Interview für das WOW NOW Middle East Magazin

Konstantinos Jiouchas, M.D., Swiss and German Board Certified Plastic and Aesthetic Surgeon, Consultant Plastic Surgeon in Private Practice in Zürich, Switzerland
Konstantinos Jiouchas studied Medicine at one of the top 5 Universities (Elite Uni) of Germany, at the RWTH in Aachen. He started and completed his specialization as a Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeon in Germany. In 2015 after becoming a Board Certified Surgeon in Germany, he got an offer to work as an attending consulting Plastic Surgeon at the Department of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery at the Cantonal Hospital of Winterthur, University of Zurich, Switzerland. He started to work in a Private Practice for Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery in the heart of Zurich, Switzerland from the beginning of 2017.

One of the many reasons he loves to work in the town of Zurich is the diversity of the people living in it. Zurich is a melting pot of different cultures with people coming from all over the world, thus resulting in a big variety of the patient’s with different cultural background e.g. Middle East, Asia, Russia and south America.

What are the latest trends in plastic surgery and what are your go-to procedures?

Trends come and go in Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, but my main topics of interest can be summoned in three Sections: High Quality Breast Augmentation, Liposuction/ Liposculpting and Facial Rejuvenation

According to the latest Statistics of the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASOP), breast augmentation is still the number one surgical procedure in plastic surgery. It‘s performed by surgeons from all kinds of surgical fields with a huge variety of implants. Things may be complicated for patients looking for the most appropriate surgeon to conduct such procedures. Furthermore, over the last years, there has been a huge technical improvement in silicone implants which are mostly used in Europe.

When I use the expression High Quality Breast Augmentation I demand to have a highly trained plastic surgeon to perform the procedure with the best tools available and the selection of a high quality implant that suits the individual patient. There are several brands with outstanding long term characteristics: state-of-the-art shell design that result in a strong and durable breast implant, exceptional elasticity for ease of insertion and smaller incision, ultra soft form stable filling gel for optimal shape retention and feel, and last but not least, specialized choice of surface texturing.

One thing that changed the way I perform one of the many different approaches for a breast augmentation is the sub mammary approach. For the insertion of the implant I use the “no touch“ technique. A specifically made funnel allows the breast implant to never be handled by the surgeon nor does the implant ever rub against the patient’s skin during insertion. Because no matter how sterile the surgeon and the operating room are, it is always possible to get a certain amount of bacteria on the shell of the implant. Especially, when the breast implant is being put into the pocket under a breast muscle. This funnel eliminates this risk resulting in lesser inflammatory reactions and capsular contractions. Another advantage is that the use of this device allows for smaller incisions. Since silicone gel breast implants are all pre-filled, the larger the implant, the larger the incision needs to be. This funnel allows silicone breast implants to be placed through smaller incisions than would be possible without it.

The second most performed surgical procedure is liposuction and liposculpting. With the newest devices on the market it is possible to perform these procedure with less harm, quicker recovery times and the same astonishing results.

With the help of the Water Assisted Liposuction and a modified Lipocollector (that is one of the many different liposuction devices I use in the private practice), I am able to harvest, process and re-inject the body’s own fat in the most gentle way in order to achieve predictable, reliable and lasting results.

In the last years I used this lipo transfer technique for different kinds of augmentation procedures, mainly for breast augmentation for patients who don’t want any implants or in combination with a breast implant and for buttocks augmentation commonly known as a Brazilian Butt Lift.

The 3rd biggest section in the private practice is facial rejuvention.

Patients are constantly on the lookout for more nonsurgical options for antiaging. The topical therapies and lasers or other energy-based devices are good therapies for skin quality and strengthening of the deeper levels of the skin but are insufficient to create volumetric rejuvenation. This is the reason why subdermal fillers gained ground in the last years, (according to the statistics of ASOP) ranking them as one of the top 5 non-invasive procedures.

Though various permanent and semi-permanent filler agents are available, hyaluronic acid fillers are the workhorse of liquid lifts among practicing physicians worldwide. The newest hyaluronic acid filler generations are less biodegradable, highly viscous and have a great lift capacity with a long lasting effect of up to two years.

I mainly use these fillers for age-related volume loss in the mid-face with techniques that have evolved over the last years. A few years ago, filler treatments of the face were more focused on eliminating facial grooves and lines. Physicians tried to look for any line in the face to treat with fillers. The current trend in facial rejuvenation with filler revolves around the correction of volume loss and lifting techniques on specific points of the face. Volume contouring of the face at the periorbital region, mid-cheek and lower face, deliver an astonishing result and a more natural, younger appearing.