In Focus: Blinded by the Plight

FDA Warns about Illegal Use of Injectable Silicone

The FDA has issued a warning about illegal use of injectable silicone for body contouring. The safety communication warns consumers and healthcare practitioners about the serious injuries and disfigurement that can result from using injectable silicone or products being falsely marketed as FDA-approved dermal fillers for the purpose of enhancing the size of buttocks, breasts, and other body parts.

“An important part of our public health mission is our obligation to warn consumers of unapproved products that are being marketed for medical uses that can cause serious harm. We have significant concerns with unsafe injectable silicone that's being marketed for body contouring by unlicensed providers. We've seen serious adverse events result from products, which are sometimes industrial-grade silicone, being used for these unapproved medical purposes,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD.

Patients should be reminded not to seek treatment from unlicensed and non-medical practitioners in non-clinical settings such as residential homes or hotels. The FDA's recommendations for healthcare providers include a call to educate patients about the benefits and risks of FDA-approved options for body contouring. The FDA also calls on physicians to report any instances of patients experiencing adverse events associated with injectable silicont to the FDA and, if applicable, to the manufacturer. To report a problem to the FDA, visit accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/email/oc/oci/contact.cfm.

J & J Innovation Launches Digital Beauty QuickFire Challenge

Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., is launching the Digital Beauty QuickFire Challenge.

The challenge encourages start-up companies to create novel, future-forward digital beauty solutions in an effort to provide better skincare outcomes for consumers around the world. The winner(s) of the challenge will receive up to a total of $50,000 in funding to help advance their product prototype toward commercialization. In addition to funding, Johnson & Johnson Innovation will also provide the winner(s) with access to a network of experts, residency for up to one year at an available Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS (JLABS), and admission to a Johnson & Johnson Consumer Experience Center (CxC). At the CxC, the winner(s) will be able to custom design and execute one free research initiative

The QuickFire Challenge, an initiative from JLABS—the no strings attached incubators—seeks to empower and enable groundbreaking science and health solutions by encouraging students, entrepreneurs, researchers, and start-up companies to apply. The Digital Beauty QuickFire Challenge will focus on three innovation areas:

1. Insights-Generating Tools that empower consumers to make better informed skincare choices, such as at-home skin assessments, coaching engines, and personalization tools to simplify product selection and build regimen.
2. Impact Tracking Devices and Adherence Solutions that help improve consumers' skin health management by monitoring skin-impacting factors such as pollution, UV, and skin biomarkers.
3. Digital Technologies or Devices that increase efficacy beyond traditional topical applications to progress skin health for consumers with hard to treat concerns such as acne, photoaging, and eczema.

Information about entering the challenge and the entry guidelines are available for viewing online at jlabs.tv/DigitalBeauty.

The deadline to submit an application is January 19, 2018. Qualifying entries will be evaluated and the winner(s) will be selected and announced in Spring 2018.

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Dr. William H. Truswell takes helm at AAFPRS

William H. Truswell MD, FACS, is the new President of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS). He will serve the 2017-2018 term year.

“My goals for this coming year are to reinforce the AAFPRS code of ethics and continue to educate the public in seeking qualified, trained and experienced facial plastic surgeons for their needs. When we further elevate public trust, it leads to safer, better facial plastic surgery outcomes,” says Dr. Truswell, in a news release. He spoke to Modern Aesthetics® magazine about the goals for his presidency at the recent AAFPRS meeting in Phoenix.

Dr. Truswell is board certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology. He has been a member of the AAFPRS for more than 40 years and is a fellow on the FACE TO FACE Committee—the AAFPRS National Domestic Violence Project, and Clinical Instructor in the Division of Otolaryngology at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington, CT.

In addition to running cosmetic facial surgery practices in Easthampton, MA and Seabrook Island, SC, Dr. Truswell frequently travels throughout the United States, South America, Asia, and Europe to lecture and present on countless panels. He has contributed to or led more than 170 national and international panels and presentations for facial plastic surgery over the past 30 years.

Dr. Truswell is past President of Hampshire County Medical Society and the Medical Vice President of the American Cancer Society in Hampshire County. He has written several papers for publication and most recently published his second post-doctoral medical textbook in his specialty, “Lasers and Light, Peels and Abrasions: Application and Treatments.” His first medical text was “Surgical Facial Rejuvenation: A Roadmap to Safe and Reliable Outcomes.”