Associate Professor Gemma Sharp never thought she would find herself in a theatre urging the audience to yell, “Vulva!” A senior clinical psychologist and associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Monash University, Sharp has seven university degrees. And yet, here she was “vulva shouting” on a Ted X talk. It was a mistake to call the entire genital region the vagina, Sharp told the audience. The outside part is called the vulva. “Please repeat after me. Say ‘vulva’. And one last time with gusto: Vulva!” Sharp is on a mission to teach girls their vulvas are normal. Some girls ar ..read more

Rita Yang had just handed in her resignation letter at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland when Whakaari/White Island erupted on December 9, 2019. She had been hired for her expertise in gender affirming surgery and breast reconstruction. But working in an extremely stretched public healthcare system saw her stuck in elective surgery and she had done no genital reconstruction surgeries almost two years later. The plastic and reconstructive surgeon, now working at Wakefield Hospital in Wellington, was at a crossroads. She had returned from a three-year unpaid fellowship overseas to learn about gend ..read more

After being blind-sided by the banning of referring to prescription only products as ‘anti-wrinkle injection’ and ‘dermal filler’ by the TGA in December 2023, the updated guidance on advertising health services has finally been released.  From the TGA “To resolve any inconsistency in interpretation across industry areas, the TGA no longer permits references to terms such as ‘wrinkle reducing injections’ where those terms would result in a reasonable consumer understanding the intention of the content is to promote the use or supply of a prescription medicine.  The revised guidance on ..read more

The banning of referring to prescription only products as ‘anti-wrinkle injection’ and ‘dermal filler’ by the TGA caught the majority of practitioners by surprise, especially with learning that the changes came into effect on 18th December last year.  From the TGA “to support the consistent application of legislation related to the  advertising of therapeutic goods across all industry sectors, on 18 December 2023 previously published guidance which included certain terms considered at the time to be acceptable was removed from our website. These terms included ‘anti-wrinkle injection ..read more

Launched today by Minister for Health and Aged Care, The Hon Mark Butler MP, on behalf of the Australian  Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, the Cosmetic Surgery Standards are designed to provide stronger public safeguards and can be implemented across the sector immediately.  The safety and quality standards will be mandated for every service where cosmetic surgery is performed, including small day procedure clinics through to large health organisations.  Key Safety & Quality Issues within the Standards: Assessment of patient suitability Psychological assessm ..read more

The Commission has supported reforms to the cosmetic surgery sector by developing National Safety and Quality Cosmetic Surgery Standards for services where cosmetic surgery is performed. The Cosmetic Surgery Standards were released on 14 December 2023. Click download for more details. The post National Safety and Quality Cosmetic Surgery Standards first appeared on ASAPS ..read more

By Aisha Dow, Sunday Age 24th September, 2023 Standing in a room as a doctor filmed her naked body for TikTok was one of the last things Aylin Senkul says she remembers before she underwent major cosmetic surgery at the clinic of celebrity surgeon Daniel Lanzer. Senkul, a mother of five from Melbourne’s north, says she was booked in to have six procedures in April 2021 under the care of Lanzer’s associate, Dr Daniel Aronov, then the most followed cosmetic surgeon on TikTok, with 13 million followers. ‘‘[Aronov] kept saying, ‘Well, this is my lovely patient. She’s such and such years old’ … and ..read more

By Dr Rodrigo Teixeira, FRACS (Plas) – Specialist Plastic Surgeon   Rhinoplasty, commonly referred to as a nose job, is a popular surgical procedure that has been around for decades. However, new trends in rhinoplasty are emerging and gaining traction in the medical community. In particular, there is a growing interest in the comparison between the traditional structural approach to rhinoplasty, and the newer preservation approach. Preservation rhinoplasty has been on the rise in recent years, with a 14% increase from 2018 to 2019, as reported by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons ..read more

By Dr Mark Doyle, FRACS (Plas) – Specialist Plastic Surgeon   If you’re thinking about getting a meloplasty or rhytidectomy (facelift), you might be curious about what makes for a natural or unnatural looking result. In this blog, we’ll look at the differences between successful natural-looking facelift results and how poor results can happen. Dr Mark Doyle, a highly experienced FRACS (Plas) Specialist Plastic Surgeon on the Gold Coast, has helped countless people achieve a natural-looking appearance through a variety of facial rejuvenation procedures. With over 30 years of experience in ..read more

By Adele Ferguson Deformities, nerve damage, psychological trauma, loss of movement and function of limbs. It’s quite the list of allegations in what is shaping up as one of the country’s biggest-ever cosmetic surgery class actions. The class action, filed against retired celebrity cosmetic surgeon Daniel Lanzer and six associates, has ballooned to almost 1,000 patients, with a date still to be set. Maddens Lawyers filed the action almost 18 months ago, but the steady flow of new patients registering means the court is yet to close it off. In the past month alone, 13 new patients signed up to ..read more