BehindTheMedspeak: Lunch Break Nose Job

It's here.

If you don't have lunch plans, you might want to consider something other than the old PB&J — like a 15-minute long procedure involving only local anesthesia and an injection of Radiesse.

Marie Puente's front-page story in today's USA Today Life section has the scoop; it follows.

Non-surgical wrinkle filler wins by nose

Radiesse costs less, but it's only a temporary fix

America's search for cheap, no-knife cosmetic procedures has turned up another contender: the non-surgical nose job, touted as the proboscis equivalent of a lunchtime Botox injection.

To avoid the hassle of general anesthesia, surgical incisions and long recovery periods, a patient who wants to straighten his nose or smooth out a bump can get an injection of Radiesse.

The wrinkle filler has been around for several years but just received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for use in reshaping the nose and augmenting the chin.

New York cosmetic dermatologist Cameron Rokhsar, one of a handful of doctors around the country who have been using the filler on the nose, says the procedure is risk-free, costs about $1,500, requires only local numbing cream and takes about 15 minutes. The patient can return to normal activity immediately, and the fix lasts at least a year.

Rhinoplasty is the second-most-popular cosmetic surgery, after liposuction, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Rokhsar predicts the non-surgical procedure will gain in popularity, because people fear the knife or don't want to pay $10,000 for a rhinoplasty. "The worst case is that you won't like it, and the nose will go back to the way it was."

Betty Cruz, 40, a TV station administrator whose sister works for Rokhsar, got her new nose two weeks ago and loves it. The bump she had since birth is gone. "It was amazing. I noticed the difference immediately," she says.

Michelle Alvarez, 35, who works in real estate marketing, wanted to get rid of her nose bump before she got married. Last March, she went to Rokhsar. "I felt like a new person. My wedding day came, and I didn't feel self-conscious about which way the camera captured me."

Not everyone is convinced Radiesse is the next Botox. Minneapolis-area plastic surgeon Peter Hilger, president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, says he has used Radiesse to correct minor imperfections after a surgical rhinoplasty.

But adding volume could be counterproductive if the patient has a generous nose. "Most people want a smaller and more delicate nose rather than a larger one," he says. They "want it to be permanent. And two-thirds of rhinoplasties are done without general anesthesia."

In any case, Cruz and Alvarez say, they intend to get annual injections. The cost is nothing, Cruz says: "I spend that much on my nails."

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No sooner did I finish reading about Radiesse nose jobs than I saw the breaking news about Jennifer Aniston's "medically necessary — not cosmetic" nose job performed last Saturday in Beverly Hills.

She should've asked for Radiesse — no bruises, in and out in 15 minutes.

Oh, well, that's V.I.P. medicine for you: getting the wrong thing done by the wrong doctor.

FunFact: Plastic surgeons routinely put down "deviated septum" as the preoperative diagnosis before performing a nose job — what, you think they don't want to get paid?

Insurance doesn't cover cosmetic work, booboo.