The La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Podcast - With San Diego’s Most Loved Plastic Surgeons

When it comes to skin care, marketing convinces us it’s about instant gratification when in reality it’s a long game. No one knows this better than LJC’s aesthetician Cameron Vessey, who first learned about proper skin care at the age of 13 at her grandmother’s modeling school. Now as a medical aesthetician, she helps her patients plan the perfect skin care protocol consisting of products tailored...

While looking at photos of herself about five years ago, Maria noticed that an “11” had appeared between her brows. Those pesky parallel lines were so deep that they didn’t tan with the rest of her face. That was the moment she decided to do something. Maria works as a labor & delivery nurse across the street at Scripps hospital, a friend who already had “beautiful Botox” told her where to go....

Many people come to LJC seeking to look less tired, old, or sad – because they are not actually tired, old, or sad! Fillers can only be used for so long before surgery is the only option. LJC facial plastic surgeon Dr. Kiersten Riedler talks about the blepharoplasty, or eyelid surgery and how it solves the very common problem of constantly looking tired. As you get older, it’s common for eyebrows...

If you think the treatments available at a medical spa aren’t for you because you’re not old enough, think again. Autumn’s story will change how you think about those barely visible fine lines between your brows, around your eyes, and around your mouth. Find out which treatments have been her secret weapon since she started coming to LJC in her late twenties. From Botox to microneedling to laser s...

Lymphatic massage expert Kathleen Lisson explains the important role of your ~800 lymph nodes in post-op recovery. If the lymphatic system is disrupted or overwhelmed, which can occur with plastic surgery, lymphatic massage, or manual lymphatic drainage is often recommended to help with healing and recovery. The lymphatic system is how your body processes and eliminates waste. Your immune system i...

If you’re disappointed that your breast implants are sagging or haven’t lasted as long as expected, the “internal bra” is a superb breast implant revision technique that uses GalaFLEX, a bioabsorbable mesh-like material to add support. Breast implants aren’t meant to last forever and at some point, our breasts sag. It happens to all of us, and we inevitably won’t have our 20-year-old breasts in ou...

Taylor’s least favorite body part has always been her arms. Working in the medical spa at La Jolla Cosmetic, Taylor knew there were a lot of ways to approach body contouring, including those arms. She had already lost 30 lbs, and plastic surgeon Dr. Swistun motivated her to lose 15 more to ensure successful results by showing her what she might look like using special imaging software called Vectr...

For our patient Kathleen Lisson, an accident while hiking in the desert led to a broken nose, which led her straight to Dr. Brahme for a rhinoplasty… and while he was at it, a face lift, brow lift, neck lift, chin implant, fat transfer to her cheeks, and a septoplasty to fix her deviated septum. Not everyone seeks cosmetic surgery for aesthetic reasons; sometimes it’s necessary following an accide...

This year, the primary concern of women researching breast implants became safety instead of cost. LJC’s own Dr. Hector Salazar-Reyes joins us to share his thoughts on breast implant safety and walk us through the FDA’s updated labeling requirements, known as the “black box warning.” With his unique perspective as a champion of patient safety, Dr. Salazar shares the real history of how patients, d...

Corey Dylan from San Diego’s KFBG BIG FM 100.7, tells her story about doing Ultherapy for her face and neck. At 51, she felt like her cheeks were looking jowly and knew there was no way to reverse that with skin care products. As a radio and tv professional, Corey chose Ultherapy because she knew it would allow her to be in and out of the office within a couple hours without anybody noticing she h...

If you aren’t quite ready for a facelift, Ultherapy is a great way to delay surgery by lifting and tightening your face and neck. In the first of a two part series about Ultherapy non surgical skin tightening, Anh Bridgewater gives us the full rundown of what Ultherapy is, what it does, how long it takes to see results, and who is a good candidate. How does Ultherapy work? Microfocused ultrasound...

LJC’s laser specialist Julia Jowett, PA-C, and Cameron Vessey, licensed esthetician, discuss why lasers are such a valuable investment for our skin and how to protect that investment for the long term. Julia and Cameron walk us through what to do prior to prepare your skin before treatment, which products to use and which ones to avoid in order to keep your skin calm and respond well to the energy...

Eight years ago, Gabriela came to LJC for a mommy makeover and she was ecstatic with her results. Last summer, a friend with gorgeous results from 360 lipo inspired her to return for a consultation with Dr. Swistun to see if he could help her get the dream body she always wanted. 12 weeks after surgery, Gabriela joins us to talk about her experience having 360 Lipo to her abdomen and upper back an...

We catch up with Dr. Luke Swistun a week after his broadband light (BBL) & Halo laser resurfacing treatment to hear about his treatment experience and recovery process. Dr. Swistun tells us about how his treatment experience compared to his expectations, describing the pain level as “tolerable pins and needles.” At LJC we offer ProNox to our patients, also known as laughing gas, and Dr. Swistu...

LJC’s laser expert Julia Jowett, PA-C, lets us in on her strategy for treating plastic surgeon Dr. Luke Swistun’s fine lines and sun damage. Dr. Swistun had treatment on a Friday and he was back to the clinic working with a practically healed face on Monday. To identify problem spots, Julia took photos of Dr. Swistun and his wife with the VISIA Skin Analysis system. She then combined broadband lig...

It’s not every day that the surgeon becomes the patient! Moments just before his broadband light (BBL) & Halo laser treatment, Dr. Luke Swistun shares what he thinks it will be like and gives insight into why he’s having laser resurfacing. We’ll be back with more in this 3 part mini-series, including a chat with Julia Jowett who’s treating Dr. Swistun, and a follow up to hear how he’s doing in...

You might think the only option for reshaping your nose is to undergo a surgical rhinoplasty. But there’s another way to change the shape of your nose that isn’t so serious. Facial plastic surgeon Dr. Kiersten Riedler educates us about the liquid rhinoplasty, known as the “non-surgical nose job.” In this procedure, an injectable filler like Juvederm Voluma XC is used to change the shape or contour...

Breathing through your nose is one of those basic things you take for granted until you can’t do it anymore. Guest host Laura Cain talks with facial plastic surgeon Dr. Kiersten Riedler about nose surgery, specifically the septoplasty and rhinoplasty surgeries she does to fix the inside and outside of the nose. If you’re used to going through life with restricted nasal passages, you might not even...

Facial plastic surgeon Dr. Kiersten Riedler answers important questions about noses and rhinoplasty, like do your nose and ears really keep growing as you age? How old do you have to be to have rhinoplasty? What should you do if you get hit in the nose with a baseball? Although no two noses are the same and no two rhinoplasty procedures are the same, the approaches to surgery are fairly standard....

Karina Thompson has been a surgical patient care coordinator here at LJC for nearly three years. A big part of her job is delivering the details about procedures to patients who need more information to move forward, and then guiding them to the doctor who is the best fit. Before she joined the LJC team, Karina managed a medical spa in Encinitas for seven years. During her time there, she honed he...

Facial plastic surgeon Dr. Kiersten Riedler shares her unique perspective on preventing aging of the face and her layered approach to preventing wrinkles, replacing lost volume, and reversing the effects of gravity. Dr. Riedler’s training has made her an expert in facial anatomy, and her specialties include face lift surgery, complex rhinoplasty, and revision rhinoplasty surgery. Thanks to her tra...

As we age, the lower half of our face slowly begins to fall, causing despair and confusion over how to slow it down or reverse it. Anh Bridgewater walks us through the non-surgical options for lower face rejuvenation including threads and fillers. Hear how these innovative treatments work in tandem to contour the jawline for immediate improvement without surgery. La Jolla Cosmetic is located just...

Nurse Ruth has served patients at LJC for almost twenty years, mostly as Dr. Lori Saltz’s nurse and right hand. Ruth’s earliest introduction to LJC was through her father who served the practice as an accountant in the early years. After nursing school, she worked for several years as an emergency room and urgent care nurse before landing a position at LJC at age 27. She loved LJC so much, the res...

LJC’s esthetician and skin care expert Cameron Vessey takes us through treatments for melasma that actually work, including hydroquinone, kojic acid, azelaic acid, the Cosmelan peel, and lasers like Moxi or Halo. Melasma is a chronic condition of patterned pigment, for example, the occurrence of a dark “mustache” or circles on the cheeks. Although those with melasma cannot expect to ever stop trea...

Anesthesiologist Steve Saltz, MD took the “long way” to anesthesiology. He first trained in internal medicine, then served full time in an ER, trained some more in pulmonary and critical care before landing on anesthesiology and staying there ever since. Dr. Saltz has cared for thousands of patients every year since 1992. Thanks to his broad training and deep experience, anyone undergoing surgery...