Diary of a Bookmarker

As a magazine editor, I thrive on digging up the best information on any subject and disseminating it to PSP ’s readership as a pastor would preach to his flock.

As a lifeline to news, opinion, and every imaginable kind of information resource, the Internet has replaced television, radio, most newspapers and magazines, the Yellow Pages, Want-advertisers, etc—in other words, the types of information delivery and communication methods that are fast becoming antiquated.

PSP magazine is not limited to its printed edition—it has expanded into the online universe, as has any forward-thinking periodical in 2011. We “repurpose” our printed information into the digital realm with several online venues in mind: this Web site, Facebook (as PSP: Plastic Surgery Practice at www.facebook.com/PSPeditor), Twitter (as PSPeditor), and a LinkedIn group. The hubs that serve all of these resources include PSP‘s weekly e-newsletter, the eReport, and my Web browser.

In my role as PSP‘s primary disseminator, I frequently draw inspiration and a ton of information from other online information sources. The flow of online dissemination is an endless stream that shoots the digital rapids, coalesces into little pools of data, shifts or drifts in circles, doubles back, or appears briefly for just seconds. No matter how it flows, part of my job in servicing the plastic and cosmetic surgeons reading this editorial is to capture the information, parse it, filter it, and either rework or rebroadcast it, or let it go on its way untouched.

For what it is worth, my Web browsing activities follow a path that changes little during its course every workday.

THE MASTER GOOGLER

First and foremost, I use Google Alerts to keep me abreast of the latest news in plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery, body-contouring subjects, practice management, and dermatology. That yields approximately 250 e-mails per day on average. Most of them are useless PR or junk attached at a machine-generated Web page about generic plastic surgery information. Dealing with these is why my keyboard’s “delete” key is so very worn.

Then, I make my rounds, starting with MDLinx and its welter of practice- and surgery-related feeds (mdlinx.com), followed by Medical News Today and Medpage. MDLinx, by the way, offers an extensive list of e-mail-based newsletters catering to multiple disciplines; its practice management section, for instance, is superior.

There are some physicians who do an excellent job of scouring the Internet for aesthetic medicine topics, and I gravitate toward them, including the following:Suture for a Living (rlbatesmd.blogspot.com); Jeffrey Benabio, MD, FAAD’s Dermatology Blog (thedermblog.com); and Barry Eppley, MD’s Explore Plastic Surgery (exploreplasticsurgery.com) are excellent resources. Unlike a large majority of the Web sites and blogs devoted to plastic surgery, these sites cater to the physician and not the consumer.

Even though you will find surgeons who cover celebrity and so-called awful plastic surgery, these sites are of little interest to physicians looking for industry news or tips and tricks. They can be good for their entertainment value, though.

Every other day, I will check out the various microsites at BNET (www.bnet.com). The Covert Rationing Blog ([removed]covertrationingblog.com[/removed]) is a nicely journalistic and jaundiced view of the nature of our evolving health care dilemma.

I will also check out Cosmetic Design North America for the latest in skin care news ([removed]www.cosmeticsdesign.com[/removed]), followed by a quantum jump over the “aesthetic fence” to Thomas Fiala, MD, FACS, FRSCS’s amazing Orlando Plastic Surgery Blog (blog.plasticsurgeryinflorida.com).

Other sites of note: Skin & Allergy News ([removed]skin.gcnpublishing.com[/removed]); Colin Stewart’s In Your Face (inyourface.freedomblogging.com), which often follows celebrity skin but frequently delivers hard news; KevinMD.com (www.kevinmd.com/blog), which includes excellent physician commentary on medicine, health, patients, and hospitals; Aesthetic Medicine Medical Spa News (www.aestheticmedicinenews.com); QMP’s Plastic Surgery Pulse News (www.plasticsurgerypulsenews.com); and the physician-generated self-help sites MakeMeHeal (www.makemeheal.com) and RealSelf (www.realself.com).

A few of the field’s societies and official organizations are worth a regular look, too. Under this heading, I include the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ main Web site (www.plasticsurgery.org); the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgeons (www.cosmeticsurgery.org); the American Board of Plastic Surgery (www.abplsurg.org); the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (www.surgery.org); and the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (www.aafprs.org).

The International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons (www.iahrs.org), the International Association For Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine site (www.iapam.com), InjectableSafety.org, and theDERM.org sites are also worthy resources.