Plastic Surgery: Questions You Should Ask Before Going Under The Knife

Plastic surgery today has undergone a wide acceptance by society. Its popularity is most likely due to popular television shows and celebrity surgeries having removed the stigma to the point where it is considered an attainable and reasonable means of improving the appearance for almost anyone.

Additionally, the advancement of plastic technology means that many procedures are now quite common and offer very little risk. There are now limitless possibilities with plastic surgery, whether it is in the face, body or limbs. If your body bags, wrinkles, sags or pouches or if you feel something is too large, too small or even the wrong shape, cosmetic surgery can probably fix it. However it is important to keep in mind that no surgery is risk free and any person seriously contemplating plastic surgery should take the time to ask important questions as a part of their pre-surgery research.

One of the most important questions to ask, is "what are the risks?" And since all surgery carries some inherent risks, this is an aspect of cosmetic surgery that should be considered carefully before making a final decision. Even if your doctor is experienced and the risks are minimal you may still develop complications either during or after your surgery. You should therefore be sure to thoroughly review your health history with your doctor before commencing with any plastic surgery.

A good cosmetic surgeon will take your reasons for surgery into consideration and will be honest about the risks. Are you sure the risks outweigh the potential benefits? What, if any, follow up will be done by the surgeon? Will the doctor make adjustments if needed? How will complications be handled? How much time will you need to recover and what are the expected side effects of surgery?

Another important consideration you should carefully examine is your reason for plastic surgery.

Although the makeovers on television may give the impression that cosmetic surgery can improve the quality of your life it is vitally important that you have a realistic outlook on the impact of surgery.

When discussing cosmetic surgery with a doctor, they should also tell you the options that are available and any alternatives to surgery. You shouldn't be pressured into unnecessary surgery. An informed consent document should be signed prior to surgery.

Fourthly, since not all surgical procedures need to be preformed in a hospital, another critical part of your research should be to thoroughly investigate the accreditation of your surgeon. You should check to make sure that your plastic surgeon is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons (ABPS) or a similar a organization in your country.

Ask the surgeon if they have hospital privileges. Having hospital privileges means that a hospital committee has approved the doctor's training and competency to meet their criteria for performing a similar operation in their facilities. Also, even if your surgery is performed in an office, verify that there will be appropriate medical personnel on hand and that the facilities are clean and medical waste is properly disposed of.

You should ask your personal physician for referrals as well. It is important that you find a surgeon that you feel comfortable with. You want to feel free to ask questions and to make certain they understand what you are hoping to achieve - after all, this isn't a hair cut - you want it to be right the first time.

Last, but not least, cost is an important consideration when thinking about plastic surgery. And while this may be the first questions that comes to some people's minds, in reality you should only consider this after determining whether you really need surgery. Costs vary widely and should not be the basis for your decision. The qualifications of the doctor and your comfort with him or her are of far greater significance than the cost since you will undoubtedly pay more if you encounter complications or are unhappy with the results.

Furthermore, depending on the reason for the surgery you may have some of the costs covered by insurance or state run medical programs. However, if cosmetic surgery (also called 'elective') is not seen as a medical and necessity it will not likely be covered by insurance.

In conclusion, if you are considering plastic surgery, be sure to take your time to do proper research before making your final decision. Be sure to make the price of the surgery itself only one of the determining factors and not the only one. After all, there are other things that are more important than money.

Sandra Clair writes for Lasik Eye Surgery Information which provides information on Lasik eye surgery, including LASIK Cost, LASIK Eye Surgery, LASIK Eye Surgery Canada, LASIK Eye surgery Price, LASIK Eye Surgery Risks, LASIK MD, LASIK Plus, LASIK Surgery and LASIK Vision Institute

How Yahoo's Recent Facelift Can Mean More Traffic To Your Site

It even surprised me.

Yes, even though I have been pointing out the possibility since July, I was shocked when I heard the news as well.

You see, I was sure we were at least a year off from this glorious day.

The News

Yahoo has had a little facelift, which you've probably read about by now. The real news is more important for your site - the My Yahoo! page looks different too.

On September 28, 2004, surfers who logged in to their personalized Yahoo area saw an announcement explaining the RSS and Atom files that show updated information to a website as content feeds, effectively pushing news feeds into the mainstream.

The new look to this section of Yahoo was presented as a full page ad to every single account holder upon first log in that day, and even now, there remains a notice posted.

When I logged into my page in the "My Yahoo!" section, I saw a big difference in the number of feeds left to choose from, as well as in the way they were presented.

Currently, the RSS module boasts "150,000 sources". If your site isn't one of them, its crucial that you act now. If you have one and youre not getting the results youd like from your set-up, there are small changes you can implement that will make a huge difference in your listing.

Best results arent as easy as submitting your feed now, but youre still within the window of opportunity - if you do it properly.

What the News Could Mean For Your Site If You Act Now

One of my clients recently called this "the back door into Yahoo". Whether that statement is accurate as far as getting included, or receiving an increase in rankings within Yahoo's search engine via your feed, depends on your site, and whether you create your feed correctly.

But many feed publishers are reporting that submitting your feed prompts the Yahoo spider to crawl your site as well.

If you could use a daily stream of traffic from even a small portion of Yahoo's estimated 20 million users, this could be your final wake-up call. Youll want to learn how to create a feed that gets well listed immediately.

This is because Yahoo will still need hundreds, perhaps thousands more, even if it only intends to list the creme de la creme of the submissions it gets. Being in that group is as easy as submitting your feed.

Being at the top of the list isnt. Your feed and your site still have to play by the rules of basic search engine optimization, among other things.

My Yahoo! RSS Headline module Coming Out of Beta?

If I had to guess, I'd say all signs point to yes. When that happens, Yahoo's RSS/Atom directory will likely contain only those who added their feeds early. New feeds seeking to be included will probably face stricter standards than in the past.

If you don't have one yet dont worry, because its never been easier to make one. If you can cut and paste, there are tools all over the Net that will show you how- some will even generate the file for you.

However, there are still certain guidelines you need to follow with your feed to get a good result out of Yahoo - again, it's not as simple as adding your feed now that there are more competing listings.

Yet, Yahoo is still accepting new sources for RSS feeds. Readers of my last book state that they are getting excellent results following my instructions, though initial inclusion no longer occurs at the same rate. Plenty of markets have few feeds available, or none at all. Your site could fill that void.

That means you still have a chance at a first page ranking. The traffic I get on a daily basis from My Yahoo readers alone sounds like I just like to brag.

And I do, but that's hardly the point.

The point is, there's no place you can even go to buy the caliber of exposure to the quality of audience that reads feeds.

The typical audience that accesses information by feed are also blog readers. A study this summer estimated that the 69.3% of blog readers are aged 29-50, and that 40% of this audience are people who have household incomes greater than $90,000.

The type of surfer that would subscribe to your feed has pre-qualified themselves as a lead, with a certain level of understanding and interest in your topic, often on a professional level. And if you don't spend every post hitting them over the head with your sales pitch, they can be both loyal and interactive.

(If you do, they'll unsubscribe from your feed faster than you can spell s-p-a-m.)

And if you're in the business of providing information you can use, in a way that shows how you can solve their problem, it's like preaching to the converted. Further, if your product solves their problem, and you show that you deserve the trust of this subscriber, youll also find the route to a sale an increasingly downward slope.

The bottom line - this is the power surfer's favorite toy. And if your content appeals to them, you need to learn how to play.

It even surprised me.

Yes, even though I have been pointing out the possibility since July, I was shocked when I heard the news as well.

You see, I was sure we were at least a year off from this glorious day.

The News

Yahoo has had a little facelift, which you've probably read about by now. The real news is more important for your site - the My Yahoo! page looks different too.

On September 28, 2004, surfers who logged in to their personalized Yahoo area saw an announcement explaining the RSS and Atom files that show updated information to a website as content feeds, effectively pushing news feeds into the mainstream.

The new look to this section of Yahoo was presented as a full page ad to every single account holder upon first log in that day, and even now, there remains a notice posted.

When I logged into my page in the "My Yahoo!" section, I saw a big difference in the number of feeds left to choose from, as well as in the way they were presented.

Currently, the RSS module boasts "150,000 sources". If your site isn't one of them, its crucial that you act now. If you have one and youre not getting the results youd like from your set-up, there are small changes you can implement that will make a huge difference in your listing.

Best results arent as easy as submitting your feed now, but youre still within the window of opportunity - if you do it properly.

What the News Could Mean For Your Site If You Act Now

One of my clients recently called this "the back door into Yahoo". Whether that statement is accurate as far as getting included, or receiving an increase in rankings within Yahoo's search engine via your feed, depends on your site, and whether you create your feed correctly.

But many feed publishers are reporting that submitting your feed prompts the Yahoo spider to crawl your site as well.

If you could use a daily stream of traffic from even a small portion of Yahoo's estimated 20 million users, this could be your final wake-up call. Youll want to learn how to create a feed that gets well listed immediately.

This is because Yahoo will still need hundreds, perhaps thousands more, even if it only intends to list the creme de la creme of the submissions it gets. Being in that group is as easy as submitting your feed.

Being at the top of the list isnt. Your feed and your site still have to play by the rules of basic search engine optimization, among other things.

My Yahoo! RSS Headline module Coming Out of Beta?

If I had to guess, I'd say all signs point to yes. When that happens, Yahoo's RSS/Atom directory will likely contain only those who added their feeds early. New feeds seeking to be included will probably face stricter standards than in the past.

If you don't have one yet dont worry, because its never been easier to make one. If you can cut and paste, there are tools all over the Net that will show you how- some will even generate the file for you.

However, there are still certain guidelines you need to follow with your feed to get a good result out of Yahoo - again, it's not as simple as adding your feed now that there are more competing listings.

Yet, Yahoo is still accepting new sources for RSS feeds. Readers of my last book state that they are getting excellent results following my instructions, though initial inclusion no longer occurs at the same rate. Plenty of markets have few feeds available, or none at all. Your site could fill that void.

That means you still have a chance at a first page ranking. The traffic I get on a daily basis from My Yahoo readers alone sounds like I just like to brag.

And I do, but that's hardly the point.

The point is, there's no place you can even go to buy the caliber of exposure to the quality of audience that reads feeds.

The typical audience that accesses information by feed are also blog readers. A study this summer estimated that the 69.3% of blog readers are aged 29-50, and that 40% of this audience are people who have household incomes greater than $90,000.

The type of surfer that would subscribe to your feed has pre-qualified themselves as a lead, with a certain level of understanding and interest in your topic, often on a professional level. And if you don't spend every post hitting them over the head with your sales pitch, they can be both loyal and interactive.

(If you do, they'll unsubscribe from your feed faster than you can spell s-p-a-m.)

And if you're in the business of providing information you can use, in a way that shows how you can solve their problem, it's like preaching to the converted. Further, if your product solves their problem, and you show that you deserve the trust of this subscriber, youll also find the route to a sale an increasingly downward slope.

The bottom line - this is the power surfer's favorite toy. And if your content appeals to them, you need to learn how to play.

Learn how Tinu saw a 75% increase in both traffic and sales from feeds at http://freetraffictip.com/rssbook . For free reprint rights to her other articles (and a potential $500 bribe) send a blank email to moneyarticles@freetraffictip.com .