Maryland Society of Plastic Surgeons

04/11/2018

Great Maryland Society of Plastic Surgeons meeting yesterday with guest speaker Dr. Dan Del Vecchio. He spoke about fat grafting to the breast and buttocks. Very timely. It was good to catch up with colleagues and friends. Thanks to MedChi for orchestrating the event.

20/09/2015

19/09/2015

Awesome meeting of MSPS this morning in beautiful downtown Annapolis. Thanks to Dr. Louis Strock for an insightful set of lectures on breast augmentation and ptosis. He has an amazing breadth and depth of knowledge and it was kind of him to share it with colleagues and Johns Hopkins plastic surgery residents. Thanks to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery for loaning us one of their incredible traveling professors.

01/06/2015

Today the Maryland Society of Plastic Surgeons signed on to support US H.R.2540/ S.1192 – Breast Cancer Patient Education Act of 2015. This law would increase awareness among patients about the availability of breast reconstruction and prostheses provided under the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-277). This educational effort will inform patients about the availability of breast reconstruction at the time of breast cancer surgery or the option to postpone breast reconstruction until other aspects of theircancer care are completed. It will also provide patients with information about non-surgical options, including the availability of prostheses or breast forms. In 2015, an estimated 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.

16/05/2015

Great speaker at our recent Spring MSPS meeting. Thanks to Dr. Jennifer Walden for teaching the group about lasers and facelifts as well as social media/marketing.

20/02/2015

Attention all Maryland Society of Plastic Surgeons members:

The FDA is considering guidance which would effectively prohibit fat injections/grafts not done in a study environment. See below:

ASPS ADVOCACY ALERT

FDA Proposal Will Negatively Impact Procedures Involving Adipose Tissue

In December 2014, the FDA released draft guidance that would dramatically change the regulation of human cells, tissues, and cellular or tissue-based products (HCT/Ps) from adipose tissue. If your members use adipose tissue in common fat grafting procedures, then they would be required to register and report as manufacturers.

In some cases, such as fat grafting in breast reconstruction and stromal vascular fraction, HCT/Ps from adipose would be treated as biological drugs and subjected to even more stringent regulations, and physicians using these adipose-derived products would have to file an application for premarket FDA approval of the products and a license to distribute biologic drugs. Such licenses are only granted after the FDA investigates the personnel, processes, facilities, equipment, and record keeping involved in the manufacture, processing, packing, holding and distributing of a batch or lot of a drug.

Simply put - this is a very, very heavily regulated area.

A team of ASPS subject matter experts has reviewed the FDA's guidance and found that it is biologically inaccurate and erroneously depicts some common procedures. ASPS is working hard to get the FDA to revise this flawed guidance, but the FDA needs to hear from state and regional plastic surgery societies as well.

If your organization would like to contact the FDA and share comments about how these regulatory burdens will negatively impact physicians and patients, ASPS has further information you can use in developing those comments.

Please contact ASPS Senior Manager of Advocacy and Government Relations Patrick Hermes at phermes@plasticsurgery.org to access this information and find out more about how you can submit comments to the FDA.

All comments are due by 11:59 pm EST on Monday, February 23, 2015, so please act now.

WHAT TO DO?
I am going to contact the ASPS Senior Manager of Advocacy and Government relations, Patrick Hermes, to find out how best to proceed with regard to expressing our opposition to this draft language. I will not do it until Monday in order to give the members of MSPS a chance to contact me with their opinions. But email or call me ASAP, because this is very time sensitive.

James Chappell, MD FACS
President
Maryland Society of Plastic Surgeons

20/06/2014

SAVE+the+DATE!+Dr.+Joe+Gryskiewicz+coming... http://conta.cc/1m4iPhi

19/05/2014

Ohio Valley Society of Plastic Surgeons Meeting http://conta.cc/1hYufxM

57th Annual Meeting of the Ohio Valley Society of Plastic Surgeons June 5-7, 2014 Greenbrier Resort White Sulphur Springs, WV

18/02/2014

This is the frightening kind of thing we are fighting here in Maryland. Despite years of asking patients to inquire as to whether or not their plastic surgeon is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery we hear these kind of stories, unfortunately. Tragic. The Maryland Society of Plastic Surgeons is working with our state officials to try and help this from happening in Maryland.

Four people have been charged with operating an unlicensed cosmetic surgery clinic in West Palm Beach, Fla., after a former patient suffered permanently disfiguring injuries, investigators say. The facility's licensed doctor was arrested, along with three other staff members who were charged with pr...

12/01/2014

Meeting: March 26, 2014
Speaker: World renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Pat Maxwell
All MSPS members should RSVP to Dr. Chappell's office ASAP.

17/09/2013

Meeting cancelled: Second notice http://conta.cc/19aCwcN

02/07/2013

Maryland Society of Plastic Surgeons PAC Event http://conta.cc/10vlUw9

The changes would bring greater scrutiny to an industry where patients typically pay out of pocket for procedures - making the consumer the main oversight authority, instead of private or government insurers who demand safeguards, Sharfstein said.