PLASTIC SURGERY FAQs
What to expect from a plastic surgery consultation
During your initial consultation you will sit at length with Dr. Ali and discuss your physical health, your emotional health and your goals for the procedure.
Dr. Ali will examine you to determine the best options for achieving your goals. If Dr. Ali believes your expectations are not aligned with expected results he will discuss this in depth.
It is critically important to be informative about:
- Past surgeries
- Past and current medical conditions
- Any medications and vitamins you are currently taking
- Any and all supplements you are using
- Allergies to drugs, foods, dyes and rubber
- Past experience with weight loss and the effect it had on your body
- Where applicable, your experience with pregnancy and post-pregnancy weight loss
- You expectations for the surgery
- Discussion of specifics, like history of nasal trauma or breathing problems (nose reshaping)
If you would like to have a friend or spouse accompany you to this meeting, we welcome their input and thoughts.
Common Reasons For Plastic Surgery
- Improve self-esteem.
- Improve level of confidence.
- Regain youthful looking breasts after pregnancy or weight loss.
- Look good in a bathing suit.
- Have a well-balanced and proportionate body.
- Better fit into clothes.
- Create a more appealing image for one’s partner or the opposite sex in general.
- Change the way you are perceived by the public and friends.
- Change the way people approach you, the way you approach them and the way you approach life.
We recommend that you consider any plastics surgery procedure for yourself, not for others.
Ask Yourself These Questions
Before you have cosmetic surgery, consider these questions and discuss them with your doctor.
- Do I really want to have this procedure?
- Am I willing to trust my body to anyone but a real specialist?
- Do I feel comfortable with this doctor?
- Am I confident about his or her qualifications, area of specialty and their facility?
- Does the doctor have training and experience in the specific procedure I am considering?
- Who would I want taking care of me if there is a complication?
- How would I feel if my work had to be re-done in a year because of incompetent work?
- What could it cost me if I get the wrong procedure or improper work?
- Is it worth it to look for the least expensive doctor?
Choosing a Plastic Surgeon
No amount of online research is a substitute for a professional consultation with a plastic surgeon who is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons. Your physician must be board certified in order to become a member of this Society, the most elite organization of plastic surgeons in the world.
When you set out to choose a surgeon, you may ask these questions on the phone to help you to find someone with a great deal of experience in breast surgery.
Qualifications
- Is the surgeon board-certified in plastic surgery? This is perhaps the most important question you can ask. Some surgeons are board-certified, but in non-surgical cosmetic procedures or even in other areas, such as ear, nose and throat. These doctors sometimes say that they are “cosmetic surgeons” but they lack the intense training and specific skills that the plastic surgeon may offer. Make sure to ask if the doctor is certified with the America Board of Plastic Surgeons and a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
- Ask to see the doctor’s board certification document. A board-certified plastic surgeon will be happy to show you their certification. Other doctors, when asked, will tell you why it doesn’t matter and their certification is just as good. A certificate from The American Board of Plastic Surgery is the real thing. A doctor with a certificate from the “American Board of Cosmetic Surgeons” is not a plastic surgeon. 10% of our practice is occupied with fixing the results of bad surgical work by people with insufficient training.
- Has the doctor had fellowship training in breast surgery? After four years of medical school and a four year residency, the best plastic surgeons then have fellowship training in breast surgery. This is the kind of doctor you want to be operating on you.
Area of specialty
- Does the surgeon specialize in breast augmentation, breast lift, breast reduction and breast reconstruction? This may sound like an obvious question, but there are surgeons out there who just do everything and do not have a lot of experience in breast surgery.
- Ask the doctor how long they have been in practice.
- Ask how many breast surgeries they have performed.
- Ask the doctor why they became a plastic surgeon.
Facility
- Which hospitals they are affiliated with? In case of an emergency, which hospital will they refer you to and who will take care of you? Some doctors may just turn you over to the emergency room because they have no relationship with a suitable hospital. Doctor Ali would actually continue to assist you, in such a case.
Procedure
- Ask many questions about the details of the procedure
- About about recovery time.
- Ask to see before and after pictures of work they have done.
- Ask to speak to previous breast surgery patients.
If you would like to schedule a plastic surgery consultation, or if you have a question for Doctor Ali, Contact us today.
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Pain Management
One of the main concerns of patients who are planning elective surgery is pain and recovery time. We have made great efforts to address this issue and have worked in collaboration with our anesthesiologist to make your recovery nearly pain free.
Our first step was to analyze the site that would cause pain after each procedure. We then planned injection of long-term local anesthetic into these areas. As expected, when local anesthetic solution was meticulously injected into specific areas at the end of surgery, a drastic reduction in pain was noticed. In some cases patients felt the procedure to be almost pain-free.
It is extremely gratifying to hear our patients tell us how pleasant their experience has been compared to a friend who may have gone to someone without such a dedicated pain management program.
In addition our anesthesiologists use a minimal amount of narcotics during the procedure which helps the patient to wake up from anesthesia faster without being nauseated. For patients who have a history of feeling sick after anesthesia, we also prescribe a medication which keeps their stomach calm for three days after the procedure.
With a good team approach, our patients experience an extremely pleasant recovery. We go to great lengths to keep you comfortable.