The beautiful, new, state-of-the-art Water Tower SurgiCenter is open and proving itself to be the best in the business. The staff at Water Tower SurgiCenter prides itself on having you ‘Live the Life You Deserve.’ WTS is redefining what an outpatient surgical facility should be like with its world-renowned doctors that practice there.
Dr. Anil R. Shah is one of those doctors. He is considered one of the best plastic surgeons in Chicago, specializing in rhinoplasty (Nose Job Surgery), mini-face lift and eyelift.
When considering plastic surgery, one must think about what is considered beautiful? The classic definition of beauty is a quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness and originality.
Dr. Shah is a true artist in the sense of being able to sculpt and shape any persons nose or face to their ideal of beauty and perfection. “About 50% of my patients come from outside of the Chicago area and about 1/3 come from all over the world. In the last two to three months alone patients have come from New Zealand, Australia, England, Germany and several states here in the US such as California, New York and Florida.” Dr. Shah stated.
To travel such a distance you would think a doctor would have to be something close to a miracle worker…and that is exactly what Dr. Shah is.
Dr. Shah is devoted to furthering the field of facial plastic surgery. His techniques represent the state-of-the-art in facial plastic surgery. He has published over 50 scientific articles within the field of plastic surgery. Dr. Shah has written three landmark articles about facial anatomy revolutionizing the way plastic surgery is performed. He has been recognized in Marquis’ Who’s Who in America as well as Best of US as one of the best facial plastic surgeons in the world. Dr. Shah is considered to be an expert in facial plastic surgery. He is a Clinical Instructor in Facial Plastic Surgery at the University of Chicago.
It’s no surprise to anyone that a doctor is only as good as his staff. With the nursing staff at WTS it’s no wonder why some of the most decorated doctors in the world such as Dr. Shah are located at Water Tower SurgiCenter.
“Every patient of mine that comes through has raved about the staff, about the attention to detail and about the care they received at WTS. I’ve never seen such care like there is here for all the patients, it’s just remarkable.” Dr. Shah revealed. “Afterwards, when someone has come in for a facelift or a rhinoplasty often times the nurses will wheel them across to the hotel, they are putting ice on them and instructing them. The nursing staff is just so well versed in how to take care of a patient and how to pamper a patient and make sure everything is done perfectly.” Dr. Shah boosted. “Everyone wants to make sure the patient has the best experience.”
“I also want people to realize that this is one of the only of state-of the-art surgery centers built from the ground up to ensure everything you could ever want or need is here.” Dr. Shah voiced. “Although it has a shiny, new exterior and everything looks really nice the most important thing for a surgery center is that the people and the staff are remarkable, and that is definitely the case here.” Dr. Shah believes.
Dr. Shah’s practice is fully devoted to facial plastic surgery. He is known for his analytical approach and technical excellence. His goal is to create natural appearing final results. He performs minimally invasive state-of-the-art facial plastic surgery which can maximize results while minimizing recovery time. He works with a large range of patients whose livelihood depends on their face including models, actresses, and social elite.
Dr. Shah’s website, shahmd.com, is designed to be a resource for patients seeking more information on the unique approach to facial plastic surgery utilized by the doctor. Located on his website are video clips embedded into pre and post-op instructions, video journeys of real patient’s experience with Dr. Shah with various procedures, a massive collection of articles authored by Dr. Shah and a glossary to facilitate you in the understanding of the terms.
Dr. Shah has a unique understanding of different ethnicities and how to handle each patient depending on what ethnic background they come from due to the fact that he is half Italian and half Indian.
“Traditionally plastic surgery is thought to only be for Caucasian patients but now we’re seeing more and more patients come from all sorts of ethnicities such as African-American, Indian, Asian and Hispanic.” Dr. Shah proceeded. “Forty percent of my patients are from other ethnicities and so what we’ve developed is a way for each person to really get a targeted experience, so for an Asian male that wants to have a Blepharoplasty, they can go to my website and find EFace or ENose. What the “E” stands for is electronic and ethnic, so basically any ethnicity can really figure out what procedure is best for them based on what I do.” Dr. Shah suggested.
To be well informed, especially when you’re considering any kind of surgery is a real gift. Dr. Shah makes it easy for you to understand all you’re options. He believes a well informed patient will make better decisions regarding which plastic surgery procedure is best, if any at all. Found on Dr. Shah’s website are a rhinoplasty and facelift glossary, nasal anatomy, facial anatomy, facial analysis tutorial and a collection of scientific articles published by Dr. Anil R. Shah.
For anyone that has ever considered having rhinoplasty but is worried about having a nose that looks like they have had a nose job, Dr. Shah will work with you to create a beautiful nose based on what you want and your ethnicity.
He does not create a “type” of nose, aka scooped, strong, narrow, etc. Instead he creates an individual nose based on his thorough exam, photographic analysis, and interviewing each patient. Importantly, Dr. Shah works with each patient to guide them to receiving the nose they desire, rather than impose his own vision.
As every nose and face are unique. There are at least 100 points of analysis which Dr. Shah must make to establish a reasonable approach to each patient’s individual anatomy. Dr. Shah formulates a surgical plan based on his precise diagnosis on physical exam coupled with high quality photographic stills.
“A book would teach you that traditionally every person that comes in for a rhinoplasty you would want to make their nose look the same but that’s not the right thing to do.” Dr. Shah explained. “If someone who is Indian comes in or African-American or Caucasian, I would not give them all the same nose.” Dr. Shah continued. “My patients tell me that they want to look beautiful and stay true to their ethnic background and that is what I help them do.”
Dr. Shah utilizes photo imaging as a guide to help facilitate patient understanding and as an actual reference during surgery. Just as Dr. Shah utilizes a model when sculpting with clay, he utilizes a series of intraoperative photographs to guide his surgical game plan.
His practice is the fusion of various techniques which are used in conjunction with his keen aesthetic eye to produce outstanding surgical results. “A successful rhinoplasty improves both the nasal appearance and function and lasts the patient’s lifetime.” Dr. Shah proclaimed.
Dr. Shah is different than other surgeons in that he is one of the few with a large emphasis devoted to rhinoplasty. This means that this is not a procedure he dabbles but excels and has a large passion for. He has written numerous articles, chapters and lectures on both a national and international level on this topic.
Dr. Shah’s preference is to perform only one rhinoplasty procedure a day. The rationale behind this approach is that your case will be the focus of the day. There are instances when more than one procedure is performed but this is the exception not the norm. During the consultation process, various options are presented to help understand the patient’s aesthetic.
Some surgeons have a strong preference for closed rhinoplasty, while others have a strong preference for open rhinoplasty. (Go to shahmd.com for a better understanding of all the medical terminology.) Dr. Shah was trained by arguably the best surgeons in each category and has worked on both procedures without bias for his entire career. This offers his patients unique options and insights to their nose and nasal possiblities.
Dr. Shah has also perfected the art of facelifts. He performs a variety of lift techniques tailored to the patient’s individual needs. Dr. Shah believes that patients should look natural in appearance without a “windtunnel” appearance.
Dr. Shah is one of the most experienced facelift surgeons in the world having performed over 1000 face and neck lifts. He has authored several leading papers on facelift surgery.
Dr. Shah advocates an expedient recovery from surgery without comprising long term durability and healing. Dr. Shah does not use surgical drains. He conceals signs of the facelift by carefully planning incisions. Meticulous closure of these incisions is important and Dr. Shah carefully throws individual sutures in place rather than the use of staples. This allows for improved cosmesis along the hair and the flexibility to wear the full breadth of hairstyles.
Dr. Shah is able to perform a more technically advanced facelift based on his research on facial anatomy. He believes that this approach offers significant advantages over less advanced approaches.
Here are the types of facelifts Dr. Shah offers:
Minilifts
Deep plane facelifts
Vertical facelifts
Fat transfer with a facelift
Endoscopic facelifts
Injectable facelifts
Revision facelifts
Bariatric surgery facelifts
Ethnic facelift
Dr. Shah’s approach to facelifting makes the most sense anatomically and from a surgical results standpoint.
Most surgeons peform facelift surgery the same way. A survery by the Aesthetic Plastic Surgey Society found that over 95% of its members performed SMAS only lifts. The SMAS is a covering of the face which surgeons use to pull on it in an attempt to produce changes to the face.
While SMAS lifts have been around since the 1970’s, many surgeons express frustrations with the limits in which it can change the face naturally. Surgeons who use this technique will try and pull the SMAS tissue and secure it. However, often at three months after the procedure, the patients will complain that they look exactly the same. Sometimes surgeons will attempt to pull more skin in an attempt to lift the face, however, patients will now have a pulled skin look, but not look more youthful.
Dr. Shah has learned a better method of rejuvenating the face which is called CPMS. CPMS stands for Complete Platysmal Muscular Suspension. Dr. David Rosenberg from NYC taught Dr.Shah this method. They are the only two doctors’ in the world performing these futuristic facelifts that truly lift the face, not just your skin.
One of the advantages of this technique is that it helps eliminate the “windblown” or “plastic look after a facelift. Some surgeons rely on pulling the skin tight in order to achieve a lift. Unfortunately, pulling skin tight is based on a false premise that a youthful face is back and tight. If you look at a young face, there is a roundness and soft quality to the face, repositioning the deeper tissue allows for rejuvenation of the face. Another advantage of this technique is a rapid recovery. Most patients feel comfortable in public within 5 to 12 days after the procedure.
If you look at an anatomy text book, it demonstrates that the platysma muscle is a neck only muscle. However, Dr. Rosenberg’s and Dr. Shah’s experience have demonstrated that this is not accurate. The platysmal muscle actually has a significant facial component.
The significance of this anatomic finding can not be overstated. This finding demonstrates that many surgeons have been lifting the wrong tissue for the last 35 years. Dr. Shah proposes that the method of effectively rejuvenating the face is repositioning of the platysmal muscle.
There are many benefits of this approach including a natural embryolgic glide plane. Beneath the platsymal muscle there are very few if any blood vessels. This allows the muscle to slide back to a more youthful position. The benefit of this lift is that it is a “true” facelift and that results are natural but will demonstrate improvement in both face and neck of the aging process.
This probably has you wondering why other surgeons don’t utilize this technique if it is so significant. The truth is that the face has one of the most complex areas of anatomy in the body with many important structures. Most surgeons are hesitant to utilize more complex methods because of inadequate anatomic knowledge or experience in sophisticated techniques.
Dr. Shah is one of the best plastic surgeons in the world. Along with rhinoplasty, facelift and eyelift surgery he does injectables such as Botox and a plethora of facial fillers. Dr. Shah also does Mohs Reconstruction for patients that have had to have some part of their face removed because of skin cancer. There are pictures of Dr. Shah’s truly miraculous work on his website shahmd.com.
Dr. Shah works with a variety of techniques in helping rejuvenate the aging face. He will explain the ideal combination of procedures for your face to help maximize your appearance.
As the saying goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This statement resonates how our own beauty and of those around us is partly of perception. This concept of personal beauty is critical in plastic surgery in that every patient’s point of view is heard. With Dr. Shah, You can ‘Live the Life You Deserve’ and look as beautiful as you really are.
Dr. Shah’s office is located at Water Tower Place
845 N. Michigan Ave. Suite 934E
Chicago, IL. 60611