iSurgeon: App Lets You Shop for Cosmetic Doctors on Phone June 26, 2010 iSurgeon: App Lets You Shop for Cosmetic Doctors on Phone That smart phone isn’t just for Sudoku and weather forecasts anymore… Check your e-mail, Facebook account and text messages? Duh. Get the play-by-play of your favorite MLB team? Sure. Find a decent Mexican restaurant in your neighborhood before your date tonight? Easy. Get answers to questions about that hair transplant or liposuction you’ve been considering? According to smart phone applications like iSurgeon and The Plastic Surgery Channel, the answer is yes! It seems that—for anywhere from free to $1.99—you can submit questions to board-certified plastic surgeons, search for qualified doctors by zip code, view video commentary by doctors and play games that allow you to see what you’d look like with, say, a nose job—all with the tap of a screen. For example, the free Plastic Surgery Channel app let’s you read surgeon profiles, map doctors’ office locations, and view recent Q&A sessions between other plastic surgery inquirers and board-certified surgeons. If you’re willing to fork up $1.99, you can see what you would look like with plastic surgery, and be the doctor too with iSurgeon, created by Dr. Michael Salzhauer, who is also the author of a children’s book about cosmetic surgery called “My Beautiful Mommy.” The “game mode” replicates common procedures like tummy tucks and butt lifts, and the “advanced surgery mode” allows you to snap photos of yourself (or your friends) and upload them to the “operating room,” where you can try your hand at a makeover. Then, if you’re brave enough, you can e-mail your friends or post the pictures on your social […]

The Doctor Can See You Now NEW YORK. THURSDAY. JANUARY 21.2010 PLASTIC surgeons used to dispense advice primarily in private, face-to-face consultations, during which they would address a patient’s concerns and weigh the merits of surgery. These days, plastic surgeons offer their opinions on the Web, sometimes for all to see. One platform is RealSelf.com, where plastic surgeons answer queries and introduce themselves to patients. PostYourFace.com, which made its debut in December, allows the brave to ask Dr. Robert Freund, a plastic surgeon with an office in Manhattan, to evaluate photographs they post publicly. Viewers vote on whether Jane Doe needs a “smaller nose” or “more voluptuous lips.” If this kind of crowd-sourcing lacks appeal, Dr. Michael A. Salzhauer hopes iSurgeon, his iPhone application, will draw you in. Users can tweak a picture of themselves while listening to a chain saw roar. In a phone interview, Dr. Salzhauer said, iSurgeon “is a great party game,” allowing strangers to snap pictures of each other and then augment a small chest or shrink a big nose. He added that iSurgeon was also “a useful tool for people seriously thinking about plastic surgery” or “patients who want privacy.” I toyed around, making modest changes to my nose and stomach, and found the results worthy of a fun-house mirror. CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS