The best marketing strategy in aesthetic plastic surgery: evaluating patients' preferences by conjoint analysis.

Background: To provide the best marketing strategy for a private clinic, knowledge of patients' preferences is essential. In marketing, conjoint analysis has been frequently used to calculate which attributes of a product are most valuable to consumers.

Methods: This study investigates the relative importance of attributes that influence the selection and decision-making process when choosing an aesthetic private clinic, using conjoint analysis.

"Scarless" umbilicoplasty: a new umbilicoplasty technique and a review of the English language literature.

Many techniques have been described for umbilicoplasty after abdominoplasty, but none of these techniques seems ideal. In this report, we wish to report a new "scarless" umbilicoplasty technique, which bears many of the characteristics of an ideal technique: it is easy to perform and results in the complete absence of visible scars and with a preferred vertical orientation. The aesthetic results of this technique are subjectively and objectively evaluated as compared with the classic umbilicoplasty and these results are discussed among the English language literature.

Long-term follow-up of a randomized controlled trial of suture versus mesh repair of incisional hernia.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the best treatment of incisional hernia, taking into account recurrence, complications, discomfort, cosmetic result, and patient satisfaction.

Background: Long-term results of incisional hernia repair are lacking. Retrospective studies and the midterm results of this study indicate that mesh repair is superior to suture repair.

Randomized clinical trial of non-mesh versus mesh repair of primary inguinal hernia.

Background: The optimum method for inguinal hernia repair has not yet been determined. The recurrence rate for non-mesh methods varies between 0.2 and 33 per cent.