Better than Ever
Led by Dr. Alan Brackup, a board-certified oculofacial plastic surgeon and nationally recognized leader in facial rejuvenation, Cosmetic Surgical Specialists offers patients “extraordinary results.”
It’s been said that people are most beautiful when they are true to themselves. This adage rings true not just for the patients of one of Bucks County’s premier aesthetic enhancement practices, Cosmetic Surgery Specialists, but also of its leader, Alan B. Brackup, M.D., FACS.
“Patients want to look great, but not ‘done,’” Dr. Brackup observes. “That’s where specialization and experience come in. We can achieve extraordinary results with a totally natural appearance. If someone you know looks strange after surgery, it’s not that surgery itself is bad; it’s how it was done. I hear in consultation, ‘I’ve never seen a good facelift.’ I say, ‘Of course you have, you just didn’t know you were looking at a facelift!’ That’s what we should be seeking—undetectable, outstanding results.”
With a newly opened office at One Summit Square in Langhorne, at the intersection of Route 413 and the Newtown Bypass, Dr. Brackup’s practice now offers a convenient location for patients both near and far. The new office offers the perfect blend of privacy and accessibility—“the best of both worlds,” as Dr. Brackup says.
Trained at Stanford University, Dr. Brackup is a board-certified oculofacial plastic surgeon. He specializes in facial plastic surgery with a focus on eyelid and facelift surgery.
“Our expertise also extends to endoscopic small-incision surgery such as browlifts, and skin rejuvenation techniques including laser and deep chemical peels,” he shares, adding that he has pioneered the use of lasers together with surgery to achieve remarkable facial rejuvenation in a single procedure. “I do not perform breast surgery or abdominoplasty. I do a lot of what I am specially trained to do, and believe as a consequence achieve the best possible results for each individual patient. The ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ approach is the exact opposite of my philosophy.”
As a formal instructor in multiple oculofacial plastic surgery training programs, Dr. Brackup is charged with guiding members of the next generation of practitioners. In this capacity, he applies his integrity and openness to sharing his surgical knowledge and experience with anyone who wishes to learn.
“I also welcome fellows and residents from other programs to come and visit, including facial plastic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, oculofacial plastic surgery at the University of Iowa, and numerous others to come and visit,” he says. “While they never perform surgery, they are always welcome to come and learn.”
For proof of his expertise, one need only look at how frequently Dr. Brackup is invited to speak at prestigious national meetings on the topic of facial cosmetic surgery and nonsurgical enhancement. This year, as in prior years, he was a featured presenter at the annual Vegas Cosmetic Surgery meeting, the largest multidisciplinary program in the country, and later this year will also speak at the Global Aesthetics Conference in Miami.
Dr. Brackup has been named a “top doctor” by Castle Connolly and Philadelphia magazine in multiple years, and just last year he received the Henry I. Baylis Cosmetic Surgery Award for lifetime contributions to the field of cosmetic surgery by the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. In addition, he has co-authored multiple papers accepted for publication over the past year in some of the world’s most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals.
It is more than skill that sets Dr. Brackup apart in his field, of course; it is his commitment to honesty and integrity that keeps patients from the Philadelphia metropolitan area, New York, New Jersey, and around the world, coming through the doors of his practice.
“What comes with time, now that I’ve been in practice over 25 years, is an understanding of what is a fad and what is a solid, evidence-based procedure,” he says. “I no longer offer noninvasive skin-tightening procedures, so-called ‘light’ lasers, threadlifts, or multiple other rather sexy-sounding but ultimately minimally useful procedures.
“I will only offer a patient a procedure I am confident will achieve a great result and stand the test of time,” he continues. “I am not trying to compete with med spas that embrace every new technology that arises. The energy-based devices we promote are based upon years of experience and peer-reviewed data. I have no interest in minimal-result technology or procedures.”
In line with his philosophy that subtlety is the true art of his practice, Dr. Brackup also chooses to avoid performing procedures that will result in stark or overly pronounced results. Utilizing dermal fillers is one area of treatment he approaches with such judiciousness.
“Facial aging is a constellation of changes, including skin damage, loss of volume, and tissue descent,” he explains. “There are now so many practitioners who only inject that we’re seeing absurd facial appearances result from trying to correct everything with fillers. Fillers are great for volume; they can’t correct gravitational changes. I send patients away all the time when I feel they’re overdoing fillers. It’s not an answer for everything.”
That said, when applied with care, filler treatments can gently add volume to problem areas. In addition to Dr. Brackup, the Cosmetic Surgery Specialists team includes a skilled nurse-aesthetician who is available for less aggressive and maintenance skin care, such as lighter chemical peels, microneedling, and injections of platelet-rich plasma, also known as PRP. The practice also has two highly skilled nurse injectors who, in addition to Dr. Brackup, perform Botox and filler injections.
“People focus on bad work, whether it’s a celebrity, or a person on the street, or a friend, but that doesn’t mean cosmetic surgery is bad,” he says. “There is great work all around you; it just appears sufficiently natural and has been done so expertly that you’re not seeing it.
“Some people might consider it shallow, but whether we like it or not, a first impression of how someone looks influences how they present themselves throughout the day and throughout their lives,” he continues. “For all these reasons, I love what I do. I take a tremendous amount of pride in being able to accomplish a patient’s goals. I get as excited as they do about seeing postoperative outcomes. I love making people happy.”
Cosmetic Surgery Specialists
Alan B. Brackup, M.D., FACS
One Summit Square
Langhorne, Pa. 19047
(215) 750-9400
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, August 2019.
