News In March 2009

New web-based research has quantified the attractiveness of the female form. Using morphing software, German researchers manipulated the features of one woman into 243 variations with differing leg lengths, weights, bust sizes, and hip and waist widths.

Then more than 34,000 people judged the attractiveness of the images. While the woman's face remained exactly the same in all of the photos, researchers found that participants judged those images with smaller waist-to-hip ratios and lower body weights as being more attractive, confirming previous findings that these features are the most important predictors for an 'ideal' figure. This study appears in the March 2009 issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

A new study takes a unique approach to evaluate the efficacy of different face lifting techniques on two sets of identical twins. Four different surgeons performed four different techniques on each of the four patients. An independent surgeon then photographed the patients at one, six and ten years postoperatively.

While researchers did have some differing opinions, it was noted at the 10-year mark that everybody had a really good result and there were more similarities than differences.

A new article describes a unique sutureless skin closure technique for cleft lip repair. Traditionally, surgeons use sutures - either nonabsorbable, which require removal and brief anesthetics, or dissolvable, which may leave some permanent scarring. While it's known that using tissue adhesives for skin closure is a successful method, the authors of this article have developed a novel technique for adhesive application. Suspended sutures are used along the incision line to provide traction, but they are not tied off. Then, after the adhesive is applied but before it is dried, the sutures are removed.

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