Botox Injections for Crow's Feet
A new survey shows how important it is to carefully choose your American plastic surgeon.
The highly regarded Beverly Hills board-certified plastic surgeon Stuart Linder, M.D. (who blogs as Dr. Body) and the equally highly regarded Beverly Hills board-certified cosmetic plastic surgeon, Robert Kotler, M.D. explain a new study that makes it more important than ever to do some serious homework before choosing a surgeon for your rejuvenation surgery.
The new study is in the journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgery.
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. Face (Dr. Kotler): Read anything interesting lately in the professional press for plastic surgeons, doctor?
Dr. Body: (Dr. Linder): Odd you should ask. Just finished an article in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Dr. Face: Sure. Wasn’t that the one that took a survey of 1,867 cosmetic surgeons who were offering Restylane or Juvederm injections?
Dr. Body: Right. Those 1,867 cosmetic doctors were between San Diego and Santa Barbara. That covers over 45,000 square miles (116,549 square kilometers.)
Dr. Face: I’m thinking the researchers picked that service – facial fillers – because many physicians think it is easy to learn and is done, after all, on a cash upfront basis.
Dr. Body: Then they looked at all 1,867 doctors’ training. Would you care to guess how many had been certified in plastic surgery and could legally advertise themselves as “plastic surgeons.”
Dr. Face: If memory serves, it was 495.
Dr. Body: That’s right. The idea of the study was point out how many non-plastic surgeons are providing cosmetic services.
Dr. Face: But, wait. Wasn’t there something in that same study about liposuction providers?
Dr. Body: In the same area, but concentrated in the urban centers of Los Angeles and San Diego, the researchers noted 834 people offering liposuction.
Dr. Face: And how many of them had been fully trained in surgery or as cosmetic plastic surgeons?
Dr. Body: Just about 333, or 40 percent.
Dr. Face : Breaking the statistics down a little further, the researchers found that physicians trained in primary care were the third largest group giving Juvederm and Restylane injections while the same lot – primary care physicians – were the fourth largest group of liposuction providers.
Dr. Body: So the state of the industry is in a place that if you throw a dart at a list of all “cosmetic surgeons” you more than likely will hit a person who has had no surgical or plastic surgery training?
Dr. Face: Somewhat! Plastic and cosmetic surgery offices offer both surgical and non-surgical treatments. But any doctor doing surgical procedures in an operating room will have had some formal training. It’s one thing to do injections and quite another to perform cutting and sewing.
That’s important because any number of things can go wrong in several different areas.
There are issues with anesthesia that can cause problems; there are various types of bleeding that can indicate trouble and other potential unexpected medical woes that rear their ugly heads in the middle of a procedure.
Dr. Body: A board certified plastic surgeon or board certified face and neck surgeon will have four to seven years training after medical school.
The part about “board-certification” means the doctor has been tested, grilled and examined in every way known to science to establish his or her knowledge and skills about plastic surgery procedures. That person cannot leap tall building or outrun a speeding bullet but is as safety conscious and dependable as science can make him. He or she has “passed all the tests” worth passing.
Dr. Face: In America, any physician with an M.D. degree and a medical license can call him-or-herself a “cosmetic” surgeon.
Dr. Body: You can even check on your personal computer. Just go to: http:www.abms.org, register and type in the name of the surgeon you have been considering. The type of board certification will pop right up.
Dr. Face: Then, go to that surgeon’s website, look at his or her training after medical school, any fellowships and the before and after plastic surgery pictures. There should be many of the procedure you want.
Dr. Body: When you email the surgeon, ask how many times a month he does the procedure you want. You might also ask when was the last time he had a surgical complication, how it was handled and what he learned from it.
Dr. Face: Excellent suggestion! Surgical complications happen in the very best of hands about one percent of the time. So you’ll quickly find out if the surgeon is leveling with you and if he is still open to the idea of learning. That is very important for any medical professional.
Look at some of Dr. Body’s before and after breast surgery pictures.
Check out some of Dr. Face’s before and after face lift pictures.
