Image-Guided Aesthetic Treatments

Book excerpt: This book offers a detailed and up-to-date overview of image-guided aesthetic treatments. A wide range of aesthetic image-guided procedures in different body regions are described in more than twenty chapters. For each procedure, the benefits of image guidance are identified and its use is clearly explained. The coverage includes all the major tools commonly employed by today’s aesthetic and plastic surgeons, such as spectral imaging, laser, microfocused ultrasound, and radiofrequency technologies. Image guidance of aesthetic treatments has a variety of benefits: Image-guided treatment by means of non-surgical or minimally invasive modalities greatly reduces patient anxiety and the likelihood of postoperative disfigurement. Image guidance allows the physician to measure the skin thickness and the depth of fat tissue and to evaluate the elasticity of the skin and subcutaneous tissues, improving thermal treatment outcomes. It can also map the arteries, veins, and nerves, thereby providing preoperative landmarks and permitting reduction of postoperative bleeding and avoidance of nerve damage. Furthermore, imaging can non-invasively identify subdermal fillers or implants, assisting in the identification of migration with attendant vascular compromise or nerve entrapment. Image-Guided Aesthetic Treatments will be a valuable guide and reference not only for aesthetic practitioners, plastic surgeons, and other specialists, but also for imaging technicians and interested laypersons.