Inland Cosmetic Surgery

The United States’ foremost breast implant maker Mentor Corp. (MNT) succumbed to Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) at the stunning price of $1.1 billion on December 1, 2008.

With the declining market, Mentor tried to boost sales of silicone breast implants, which have typically generated twice the revenue as saline implants once the FDA had lifted the fourteen-year ban on them two years ago.

Michael Weinstein, a JP Morgan analyst, believes that the recent economic plunge has forced Mentor Corp. to give way to J&J, even though they will continue to stand alone.

Although 90% of Mentor’s income is generated from breast implants, they have decided to increase their profile by adding another product to their line - PurTox.

PurTox is a neurotoxin that fights facial wrinkles and the FDA is estimated to give it approval by mid to late 2010. When this happens, Allergan, the makers of Botox, will be in competition with whatever cutting edge or price break that PurTox has to offer.

CNN News reports this week on the new breast augmentation method that is gaining ground in Japan and worldwide; stem cell assisted lipotransfer uses a combination of the patient’s own fat and cells to successfuly perform breast augmentation.

A surgeon in Tokyo, Japan has received a certain amount of notoriety in the industry for this
method. He appears in the news segment, as well as a cancer survivor that was apparently one of his patients. She says “I hope women are able to choose this type of surgery.”

According to the news program, clinical trials are underway in the United States.

Orlando plastic surgeon, Richard Bosshardt recently outlined the status of modern breast cancer treatments and the medical efforts to minimize negative effects associated with the disease.

Most women know that early detection is key and many are aware of the statistics - For example:  “about 1 in 8 women will have to face breast cancer in their lifetime.”  However, there are new reasons to be optimistic: Doctors have begun practicing “breast conservation” rather than outright removal, chemotherapy is more advanced and reconstruction has become more sophisticated than ever, with patients often improving their appearance as a result.

Also, family ‘genetic markers’ have become excellent risk indicators, narrowing the search for a definite cause.  Of course, as Dr. Bosshardt says, breast implants, the choice to wear (or not wear) bras and high-fat diets have never been shown to have any correlation with increased breast cancer risk.

Read Dr. Bosshardt’s original article at the Orlando Sentinel here.