Dr. Berger recently returned from his trip to Australia, where he was invited to be a featured speaker at the Australasian Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine (A5M) Annual Conference in Melbourne. This year’s conference on Age Management focused on the theme of Preventative Medicine, Integrative Medicine, and Balanced Patient Care. Dr. Berger was welcomed as a leading authority on Anti-Aging and Aesthetic Medicine, and his presentations provided valuable wisdom to the medical community attending the conference on a diverse and expansive body of information. In addition, Allergan, the makers of Botox, sponsored Dr. Berger’s workshop called “Juvederm and the Perfect Lip.” Below we have provided the abstracts for Dr. Berger’s presentations.

Facial Sculpting – Beyond Traditional Thinking

The traditional use of neurotoxins and aesthetic medicine has been primarily focused on addressing individual and compartmentalized concerns related to dynamic muscle contractions such as crown lines, crow’s feet, and forehead lines.  Advanced usage of neurotoxins takes a more holistic approach to facial appearance; looking at the face as a whole to achieve a more global aesthetic improvement. This can be achieved either as a standalone treatment or in conjunction with other aesthetic modalities such as volumising fillers, collagen stimulators, resurfacing and skin tightening lasers.  When used in this fashion a more natural appearing desirable aesthetic outcome can be achieved on a consistent basis.
This presentation will review the use of botulinum toxin as a facial sculpting tool and how it can be used in conjunction with other modalities to achieve natural global rejuvenation.

Juvéderm and the Perfect Lip

The lip is the most important aesthetic feature of the lower face.  Optimum aesthetic appearance requires a lip that is aesthetically balanced to the rest of the face and that has ideal volume, shape and proportionality.  Hyaluronic acid fillers are ideal for achieving the perfect lip correction on a consistent basis.  This presentation will review the use of Juvéderm and Juvéderm Ultra Plus and Hyaluronic injectables for the achievement of the perfect lip augmentation.

The Clinical Aesthetic Application of Anti-ageing Medicine

Beauty is indeed beyond skin deep!  Underlying internal processes significantly influence the development and profession of individual aesthetic decline as well as the duration of benefit from cosmetic surgical and medical interventions.  Optimal cosmetic appearance is very positively influenced by more optimal lifestyles and more youthful hormonal homeostasis.  Cosmetic surgeons will benefit from recognizing specific aesthetic physical signs of hormonal decline, deficiency and disequilibrium.  Once they are recognized they can be corrected in conjunction with cosmetic medical and surgical procedures, in order to achieve superior and longer lasting outcomes.
This presentation will review the more common clinical physical signs of aesthetic decline that are associated with specific hormonal deficiencies and how relate these findings to specific corrective treatments.
Learn how to recognize specific aesthetic physical signs of hormonal decline, deficiency and disequilibrium that can be corrected in conjunction with cosmetic medical and surgical procedures, in order to achieve superior and longer lasting outcomes.

Setting up Complete Anti-ageing Practice 

The complete anti-ageing practice should focus on both the inside and outside to provide comprehensive anti-ageing care, addressing how people feel and look.  Optimum outcomes are achieved by providing patients with state of the art operations, while addressing both anti-ageing and cosmetic needs.  Practices organized and equipped to address these needs will thrive.
This presentation will summarize the components of setting up a comprehensive anti-ageing and cosmetic medical practice and will discuss the key factors that lead to success.  The evolution of anti-ageing and cosmetic medicine naturally leads to combining them in a comprehensive way to create the anti-ageing and cosmetic medicine practice of today and the future.

I finally had a few moments to download some photos from my trip to China, though I have many, many more to come!

I was invited to speak at two conferences for Chinese anti-aging physicians and to tour the facilities of my host, Dr. Tianyongchen. A very gracious host, Dr. Tian’s welcoming staff held a nice reception for me, and provided me with an entire entourage during my stay, including my own driver and interpreter, and they took care of every need, making sure I was comfortable and happy all the time.

Dr. Tien and I at his offices, with my welcome banner in the background

I spoke at two different conferences, but enough about the boring business part.  I also toured three cities, saw some amazing sites, met some incredible people, and had some great food – I ate some of everything offered, even if I didn’t know what it was. (Well, almost – I gave a definitive NO to the chicken feet.)  Honestly, the food was different than our American concept of Chinese food, and it was either very, very good, or…not very good at all. But my hosts were intent on making me happy, asking “You don’t like that? Try this!” many times during the trip. The food is actually very healthy, with many spices we don’t use in the United States that I’m aware of. I really enjoyed the Hot Pot, and I’m looking for a good one here in L.A. Any recommendations?

Me and my "entourage" during one of many great meals

Beijing was huge, with enormous construction projects everywhere. It’s a booming city, over 20 million people live there, with crazy traffic – they have no rules for driving! It’s a bit chaotic, to say the least, and makes Los Angeles look a sleepy little town, if you can believe that. It’s busy and congested, and the dense population is a bit overwhelming, but they were nothing but warm, friendly and welcoming.

I loved seeing the Forbidden City, a huge expanse of property that really defies adequate description. To think that these hundreds of acres and dozens of buildings were built many hundreds of years ago to house emperors from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, spanning over five centuries. It’s hard to describe the scale of it, the vastness, but it was truly a wonderful site. (More on the Forbidden City.)

Tiananmen Square across the street from the Forbidden City

In front of Mao's picture at the Emperor's Gate to the Forbidden City

My group inside the Forbidden City

I also visited Tiananmen Square just after the People’s Republic of China’s 60th anniversary celebration. There were 46 beautifully decorated parade floats parked on display in Tiananmen Square, and I’ll post photos of some of them them soon, and tell you more about the other cities we visited then, too.

感谢读书,

(That’s “thanks for reading” in Chinese…)

Andre Berger, M.D.

The Great Wall of China - I hope to see this in person, too!

The Forbidden City - I'll be site seeing here during my trip

I’ll be sure to post some photos when I return, but my posts will be scarce this week because I’m in China presenting a lecture at an anti-aging conference.  More to follow!

Thanks for reading,

Andre Berger, M.D.