Having children can cause a range of unfavorable changes in the body and excess abdominal skin is a common concern experienced by patients following pregnancy. For most patients, pregnancy reduces skin elasticity in the abdomen and the skin is unable to “snap back” to their original body shape. As a result, there is often an apron of loose skin left on the lower abdomen that cannot be corrected with dieting and exercise alone. While board-certified plastic surgeon Wesley Schooler, MD understands how frustrating excess skin can be, our Santa Barbara practice offers both surgical and non-surgical treatments to help you regain a smoother, tighter abdominal contour: 

• Tummy Tuck: A tummy tuck is the most effective treatment to rid the abdomen of excess, hanging skin. Results can be immediately noticeable and long-lasting, providing patients with a slimmer waistline and a sleeker, more defined abdomen. 
• BodyTite^®: Those looking for non-surgical improvement may benefit from BodyTite^®, a minimally invasive skin tightening treatment that uses radiofrequency energy to help promote skin tissue contraction. This can help enhance loose skin on the abdomen without the commitment of a surgical procedure and recovery period. 
• Post-Bariatric Body Contouring: Also known as a lower body lift, body contouring after weight loss can help address excess skin left in multiple areas, such as the abdomen, thighs, and buttocks. This is a combination treatment plan designed to correct hanging skin in many different regions, resulting in all-encompassing improvement. 

There are many different options available to improve the abdomen after pregnancy and Dr. Schooler would be happy to meet with you to formulate an ideal treatment plan to obtain the results you envision. 

Loose abdominal skin left after pregnancy can negatively affect your abdominal contour, but Dr. Schooler offers solutions to give you the smooth, sleek stomach you desire. Don’t hesitate to contact our Santa Barbara office to book an appointment with Dr. Schooler or to learn more about our services. 

The best timing for a Mommy Makeover is a frequently asked question raised by patients in Santa Barbara and beyond. For many women, the desire to return to their pre-pregnancy body as soon as possible after giving birth is very common. Unfortunately, there are some concerns that cannot be improved with healthy living and an active lifestyle, such as separated abdominal muscles, hanging skin, and stubborn fat. A Mommy Makeover is perhaps the most effective and comprehensive way to reclaim your pre-baby contours, but it’s essential to give your body time to “settle” after giving birth before putting it through additional stress. In general, patients should wait at least six months to one year after their pregnancy before considering a Mommy Makeover.

While it typically takes six months to one year for the body to heal after having children, other factors may also affect the best timing for your Mommy Makeover. For example, many women choose to wait until their childcare responsibilities are less demanding — often through enlisting outside help or by waiting until their newborn is a little older — to ensure they have adequate time to recover and rest after surgery. That said, it’s never too early to start planning for your Mommy Makeover and to receive guidance on your potential treatment options during a consultation. The right timing for your surgery is unique to your situation, and Dr. Schooler will be there to help guide you through the process.

Regardless of when you decide to start pursuing a Mommy Makeover, consulting with a board-certified plastic surgeon is the best way to determine how to safely and effectively achieve your goals. Dr. Wesley Schooler can answer all of your questions and help you develop the right treatment plan for your needs, so don’t hesitate to contact Santa Barbara Plastic Surgery today.

“Macromastia” is the medical term for large breasts. While many women are born with large breasts and experience no issues, a significant portion struggle with symptoms caused by the excessive weight of their breast size. These effects can range from minor burdens to debilitating health problems that diminish your quality of life. Some of the most common symptoms of large breasts — sometimes referred to as “breast hypertrophy” — include: 

• Chronic pain in the back, neck, and shoulders
• Grooving in the shoulders
• Chest wall pain
• Headaches
• Poor posture
• Tingling or numbness in the hands and fingertips
• Shortness of breath and labored breathing
• Rashes and skin irritation underneath the breasts
• Reduced capacity to exercise
• Disturbances during sleep

Unfortunately, overly large breasts will not improve on their own and often grow more pendulous (hanging) over time. If you find that a dominating breast size is interfering with your goals or if you simply want lighter and more manageable breasts, our plastic surgeon in Santa Barbara offers breast reduction surgery — a procedure that is widely considered the most powerful solution for a dominating breast size. A breast reduction can successfully make the breasts more proportional to the rest of your body by reducing excess skin, fat, and glandular tissue in the chest. This can greatly improve, or even completely resolve, the painful symptoms caused by excessively large breasts. 

Dr. Wesley Schooler can listen to your concerns and recommend an optimal treatment plan to make your ideal outcome a reality. A breast reduction naturally offers some of the benefits of a breast lift, and our team can help determine the best type of procedure to achieve your goals. Please contact Santa Barbara Center for Plastic Surgery to schedule a consultation or to learn more. 

It’s well-known that the breasts can change in shape, size, and texture as you get older. With age and particularly during menopause, your body produces less estrogen and the skin can simultaneously lose elasticity. These factors — combined with the weakening of internal breast support — commonly result in an array of tissue changes, including:

• A loss of firmness and volume
• A loss of shape, resulting in elongated or flat breasts
• Sagging or drooping breast tissue
• The development of stretch marks
• A wider space between the breasts

The breasts can also change prior to entering menopause due to other life events, such as pregnancy and major weight loss. Fortunately, youthful breast contours can be restored using treatment options designed to reverse the tissue changes caused by aging. Breast augmentation can enhance firmness, volume, and support for the breasts, while mastopexy can reduce sagging and attain a more rejuvenated positioning. Both procedures are often combined into one treatment plan consisting of a breast lift with implants, allowing patients to achieve the best possible result.

Dr. Wesley Schooler can create a personalized treatment plan tailored to make your desired breast contours a reality. To schedule a consultation and learn more about what improvements are possible, please contact Santa Barbara Plastic Surgery Center today.

We kindly send hope, reassurance and well wishes to everyone affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.  As shelter-in-place restrictions in our community have eased, we would like to provide you with an update on the reopening of our practice and the precautions we are taking to maintain the safest possible environment for patient care and surgery. We are very excited to see you and we want you to be assured that your health and safety are our top priorities.

Our office was officially reopened for in-office visits on May 4th. Prior to that, we offered telemedicine visits, and we will continue to offer them for some follow-up visits in the future. We will be operating within our normal business hours. All of our regular services will be available. We have significantly heightened our already stringent protocols of sterilization and infection control in the office, and we have followed the guidelines of the County and California State Health Departments and the CDC. We are regularly disinfecting common areas and surfaces that are frequently touched. All members of our team are being evaluated daily for illness and health concerns, and we are utilizing personal protective equipment (PPE) for examinations and treatments.

Here are a few of the adjustments that will be necessary for patients at our office:

• If you have a fever or are feeling symptoms of any type of illness, we ask that you contact us to reschedule your appointment.
• A mask or facial covering will need to be worn upon arrival at our office. It must fully cover the nose, mouth, and chin. Cloth masks are adequate.
• Before your appointment, we will ask that you participate in a health and wellness screening that includes a questionnaire and a no-contact temperature check.
• Please arrive at your appointment alone or with one family member, so that we can minimize the number of people in the office environment at one time.
• Our reception area will only have one patient/family at a time, and waiting is not currently allowed inside.
• As soon as check -in has completed, patients are taken immediately to an exam room for completion of paperwork and their appointment.
• Hand sanitizer will be available at multiple points throughout the office. We ask that you please utilize the hand sanitizing solution.
• We ask that you respect the social distancing measures recommended by local, state, and federal health authorities by keeping a minimum distance of six feet between other guests. We have taken precautions in terms of scheduling and in the reception area to accommodate this.
• If you would rather not visit the office at this time, please note that we are still offering Virtual Consultations that can be done via an online video link from the comfort of your home.

We are deeply committed to providing the safest environment to continue delivering outstanding aesthetic and plastic surgical care during this stressful time. We have implemented new safety protocols and resumed offering toxins, fillers, and non-invasive treatments like the Morpheus 8 as well as surgical procedures. Our surgical center is utilizing the latest protocols and technology to provide the safest environment possible. We can’t wait to see you! If you have any questions about scheduling an appointment or the precautions we are taking at our office, please don’t hesitate to contact us through our website or call us at (805) 687-7336.

At our state-of-the-art medical spa, we strive to provide patients with the most advanced cosmetic enhancement procedures available— not only to achieve the highest quality of results, but also to help ensure a comfortable and convenient treatment experience. Our team of aesthetic professionals is excited to introduce Revanesse^® Versa™ to our practice as a new non-surgical injectable to correct signs of aging, such as wrinkles, diminished facial volume, deep creases, and expression lines. The Revanesse^® Versa™ solution differs from other dermal fillers due to its unique chemical composition, which has been proven to cause less swelling and provide a longer-lasting result when compared to other minimally invasive techniques. Santa Barbara Plastic Surgery Center is thrilled to be the first practice in the region to offer Revanesse^® Versa™, and our plastic surgeon is excited to extend the benefits of this cutting-edge injectable to our patients.

Revanesse^® Versa™ is distinguished from other dermal fillers due to its meticulous manufacturing process. Produced in small batches, each syringe of Revanesse^® Versa™ is individually tested to help ensure a consistently high quality of the filler. Additionally, Revanesse^® Versa™ is marked by its uniform distribution of sphere-shaped particles, a unique composition that enables the solution to be broken down gradually by the body. This can not only extend the longevity of the results, but the smooth formulation can also leave patients with natural-looking volume enhancement. What’s more, recent studies have indicated that post-treatment swelling occurs 24 percent less often than with comparable hyaluronic acid-based fillers.

With Revanesse^® Versa™, board-certified plastic surgeon Wesley Schooler, MD as well as our team of aesthetic professionals, can help restore youthfulness to your facial features. If you have any questions about treatment, or if you are wondering whether another one of our other med spa services would be more beneficial for your concerns, don’t hesitate to contact Santa Barbara Plastic Surgery Center today.

Our experienced plastic surgeons, Dr. Wesley G. Schooler and Dr. David Buchanan, are excited to announce that our practice will be moving to a new location on June 30th. Our new office will be located just two blocks down the street from our existing space. This change will offer our patients a newly revamped atmosphere, illustrating our focus on providing patients with a pleasant experience each and every time they visit us. We are also eager to unveil our new Medi Spa for your non-surgical cosmetic enhancement needs.

We will still be offering all of the same procedures and state-of-the-art equipment at our new location, and our dedicated staff will be more than happy to begin scheduling appointments for you today. We are excited about this beautiful, convenient new location and we are looking forward to seeing you there! If you have any questions, please contact our office.

New office address as of June 30th:
222 Pueblo St., Suite A
Santa Barbara, CA 93105

Santa Barbara News-Press has announced their annual ‘Santa Barbara Readers Choice Award’ winners. We are excited to announce that Dr. Schooler has been recognized in the ‘Looking Your Best’ category. For all those who voted for Dr. Schooler we can’t thank you enough! Everyone at the Santa Barbara Plastic Surgery Center strives to make our patient’s visit a positive experience and being recognized by the residents of Santa Barbara means so much. Thank you Santa Barbara!

We are proud to announce that Dr. Wesley Schooler has been elected by Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital as Chief of Surgery. Congratulations!

The Santa Barbara Plastic Surgery Center is excited to announce that Dr. Schooler has been elected Chief of Surgery at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Congratulations Dr. Schooler!