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• Effingham Office
• Hinesville Office
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• Vidalia Office

In The News

As seen in Cosmopolitan Magazine, March, 2003; "Breast Check: Saline Implant Snags".

Dr. Greco provides solutions to some common issues surrounding saline breast implants.

As seen in Oprah Magazine, January, 2003; "Face Lifts: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly".

Editorial writer Christine Fellingham explores the world of nipping, tucking, hoping and praying.

In outlining the pros and cons of facial surgery, Ms. Fellingham consults with Dr. Greco on patients readiness to undertake surgery.

As seen in Vogue Magazine, August, 2002; "Face Forward".

Editorial writer Lynn Snowden Picket reports on the latest advances in facial surgery and asks the question, "Are we fast approaching an ageless society?".

Dr. Greco weighs in on new procedures and the future of plastic surgery including the growth of stem cells to replace old or damaged tissue.

As seen in More Magazine, November 2001; "When Implants Wear Out".

BUILDING BETTER BREASTS By Julia Califano

"Back in the Seventies and Eighties, many breast-reconstruction surgeons thought implants would last indefinitely. Now we know otherwise. Some 10-50 percent of silicone implants will rupture within 20 years, according to Richard Greco, M.D., chairman of public education for the American Society of Plastic

Surgeons. (For saline, the rate is 5 percent over three years and roughly 1 percent each year thereafter.) ... Silicone implants were removed from the market in 1992, when they were blamed for a host of body-wide medical problems (though several studies have since disputed this connection). However, they are still available to reconstruction patients who agree to participate in an FDA-approved research trial. Though silicone carries a higher risk for capsular contracture, many surgeons endorse them. 'The silicone implants manufactured today are much more durable,' says Shermak. 'Silicone looks and feels more natural than saline,' says Greco."

As seen in Plastic Surgery Products Magazine, November 2001; "Quintessential Union".

Quitessential Union
By Rich Smith

"With five plastic surgeons on the team, The Georgia Institute for Plastic Surgery offers an array of services that would be difficult, if not impossible, for solo practitioners and smaller groups to manage. For example, the group offers a novel treatment delivery methodology known as Quick Stitch.

"Quick Stitch - targeted to family physicians and industrial medicine providers - allows patients with fresh lacerations to avoid the hospital emergency room. At the Institute, one of the group's five partners is available during weekday business hours to promptly sew up such injuries.

"...The Georgia Institute for Plastic Surgery is one of three Savannah-area medical practices with its own ambulatory surgery center. The 12,000-sq-ft facility is Medicare-approved and has been accredited by the American Association for the Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgical Facilities (AAAASF).

" 'It is state-of-the-art, and equipped to perform minor procedures as well as most cosmetic operations,' says senior partner David H. Smith, MD. 'We also have a 23-hour unit with skilled plastic surgery nurses available for postoperative care, if necessary.'

"In addition, the institute offers aesthetic services ranging from facials to waxing, provided by a full-time licensed aesthetician. Other ancillary services include Endermologie treatments and laser hair removal.

" 'We have geared everything to our patients,' Smith says. 'Our philosophy is to lavish our patients with courtesy and consideration in the extreme, but we make no distinction between the patients who come to us for a cosmetic procedure as opposed to a reconstruction.' "

As seen in Care Magazine, October of 2001; "Surviving Breast Cancer Surgery - A Positive Look at Reconstructive Techniques and Emotional Recovery".

By Richard J. Greco, M.D.

"Could you imagine the loss of a part of your body? Now add in the loss of an important part of your sexuality - sounds almost too impossible to even think about, yet that is what thousands of women have had to contemplate when the diagnosis of breast cancer is made. Of course curing the cancer is the first priority, but if it could be done while preserving the breast or recreating a breast at the same time - wouldn't that be even better?

"That thought has driven surgeons to develop breast conserving techniques for women with small tumors and breast reconstructive techniques for women who still require mastectomies.

"...Women who require the removal of the entire breast because of the size of the tumor, fear of re-occurence, or because the patient wishes to avoid radiation therapy, often opt for an immediate breast reconstruction. This requires that the general and plastic surgeon coordinate their schedules so that the reconstruction is done at the same time that the breast is removed. 'The advantage is that the patient can wake up with a breast. The patients are definitely less depressed about having lost their breast to cancer when they have a reconstructed breast to wake up to,' says Dr. Richard Greco (a Savannah Plastic Surgeon).

"Breast reconstruction can be performed with the use of saline or silicone implants, or more commonly with tissue from another part of the woman's body. 'I prefer using the extra skin and fat of the abdomen - based on the blood supply of one of the muscles to create the reconstructed breast (TRAM Flap). A soft, natural breast is created and the women gets a tummy tuck at the same time. Our patients are in the hospital for 2-3 days after surgery and back to most activities in 2-4 weeks,' says Dr. Greco. 'The satisfaction rate among patients is extremely high.' "

As seen in Allure Magazine, May of 2000; "Body News - Sun and C".

SUN AND C
By Dianne Partie Lange

"Almost everyone knows that wearing a sunscreen helps prevent wrinkles. Now a report in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery says that applying topical vitamin C at night will enhance age-defying effects of sunblock during the day. 'A broad-spectrum sunscreen blocks the sun's UVA and UVB rays from the surface of the skin,' says Richard Greco, a Savannah, Georgia, plastic surgeon and author of the report. 'But topical vitamin C actually gets beneath the outer layer to neutralize free radicals that are generated by sunlight.' It's these free radicals that destroy collagen and elastin, which are essential to elasticity and a plump, smooth texture. The damage can be particularly severe, says Greco, if the skin is already depleted of vitamin C - a virtual certainty since it gets only about 8 percent of the vitamin that it needs (which comes from food or other supplements). 'The advantage of a topical vitamin C,' says Greco, 'is that it's absorbed directly, and once it is, it can't be wiped or washed off. It continues its healing effects for three days.' Greco's advice: Every other night, apply a topical C serum or cream after washing the face, and always wear a broad-spectrum sunblock during the day."