Survival of the Prettiest Part 2: Do Blondes Have More Fun?

As a follow-up to the blog on how we relate to babies, Nancy Etcoff in her book, Survival of the Prettiest, argues that men are more attracted to blonde women than to darker haired women, whereas women are attracted to the polar opposite, i.e., a darker-shaded male.  The reason that she argues that men are […]

Breaking down the Cheek into Aesthetic Subunits: Avoiding Chipmunk Cheeks There is nothing uglier than big, chipmunk cheeks other than perhaps a devil looking arched brow or a duck-like lip.  How do you avoid this problem?  Should one not fill the cheeks at all then?  The answer is no since the cheek is one of […]

One of the biggest concerns that I have from prospective patients is that they not look weird, the fear stemming from seeing unnatural celebrities that are frightening to them in magazines and on television.  The question I get all the time is “If celebrity X has all the money in the world, how can she […]

Survival of the Prettiest Part 2:  Do Blondes Have More Fun? As a follow-up to the blog on how we relate to babies, Nancy Etcoff in her book, Survival of the Prettiest, argues that men are more attracted to blonde women than to darker haired women, whereas women are attracted to the polar opposite, i.e., […]

The Outer Face:  Converting Double Concavities into Convexities The one thing that I cannot stand is seeing a face that appears disjointed, i.e., part of the face has been over augmented relative to another.  Perhaps the two biggest problem areas that I see are the lips and the cheeks.  In fact, I have come up […]

Fill vs. Lift in Facial Cosmetic Enhancement This article is a corollary to my other article called the “Two-Finger Rule”. In the article on the “Two-Finger Rule”, I argued that taking two fingers and gently pulling up on the skin would not be achievable with any type of cosmetic procedure since it cannot be exactly […]

The Two-Finger Rule Almost every day a patient comes to me holding up the sides of her face and asking, “Can you do this for me?”  The answer almost invariably is no, and I would like to take this blog to have you understand why that is.  I like to call this the “Two-Finger Rule” […]

Dr. Sam Lam Interviewed by Medical Spa MD For His Entrepreneurial Work and Facial Cosmetic Surgery Expertise Dr. Sam Lam was recently interviewed by Medical Spa MD, an online community comprised of over 5,000 physicians and medical providers actively engaged in the field of cosmetic medicine.  During his interview, Dr. Lam was asked questions about […]

Dr Samuel Lam Featured In NewBeauty Magazine National Glossy Magazine Heralded As The Ultimate Cosmetic Enhancement Guide. Samuel M. Lam, MD, FACS, is featured in the Winter/Spring 2012 edition of NewBeauty magazine, which is due on newsstands in January 2012. The featured article discusses some of Dr Lam’s facial rejuvenation procedures and techniques that minimize […]

Trusting My Expertise in Facial Plastic Surgery I was giving a lecture a few years ago in Hilton Head when the surgeon before me who is about 30 years older than I am said, “Give a patient what they want not what they need.” I went on stage right after him and said, “I give […]

Wayne Newton’s Browlift Wayne Newton has obviously had quite a bit of face work that has left him looking plastic, which is not the intended outcome of plastic surgery.   Most of you know that the plastic in plastic surgery comes from the Greek word, plastikos, meaning to change the shape.  In this case, the shape […]

Differentiating Type 1 from Type 2 Eyes When Considering Fat Transfer to the Upper Eyelid/Brow Complex A colleague of mine really got it right when he created a new perspective on seeing youthful eyes.  He called them Type 1 and Type 2 eyes.  I cannot recall which one was which, which is not important.  Suffice […]

Leveraging the Hardness of Products in Cosmetic Injectable Fillers How hard an injectable product is can be a very good thing or a not so good thing. In any case, I try to use products based on its hardness factors for differing effects on the face. One of the softest materials that I use is […]

Madonna’s Cheek Implants Madonna has had some amazing work done and also some very bad work done as well.  The one thing that gained my attention was her cheek augmentation she had a couple of years ago. Madonna’s Cheek Implants I believe she underwent cheek implants to make her look younger but the opposite effect […]

Fillers Versus Fat: Shifting Sand Concept Many of my patients try to weigh the merits of fat grafting versus fillers since they both seem to be equally beneficial to fill in the hollows of an aging face.  However, I would disagree.  For younger faces still replete with enough fat and in whom I worry about […]

Understanding the Aging Process Using Fat Grafting:  A Glass of Water Emptying The face undergoes significantly less gravitational descent than was once thought.  Although everyone oftentimes takes two fingers to lift up what appears to be sagging, this maneuver does not truly represent what can be accomplished with a lifting procedure nor does it reflect […]

Dismissing Fat Grafting Myths After speaking with patients who are vaguely familiar with fat grafting I have encountered a lot of misunderstanding about how fat grafting works and a lot of this misunderstanding comes from other surgeons who do not understand it.  Here are some of the top myths on fat grafting that I would like […]

Blink Effect:  How We Perceive Beauty and the Role of Cosmetic Surgery Enhancement One of the most important things that a woman typically wants fixed is the fine lines around her mouth.  I have found this to be the case no matter if she is 33 years old or 85 years old.  Why is this […]

The Importance of the Buccal Zone: Joining the Mid to Lower Face The buccal area is defined as the part of the face where if you sucked in your cheeks they would suck inward.  It is the area that in a very skinny person can make one look gaunt, and the buccal area resides in […]

Recent Fat Grafting Video Testimonials I have had several recent video testimonials by patients who have had my fat grafting services that I thought I would post here in this blog in addition to putting them in the video testimonial section of this Web site. I would truly like to thank my patients for their […]

Fat Grafting Using a Hair Transplant Model for Understanding Part 1:  Graft Growth Looking at my fat grafting results I was puzzled initially as to why I saw results continue to improve in patients somewhere between 6 months to 2 years after a procedure.  Being a very careful student of my own work by photographing […]

Balance vs. Symmetry We have all heard that symmetry is one of the cardinal signs of a beautiful face.  Studies in the animal kingdom have led us to believe that symmetry truly makes all the difference when selecting an ideal mate.  However, I would like to propose that symmetry is not as important as we […]

Rethinking Facial Implants When considering a cheek augmentation, consider truly what would benefit you most.  In many young individuals with weak bone structure, a cheek implant made of silicone or other material can be an ideal choice since it is reversible, easily inserted and can provide a better, more attractive structure to the face.  However, cheek […]

Fat Grafting: Rethinking Aging of the Face A revolution is upon us today in how we see aging of the face and how we understand the aging process. In the past, the gravitational model held that all things fall including the brows, the eyelids, the cheeks, and the jawline. Using rigorous computer modeling and matching […]

Title: Advanced Facial Rejuvenation Location: St. Louis, MO Link out: Click here Description: Dr. Lam lectures at St. Louis University on how fat transfer is like a hair transplant. Start Date: 10-1-19 End Date: 10-1-20

Dr. Lam talks about your face like a bed to understand how fat transfer, fillers, and Botox will help the face for facial rejuvenation.

Fat grafting is a technique used to rejuvenate the aging face in the most natural way all without incisions.  This permanent technique has been the main focus of Dr. Sam Lam’s practice and which he spoke on today in St. Louis, MO at the Advanced Techniques in Facial Rejuvenation course.  Here is a two-part video […]