Business Hours (May 2020, revised)

While the state of emergency was announced by the authority in Tokyo area, Plaza Clinic continues to offer medical services to our patients.

We will exercise special precaution against Covid-19 by maintaining strict clean environment (use of alcohol spray, mask, etc) and having enough distance in each patient’s interval for the appointment time.

Our office is open on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9:30 am. There may be earlier closing time on certain days, so please call or email us for availability.

Home delivery service is available if you are existing patient using Obagi ZO series, Retin A (tretinoin), whitening cream, etc.

Thank you.

Diversity

The word “diversity” is less familiar in Japan, but in foreign countries it is often used as follows. There are various implications of this diversity, and it is used in various aspects such as values, happiness feeling, thought process, processing methods when encountering difficulty, races and languages, etc.

If you have experience of long-term overseas life, you can understand the meaning of this word well, and if you can feel that each type of happiness is different and that each one is different in value, you might be more relieved.

If you live in a country like Japan and belong to a small organization, you tend to seek similar values and thoughts, and even one mistake, or a slight misalignment could be felt as a problem.

In our hospital, many patients are foreign nationals, come from various countries. Each person has a different sense of values. Satisfaction with the result of treatment, degree of expectation is a little bit wide. Despite such difficulties, we are taking care of diversity while enjoying it.

SEO

Recently I encountered an article when reading our member magazine of plastic surgery specialist in the USA. “What I hate” was chosen as many of American specialists. Imagine what it is? The result is that a considerable number of people chose the word “SEO”.

Although I think that there are many people who know SEO, Search Engine Optimization is the operation of raising the ranking in the search engine of the website by paying the person (company) who is generally familiar with the operation of the computer in general . Apart from methodology, those who are particularly in cosmetic medicine are constantly exposed to the wave of SEO’s competition, which seems to be stressed.

To become a plastic surgeon it is said that after graduating from the university medical department graduate, it will finally become a single person after undergoing specialist medical education for nearly 10 years. There is also a great competition to enter the plastic surgeon’s course. However, in a real world, the number of patients will be affected by how the SEO is effective, often not necessarily related with their qualifications and skills. It is a troubling problem.

Five conditions for longevity

I have talked about the subject like the title in fact in my book about 14 years ago. Looking back now, there are places where I nod and why.
1. Genetic factors
2. Social and behavioral factors
3. Environmental factors
4. Mental factors
5. Physical factors
In a very brief explanation, 1 is a person who has a gene of longevity and can not do anything about this. Regarding social factor of 2, it refers to a stable family life, friendship, or connection with society. Behaviorally, there are overseas data that people with anger and those with aggressive personality are likely to progress atherosclerosis. Excessive drinking also shortens the life span, so I think it is important to know the appropriate amount.

The mental factor of 4 is to think about measures to prevent aging of brain cells. On my own terms, I feel that 3 and 5 actually affect individuals most.

For 3, a person who does not smoke, for example, by smoking clean air, not approaching places and environments where it is easy to meet accidents, saying that you do not smoke, when you ride a car seat belts, job-related work and exercise It is not recommended, etc.

Regarding the physical factors of 5, it is better to exercise not only thinking about things like aerobic exercise but also enjoying and doing it for a long time. Even in golf, tennis or swimming, I think that I will continue doing things I like. I hope to continue with the fitness using the gym instruments, can I still be old? about it. Those who are not good at exercising, I think whether walking, only walking while shopping.

And regards to eating habits, I often see comments from the experts that people with less calorie intake will live longer, do you all know? This is an experimental result that is confirmed only by a mouse or a small creature. In the history of medicine research, there are many examples that even if I think that a good medicine was found in mouse experiments, it did not work for human beings at all. For humans, I do not yet know whether excessive calorie restriction, high protein diet is really good.

Aesthetic medicine: US – Japan differences

In Japan, there are many people who imagine something special about aesthetic medicine and cosmetic surgery. Many clinics bring patients with flashy advertising, and many patients coming to the clinic come secret. Moreover, it is said that many patients are different from the patients who visit usual medical department, i.e., having conditions such as psychosomatic diseases, neurosis, obsessive compulsive disorder, etc. As for the treatment contents, it is better to restore any problems into more normal looking status so that people can live a normal life after plastic surgery, but it is not a good case if someone is concerned about very small and trivial things. The latter is the scene of Japanese aesthetic medicine care, especially in cosmetic surgery.

On the other hand, there is no independent specialized department called cosmetic surgery in the United States because the plastic surgery also includes cosmetic surgery. In the United States, plastic surgery corrects the shape of the nose and the eyelid’s eyelid due to aging, just like general otolaryngology and ophthalmology, who should be cured as anyone sees it and agree with the treatment. It is common for the whole family to come to the clinic/hospital, and often they come to consult with a couple or parents. The inside of the clinic is also bright, not like being hidden quietly like in Japan.
As a result of doing aesthetic medicine care and plastic surgery in both the United States and Japan, I definitely feel such a difference as mentioned above.

About EBM

Do you know the word EBM? EBM is an abbreviation for Evidence Based Medicine, which is a concept that has been used for a long time in clinical medicine, including plastic surgery. The details are given to the book, but to put it briefly, it is natural thinking that scientifically accepted treatment method is used according to the result such as clinical trials carried out by a reliable method.
However, this way of thinking has not necessarily been followed in the field of medical treatment for non-insurance covered cosmetic treatments. For example, if we say treatment not dependent on EBM, we cured several patients with this treatment method, for example, this method is a unique treatment developed at our hospital, etc. However, it is not supported by data of harsh clinical trials I will do.

I think that this problem will also be found in the treatment site of beauty care, but unfortunately also in the field of regenerative medicine, (unauthorized) cancer treatment, gene therapy and others. We hope you will be a smart customer and accept only EBM.

Nasal allergy and Botox

For those who are in a season of hay fever or other pollen allergy, although it is unapproved treatment, when improvement is not seen with otolaryngology, taking allergy medicine in ophthalmology, in certain countries a small amount of botulinum toxin is sprayed into the nasal cavity. It has been reported that treatment is effective only by applying to the mucosa.

Can I expect painless treatment?

Regarding the pain accompanying the treatment, we use various methods to alleviate the pain used in the United States, we try to treat less burdensome.
Even when using local anesthesia, for example, special pain medication is used to minimize the pain of the injection itself.
In addition, we use Japanese made ultra fine needle. Even in the case of hyaluronic acid injection, it is also possible to treat with almost painless by using nerve block anesthesia according to your request

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Dr. Kure






Plastic Surgeon in Tokyo Japan