Do you have your own surgery center?

Plastic Surgeons who have their own surgery center wish the most privacy and best care for their patients. When doctors own their own center they are more involved with the care process, not just bopping in to do surgery somewhere and leaving. They work on quality improvement of the center and that means patients are better cared for. 

When patients are cared for by one team that supports one doctor, the team can work better with the plastic surgeon to deliver consistent care at the highest and safest level. 

I know you are board certified but what are you certified to do?

The free enterprise system of the United States allows doctors to set up their own board! These boards may not be recognized by The American Board of Medical Specialties. This Board determines whether a specialty board is legitimate based on many factors including whether a board has core principles not present in other boards. That doesn’t mean that unapproved boards are not of high quality but that patients should evaluate more deeply, unapproved board members training and compare it with the training of other physicians that have been chosen and trained through more conventional programs approved by The American Board of Medical Specialties. 

What is the difference between a plastic surgeon and a facial plastic surgeon?

Plastic surgeons go through a long program of general surgery and then are chosen by other plastic surgeons to enter a two or three year plastic surgery training experience. Facial plastic surgeons go through a long program of ear nose and throat training and then do a one year fellowship in cosmetic surgery of the face. The Board of Facial Plastic Surgery is not approved by The American Board of Medical Specialties because, at its core, it is not different than the field of plastic surgery. 

So it may appear, superficially, that facial plastic surgeons are better trained to do facial cosmetic surgery because the name implies they are more specialized but the opposite may be true. It depends more how much time a physician is spending doing cosmetic surgery of the face and the results they are able to achieve. It therefore is very important for patients who are considering facial plastic surgery to find out more about the physician and especially important to view before and after photos of their previous patients.    

Can Patients really become addicted to plastic surgery?

Basically anyone can become addicted to anything because that’s how we are as people! But generally, and for most patients, doctors limit how much plastic surgery they will let patients have just because they don’t want a “bad rap” in their community. We see “plastic surgery junkies” on TV but for the most part patients are not having surgery to excess. 

Do Plastic Surgeon use plastic?

The word “plastic” in plastic surgery comes from the Greek word plasticos which means “to shape or mold”. The only plastic like materials used in plastic surgery are silicone rubber products used in chin and cheek implants and the shell or balloon outer part of breast implants is made of silicone sheeting.

At what age should I have plastic surgery?

As a general rule, surgery treats problems and problems can occur at any and every age. As long as a patient is healthy, they can have the surgery if it addresses the problem that bothers them. 

Do breast implants cause disease or cancer?

The plastic surgery scientific community knew that breast implants were safe by the 70’s because larger studies had been done to prove they were safe. Despite that, breasts were taken from the market in the late 80’s even though it was well known that implants had a high safety margin. 

Recently, cases of breast implant associated lymphoma have occurred but are exceedingly rare. All of the known cases have occurred in association with textured surface breast implants and almost entirely from one company’s textured implant.