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.

Perhaps you have seen Dr. Kotler on T.V.’s Dr. 90210 or Dr. Linder on The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) programs about American plastic surgery.

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Dr. Face (Dr. Kotler): I’ve noticed that some of my face lift and rhinoplasty patients, when returning for their after surgery check-up, mention how cold it was in the operating room.

Dr. Body (Dr. Linder): That’s understandable but there are some things that patients can do.

Dr. Face:  I think I know where you’re going but what do you have in mind exactly?

Dr. Body: Speaking up! If a patient is in any way uncomfortable, he or she should let somebody know. There are some very good medical reasons for a patient not to be chilly but we also want your surgery to be as pleasant as possible. We have blankets available.

Dr. Face: Of course. Remember that all our procedures are done under anesthesia so the patient will be made warm by the sheets and coverings placed over him or her. So recollections of  “the cold operating room” is only for the five short minutes before going to sleep. In the 1960s’, before air conditioning came into wide use in hospitals, the room could become stifling. As you observe, the huge lights produce heat and the surgeon is also encased in his surgical gowns.

Dr. Body: True enough, doctor. I personally like it cool in the operating room because bacteria grow like crazy in heat. Coolness tends to stifle any stray bacteria that have floated into the room.

Dr. Face:  A very warm room can also make the surgeon groggy or work without efficiency. Back in the pre-A.C. days, surgeons have been known to drip sweat onto patients!

Dr. Body: Today, our high-tech monitors measure the patients’ temperatures, blood pressure, carbon dioxide and oxygen saturation. So patients’ body temperature can be kept at the proper level.

Dr. Face: When needed, even in the pre-op and post-op areas, we can always rig up a special warmer, known as a Bair Blanket. It’s like a very light weight sleeping bag that blows warm air down its length and over the slumbering patient. Patients love it more than electric blankets.

Dr. Body: If anesthesia did not paralyze the muscles, we could watch for goose flesh!

Dr. Face:  If you tend to be “cold blooded”, ask your surgeon if it’s possible in his operating room to warm the fluids before they are transfused into you. We have little ovens to warm the intravenous fluids. Sorry, the one thing we can’t offer is a hot cup of coffee.

Dr. Body:  What did we ever do without microwave ovens?

Dr. Face: Large toaster-type warmers. Now, We use them now to warm ordinary blankets.

Dr. Body: Another place that some patient body heat is lost is in body surgery. If incisions are long, as in a tummy tuck or body shaping, some heat escapes through the incisions.

Dr. Face: There are even smaller Bair devices that warm smaller areas like only the legs or only the chest.

Dr. Body: Now, if somebody would just come up with a way for stethoscopes and other instruments to be instantly warm before touching anybody’s bare flesh!

Dr. Face: Actually, I’ve seen instrument warmers for the office; certainly gynecologists use them. Another way to warm a stethoscope is the old-fashioned way: the doctor, hands washed, presses the stethoscope against the palm of his hand. That’s the ultimate low-tech warmer.

NEXT: Both Dr. Face and Dr. Body are book authors. Dr. Face’s most recent book, “Secrets of a Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgery” about cosmetic plastic surgery can be seen online. You can also find Dr. Body’s book—The “Beverly Hills Shape” is about  plastic surgery of the body and is at online bookstores.

In our next post, we’ll tell how those books came to be and why they are valuable if you are coming to Beverly Hills for rejuvenation surgery.