by a doctor who studied an entirely different branch of medicine is part of what is fueling the cheap-surgery trend, since many physicians not trained as plastic surgeons can legally perform a surgical procedure in their office. Patients pay in full up-front, so these physicians don’t have to deal with health insurance and hiring staff to process billing and claims.

Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. John Anastasatos says that these physicians often claim they can do the same procedure as a plastic surgeon under local anesthesia, and may even claim they are more scientifically advanced. “The truth is that they don’t have surgical privileges at hospitals and surgery centers because they simply are not surgeons and never trained as surgeons.”

Yet surgeons want to make it clear that even paying top dollar for plastic surgery doesn’t guarantee the best results.

“Bad plastic surgery is not always price sensitive. It’s just that cheap and discounted surgery is often the first sign of a desperate surgeon whose skills alone don’t sustain his or her business. If you want to save money, do it when buying a car, an airline-travel package, or clothes. Never do it when purchasing a plastic surgery operation.” Says plastic surgeon and CellCeuticals skin-care creator Dr. Garth Fisher, who performed a reconstructive face-lift on Olympian Bruce Jenner.

So how does one find out if an estimate is too cheap or a professional opinion not up to par?

“Get at least a couple of opinions, if not more. No one should get just one opinion,” says Dr. Daniels. Consumers can check any doctor’s board qualification for free at the American Board of Plastic Surgery Website. If the doctor isn’t listed, call the organization to double check a status.

Or try the American Board of Medical Specialties to see if the doctor is board-certified in another field. Many surgeons claim to be a board-certified plastic surgeon, when in fact they’re board-certified in something else entirely and practice plastic surgery on the side.

It is also a good idea to ask for before-and-after photos of the doctor’s work for your particular procedure; you want to make sure there’s evidence of good work from the doctor you’re seeing. If no before-and-afters are available, that’s your red flag that it’s time to walk.

And Dr. Daniels has some time-tested advice for all patients considering cosmetic surgery. “It all comes back to what P.T. Barnum said: ‘There’s a sucker born every minute.’ Don’t be the sucker. If a doctor has significantly different methods and prices from other opinions you’ve received, get another professional’s opinion or just get out of there.”

[ Read Full Article at: stylist.com ]

Here are some instructive examples of how you can make it so that people pay attention to you and not to your friends!

There’s something about that one gal in the bikini. I don’t know what it is about her, but she seems really fascinating. She’s got a touch of that girl-next-door, come-hither charm. That sly smile, that creamy skin, those mysterious eyes beckoning silently from behind classy shades as her supple lips softly blow minty kisses towards me…

But as for those those foul, leering, manatee-like gorgons that’ve glommed-on to her? Dis-gusting! They’re like a trio of shriveled-up slices of old toast left out in the rain and picked-apart by crows. They look as if they’d been tied-up in Ugly Sacks, beaten to death by Ugly Sticks and flattened by Ugly Steamrollers. I am gripped by the sudden urge to wash-out my eyes with bleach. Urrgh!

I may be a bit biased in my tastes, though.

Traditional bras are designed with oval-shape under wires that do not always conform to the shape of implants, which tend to be rounder and wider than natural breasts. Many retail lingerie stores can measure your bra size, but the right type of bra for your shape may not always be available.

I recently came across a website that some of you may find helpful:

www.brasforimplants.com

This website reviews a selection of bras for implants ranked by criteria, as well as directions on where to buy them. The reviews do not include all bras available on the market, but they may provide a good resource for someone who has been measured for bra size and is researching their options.

If you know of any other websites that may be helpful for bra shopping or bra fitting with implants, please share your suggestions below. Thanks!

A tag cloud is a visual depiction of user-generated tags, typically used to describe the content of web sites. Tags are normally listed alphabetically, and the importance of a tag is shown with font size or color. Thus, both finding a tag by alphabet and by popularity is possible. The tags are usually hyperlinks that lead to a collection of items that are associated with a tag.

So based on the popularity of things that people like & what they dislike, we are able to generate a tag cloud for MFI. Here’s a screenshot of what the ladies of MyFreeImplants like/dislike most:

If you go to the actual page (just go to the Benefactor/Model Search page and scroll down) you can click on any of the words in the cloud which will run a search for that term to show all of the people that share that same opinion. Hopefully this will help a lot more people find more people that have similar taste to each other — or different taste if that’s your thing.

The lists are completely dynamic so as you add more items to your “My Opinions” lists, and other people also add those items, the cloud will change to reflect the most popular values in real time.

Helpful Tip: To get the most out of this feature, you should generally use common words/spellings for things. So for example: “boobs” vs. “boobies” vs. “my boobs” vs. “big boobs” are all different tags. So using the more generic version of just “boobs” will probably hold more weight as more people will have the exact same spelling as you. Similarly if you put additional characters like “~*boobs*~ !!!!! ” that too probably won’t do you much good since NO ONE ELSE is going to spell it the same way and it will then be harder for people find you as a match!

Yeah, that’s the result of a very preliminary aggregated report of what people generally dislike on MFI:

1. liars
2. Rude people
3. Ignorance
4. Lies
5. Arrogance
6. Cats
7. Drugs
8. greed

However, if you’re a voluptuous chocolate labrador retriever & chihuahua mix, then you are sure to be mans best friend and garner lots of respect, as indicated by the top liked items.

1. Boobs
2. HONESTY
3. Dogs
4. Respect
5. Friendship
6. chocolate
7. Latinas
8. Photography

Wondering what your bra size is in a different country? Check out this international converter that corresponds to the sizing scale used in your country, and the equivalent sizes in all other international standards:  Bra Size Converter

If you have an iPhone, here is a simple app you can download that also can help to convert your bra size into international sizes:  “a Bra Size Conversion”

Good luck, and happy sizing!

Those users at risk of passing this new threshold have received an email suggesting they take action by January 1st. Finally, please keep in mind that we will have the ability to grant extensions, determined on a case by case basis.

It is probably easier to look for surgeons who have worked with MFI in the past, but if there isn’t one in your area this might be a good backup plan.

“The doctors say Dr. Su made a ten centimeter incision under her breast, which should’ve been only 2 to 3 centimeters. Dr. Su is board certified but not in plastic surgery. He’s a board certified family doctor.”