A couple links of medspa interest.
Will the number ever live up to the hype? Building a better vagina
Well, when you look at the reimbursement patterns, this is no surprise:
the primary selling points being enhanced sexual gratification for the women and aesthetically pleasing results. Starting at $4,500, a woman can have a labioplasty, in which her inner labia are cut and reshaped if she thinks they’re too large or asymmetrical. Or a woman can become “revirginized” and have an approximation of her hymen restored.
“Typically, people will spend between $300 and $1,000 for a Botox treatment,” says Resneck, all of which is paid for by the patient (given it’s for cosmetic reasons), usually at the time of service. By comparison, a skin checkup might net a dermatologist an eventual insurance payment of anywhere from $30 to $100.Long wait times have become customary for dermatology practices over the last few years, but now even patients with urgent problems complain they are being told to take a number and stand in line.
So a pair of California researchers decided to put these complaints to the test. Posing as patients concerned about a “changing mole” (aka skin cancer central), they called 851 dermatologists across the country to make appointments and reported the results in a 2006 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
The average wait time given them was 38 days, with doctors’ offices in some cities taking much longer: 47 days in Syracuse, N.Y., 48 days in Phoenix and a whopping 73 days in Boston.
Via Kevin MD
Jeff, Medical Spa MD
Reader Comments (8)
I still dont understand how, with 5 minute office visits, they can be booked 40 days out. Obviously, they are too busy treating acne and rosacea to personally oversee their laser 'tech' so there must be tons of room in this business to buy a laser and go nuts.
As a woman, I always find my philosophy teetering with elective procedures. Part of me rationalizes it this way:
1. I exist in a day and age in which these procedures and this technology is acessible to me. Why not take advantage of it?
2. I am a financially independent young woman, I deserve to spend my money on what I see fit! If I want some crazy part of my body augmented who can stop me?! LOL!
3. I am in the industry of aesthetics, it's part of my job to stay up on and partake in some of these procedures.
THEN...the other side of Midwest rationalizes it this way...
1. I am an intellectual woman...why would I ever consider something like this? Wouldn't it imply that I am insecure with myself?
2. No one of the opposite sex has ever suggested that I should enhance anything about myself, why start now?
3. Let's face it...my happiest times in life are fishing for halibut and king salmon in Sitka, Alaska with my dad. Am I really the type of woman who gets stuff like this done?
Elective procedures aren't just about looking good to women...obviously. What do the rest of the ladies out there think about this? What are your rationalizing methods? Male docs-what do you guys think? How do you interact with women in these consults? What dialogue do you use?
I find this topic fascinating and potentially funny if you're respectful of the humour in it.
So hey...someone else post something about the 'Revirginator' article so I dont' feel like a big loser!
'Not so Modest' in the Midwest ;)
True story.
Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall watching you talk your savvy self out of that one...lol....'Well Mrs. Smith..."
One would think that I have better things to do right now...but no...here I am researching strange ways to alter the appearance, function, and overall pupose of a vagina...for godsakes.
But anyways...check this out! LOL! (I know I've mentioned before that I'm shameless...lol)
http://www.lvratlanta.com/
Let's be frank. I'm a GIRL and I never even knew this many things could be done to my anatomy!
That's it...I'm not commenting on the Vagina post anymore or I'll lose all respect for myself...lol.
Midwest, I don't think that your (or anyone else's) significant other would start this conversation with you (or them). The LVR or the Labioplasty inclination and decision, I think, has to come from within to be genuine. The guy who addresses my labia in a sugical vein, is not around for very much longer after that!
I respect the heck out of the women who come to my office to discuss their options regarding the LVR and DLV. Surgery is real. scary. stuff. And the recovery is not fun either. But they do it to enjoy their lives more. Who wouldn't want to do that? If sex is no longer gratifying for you, and you have the power to fix it, why not fix it? Nothing is sexier than a woman enjoying herself and her partner while making love. You have it within you to be sexier. Why not do it?
But don't do it because your lover told you to, or you read about it on a blog, or someone's ideal of perfect labia are out there to be had.
The reason I found this site is because I just had a hysteroscopy, a D&C and an ablasion done. I'm 50 years old and I was having weird periods and clotting because I'm beginning to go through menopause. Long before I had these procedures done, I had gotten into the habit of shaving the pubic hair only between my legs, not in front, because it is cleaner. I don't have to worry about those hairs getting urine on them or ocassionally blood and, besides, the hair in that area is always brittle and feels dry. I've been shaving there for probably 30 years. Anyway, After I had healed sufficiently from the procedures, I decided to shave that area again, for the first time. I was amazed to find out that my inner labia were gone. Yes, GONE. And, yes, sex IS better. For both of us. My first question is, where are they?! Did he pin them up inside of me and forget to unpin them? Will they, at some point, fall out, looking like stretched out elephant ears or, did he cut them off? If he cut them off, why didn't I feel any pain in that area? And last, but not least, should I complain? So far, I haven't had anything but good side effects from whatever it is he did. Is this something Gynecologists do sometimes or did he make a mistake?