A Good Read, Anybody?
Surgeons AND authors? That describes the eminent Beverly Hills board-certified plastic surgeon Stuart Linder, M.D. (who blogs as Dr. Body) and Robert Kotler, M.D.
an equally eminent Beverly Hills cosmetic plastic surgeon who blogs as Dr. Face.
Here, Doctors Face and Body tell how and why they wrote books filled with insider tips and information about getting the very best from what American plastic surgery has to offer.
Dr. Face holds a membership in the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery and Reconstructive Surgery while Dr. Body is a member of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons.
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Dr. Body: (Dr. Linder) What started you as a book author, doctor?
Dr. Face: (Dr. Face) In about 2001, I kept adding information about face lifts, rhinoplasty and other surgeries of the face to a brochure in my waiting room until it ran to about 144 pages.
Dr. Body: That’s a lot of mimeograph ink!
Dr. Face: Sure. So I eventually added a preface, pictures, captions, editing and an index, gave it to a publisher and — Voila! – I’m an author, now three times over. Before writing the educational books for patients, I had written a textbook for doctors entitled “Chemical Rejuvenation of the Face”. I wanted something patients could take home and study. Or, better yet, read before our first appointment.
Dr. Body: I wrote the “Beverly Hills Shape” a book about plastic surgery of the body because I wanted patients to know the consequences and risks of rejuvenation surgery. I think one of the first quotes in the book is a seldom revealed truth that every patient should know going in: “No plastic surgeon can guarantee the final appearance of a scar.” In nature, scarring is unpredictable.
Dr. Face: I wanted to make it easy for patients to not only find but to compare surgeons. So I created a “take-this-book-with-you” workbook: “The Essential Cosmetic Surgery Companion. Don’t Consult A Cosmetic Surgeon Without This Book!” For use during your initial consultation, it provides blank outlines of the body for the surgeon to draw in where scars will be and gives the key questions to ask.
Dr. Body: Good point! Beverly Hills may be the world Mecca of plastic surgery, as many claim, but it is still a case of buyer beware. I think the common thread between our two books is, suggesting to consumers the questions we ourselves would ask if we were sitting before a surgeon, trying to decide if this was the person who would perform our surgery. With a combined 10,000 surgeries over 60 years, I think we’ve covered the bases!
Dr. Face: That’s right. I have no way of providing the actual figures but physicians not trained in cosmetic plastic surgery could actually outnumber the surgeons who have an extra four to seven years extra training beyond the M.D. degree.
Dr. Body:. The first, most on-target question to ask a surgeon during your consultation appointment is: Are you board-certified in plastic surgery? Or, in your case, board-certified in head and neck surgery, Otolargyngology?
Dr. Face: Right, those are the only two specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (www.abms.org) to perform cosmetic plastic surgery.
Dr. Body: What do readers especially like about your books?
Dr. Face: My most recent, “Secrets of a Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgeon” tells when a rejuvenation surgeon will be happy to grant a discount. Also include: the 15 smartest questions to ask during your first visit.
Dr. Body: I think my book reflects my personal style which is frankness, boarding on bluntness. Sometimes, insider information is never mentioned to patients. For instance, many breast augmentation patients are surprised to learn that, given one breast enlargement surgery, it is very likely she will have at least more operation at that location some time during her life.
Dr. Face: I’ve had many patients tell me they really appreciated the section on how you can have two procedures at once – sometimes, by two superspecialist surgeons, and create a savings in operating and anesthesiologist fees as well as time saved by going through one recovery, and not two.
Dr. Body: What about before and after plastic surgery pictures?
Dr. Face: Good point! Those are a major source of information about a surgeon any patient should use. I think both books offer some major pointers.
Dr. Body: The surgical center in which your operation takes place is just about as important as the selection of the surgeon. Once you know what to look for, it’s easy to rest assured you are in a top quality operating room with the highest safety standards.
Dr. Face: Can you think of any other common threads in the two books, doctor?
Dr. Body: A few. The tomes are not tattle tale, tabloid-style books about famous peoples’ plastic surgery, but how-to manuals for the smart consumer who wants the best possible outcome in safety at the best possible price.
Dr. Face: I don’t know about you, but I did have some fun at the library while writing mine.
Dr. Body: How so?
Dr. Face: I heard three separate writers ask the reference librarian if they knew of any other books by Ibid, that they seem to be seeing his name everywhere.
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Read more about Dr. Face’s book on cosmetic plastic surgery, “Secrets of a Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgeon.”
Here is Dr. Body’s book on plastic surgery of the body, “The Beverly Hills Shape.”
