The ASAPS meeting — that’s American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons — has taken over one of two exhibit halls at the ornate Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort in sultry Las Vegas. The overcast skies of the week have apparently influenced the feeling at the meeting — business continues to be down among attendees and exhibitors, but everyone seems to be used to that reality.

My first 2 days at the meeting have been spent hooking-up with physicians and being very PSP-centric: find hot topics that physicians can either write about or report on in upcoming issues of the magazine. So far, and perhaps due to that orientation, I have not encountered much in the way of new technology and products… although I’m assured by my “spies” and correspondents that a lot of good research and work has been going into the hot topics from last year’s meetings. Fat transfer, cryolipolysis, new noninvasive methods of doing procedures, and — in the scientific panel sessions, at any rate — how to reverse or mediate the effects of bad plastic surgery.

So-called “awful plastic surgery” has become a popular attraction on the Internet, and there are physicians here who want to see more attention paid to how to avoid it. Ford Nahai, MD, led a panel on unnatural outcomes to the face and neck. Specific issues addressed included hallowing of the eyes, the “Lateral Sweep” deformity, unnatural scars and hairlines, and more.

Another panel was titled “Overcoorrection/undercorrection and the Iatrogenic Deformity of the Neck Following Rhytidectomy.” (Say that five times really fast.) One of the more interesting panel discussions focused on how surgeons can (and should) reassess their failed breast augmentation results. A panel led by Robert Singer, MD, looked at the root of common complications following aesthetic surgery.