Plastic surgeon Rustem Karimov

Karimov Rustem Fanilievich

Fanilievich
Karimov Rustem Fanilievich is a plastic surgeon, one of the best specialists in St. Petersburg, professional experience - 20 years. He has an impeccable knowledge of human anatomy, which allows him to solve the most complex problems of clinical practice. Performed more than 9,000 operations in this field of surgery. The main principle of Dr. Karimov R.F. consists of creating only natural features and harmonious forms, restoring natural youth and identifying and enhancing the attractiveness of the body and face.

EDUCATION

• 07.1990 – 08.1996 – Far Eastern State Medical University, Khabarovsk. Pediatrician.
• 08.1997 – 07.1998 – Children’s City Hospital No. 4, Khabarovsk. Internship. Pediatric surgeon.
• 11.2000 – 03.2001 – Far Eastern State Medical University, Faculty of Education, Khabarovsk. Primary specialization in general surgery. Surgeon.
• 08.2001 – 09.2001 – Ural State Medical Academy of Additional Education, Chelyabinsk. Primary specialization in plastic surgery. Plastic surgeon.
• 04.2007 – 07.2007 – Institute of Postgraduate Education, Khabarovsk. Primary specialization in maxillofacial surgery. Maxillofacial surgeon.

TRAINING

• Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, St. Petersburg, course “Plastic Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery”, 2003;
• Ural State Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, Chelyabinsk, course “Plastic aesthetic surgery of the head and neck”, 2004;
• MAPO, St. Petersburg, course “Plastic Surgery”, 2010;
• Participation in congresses, international and Russian conferences on plastic aesthetic surgery in 2001, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.

PRIORITIES

• facial plastic surgery (all types of facial surgery);
• eyelid surgery (classical, transconjunctival);
• midface lifting, closed frontotemporal lifting;
• closed and open rhinoplasty;
• otoplasty;
• chin plastic surgery;
• breast augmentation;
• vertical mammoplasty;
• periareolar mammoplasty;
• reduction mammoplasty;
• mini abdominoplasty;
• abdominoplasty;
• liposuction, lipofilling;
• plastic surgery of scars and soft tissue defects;
• removal of skin tumors;
• therapeutic treatment of scars.

Rustem Fanilievich Karimov works in the following specialties:

• Plastic surgery

Plastic surgeon Rustem Karimov

A person’s ideas about the beauty of the abdomen and chest differed at different times: the standards changed depending on the geographical location and cultural characteristics of ethnic groups. In the modern world, where almost all spheres of human activity are being unified, the ideals of beauty also come to a common denominator.

Today, the generally accepted standards for a beautiful figure are a flat stomach and a slender waist, elastic and lush breasts. Natural owners of such a body only need to maintain their genetically inherited beauty, but those who have lost it or did not have it at all sometimes have to choose more radical ways to improve their appearance. The most effective methods include plastic surgeries that can eliminate congenital and acquired defects and aesthetic imperfections. We talked with an expert in this field about how this happens and how safe the method is. He is a plastic surgeon from St. Petersburg, candidate of medical sciences, head of the Center for Plastic Surgery at the Hospital of the Russian Academy of Sciences Rustem Fanilievich Karimov.

Corr.: Good afternoon, Rustem Fanilievich. Today I would like to talk about two operations that are of interest to many women who are unable to achieve the body of their dreams on their own. I mean abdominoplasty and breast surgery. What imperfections in appearance, specifically in these parts of the body, can be realistically combated with surgical methods?

Rustem Karimov: Hello. Abdominoplasty and mammoplasty are truly some of the most popular female surgeries. They are able to cope with almost all aesthetic and functional problems of appearance. But the patient must have reasonable, adequate motives and expectations about the desired transformation. If a person expresses some unrealistic expectations - for example, that with an initial waist size of 100 cm after plastic surgery, he expects to immediately get a half-reduced belly, then he will have to explain that this is hardly possible due to safety considerations and the characteristics of tissues and muscles. Let me list it point by point so that patients understand in what cases plastic surgery will be effective.

Abdominoplasty is suitable for patients who are concerned about:

• sagging skin and ptosis of the anterior abdominal wall
• scar deformities in the abdominal area (usually after a cesarean section or appendectomy)
• diastasis of the rectus abdominis muscles
• umbilical hernias
• skin-fat “apron”
• stretching of the skin of the anterior abdominal wall with pronounced stretch marks.

Corr.: What about the breasts? Obviously, mammoplasty allows you to restore or create the desired volume.

Rustem Karimov: Yes, endoprosthetics allows you to make your bust larger; in some cases, with the help of implants, you can tighten your breasts and eliminate asymmetry. Mammoplasty also allows you to restore the mammary glands after treatment of cancer, after a mastectomy. Plastic surgery can create not only the desired volume, but also the shape of the breast, and, if necessary, reduce it.

Surgical correction also solves the problem of tubular breasts, when the mammary glands develop incorrectly and, instead of being spherical, have a shape resembling a tube.

Corr.: Rustem Fanilievich, I would like you to explain to me when they do a breast lift, and when they do a breast lift along with breast augmentation? There is a lot of conflicting information on the forums, so I would like to get a comment from an expert.

Rustem Karimov: Mastopexy is a breast lift operation. It is performed on patients who are satisfied with their bust volume, its size is sufficient, but at the same time women are not satisfied with the shape of the mammary glands, because they have sagged and are no longer as elastic as before. In this case, mastopexy eliminates ptosis (sagging) of the breast. But if the patient is dissatisfied with both the shape of the breast and its volume, if the mammary glands not only sag, but also, as women say, “empty”, for example, after breastfeeding, then in this case it is advisable to do a lift with enlargement. This operation will achieve a better cosmetic effect. Augmentation, by the way, is carried out both by installing implants and by lipofilling - transplanting the patient’s own fat. This method is also now quite in demand, since it is distinguished by the naturalness of the enlarging “material” and the absence of the risk of possible rejection.

Corr.: So, an allergic reaction to silicone implants can occur?

Rustem Karimov: Firstly, it is worth understanding that an allergic reaction can occur in response to any substance in the world. But specifically for silicone, these are thousandths of a percent, truly unique cases, because silicone is most common in the patient’s daily life. Silicone does not cause an allergic reaction in a healthy person. This is not just my statement, it has been proven by American and European research on this topic.

Most often, women come for tummy tuck and breast surgery after childbirth.

Corr.: Is there a specific category of patients who come for abdominoplasty and mammoplasty? For example, are they divided by age?

Rustem Karimov: I wouldn’t divide by age. There's another factor here. Most often, women come for tummy tuck and breast surgery after childbirth, whose body and body have not been able to recover on their own, because the period of pregnancy and lactation has a huge impact on the external and internal appearance of a woman. This includes weight gain, stretched skin and muscles, lost tone and volume. Many young nulliparous girls come for breast augmentation surgery, who want to have a beautiful figure and the desired bust size here and now.

Abdominoplasty is also popular with patients who have lost a lot of weight, several tens of kg, but the skin has not had time to shrink along with the fatty tissue. In this case, only surgery will help remove excess excess skin hanging from the abdomen.

Corr.: What are your actions during an abdominoplasty consultation? What do you consider before telling a patient how the surgery will be done in their particular case? Or are there any standards?

Rustem Karimov: No one has canceled the medical standards for performing operations, but individual nuances are, of course, introduced into the abdominoplasty plan. To determine which manipulations will help achieve the best result, during the consultation I need to assess the degree of excess and laxity, ptosis of the skin, determine the amount of excess adipose tissue and its location, assess muscle mass, whether the patient has diastasis and aponeurotic weakness. The presence/absence of unwanted scars, hernias or grooves and their location are also taken into account. These four basic elements determine the surgical approach to plan optimal correction of anatomical problems. Consultations for mammoplasty follow an almost similar scenario, except that there is no diastasis or hernia in the mammary glands.

Corr.: It turns out that the type of operation is chosen depending on the “severity” of the problem? How does this apply to abdominoplasty?

Rustem Karimov: Abdominoplasty is performed either using the classical method, or we are talking about mini-abdominoplasty. The first method is the most common option, because with its help you can eliminate all the aesthetic and functional problems that patients come with. Classic abdominoplasty involves the removal of excess skin and fatty tissue, restoration of the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall, excision of hernias, and correction of scar changes. Since the intervention is large-scale and it is necessary to maintain proportionality, the navel is also moved.

Mini abdominoplasty, to be honest, is not performed that often because it can only handle a limited number of indications. These include muscle separation, a small excess of skin located below the navel. When this operation is performed, the area above the navel is not affected.

In the first case, a horizontal incision goes from one side to the other, its length depends on the amount of excess tissue. Through this approach, the plastic surgeon peels away and removes the skin and subcutaneous fat of the abdominal wall. The surgeon strengthens or sutures the rectus abdominis muscles, tightens the muscles and eliminates diastasis, creates an umbilical opening, and then excises excess tissue. During abdominoplasty, the hernia, if present, is also removed. At the end of the operation, I install drainage, then compression garments.

During a mini-operation, the suture does not affect the navel and is usually much shorter in length.

Corr.: You said that hernias can also be removed with abdominoplasty...

Rustem Karimov: It’s not possible, but it’s necessary. General surgical techniques are used to remove a hernia. As a rule, whether there is a hernia or not is determined at the preoperative stage, but in some cases the pathology can only be detected during the operation. This usually occurs in obese patients, whose distinguishing feature is a significant thickness of subcutaneous fat. Numerous types of hernias, diastasis, thinning or stretching of muscles, as well as various other injuries and developmental pathologies require elimination. Without solving functional problems, we will not get the worthy aesthetic result that the patient expects from us.

Corr.: Another question. If even after a scratch there remains a mark, then after such a cut there will also be a scar on the entire abdomen. How to cover it? Do you have to pick out clothes all the time?

Rustem Karimov: There is no need to cover it, because the incision is initially made in the pubic area, below the bikini line. That is, even in a two-piece swimsuit, this scar will not be visible, it will be lower, hidden under the underwear. And in general, the scar will not be huge and conspicuous; after healing, the seam will turn into a thin strip, almost merging with the surrounding skin.

Abdominoplasty + liposuction + breast augmentation performed (Mentor implants, round, 325 ml) Result 4 months after surgery

Corr.: What about breast surgery? Are there any traces of the operation left there?

Rustem Karimov: In the case of mammoplasty and possible scars that interest you, you need to understand specific types of breast correction. If we are talking about endoprosthetics, then implants can be installed in three ways - through the inframammary fold, the armpit, or the areola. Which method will be chosen in a particular case is decided individually, taking into account the anatomical characteristics of the patient and expectations from the operation.

Fine scars are a small price to pay for a new slender and healthy body

Recently, breast enlargement through the areola has become increasingly common, as patients are attracted by the absence of postoperative traces. With this approach, the incision is made along the border of the areola, so that the scar is subsequently completely invisible. As for the axillary access, a trace remains, but also thin. Only particularly attentive observers can see it. But the submammary method may not always be used, because the incision is made in the inframammary fold, and some ladies have practically no fold and the final result may not be very aesthetic. The cut itself also turns into a thin strip over time, but for some reason women especially don’t like it on this part of the body.

With breast lift and reduction, marks may be more noticeable. A breast lift can leave marks on the breast in the form of a vertical stripe from the areola to the inframammary fold, or in the form of an inverted “T”. Almost similar scars, maybe a little longer, remain after reduction (smaller) mammoplasty.

Corr.: I will be frank and say that such information seems a little frightening to hear...

Rustem Karimov: Perhaps. But I advise you not to be afraid, because in reality, post-operative marks are either invisible or almost invisible. Or in some cases, scars seem to be a minor disadvantage of the transformation, this applies to rare situations of extended abdominoplasty performed on a patient who has quickly lost significant body weight. Such a person has numerous unsightly folds of skin on his stomach after severe weight loss that look unattractive. They cause him psychological complexes and physiological problems in the form of chafing and inflammation. In this case, thin scars are a small price to pay for a new slender and healthy body.

Corr.: I agree with you here. Rustem Fanilievich, thank you very much for the interview and for explaining the nuances of the operations and dispelling doubts about possible scars.