Meet Our Plastic Surgeon

Plastic Surgeon San Jose & Palo Alto Area – Dr. Lowen

The plastic surgeon San Jose and Palo Alto patients recommend, is Dr. Robert M. Lowen. He established his solo practice in 1988, and specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. A leading plastic surgeon serving San Jose, Palo Alto and the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Lowen is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. He is also a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, and the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Lowen, plastic surgeon San Jose, holds active staff privileges at El Camino Hospital and Sequoia Hospital.

A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School in 1971, Dr. Lowen completed a surgical internship at California-Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and for the next eleven years was a busy emergency physician and board-certified family practitioner at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View. During this period, Dr. Lowen had the opportunity to travel extensively around the world and did volunteer medical work with the Tibetan refugee community in Dharmsala, India.

Dr. Lowen, who remembers wanting to be a doctor since childhood, realized that he wanted to combine his artistic talents with his role as a doctor to heal patients through plastic surgery . At the age of thirty-seven, he changed career directions and entered the general surgery residency program at Stanford Medical Center for two years en route to specialization in plastic surgery. Dr. Lowen completed his plastic surgery training, including a one-year fellowship in Hand and Microsurgery, at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1988.

The plastic surgeon San Jose patients recommend, Dr. Lowen is dedicated to providing top-quality care and results, Dr. Lowen keeps abreast of the latest technology and techniques by taking specialized teaching courses throughout the year, attending specialty-society meetings, and interacting with colleagues. As a result, he has been able to introduce such techniques as Smartlipo MPX laser lipoplasty, rapid recovery breast augmentation, and a wide variety of skin and laser services into his practice.

Dr. Lowen’s current interest is in educating the public about the techniques he uses to return patients to normal activity within a few days after breast augmentation and Smartlipo MPX^TM laser liposuction or Vaser® Ultrasonic LipoSelection^TM, and to perform facelifts with a normal, natural appearance and short recovery time. His commitment to excellence has earned Dr. Lowen recognition from his Silicone Valley peers as a “top plastic surgeon” – San Jose Magazine. In fact, the annual poll has distinguished him as a leading plastic surgeon in the area since 1999, including “Best Tummy Tuck” in Santa Clara County, in 2008. Dr. Lowen has been selected by Doctors Improving Healthcare and NBC as one of the Top Doctors of 2010. Selection was based on peer recommendations and patient rankings. Patients throughout the East Bay and the entire San Francisco Bay Area visit An Enhanced You Cosmetic Surgery for exceptional care in the talented hands of Dr. Lowen.

Be assured that at An Enhanced You Cosmetic Surgery, Dr. Lowen is the plastic surgeon San Jose patients’ recommend. And his team wants you to feel as comfortable as possible with any cosmetic procedure you are considering. They extend a special welcome for you to explore all of your cosmetic surgery options by using the resources provided on this website or scheduling a consultation at their office.

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Contact Our Plastic Surgeon San Jose Today

Dr. Lowen is known as a perfectionist who is concerned with fine points of anatomy and form that contribute to the goal of achieving a natural-looking result, and he has always been willing to take the time and make the extra effort required to achieve this goal. If you are looking for a skilled and caring plastic surgeon San Jose serving East Bay, South Bay, and the entire San Francisco Bay Area, please contact our plastic surgery center today to schedule a personal consultation with Dr. Lowen.

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Here are 11 good reason why you should come to our office:

1. Cosmetic Surgeon San Jose – Dr Lowen’s Experience:

I have been in practice for over twenty years, and practice is a continual process of learning and refining skills and knowledge. Read MoreYour most important decision will be who performs your surgery. The credentials listed on this page reflect my many years of training and dedication to the art of plastic surgery and my sub-specialization in cosmetic surgery. They attest to my dedication to my profession.

2. Cosmetic Surgeon San Jose – Dr Lowen’s Training:

I have six years of general surgery and plastic surgery residency and fellowships Read More, general and plastic surgery rotations at Stanford, and formal plastic surgery residency, as well as a one-year fellowship in hand and microsurgery at the University of Colorado. This means years of 100-hour weeks with supervised, graduated operating responsibility, not a weekend or brief informal observational courses and lectures to “learn” cosmetic surgery as so many of our non-surgical colleagues have done who now hold themselves out as “cosmetic surgeons”.

3. Cosmetic Surgeon San Jose – Dr Lowen’s Board Certification:

I was certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery in 1991, and attained a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Surgery of the Hand in 1992. Read More These certifications are only achieved after rigorous written and oral examinations by a board recognized as one of the core surgical specialties of the American Board of Medical Specialties. This is a real board, not a self-created, non-ABMS board such as the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery or others of its kind. Ask yourself if you want your procedures done by an internist, dermatologist, family practitioner, or former radiologist who now calls him or herself a “cosmetic surgeon” without any core training in surgery in an ABMS surgical specialty.

4. Cosmetic Surgeon San Jose – Dr Lowen’s Sub-Specialization in Aesthetic Surgery:

My practice is primarily devoted to aesthetic surgery, with an interest in breast reconstruction as well. Read MoreI am a member of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, which has high standards of training (board certification in plastic surgery) and experience in aesthetic surgery for admittance. This society provides and requires mandatory continuing education, and along with the Educational Foundation of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, offers courses in aesthetic surgery by the national and international leaders in the field. I attend annual meetings and focused specialty courses so I can remain abreast of the latest in technology and procedural advances. I spend many hours each year in journal reading, literature review, and educational DVD courses.

5. I do revision surgery for patients who have been operated on by other surgeons:

I frequently re-do surgery for patients who have been operated on elsewhere and have gotten less than optimal results. Read MoreThese cases are much more challenging and difficult than doing the original surgery. These patients have already undergone one or more procedures, with their attendant expense and psychological burdens. It takes confidence and a great deal of technical skill to unwind these situations and provide the patient with the result they hoped for in the first place. These are some of my happiest and most-relieved patients. Revision operations include breast implant and breast lift problems, tummy tucks, and facelifts. Issues include bad scarring, poor scar placement, malposition or encapsulation of breast implants, and incomplete abdominal tightening, fat or skin removal. While there can be no guarantees with plastic surgery because of the nature of healing, it makes sense to choose a surgeon who has a higher chance of getting things right the first time, even though minor revisions are considered a normal part of plastic surgery, and every procedure has a certain revision and complication rate.

6. Cosmetic Surgeon San Jose – Dr Lowen’s Attention to detail:

I have performed facelifts and finger replantations. Read MoreI bring the same concentration and attention to detail to your breast surgery, ultrasonic liposuction, or tummy tuck that I have used while suturing 1 mm blood vessels and nerves under the operating microscope. This may be partly genetic as my grandfather and his five brothers were all tailors.

7. Cosmetic Surgeon San Jose – Dr Lowen’s Recognition by Peers and Patients:

For years, while polls were being done, I was selected in surveys done by San Jose Magazine as the cosmetic or hand surgeon that other doctors were most likely to choose for care for themselves or their family. Read MoreThe “Best Doctors” section in San Jose Magazine is now all paid advertising by doctors, but in the 2008 readers’ poll done by the magazine, I was selected in the category of “Best Tummy Tuck” plastic surgeon in Santa Clara County.

8. Our satisfied patients:

Our surgical patients come to us from throughout the Bay Area and the Central Valley. Read MoreWe have a loyal following from the Gilroy/Hollister area to as far away as Sacramento and Fresno. Some come across the Bay for BOTOX® Cosmetic and dermal fillers, as well. When patients find a doctor that provides good results for them, they are willing to travel despite the time and expense involved. I am very appreciative of the confidence my patients have shown in me.

9. Our staff:

Our staff cares about you as much as I do. Read MoreOur patient coordinators, Karen and Deb have over 15 years of specialized plastic surgery practice experience in meeting the needs of cosmetic surgery and aesthetic skin care patients. They love plastic surgery and have the patience and ability to respond to all your questions.

10. Cosmetic Surgeon San Jose – Dr Lowen’s Special Expertise in Breast Surgery:

Years ago I traveled to Dallas to study with Dr. John Tebbets, one of our specialty’s most respected surgeons Read More, learning his techniques and instrumentation for rapid-recovery breast augmentation, atraumatic technique, and as close to a bloodless procedure as possible. While national statistics for capsular contracture remain around 7 percent, for many years my incidence has been between 1 and 1.5 percent. I attribute this to treating the tissues gently, using special instrumentation for cautery dissection, knowing the anatomy intimately, detailed pre-operative planning with measurements, and using implants that are appropriately sized for each patient’s anatomy. Re-operations for change of size and other issues are similarly far below the national averages.

11. Laser treatments:

I have been performing cosmetic laser medicine since the early 1990s, probably as long as anyone in the Bay Area. Read MoreWe have the lasers and the experience to use them effectively for hair removal (two lasers, one IPL), tattoo removal (two lasers), non-ablative skin rejuvenation (three lasers), skin tightening, ablative skin resurfacing and lesion removal, skin tightening and spider vein removal. This is all done in my office with either myself treating the patient or an experienced laser registered nurse or nurse practitioner performing treatments under my supervision. Contrast this with a medi-spa located in a shopping mall or a recently opened medi-spa practice by a family practitioner, internist, or ER physician with no background or formal training in the interactions of laser with skin, avoiding complications and most importantly how to treat them.
As part of my residency I spent months on the Burn Unit at Valley Medical Center, and have been working surgically with skin my entire career. Many medi-spas employ RNs to diagnose and treat patients without a physician present to examine the patient, and have physician “medical directors” who are seldom seen by the nurses and are not present to provide bona fide supervision. This is illegal under current law, and is unlikely to provide you with the best and safest care.

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