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STOMACH by design Houston hard bodies turn to Dr. Mentz for abdominal etching and that washboard look

STOMACH by design Houston hard bodies turn to Dr. Mentz for abdominal etching and that washboard look

STOMACH by design Houston hard bodies turn to Dr. Mentz for abdominal etching and that washboard look

When Tim Harmon was younger, he had a trim, flat stomach. As he got older, things changed. The 32-year-old Houston car salesman works out regularly to stay in shape. But he couldn't seem to do much to reduce his protruding mid-section, no matter how hard he exercised.

"It got to the point that I was embarrassed to take my shirt off (in the locker room) when I went to the health club, " he recalls. So Harmon did what a number of Houston men are doing - he decided to have his stomach "etched." "Now it's flat and it looks good, " he says proudly. "I'm looking for-ward to going to the beach."

What price is vanity? That's the question that may be surrounding the latest cosmetic surgery for Houston men. It's called "abdominal etching, " a form of liposuction surgery in which excess fat in the stomach area is re-moved so that it may be possible to have close to a "washboard stomach" again.

The new technique is causing some debate. It's costly ($3, 600 to $4, 000 for the 1-hour-and-20-minute procedure that takes place in a doctor's office) and some believe it doesn't look natural. Even its proponents agree it works well only with those who are very fit. Houston plastic surgeon Henry Mentz pioneered the procedure after a 27-year-old bodybuilder came to see him with a problem 1.5 year ago.

The bodybuilder, who worked out regularly, had great muscle definition everywhere but his stomach area. No matter how many abdominal crunches he did, he couldn't get rid of pockets of fat along his stomach. Mentz says such a problem is not uncommon among people who work out regularly.

"The abdomen typically is an easy place to develop muscle in, but the catch is the fat in the male abdomen is extremely resistant to weight loss, " he says.

The procedure involves taking out teaspoons of fat lodged here and there in the stomach area in order to give that "rippled" look that many men aim for.

"It's not that much fat, but you have to be careful how you do it, " says Mentz, who has written what is believed to be the only re-search paper on the procedure.

Mentz published the results of "abdominal etching" on eight male athletes in the Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Journal late last year. In addition, he has per-formed the modified abdominal etching procedure on 20 patients (all but two were male) who wanted to look more athletic without the "washboard" effect.

Ted Lockwood, a Kansas City plastic surgeon who is an expert on body contouring for the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, said the technique is not new but its specific adaptation to the stomach area is.

"A lot of us have used that technique for fine finesse areas, " says Lockwood. "He (Mentz) went a step further to enhance or produce a more muscular look than the patient really has."

Lockwood calls the procedure "an interesting concept" but warns it is not for someone who doesn't exercise and simply wants to look like he's been working out.

"Fat still looks like fat, " he says. "So the bulges in between where (the stomach) dips in are going to look more fatty than muscular. And it will probably sag a little bit with time." Gerald Pittman, a New York plastic surgeon and author of Liposuction & Aesthetic Surgery, says the new technique is "creative" but says he would not use it on his patients because it looks artificial.

"To me, the patients don't look attractive, " Pittman said, after reviewing pictures of the technique. "I don't think it looks normal."

The surgery is not for the squeamish. We recently sat in as a 35-year-old Houston firefighter underwent the procedure in an operating room in Mentz's office. First, Mentz made tracings along the patient's stomach area to pinpoint where to remove fat. After the patient was anesthetized, Mentz injected a saline solution with a mix of steroid and epinephrine into the patient's stomach area to "sort of blow him up like a frog."

He then "etched" the stomach area by selectively removing fat with a long metal device, known as a canula that sucks out excess fat and liquid somewhat like a vacuum cleaner through a tiny incision in the belly button and on both sides of the stomach. The surgery leaves a lot of stiffness. "A lot of football players say it's twice the pain of their hardest workout, " Mentz says.

On the day after the surgery, the firefighter said his midsection was tender, but he felt well enough to resume a modified workout program within a few days and seemed pleased with the results.

Mentz will not perform the surgery on just anyone. He will not "etch" the stomach of some-one who is in poor physical condition because the end result does not look natural.

"Most of our patients are working out and have thought about it for a while. They're more educated and have some idea of what they can expect. Impulse buyers in cosmetic surgery are dangerous, " he says.

Because the surgery is new, it is unclear if the results last. "It's an unanswered question, but for the most part, fat cells don't migrate, " Mentz says. However, he counsels patients on the importance of maintaining a low-fat diet and exercise program to keep the stomach area trim.

BY CLIFFORD PUGH
Of the Houston Post staff
The Aesthetic Center for Plastic Surgery was founded in 1996 by Dr. Henry A. Mentz, III, Dr. German Newall, & Dr. Christopher K. Patronella, . ACPS is currently ranked as the largest private plastic surgery center in Texas. The practice surgical facility, the ACPS Surgicenter, is a AAAA certified surgical facility exceeding accepted standards for private surgical facilities and is licensed by the Texas Department of Health. The offices of The Aesthetic Center for Plastic Surgery are located in the Galleria area of Houston at 4400 South Post Oak, Suite 2260 and in the Memorial/Town and Country area of Southwest Houston at 12727 Kimberley, Suite 300. We offer a toll free number (1-877-707-2277) to coordinate your plastic surgery arrangements and accommodations. The anticipation of your new look is very exciting, but the decision to have plastic surgery is a very important one. Reviewing a broad list of before and after photos is also important to see the desired result that you wish to obtain. Choosing the right plastic surgeon is the first step. After you have utilized the ACPS checklist for selecting a plastic surgeon, it is important that you consider where you will be having your surgery. This article is posted under the academic research exception. Any viewers of this article or readers of this website should see a government licensed physician, boad certified doctor, and board certified cosmetic surgeon before making any important decision. This article is presented for general purposes and no medical advice in given herein. Please consult with a licensed professional. Any and all copyrights and trademarks are held by their respective owners herein unless content is in public domain. By virtue of reading this article, you agree to have reviewed these terms. For videos, go to www.drmentz.com All Rights Reserved 2008.

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