With cosmetic plastic surgery growing worldwide, interesting news about rejuvenation surgery continues to come to Beverly Hills from far flung locations.

Stuart Linder, M.D. (whose Nome de plume here is “Dr. Body”) and Robert Kotler, M.D. (who blogs as “Dr. Face”) follow news-making events from around the world.

For your consideration, Doctors Face and Body pass along a few of the more noteworthy items.

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News Item: While most medical tourist firms in America send patients to distant lands, one, MedCareLink.com also makes arrangements for international travelers to come to the U.S. for all type medical procedures, including cosmetic surgery. (Read more about international travelers and plastic surgery in America.)

Dr. Face: (Dr. Kotler) It’s like we’ve always said – the U.S. has been known for its world class medical system for decades. Without bragging, I can state that American medicine has the best researchers, hospitals, medical schools and practitioners.

Dr. Body: (Dr. Linder) While there are many cost-conscious Americans who travel to emerging nations like India, Turkey or Thailand for medical care, there are more people in distant lands – people like Saudi princes and kings, other nations’ prime ministers and heads of state – who choose U.S. shores for their treatment.

Dr. Face: International travelers who come to Beverly Hills for cosmetic surgery often say that other nations’ medical systems assign surgeons after the patient has been on a waiting list. But in the U.S., patients are accustomed to talking with their doctors before treatments or procedures are scheduled. The doctor-patient relationship here is more of a partnership.

Dr. Body: Here’s a perfect example: America’s third full face transplant was recently completed with hardly any notice at all from the public. (Read more about the face lift/ transplant.) It’s almost like people worldwide expect superlatives in America.

News Item: The University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom has launched a degreed course that purports to teach breast surgery online. (Read more about the breast surgery course.)

Dr. Face: Items like that could be one of the reasons why American medicine leads the world.

Dr. Body: Learning medicine – and most particularly, any type of surgery – requires a constant hands-on approach. While that course at East Anglia is 80 percent online and 20 percent done in practical work, there is no escaping the traditional expert professor – student arrangement to learn such a complex surgery as breast reconstruction.

Dr. Face: I remember my four years in medical school, five years in cosmetic surgery training and another year of fellowship working at the side of an older, more experienced plastic surgeon as eating, sleeping and breathing medicine and cosmetic plastic surgery.

Dr. Body: I remember one student in anatomy who wrote on an anatomy exam: “There are three kinds of blood vessels: arteries, vanes and caterpillars. (Of course, he meant ‘arteries, veins and capillaries.’) Anyhow I think he’s practicing in East Anglia now.

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Look at some before and after pictures of Dr. Linder’s breast augmentation revisions. (“Revisions” means he repaired the work of another surgeon elsewhere who botched the first procedure.)

View some of Dr. Kotler’s rhinoplasty revisions.

After Plastic Surgery

While cosmetic plastic surgery has swept the entire planet, the eminent Beverly Hills board-certified cosmetic plastic surgeon Robert Kotler, M.D.  (who blogs as “Dr. Face”) and Stuart Linder, M.D. (whose Nome de plume here is “Dr. Body”) follow the plastic surgery news on the world stage.

Here, they choose  a few of the more noteworthy items.

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News Item: Look like Shakespeare? According to the Shanghai Daily, a well-heeled author, Zhang Yiyi, has set aside $153,000 and four years’ time to have ten plastic surgery face lift procedures to make him look like a dead ringer for English playwright William Shakespeare. (Read more about the Zang’s plastic surgery plans.)

Dr. Face: Thumbs down!

Dr. Body: Double thumbs down!

Dr. Face: Plastic surgery can only make you look like the best version of yourself.

Dr. Body: We’ve seen some off-the-wall contests here in America featuring potential patients who want cosmetic surgery to look like Carmen Electra, Brad Pitt or some other favorite celebrity. One contest winner was supposed to have a surgically-supplied version of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s chest. But such surgery does not work for many reasons, primarily because you would need all of the celebrity’s various body characteristics, skin thickness, bone structure and so on.

Dr. Face: Besides, why Shakespeare? Who wants to look 447 years old?

News item: Plastic Surgery is now the 4^th leading expenditure in China. (Read the news about cosmetic surgery in China.)

Dr. Body: As I understand it, people in China spend their money in the following order: housing, cars, vacations and then cosmetic plastic surgery.

Dr. Face: Plastic surgery has simply exploded in popularity in China. The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) found in 2009 that China was only behind America in numbers of plastic surgery procedures performed.

Dr. Body: Perhaps they have caught up by now?

Dr. Face: That would also mean such a rapidly growing field needs better regulation. Which apparently does not yet exist. For instance,  one British journalist went to a hair salon and noticed an eye lift operation going on in the chair next to hers. There will be more to come from China about making plastic surgery safer.

News Item: According to The National, an Arabic business and lifestyle publication, ambitious men in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) are actively embracing plastic surgery to advance their careers. (Learn more about Arabian  plastic surgery.)

Dr. Body: Thumbs up!

Dr. Face: Ditto!

Dr. Body: Given the recent economy and the many men and women looking for work, that trend is actually going on in quite a few nations. Women job seekers often inquire about liposuction, breast implants and – after their families are complete – tummy tucks.

Dr. Face:  Our practice sees quite a few job seekers looking for upper and lower eye lifts, nose jobs and face lifts. In virtually all cases, a surgical rejuvenation works because the person looks more refreshed and energetic. Another thing working against older workers: when facial skin starts to sag and develop deep wrinkles, you can appear angry, weary or sad to co-workers when you actually feel no such emotions at all.

Dr. Body: However, looking good alone won’t get anybody a job, the entertainment industry notwithstanding. I heard about one woman who wrote on her job application: “I’m a rabid typist.”

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Known as superspecialists, Drs Body and Face specialize in revision surgery which repairs unsatisfactory results done by other surgeons in other locations.

Read more about Dr. Kotler’s International and revision cosmetic surgery patients.

Learn more about Dr. Linder’s worldwide plastic surgery revision patients.

Doctors Face and Body offer an expense and time-saving service to their many international patients who are in Beverly Hills for a short time only. U.S. patients also take advantage of it.

Because Dr. Face (who in real life is the imminent Robert Kotler, M.D.) only performs procedures of the face while Dr. Body specializes in plastic surgery of the body, the duo have teamed up to do patients’ plastic surgery in one surgical session. (Dr. Body is Stuart Linder, M.D.)

Two surgeons operating on a single patient in one surgical session is a rare service in American plastic surgery. Additionally, both Dr. Face and Body specialize in revision surgeries, demanding procedures that repair previous cosmetic surgery that was not done well elsewhere.

Here, Doctors Face and Body explain how the two surgeons-at-once service works.

(See a Facebook picture of Drs. Face and Body in the plastic surgery operating room.)

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Dr. Face (Dr. Kotler): Our most recent patient, a 40-year-old nurse from Japan, said she appreciated the close scheduling appointments on our two-on-one plastic surgery system.

Dr. Body (Dr. Linder): Well, she certainly knew how to research cosmetic plastic surgery over the Internet. She wanted to have cosmetic and functional nasal surgery and an upper eyelid and brow lift. Plus, she wanted her 20-year-old silicone breast implants replaced.

Dr. Face: Don’t you have a map showing the worldwide locations from which our international patients have traveled?

Dr. Body: I do. Just go to my plastic surgery website to see a dynamic global and U.S. map of the 39 nations from which our patients have traveled.

Dr. Face: Tit for tat, doctor! I think our readers should have a chance to see some of my 4,000 nose jobs, many of which are done on international patients.

Dr. Body: Anyhow, as soon as our most recent patient was finished with your consultation, all she had to do was walk right across the street where my office is located and have the consultation for her breast surgery.

Dr. Face: She came all the way from Japan because she wanted to see superspecialists, cosmetic surgeons who specialize in only a handful of procedures.

Dr. Body: Medicine is so highly specialized these days. There are even some heart surgeons who specialize in operating on just one area, like the valves, of the heart. So it makes sense for a plastic surgeon to specialize in either surgery of the neck and head or surgery of the body.

Dr. Face: When we get into the operating room, you usually do your procedures first, although this time, I did my work first. Our common patient was put under the lightest anesthesia because she had a brow lift and we needed her cooperation to bring her to a sitting position to make sure everything was nicely symmetrical and balanced in her forehead. We also needed to see her open and close her eyes.

Dr. Body: Then she went under a deeper general anesthesia so I could do her breast revision.

Dr. Face: Sum total, two surgeons, two procedures…

Dr. Body: But in one surgical session, with one session of anesthesia, and one recovery period!

Dr. Face: Right you are doctor. Think what the patient would have to do otherwise.

Dr. Body: Sure, go to consolation, pre-surgical and follow-up visits in two separate surgeons’ offices in addition to going to two surgical centers, going under anesthesia twice and going through recovery twice.

Dr. Face:  Patients often ask why I limit my practice to six most common facial procedures and particularly nasal surgery.

Dr. Body: Same for me. I am asked why I do only body and no facial surgery.

Dr. Face:  I usually explain that restricting my practice to facial procedures and performing them over and over, brings better results because repetition breeds excellence. And, developing proficiency gives patients surgery with less time in the operating room. That translated to faster healing with less bruising and bleeding and, often, a quicker return to work or the home nation.

Dr. Body: I usually explain that “revision” means touching up work that is not ideal. For instance, I have one surgery coming up in which a woman had four breast surgeries in three years in her home nation and her breast still do not sit correctly on her body.

Dr. Face: I often explain that super-specialization is a normal thing in our times. Apply it to music, for instance.

Dr. Body: Music? How?

Dr. Face:  Well, a classical violinist specializes in classical music and sometimes just the music of two or three composers only. But I’m willing to bet that violinist does not play a bluegrass fiddle. And, likewise, you won’t see a bluegrass fiddle playing tackling Mozart!

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Read more about Dr. Kotler’s International cosmetic surgery patients.

Learn more about Dr. Linder’s revision breast surgery patients who come from afar for plastic surgery.

Chinese Singer Wang Bei

Stuart Linder, M.D. (“Dr. Body”) and Robert Kotler, M.D. (“Dr. Face”) follow world news from their offices in Beverly Hills and noticed with alarm the death of top Chinese pop singer, Wang Bei who was undergoing a chin reduction procedure.

In the aftermath, many – both in and out of China — are calling for a crack-down on how cosmetic plastic surgery procedures are done.

Drs. Face and Body suggest what Chinese officials could do to make sure cosmetic surgery is performed under the safest conditions known to medical science.

Doctors Face and Body  jointly belong to the following medical organizations:

• American Medical Association
• American Board of Plastic Surgery
• The American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery and Reconstructive Surgery.

Take a look at Dr. Body’s breast revision before and after pictures.

View some of Dr. Face’s before and after pictures of nose job revisions

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Dr. Face (Dr. Kotler): The article I read about Wang Bei was by-lined by a British reporter who sat down one day in a beauty salon for a hairdo and noticed an upper eye lift going on in the chair next to her.

Dr. Body (Dr. Linder): That’s right. At the same time, China already has an established plastic surgery industry with top professionals adding thoughtful, insightful articles to the professional journals that are read worldwide. Last year, China saw three million plastic surgery procedures and slightly more breast augmentation cases than the U.S.

Dr. Face: So apparently, the Chinese cosmetic plastic surgery industry needs a few guidelines, rules and regulations.

Dr. Body: I think so, too. News accounts reported Wang Bei was having a chin reduction via a grinding technique and received a nick in a vein that allowed blood to enter her breathing tube. She died after what has been described as an “anesthesia accident” and “complications from anesthesia.”

Dr. Face: That probably means blood and mucous entered her lungs, whereupon she suffocated or possibly suffered a heart attack due to the strain on her lungs.

Dr. Body: That tells me that anesthesia was being delivered by an unqualified or untrained person. Or worse, the plastic surgeon was performing the anesthesia him-or-herself.

Dr. Face: So all of China is now calling for a crack-down on cosmetic plastic surgery. Where should they start?

Dr. Body: First, make sure that all surgeons performing plastic surgery are trained in that type of surgery. To be competent, anywhere from five to eight years of training after the M.D. degree are required, with a lot of surgery done under supervision of older surgeons and professors.

Dr. Face: The next step would be certifying  those surgeons by a board of highly experienced plastic surgery examiners. A candidate surgeon would have to present at least a year’s worth of surgical cases for examination, and then pass a written and oral exam. Re-certification should take place every five or ten years.

Dr. Body: The next step should be passing laws that require every surgery center to be certified by an examining body. I noticed that one of the gold standard organizations of surgery center certifications, JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accredited Health Organizations) now has a very active International arm which is inspecting and certifying many surgical centers in India, Turkey and other developing nations. It would be a very simple step for China to invite the International JCAHO in to perform that task there. (Read more about what constitutes a safer plastic surgery operating room.)

Dr. Face:  To make cosmetic surgery as safe as possible, China would also need laws requiring cosmetic plastic surgery to take place in those certified operating rooms. As the British reporter noticed, a beauty salon is no place for even a minor procedure.  Plastic surgery is still surgery nonetheless with lists of risks that can be greatly lessened in properly certified surgery centers.

Dr. Body: And of course, the crux of the Wang Bei case was the “anesthesia accident.” Yet another rule should be that plastic surgery procedures should have participation by a board-certified anesthesiologist ,who is also an M.D. and highly trained in keeping the patient safe, pain free and constantly breathing. Had a trained, experienced anesthesiologist been in attendance at Wang Bei’s procedure, that doctor would have known exactly what to do to save her life.

Dr. Face: The enforcement for all this would be the surgery center certifying body. If any surgical center failed inspection, it would lose its license and no procedures could be done there.

Dr. Body: I think all plastic surgeons should have hospital privileges, too. In that system, a local hospital, or hospitals,  have investigated the surgeon on its own and grants him or her the privilege of admitting patients with only a moment’s notice, just in case anything does go terribly wrong.

Dr. Face: What else needs to be done?

Dr. Body: People who are interested in having plastic surgery should know about all this. They should especially know how to select a properly trained and experienced plastic surgeon. (Read more about locating a qualified plastic surgeon in any nation.)

Dr. Face: The Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics appears to be the certifying body for surgeons and should also do all they can to inform the public about safe cosmetic surgery practices.

Dr. Body: That’s a tall but necessary order and we wish them the best of luck! If we can do anything to help, just let us know.

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If you liked this blog post, you may also like:

*American Plastic Surgeons: Do-Over Specialists

*Plastic Surgery Websites: How to Read them

*How to do plastic surgery “Virtual” Visits With Surgeons

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.

Here’s their take on plastic surgery and New Rules.

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Dr. Face (Dr. Kotler): By now, everybody knows that California now requires – under the so-called “Donda West law” — a physical exam for every patient going under the knife of a plastic surgeon or a cosmetic surgeon.

Dr. Body (Dr. Linder): That is basically just good medical practice, supported by the American Association of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and others to make sure that a cosmetic plastic surgery patient is healthy enough for surgery.

Dr. Face: But I noticed a new law in New York State that requires all plastic surgery procedures to take place in a certified facility. (For a quick reminder of the certifications a surgical center can have, take a quick look at our previous blog post about plastic surgery center certifications.)

Dr. Body: Unfortunately, in America, there is no national law requiring surgeries to take place in certified facilities.

Dr. Face: So the consumer has to check it out on his or her own. But it’s an important consideration because many private American doctors have operatories within their office complexes.

Dr. Body: And if you look around at some new rules and laws worldwide, you’ll see a few more things that could make plastic surgery even safer.

Dr. Face: For instance?

Dr. Body: In Canada, a court has upheld the right of the college overseeing doctors to send inspectors into private clinics to examine their practices.

Dr. Face: So the college that oversees my specialty, head and neck surgery, could send a professor to see how I do things?

Dr. Body: Right!

Dr. Face: Not a bad idea. I recently read that the College of Cosmetic Surgery in Australia requires plastic surgeons to fully explain the risks of all procedures and to standardize the way before and after plastic surgery pictures are taken.

Dr. Body: That’s also good idea and something that any American plastic surgeon would be pleased to do.

Dr. Face:  I can think of a few new rules, I would like to add.

Dr. Body:  Such as?

Dr. Face: Any cosmetic surgeon performing surgery should have hospital privileges. That means the physician must have at least one hospital appointment so that, in an emergency, he can immediately get his patient into a full-service environment.

Dr. Body: Yes, and speaking of hospitals, prospective patients need to know that hospitals are expert in credentialing. Choosing a plastic surgeon who has excellent hospital privileges means that doctor has been fully cleared to perform the procedure – the face lift, the breast augmentation or whatever – you are considering.

Dr. Face:  Another new rule I would like to see is one that requires physicians to advertise their specialty only if they have board certification in that specialty.

Dr. Body: I’ve noticed that, too. Some cosmetic plastic surgeons advertise they are “board certified.” But the certification is in gynecology, internal medicine, neurology or some other discipline not related to the cosmetic plastic surgery arts.

Dr. Face: Muddying the waters even more are non-boards like the Board of Laser Surgery. But the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) only recognizes 23 major medical specialties.

Dr. Body: So it’s up to the consumer to check on the board or ask a potential surgeon during the first consultation: “Which board has certified you?”

Dr. Face:  You can also do that on your computer. Just go to the ABMS website, (http://www.abms.org) register and type the first and last name of the plastic surgeon you are considering into the box on the left that reads “Is Your Doctor Certified.”

Dr. Body: Consumers should do all this because, in America, any physician with a proper medical license can offer plastic surgery.

Dr. Face: Maybe we need another new law! Just look at all the extra training required to be certified in head and neck surgery: the physician must have – after getting the M.D. degree — two years of general surgery training and another four in head and neck surgery.

Dr. Body: To be board certified in plastic surgery, the physician needs three years general surgery training after getting the M.D. degree and then three to five years more training in plastic surgery.

Dr. Body: To receive the certification, a three to five person board of professors and other super specialists examine two years of the applicant’s cases, business practices and character.

Dr. Face:  And then it’s written and oral exams every ten years for re-certification.

Dr. Body: Is it any wonder we have gray hair by the time we start our practices?

Dr. Face: If we have any hair at all!

Read more about the cosmetic plastic surgery training of Dr. Face.

Here is the page about Dr. Body’s education and training in plastic surgery.

A Surgeon E-mailing

Ever think you may like to have cosmetic plastic surgery from the eminent Beverly Hills board-certified  plastic surgeon Stuart Linder, M.D (who blogs as Dr. Body)? Or, with the equally eminent Beverly Hills board certified cosmetic plastic surgeon Robert Kotler, M.D. who blogs as Dr. Face?

But there you are, 10,000 miles away from California in, say, Japan, Germany or maybe even Africa. And, like many others worldwide, you may be interested in having cosmetic plastic surgery in Beverly Hills. But who has the time to maybe go and see?

Thanks to modern technology, you can learn more about the particulars of your case and the cosmetic surgery you may be considering without physically traveling to Beverly Hills. How? Doctors Face and Body both offer “virtual” consultations through email, Skype and on the phone.

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Dr. Body (Dr. Linder): Keeping up with your e-mail, doctor?

Dr. Face: (Dr. Kotler): Yes, indeed. More patients are asking to set up a “virtual” consultation while considering coming here to Beverly Hills for cosmetic plastic surgery.

Dr. Body: I recently had a woman from San Tropez, France, e-mail me and explain that she had breast surgery twice near her home but still had no cleavage!

Dr. Face: Does she want a breast revision?

Dr. Body: She’s already been here and had the revision breast surgery but our relationship started with an e-mail exchange, including photos. Same thing for some breast revision surgery patients from Denmark and from London.

Dr. Face: I suppose you do a virtual consult like my office does? We like to use Skype as much as possible and get a set of photos through e-mail or regular mail showing the area a person wants treated, their medical history and other information. By the time we get together on the phone to discuss the case, I have also sent the person our computer generated “after” plastic surgery pictures. And asked the person to take care of the physical and other pre-surgery chores before leaving home. (Read more about how distant plastic surgery patients have virtual consultations.)

Dr. Body: Yes, it’s basically the same system although we don’t use predictive pictures. The beauty is, my very capable assistant, Adriana, collects all the information. Then, when I talk to the patient on the phone or through Skype, I have a complete file on the patient. It’s a lot like talking to the person, well, in person.

Dr. Face: I know you do the same thing as I: after the international traveler gets here, he or she comes to my office and we go over everything again as if it were the first time we met. All details are covered and we spend as much time as needed.

Dr. Body: Sure, there are some things in plastic surgery that require hands-on touching that can’t be done in a teleconference or a video conference. But the lion’s share can be completed remotely.

Dr. Face:  An English chap e-mailed recently about his large nose and receding chin line. We took care of all the details and I also explained how the rhinoplasty surgery would be done and provided the cost of cosmetic plastic surgery. We also arranged a limousine pickup from the airport to his hotel. After several days to decompress, he came to my office for an in-person exam.

Dr. Body: Did he also make a vacation out of his stay?

Dr. Face: He did; he stayed for two weeks. He had some business matters to take care of but worked in day visits to Santa Barbara and San Diego.

Dr. Body: The English are very fond of visiting Italy due to its much, much better weather; so most English visitors think those two places in California are the most like Italy. That’s good because we want patients to stay here for at least 10 days after surgery.

Dr. Face: I read a recent study in the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare that compared a group of patients making both virtual and in-person doctor visits.

Dr. Body: What did they find?

Dr. Face: One of the groups graded the satisfaction rate on the in-person visits at 80 percent and the virtual visits at 84 percent.

Dr. Body: Where can you read that?

Dr. Face:  Just go to: Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare.

Dr. Body: I recently completed a surgery on a Vietnamese woman who spent her after surgery time in Beverly Hills meeting with agents and film producers. Our relationship also started with an e-mail request and pictures from her home nation.

Dr. Face: Speaking of pictures, you can also read more about the best way to take before plastic surgery pictures of yourself for a surgeon’s use during a virtual visit.

Take a look at Dr. Body’s before and after plastic surgery pictures

Here are the before and after cosmetic plastic surgery pictures from the office of Dr. Face

Worldwide, recipients of plastic surgery procedures have sent their post-surgical reactions (and thanks) to Stuart Linder, M.D. (who blogs as Dr. Body) and to

Jointly, Drs. Face and Body have 60 years of experience performing cosmetic plastic surgery patients on 10,000 patients, many of whom have traveled to Beverly Hills from foreign lands.

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Dr. Face (Dr. Kotler): I received an interesting letter from a potential Italian patient. The man is very good at crunching numbers about the cost of plastic surgery.

Dr. Body (Dr. Linder): What did he have to say?

Dr. Face:  He has in mind coming here for a rhinoplasty and tells me it costs less for him to fly to Beverly Hills, have surgery, recover for ten days and then fly back home rather than have a similar surgery in Switzerland…..which is two hours from his home.

Dr. Body: And so the relatively weak dollar has spoken!

Dr. Face: What has your patient mail revealed lately, doctor?

Dr. Body: Well, I hear from former patients frequently although none are as good with an adding machine as your Italian correspondent.

Dr. Face:  Such as?

Dr. Body: Listen to this one: D.A., a Canadian woman from Alberta, sent a note saying how she was hesitant at first to cross the border after she had a botched breast augmentation near her home. But she came to Beverly Hills for a revision breast enhancement anyhow. After she healed, she wrote, and I quote: “I’m so glad I made the trip! I’ve got the hottest tatas ever!”

Dr. Face: I received a similar letter from a former rhinoplasty patient, Salome S. who flew here from Ethiopia. After going back home, she sent a note saying, “The hands of god must have guided you, as I feel so blessed!” I’m glad she was so pleased with nose surgery but, really, we don’t anoint people, we just do cosmetic plastic surgery!

Dr. Body: A flight from Ethiopia had to involve several stops at least. I received an extremely praiseworthy note from S.N., a woman from Singapore who came for a Beverly Hills breast lift and tummy tuck. She wrote: “I would make the 20-hour flight again to repair what having three children had taken away…”

Dr. Face:  20 hours in a plane! She should be anointed!

Dr. Body: L.K., another breast revision patient had breast enlargement in Hungary, her home country, but she did not like the results because one breast was higher than the other. After revision surgery in Beverly Hills, she sent back a note saying “her girls” are now bigger and they look the same.

Dr. Face: I saw another Italian patient for rhinoplasty who has no gripes at all about airplanes, probably because she is an attendant on international flights.  She writes that she thinks of us every time she looks at her nose in the mirror. Plus, when she tells friends about her nose job, they always tell her how natural her results looks.

Dr. Body: Here’s another good letter: A.M. from Puerto Rico had one of the most unusual complications known in breast surgery. She had three previous breast augmentations in her home country when the implants rolled together to form what is sometimes known as a “uniboob.” Medically, the condition is known as symmastia or a double bubble breast deformity. Look at her before and after breast surgery revision pictures and you can see how rare the condition is. I might also add – with all modesty – it is equally rare to find a breast revision surgeon with symmastia repair experience.

Dr. Face:  We also have some international patients from Indonesia, Kuwait and a few other nations who have second homes in Los Angeles or Beverly Hills. They frequently have cosmetic surgery for themselves, their teens and other family members while visiting. Some live here half of each year.

Dr. Body: What types of services does your office provide for international patients?

Dr. Face: Because California law and good medical ethnics require doing surgery only on healthy patients, we must have a physical exam completed before surgery. But it can be done from the patient’s home nation. International patients always enjoy looking at before and after facial plastic surgery pictures, too.

Dr. Body: Same for us, our patients must have a physical exam, too. Do you also do “virtual exams” so that you give patients a brief look through email, Skype or over the phone?

Dr. Face:  Indeed we do, doctor! And that will be the topic – Virtual Exams – of our next blog post.

Read how cosmetic plastic surgery appointments work for Dr. Kotler’s Out-of-Town Patients.

Learn how international patients can make arrangements for plastic surgery with Dr. Linder.

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