But despite criticism against Groupon, two websites in UK follow its example.  Just recently, needloans.org.uk and Cheapfastloans.co.uk have started offering short-term, unsecured loans to help patients pay the cosmetic surgeries including facelift, breast augmentation, tummy tuck, and liposuction.

However, not everyone is happy with growing trend of offering discounted vouchers and unsecured loans to patients considering having cosmetic plastic surgery.  Some experts argue that it is an “unhealthy practice.”

Dr. Tarick Smaili, one of the leading Los Angeles plastic surgeons, said that patients should not rush their decision of having a cosmetic procedure and should spend more time considering its ramifications and the also the viability of their expectations and goals.

“My definition of a good patient is someone who has been thinking and considering plastic surgery for at least a year.  And of course, the desire to have this should come from you and not because someone asks you to change the way you look.  I also say to my patients that any cosmetic procedure is a highly-individualized treatment which should be taken seriously,” Smaili said.

Asked if discount vouchers and unsecured loans offered to plastic surgery patients are acceptable, Smaili believes that what is important is their “financial preparedness.”

“Plastic surgery is not cheap, unless you will get it from unqualified practitioner.  When choosing a doctor, his fees should not be your focus but his experience and qualifications you must strictly look at,” he said.

“For me, discount vouchers in particular seem to focus on getting the cheapest procedure, and as I mentioned earlier, fees should not be the sole consideration when choosing your surgeon,” Smaili added.

However, the surgeon said that “traditional” financing companies that offer “secured loans” to patients are different from websites that give discount vouchers and unsecured loans.

“The problem with unsecured loans is that because of the risk the websites have to accept, the tradeoff is the higher interest rate and large fees, while discount vouchers may result to patients focusing on the cheap procedure, not on the qualifications of the surgeon,” he added.

Just recently, Good Morning America has reported that liposuction and breast lift are just some of the popular pre-wedding day surgeries for brides who want to look ravishing in their most special moment.

However, non-invasive procedures such as Botox injection, soft tissue fillers, and laser skin resurfacing are also popular among brides-to-be.  The advantage of such treatments is that they no longer have to allot some time for their recovery, which is the tradeoff in cosmetic plastic surgery.

Los Angeles plastic surgeon Dr. Tarick Smaili believes that bridalplasty will continue its popularity for the next coming years.  Nonetheless, he said that the patient asking for such procedure should be doing this for the right reasons.

“Cosmetic surgeries, which are elective procedures, should only be given to physically and emotionally healthy patients who want to improve the way they look.  By contrast, those who want to change their appearance just because someone else told them to do so are bad candidates from the very beginning,” Smaili said.

Smaili said that most brides-to-be who are asking for cosmetic plastic surgery view it as a good way to start their married life.

While there is nothing wrong with such belief, the leading cosmetic surgeon has warned people that plastic surgery is not a “quick fix to everything and every physical flaw.”

“A good example is liposuction, a procedure that can permanently remove the excess fats in your abdomen, hips, or any problem area.  However, it doesn’t automatically mean that you will not gain weight.  Yes, its result is permanent—unless you will manage your weight through regular exercise and of course healthy diet,” Smaili said.

Meanwhile, the plastic surgeon highlighted the importance of allotting enough time to rest during recovery.  It simply means that patients have to undergo a cosmetic surgery well in advance of their wedding day to avoid the stress and other factors that may compromise their healing.

“Just to be on the safe side, a patient should ask her doctor on how long it will take before she can resume her daily activities.  The rule of thumb is quite simple, never rush your recovery as it may increase the risk of complications,” he added.

Currently posted on the website of Peter Cheski, M.D. is a note announcing his passing from a massive heart attack suffered in the early morning hours of September 3^rd.

Dr. Cheski was an extremely accomplished Los Angeles area plastic surgeon who freely gave of his time and skills to Face to Face, a humanitarian, no fee facial rejuvenation program for women who had escaped from battering relationships.

In Southern California, Dr. Cheski operated cosmetic plastic surgery offices in Los Angeles, Lancaster and Agoura. He was widely known for his pioneering work on transumbilical breast augmentation, a procedure which has become known as “TUBA.” The surgeon had also patented a number of surgical instruments, procedures and techniques.

Dr. Cheski belonged to eight surgical rejuvenation associations including:

• The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
• The American Board of Otolargyngology – Head and Neck Surgery
• The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• The Canadian Medical Association

As a lifelong investigator and originator of plastic surgery techniques, Dr. Cheski presented the details of 37 separate surgical techniques during his lifetime to annual meetings of many medical organizations during the last 15 years including:

• Canadian Society of Otolargyngology
• American Society of Cosmetic Breast Surgery
• International Congress of Esthetics

Because Dr. Cheski completed his undergraduate, graduate, M.D. degree, internship and residency at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, he developed an international following, often lecturing to other plastic surgeons from around the world.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1997 and opening a Beverly Hills plastic surgery practice, the doctor underwent yet another year of fellowship training in cosmetic plastic surgery.

The doctor has been quoted in many leading magazines and newspapers and appeared numerous times on U.S. and foreign television broadcasts.

Dr. Cheski was named by the Consumer’s Research Council of America in Washington D.C. as one of America’s top surgeons and as one of America’s top plastic surgeons.

The doctor’s family requested that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions could be made to:

• The Dr. Peter Cheski Innovative Research Award at the University  of Western Ontario
• The Face to Face program, organized by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

A plastic surgery office in Texas, struggling for new ways to capture the public’s attention, got tired of the term, “lunch hour” plastic surgery and started using the phrase, “Drive-thru cosmetic surgery”.

The concept spotlights procedures that can be done in office during one to two hour appointments. And then the patient goes home – as a passenger only due to anesthetics! – and, often, back to work the next day.

“Drive-thru” procedures include:

• Liposuction
• Botox
• Facial fillers
• Skin tightening
• Dermabrasion

If that didn’t grab your attention enough, a TV reporter drove home the concept by filming cars waiting in line to pick up fast food hamburgers. (Watch the drive-thru cosmetic surgery TV report.)

But it’s been done before! A radio commercial for a popular beer several years ago put forth a satirical spot, titled, “Drive-Thru Plastic Surgery.”

The commercial went like this:

Announcer: “We think the world moves a little too fast; nobody wants to wait. First it was fast food. And then drive through fast food. What’s next anyhow, drive-through plastic surgery?”

Drive-thru: “Welcome to Nip ‘n Tuck Express! May I have your order?”

Woman in idling car:  “I’ll have the #7 Nip ‘n Tuck; my husband wants an order of the Chiseled Abs.”

Drive-thru: “O.K., that will be $12, 436. Drive up to the next window for your anesthesia.”

Announcer: “Next time, skip the drive-through for the beach. Then open up an ice-cold (names the beer), prop up your feet and enjoy your chubby toes.”

Woman: ‘”Uh, would you add a D cup to go?”

Drive-thru: “Do you want that super-sized?”

Husband: “Yes! Yes, she does!”

Announcer: “Relax. Slow down. Stop moving at the speed of light…..”

Woman: “Excuse me! I ordered the #7 Nip ‘n Tuck, but this looks like the #6 Suction Surprise.”

Announcer: “And start moving at the speed of (our light beer.)”

Hopefully, plastic surgery marketing will never sink to that level but, given the insistent, in-your-face nature of commercials, we can foresee the following orders being added to the Nip ‘n Tuck Express Drive-Thru menu:

• #9 Fresh ‘n’ Easy Facelifts
• #12 Lovers’ Special Liposuction …without love handles
• #5 Peepers Wide Open Eye Lifts
• #4 Frisky Forehead Lifts

What would your favorite Nip’ Tuck drive through order be?

Sure, some prenatal surgery can be done on infants. But cosmetic plastic surgery in the womb? Come on! For one, doing nose surgery on an adult already takes the watchmaker-like diligence and skills of a, well, surgeon, because everything is already so small.

But surgery on a tiny infant nose in the womb? Beyond belief! The wacko stunt also claimed a couple of non-existent plastic surgeons were offering other pre-natal procedures, including:

• Liposuction to remove unsightly baby fat
• Botox to remove wrinkles caused by cramped womb space

The most recent widely distributed urban myth was allegedly about a buxom young woman who took an airplane flight. When the craft became depressurized and her silicone breast implants exploded. No way!

To debunk, a Duke University plastic surgeon put breast implants into a female torso made of ballistics jell, took it to a depression chamber and created an altitude of 30,000 feet. Results? Only the myth busted! (Read more about the silicone breast implant test.)

Celebrities are often the butt of cosmetic surgery urban myths.

Included are:

• Bill Gates supposedly needed extensive plastic surgery after a car crash
• Sher was rumored to have had ribs removed to make her waist tinier
• The movie, “Man Without a Face” was the true story of Mel Gibson who allegedly had his face destroyed – and then restored by rejuvenation surgery. (Read the hilarious Mel Gibson plastic surgery myth.)

Yet another urban myth cropped up when many websites and papers reposted the story of a big man who had to whittle down his thumbs in order to text without hitting on his cell phone three or four keys at once. (Read the original thumb cosmetic surgery hoax.)

One of the oldest urban myths is about how the hemorrhoid cream Preparation H can replace a lower eyelid lift. Actually, two different processes are at work: puffy eyes are due to excess fat and fluid retention while hemorrhoids are caused by blood vessel constriction.

One of the most on-point urban myths is about liposuction. The myth? That once fat cells are gone, they are gone forever.

Liposuction does indeed remove fat cells but a few are left behind. And if stimulated by endless cheeseburgers, ice cream, cake and candy, those few remaining cells can – and will – endlessly enlarge.

Some wedding planners even recommend including a budget for cosmetic plastic surgery for the bride who often opts for:

• Rhinoplasty
• Breast augmentation
• Lip augmentation

 The mother of the bride usually likes:

• A facial nip-tuck
• Injectable facial fillers

With an average U.S. wedding budget of $25,000 to $30,000, who is going to notice a few more dollars to make sure everybody in the wedding pictures look their best?

Wedding pictures are important because they are often handed down for generations in most families.

Now, from England, a new survey of wedding parties reveals that more men are getting into the act, too.

The British Good Surgeon Guide surveyed 1000 engaged couples. About one third said they were thinking about having cosmetic plastic surgery before the Big Day.

The same study showed that about nine percent of the guys had already been under the knife of a cosmetic surgeon.

The women’s’ statistics: 58 percent were considering a pre-nuptial procedure while eleven percent had already undergone cosmetic surgery.

Motivation was little different between the genders, too. Two-thirds of women said cosmetic plastic surgery would cause them to feel better about themselves while three of five grooms-to-be reported they wanted to look good for their new brides.

The same guide to surgeons crunched the numbers from their annual survey of procedures performed in the U.K. to find that men are the most sensitive about the appearance of their ears.

During the last five years, Otoplasty, the surgery to correct protruding ears on adult males has jumped 89 percent.

According to most American plastic surgeons, the biggest mistake made by wedding participants is waiting too long to have the procedures they want. Many don’t take into account the period of time necessary for proper healing.