The annual summer Cosmetic Bootcamp (CBC) meeting in Aspen was recently held at the St. Regis hotel. This premier cross-specialty educational meeting focuses on head and neck aesthetic treatments including toxins, fillers, laser and light therapy, and body sculpting techniques.
CBC features a superb faculty of internationally recognized core aesthetic physicians from the specialties of dermatology, plastic surgery, ophthalmology, and otolaryngology. The philosophy of CBC is “for the core, by the core.” The four-day meeting is comprised of lectures, panel discussions, live injection demonstrations, a cadaver dissection workshop, and a poster session.
There also were a wide range of industry-sponsored symposia as well as an exhibit hall displaying the latest technology. Another nice feature of CBC is the ample time to meet and network with colleagues. The agenda this year for the CME activities included:
Human Cadaver Facial Dissection: Drs. Edward Chang, Timothy Greco, and Rod Rohrich moderated this popular opening workshop in which Drs. Jose Montes and Heidi Waldorf demonstrated proper injection technique with respect to the underlying anatomical structures.
Pan-Facial Rejuvenation: This module moderated by Dr. Vic Narurkar focused on facial rejuvenation with fillers and included a live injection session.
Integrative Non-surgical and Surgical Approaches to Rejuvenation: Dr. Timothy Greco was the moderator for this session that also had a live injection session. Presentation topics included the timing and sequence of energy based devices and injectables, exfoliative treatments for photodamage, optimizing outcomes in the periorbital area, myths about face lifts, and complication management.
Energy-based Devices: Dr. Arielle Kauvar moderated these talks on fractional laser resurfacing, lasers for vascular and pigmented lesions, skin tightening, and at-home laser devices.
Anatomic and Physiologic Considerations in Aesthetics: Dr. Anthony Benedetto served as the moderator for this group of talks. The faculty covered a range of topics including customizing skin care, facial balance with neurotoxins, anatomy of the mid to lower face and neck, periorbital pearls, the aging neck, dentition and the face, danger zones and safety in the periorbital area.
Skin Is In: The Facial Canvas Explored: This section, led by Dr. Heidi Waldorf, was devoted to healthy skin. Lecture material reviewed cosmeceuticals and skincare, product formulation, the continuum from medical to cosmetic patient, aspects of global and generational skin, avoiding distortion of the face, and developing a skincare product.
Body Contouring: Dr. Jeanine Downie moderated this final clinical module which covered liposuction, non-surgical neck treatments, a panel discussion on body shaping treatments, and two live injection sessions on hand and neck rejuvenation and one syringe wonder for facial rejuvenation.
Bootcamp Mini MBA: This concluding session featured two business school professors, Drs. Cade Massey and Jason Riis, who talked on “leadership development and management” and “marketing and customer management” respectively.
I was most impressed with this cross-specialty program, my first summer cosmetic bootcamp. The CBC founders—Drs. Kenneth Beer, Mary Lupo, and Vic Narurkar—have created a superb meeting where the attendees and the faculty are fully engaged and eager to share knowledge. Even though I do not perform any facial cosmetic procedures, I learned a great deal of valuable information and had the opportunity to meet, mingle with, and gain insights from colleagues in other specialties. I have attended many ophthalmology meetings over the last two decades and can say that the quality of CBC is unsurpassed. I will definitely be returning next year. Cosmetic bootcamp programs are also held in the winter in Las Vegas and there is a Bootcamp Asia planned for next February.