moonlight serenade

i might try this some day.

NEW YORK, Dec 5 — The latest kind of recycling has nothing to do with soda bottles. It entails liposuctioning fat from, say, thighs or buttocks and injecting it into breasts to augment them.

After being condemned in the early 1990s, this procedure is generating newfound excitement among the handful of doctors in the United States who offer it and patients keen to enlarge their breasts without resorting to implants.

“I love that it is just mine, my own fat,” said Sarah, a 34-year-old who wanted to be identified by only her first name.

The petite woman from Miami considered breast implants but said she did not want her breasts to “look hard or fake or extremely unnatural”.

So she had Dr Roger Khouri, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, take fat from her thighs and buttocks to fill out her chest.

She said: “I didn’t have to put anything foreign in my body.”

This kind of breast augmentation has two advantages: It trims fat where you do not want it and puts it where you do. Another advantage is not having to worry about an implant breaking or hardening.

Almost 20 years ago, the procedure was strictly not done.

An association now known as the American Society of Plastic Surgeons had issued a warning to its member doctors not to inject suctioned fat into patients’ breasts for fear that mammograms would be misread.

Since some injected fat dies and calcifies, the thinking was that radiologists would not be able to distinguish between those calcifications (or calcium deposits) and the ones that may indicate breast cancer.

A second concern was that too little injected fat survived being transplanted, because techniques for harvesting, refining and placing fat were not advanced enough.

Even today, the success of fat grafting depends on the physician.

But this year, the plastic surgery society reversed its former position.

It reviewed the limited research on fat grafting to the breast and concluded that it “can be considered a safe method of augmentation”.

On the issue of mammography, they said fat grafting “could potentially interfere with breast cancer detection; however, no evidence was found that strongly suggests this interference”.

At the October meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Khouri presented a long-term study that suggested liposuctioned fat was now a “viable alternative to breast implants”.

It tracked 50 women, aged 17 to 63, for an average of 3-1/2 years.

For weeks, participants wore a cumbersome bra-like tissue expander at night that was created by Khouri to create a scaffolding for their fat.

The study found that the procedure does not impede the reading of mammograms and that on average, 85 per cent of transplanted fat survived to give patients natural — feeling, larger breasts.

In recent years, fat injections have been used to correct irregularities from reconstructive breast surgery after a mastectomy or a lumpectomy.

But the disadvantages include high expenses, lengthy procedures, and a fluctuating breast volume.

Dr Scott Spear, the chairman of the plastic surgery department at George-town University Hospital, has enlarged a patient’s breasts only to have the patient undo his handiwork by losing weight.

“They decide to run a marathon and their breasts go away,” he said.

But a far worse scenario is when complications ensue.

Khouri said the fat injected by a doctor with sub-par skills may result in oil cysts, masses, nodules and scarring.

To some, this kind of fat recycling seems simple.

But Dr Michael McGuire, the president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, cautioned: “How you take the fat, how you process it, how you inject it, are all factors in how successful fat survival is going to be.” — NYT

money is difficult to make these days.

i have to resort to this.

i’m so broke.

i’m sad.

i feel lonely.

and there’s nothing i can do about it.

they only know how to spend money on themselves, drink beer, cheat, incur debts and hurt others, other pple have to suffer because of their deeds

inconsiderate bastards

no good to anyone.

my nose is stuffed. never have i been so happy to be sick.

never really like to admit that i am sick.

chinese medicine helps. but its so expensive.

wish that it will go away soon.

are such expensive affairs.

ms tze was just telling me today that she has booked her bridal studio package! exciting. but she has no wedding date yet… no money!!! no house!! still have study loans to pay!

grace chew tells me she is broke cos she had to pay for the house and the deposits for the wedding dinner. even with her 4.5k salary. thats more than 1000 dollars my pay. and she is broke.

what is a singaporean bride got to do? starve?

and no its not to fit into those run of the mill substandard gowns that we have to settle for if we are on a budget.

just ridiculous.

how is the birth rate supposed to go up? how are pple gonna get married if the costs are so high? houses are scarce and unaffordable. weddings are stress inducing and pocket burning.

i used to have so many dreams about my perfect wedding…

shortlisting hotels… should i have a garden party? or by the sea? glitzy ritz carlton, the sentosa resort and spa? or goodwood park hotel?

now reality hits and its like, my God its so expensive! looks like i have to settle for a chinese restaurant???? with those karaoke screens !??! maybe just a buffet reception??

blowing 30k to throw a party of a lifetime?? of which maybe u can get back half the cash thru angbaos. diet to fit into the gown, stress over the guests lists, haggle over the price of a bridal studio package so they dun rip u off. and in the end u dun even get to eat anything at your own party. wheres the fun in that.

i’ve turned into a cynic.

like michelle said. we are all caught in societal norms. she cried when she had to book a flat first before the proposal. she was like me once. full of idealism.

growing up in a world of broken dreams.

i finally went to the gym yesterday. now my legs are aching. for this coming week, i prob exercise once per week again. cos i have so many engagements in the evenings.

finally got to eat dimsum! (= yummy all the prawns so shioks. first time the family went out to eat in a long time. (= spinach with 3 eggs super yummy.

i slept in the afternoon.

my weekends wouldnt count towards being productive. i only went gym and had tea with the girls which was really good at TWG, but pricey…

then went for the salsa club azzucar . embarassing cos i cant rem the more complex moves.. oops. poor guy who had to dance with me.. anyway miss dancing with my baby.. i actually teared at the club.. man how embarrasssing lucky it was all dark. dancing is so pointless except with the one u love. the live music was good though.

felt sad that i havent joined a dance class yet. i wanted to join the hip hop one with my frens but bcause of bloody obligations again. i cant. life is a drag.

watched devil wears prada. sighs makes me sad cos i know i will never  be in this line. although i really wanted to be. stupid sickness.

and i miss paris. must go back one day.

need to think of what to do with my leave.

why i didnt blog for so long. cos no inspiration.

nothing interesting to write. status quo. my life is so boring. nothing is happening.

i wouldnt be surprised if no one is reading this.

i need to blog for myself. my sanity. not for other pple to read.

looking forward to saturday. not sunday. whole lot of obligations.

i tend to eat more and procrastinate exercise when i’m depressed.

laziness. sloth. greed.

just want to binge.

comfort food.

ice cream. chocolates. potato chips. cookies.

my friends.

its funny. sometimes i just want to be isolated. a hermit recluse. but other times i feel a need to fill my time with appointments so i dont have to be alone with my scary thoughts and be bored to death by myself.

cell. really feels like an obligation.
i feel so tired. such a long day. n i will reach home so late. booo.

ate fries. actually stole fries from my friends’ extra value meals. wasnt hungry. besides i still had to go home and eat dinner. and wash the juicer. and empty the trash. all when i’m so tired already. such a drag.

quarreled with my mother. sighs think i’m having pms. and my mum is ultra sensitive. not good combi. all cos i didnt finish the pumpkin. i dont like to eat such tasteless starchy stuff. gross. and she scolded me for that. and then next thing u know she goes into this tirade of not eating healthy, so i said life is short, so she said u still want to shorten it? whats so good about living such a long life? die earlier better. when u are sick dont expect me to take care of u. dont worry i will make sure u wont. u think XX will take care of you? i don’t think he is that type. he will just fly at the sight of trouble.

yup heaping insults on innocent pple for nothing. madness.

when can i escape.

everyday on the mrt i wonder when i will be able to get off at the clementi stop. WHEN????? can i escape the clutches. I need freedom.

I’m 25 and I don’t have any freedom at all. There’s just something wrong with this whole picture.