Women considering cosmetic enhancement should consider several factors when selecting a surgeon. The right plastic surgeon will be interested in learning more about your medical history and treatment goals.
Selecting the best surgeon for your treatment might be extremely difficult. Fortunately, finding the right surgeon for your needs may be done with a few easy steps.
Expertise
When a woman chooses cosmetic surgery, she wants an expert surgeon who can listen closely to her goals and work as a partner to achieve them. She needs a surgeon with years of experience and top-level surgical skills who will also be able to answer questions about the procedure’s risks and benefits.
Plastic surgeons like Joel Aronowitz are trained to make complex decisions under pressure. They are skilled at operating on the tiniest parts of the human body. They are adept at treating complex reconstructive surgeries, including repairing damaged tissue, reshaping facial features, and removing scars.
After years of training and long nights, however, a young plastic surgeon may be confronted with novel choices without knowing how to approach them or understanding their short- and long-term implications.
Experience
The greater your surgeon’s experience, the better they are at preventing complications or treating them effectively should they occur. Additionally, they will be better knowledgeable about your particular needs and will be able to deliver the results you desire.
During their career, plastic surgeons like Joel Aronowitz, MD, have the opportunity to treat many different patients in various situations. This allows them to learn how to handle high-stress situations, develop practical interpersonal communication skills, and understand the long-term ramifications of their decisions.
During your consultation, you should be sure that your surgeon has experience performing the procedure you are interested in. In addition, it is essential to ask about their complication rate and before-and-after pictures. Some surgeons utilize their varied experiences to provide personalized consultations.
Reputation
A surgeon can be the most respected and experienced in their field, but if bad online reviews turn off patients, they won’t schedule consultations. Elective surgeries are a serious business, and people want to know that their surgeon is highly respected, has deep experience in their area of expertise, and has performed thousands of tummy tucks and butt lifts.
Patients also look for a surgeon who is transparent about their procedures and will clearly explain the potential risks, complications, and realistic expectations involved in each process. The surgeon should also have a patient-friendly website that makes it easy to set up appointments, reschedule existing engagements, and exchange messages with the surgeon’s team.
Unfortunately, some plastic surgery practices use paid reviewers or fake accounts to bolster their reputations. This is a big no-no and can negatively affect a surgeon’s reputation.
Safety
Plastic surgeons have a unique opportunity to play a vital role in ensuring sustainable global surgical care. This can only be achieved if the needs of patients are put ahead of commercial considerations, and doctors place their professionalism at the heart of their practice.
Plastic and reconstructive surgery can have an immensely positive impact on a region, enhancing the quality of life and boosting the economy. However, the industry can be undermined by a lack of access to resources. This is especially the case with medical tourism, where surgeons have been found to operate on children with debilitating congenital disabilities who are unable to receive treatment locally.
Patient safety is paramount as cosmetic procedures performed outside the hospital setting continue to rise. This includes understanding and implementing guidelines such as the Universal Protocol regarding patient positioning.
Flexibility
Plastic surgery is a challenging, diverse field that allows practitioners flexibility to choose their professional lifestyle. In an area constantly evolving, this flexibility offers surgeons unparalleled job satisfaction.
Hospitals are tasked with reducing costs and maintaining patient safety in a rapidly changing healthcare system. A downstream consequence of this change is the requirement for ASPS and ABPS-certified plastic surgeons to maintain hospital privileges for their practice of reconstructive procedures.
While this is exquisitely logical from a patient safety viewpoint, it creates inequity along the revenue stream. For example, it is one thing to drain a postoperative hematoma from a DIEP flap patient and quite another to respond to an ER request for consultation on a superficial laceration or infected pressure sore.