Jeffrey Frentzen

With this issue, PSP is officially changing its name from Plastic Surgery Products to PSP: Plastic Surgery Practice.

The editorial mission of PSP has evolved over the past 10 or so years, from its original product-oriented focus to one that not only follows new products but also zooms in on the business of running an aesthetic practice. In addition, it has grown to be a publication that provides a platform for physicians to share a wide range of information on treatments, procedures, and experience with new technologies.

PSP’s coverage of aesthetic surgery will continue to become more business-centric, which is especially relevant at a time when the current recession is placing hardships on all businesses, including medical practices. Growing your practice in the current economy is a serious challenge, and PSP will be right there with you with tips and tricks, marketing ideas, and always new ways to boost your bottom line.

In addition, as the business of aesthetic surgery evolves, PSP will report on the growing phenomenon of the multispecialist—the emerging picture of the aesthetic practitioner who can successfully work in a variety of disciplines beyond plastic surgery.

Over the past year, many of PSP’s readers have remarked on how our coverage of the aesthetic arts has increasingly embraced not only plastic surgeons but cosmetic surgeons, facial plastic surgeons, and dermatologists who work in the cosmetic surgery arena; even dentists, ear-nose-throat specialists, gynecologists, and others. This is not a repudiation of the plastic surgeon but a reflection of how the field is changing and diversifying. If this trend is something you welcome with open arms or look upon with dismay, please feel free to tell us about how you feel. Send your letters and comments to [email protected].

In 2008, PSP bolstered its online offerings. Our weekly e-newsletter, the eReport, was redesigned, not only in its look and feel but in the underlying content. The topics we cover have zeroed in on issues and news that affect all disciplines who read our magazine. During the next year, expect the eReport to become even more targeted and timely.

The Aesthetic Blog, PSP’s “online diary” that covers all manner of news, events, and other information that break daily on the Internet, will continue as an emerging “touch point” for PSP readers as well as the general public and the news media at large.

Also, in order to augment our online coverage of news, events, and people, PSP will branch out with more on-demand material that readers can access 24/7—including regular podcasts and a new video library that will be unveiled in 2009.

Throughout the next year, PSP’s online services will include new Web exclusives, such as special sections on how to increase profits in your practice during the recession, run by acknowledged experts in the field; marketing tips and techniques; audio and video interviews with your colleagues discussing the latest innovations in aesthetic medicine; Web-based polls and surveys; and “sneak peeks” of articles before they appear in the magazine. Last but not least, in 2009 we are rolling out a much improved online version of PSP’s venerable Buyer’s Guide.

Speaking of product coverage, PSP will continue to offer news on the latest products and technologies. To that end, in 2009 we are introducing a new feature that will provide detailed, current information on very well-defined product categories. These “product matrix” features will help you quickly and easily find what you want and who to contact to get it.

Along these lines, PSP will publish more product-centric supplements throughout the next year that will focus on topics such as body contouring, the revolution taking place in skin care products, and the ever-changing landscape of laser- and light-based products and therapies.

In a nutshell, there is a lot more going on at PSP than just a name change. PSP: Plastic Surgery Practice is the number one publication read by plastic surgeons and cosmetic dermatologists for good reason. It’s not just our expanded print- and online-based content that makes us such a valued resource; it is you, our readers, who make us number one. Please continue to let us know what you want to see in PSP and tell us how we are doing.

Jeffrey Frentzen
[email protected]