Questions To Ask Your Cosmetic Surgeon

If you are thinking about having cosmetic surgery done, then it is generally recommended that you see 3-5 cosmetic surgeons so that you can compare them and choose the one that will be the best for you. In order to do this however, you need some way of screening each potential cosmetic surgeon on your list and the cosmetic surgery companies that they work for.

You may for example, have a list of 10 potential cosmetic surgery companies which you could go with, but after your screening process, you find that half of those 10 are not suitable for you or you were not impressed with how they treated you.

Although the screening process itself can take some time to do, in the long run, it will save you a lot more time as you won’t have to waste your time visiting plastic surgeons who are not suitable for the procedure that you want to have done.

Once you have separated the good from the bad, it will also then become a lot easier for you to decide which plastic surgeons you would like to meet face to face and ultimately, which surgeon you will choose for your procedure.

To help you with your screening process, use the information given in this article. Also, don’t be afraid to ask a cosmetic surgery company any other questions that you may have, as the more information you can get from them the more informed of a decision you are likely to make later on.

Finally, it is important to note that regardless of whether you are planning on having a major surgical procedure done such as rhinoplasty or breast augmentation surgery, or whether you are planning on a non surgical procedure such as Botox or laser skin resurfacing, please do not make the mistake of rushing into your procedure without doing the research first.

In fact, this is the number one mistake that people make when it comes to cosmetic surgery. They decide that they want to change the way that they look, and then try to find a way to accomplish that goal as quickly as possible.

If you are lucky, things will work out fine and you will get a good result. But if you are not so lucky, as some people experience, you could end up with awful looking plastic surgery that leaves you feeling even more self conscious about your appearance than before you had your procedure.

So try to resist the temptation of rushing into surgery. Taking a little time now to educate yourself and find the best plastic surgeon is going to pay off in the long run by greatly reducing the risks you face from your procedure, and greatly increasing the chance of you getting a successful result that you are happy with.

Ok, so now with that out the way, lets look at some of the steps you should take and questions that you should ask when approaching a cosmetic surgery company and booking a consultation with a cosmetic surgeon.

Calling A Cosmetic Surgery Company

How you are treated when you call up a cosmetic surgery company or contact them by email, can very often be a good indication as to the overall quality of service you are likely to receive from them.

Some signs of a good cosmetic surgery company are:

• Your phone call is answered promptly or you receive a reply to your email quickly.

Some companies may have many people calling them, in which case you may be left on hold. That’s ok providing its not for too long. But if you call and nobody answers or you are left on hold for a long time, go to another company that is able to adequately staff their operation.

When it comes to email, you should also expect a quick reply. I know of several companies that will email you back the same day and usually within a few hours. Now that’s good service! But within 2 days would also be acceptable.

The reason you want to be able to contact a cosmetic surgery company easily and be able to speak with someone quickly is because if you do have plastic surgery with them and something goes wrong, then you want to know that the company you are dealing with will be there to take your call and respond to your needs promptly.

• When you call to speak to someone about the procedure you want to have done you are not put on hold multiple times.

Being put on hold once or twice may be necessary, but if you are continually being put on hold it usually means that either the person you are speaking with doesn’t have the relevant information you need or they are taking other calls.

In both cases, this could indicate a company that does not adequately train its staff and does not have enough staff to cope with the number of enquiries they are getting.

• The staff member you call gives you plenty of time to speak with them, and you don’t feel rushed or that they want to end the call as soon as they can.

When you speak with a staff member you should be treated like an individual which means that your needs should come first and be catered to adequately and to your satisfaction.

If you feel that you are being rushed on the phone or that the other person doesn’t really care what you are saying or isn’t even listening to you, hang up the phone and call another cosmetic surgery company.

• You are offered additional information sent to your home address.

This is usually a good sign that the company wants to give you as much information as possible to help you make up your mind in your own time. Be careful however of companies who just send you information, when what you really want is to speak with someone in person and ask them questions.

Otherwise, they are just taking the lazy way out by sending you some information on plastic surgery to your home without bothering to take the time to speak with you properly.

• The staff member is very understanding of your schedule, whether you want cosmetic surgery in a few months or in 6 months.

Everyone has a certain time when they would like to have cosmetic surgery. This may be dictated by when they can get time off work for their surgery, or by other factors such as commitments they have to their friends or family. Whatever your reason is, a good cosmetic surgery company will try to accommodate your schedule as best as they can in order to make your procedure as convenient for you as possible.

However, it is unrealistic to expect to have cosmetic surgery whenever you want as there will be other people who are booked in ahead of you. If you want to have plastic surgery with a well known and popular cosmetic surgeon, your chance of getting your surgery date for exactly when you want it will be even slimmer.

But you should still give a date or dates when you would like your surgery, and ask if it would be possible to put yourself on a cancellation list. Basically, if you are on this list and anyone cancels on the days that you said you would be available for surgery, you can then have your surgery on that date if you still want it.

Be sure to ask about this in advance however, as not all cosmetic surgery companies may offer this type of arrangement.

What To Ask A Plastic Surgeon

A good plastic surgery company will want you to be fully informed about the procedure you are thinking of having done. As a result, you should not feel as though you are being rushed or forced into making any decision which you are not ready to make.

Remember, it is you who is the paying customer and so you have the right to ask as many questions as you feel is necessary.

Some plastic surgeons will give you the exact opposite treatment. They will try to rush you into making a decision, such as by giving you a time limited discount, and brush over the risks of surgery so as not to try and put you off from having cosmetic surgery. Stay away from such surgeons, as they are unlikely to have your best interests at heart.

Below are some questions that you can ask during your screening process when contacting plastic surgery companies by phone or email or even when you meet with a plastic surgeon in person for a consultation.

• What sort of board certification does the surgeon have? And does their training include the procedure you want to have done?

A board certified plastic surgeon is a surgeon who has undergone training in general surgery in addition to further training for plastic surgery. A surgeon who is board certified, is therefore well qualified and capable of carrying out your procedure safely and to a high standard.

Board certification is the absolute minimum you want from any surgeon you go with because any doctor can call themselves a plastic surgeon without having undergone proper training in cosmetic surgery. Sometimes, you find less reputable doctors who have done a weekend plastic surgery course in which they have learnt the bare minimum in order to be able to carry out a particular procedure.

Your risk of something going wrong and getting a bad result is far higher with these types of “plastic surgeons”, so it is in your best interest to stay away from them as far as possible no matter how cheap they offer to do your procedure.

• Are you operating in an accredited surgery center or hospital? If not, does your office have an accredited surgical suite?

If your cosmetic surgeon has privileges to operate in a hospital or operates from an accredited medical facility, it means that the surgeons background has been checked out by other medical professionals and is deemed to be good enough to be working in that hospital.

This is a good sign and a quick way to separate the good surgeons from the bad ones.

• What types of anesthesia do you offer, and do you use a board certified anesthesiologist or a certified nurse anesthetist? Will the doctor or nurse sedate me?

Generally, it is better to have a board certified anesthesiologist or a certified nurse anesthetist as they are trained and qualified to sedate patients. The chance of something going wrong is therefore much lower when you have such specialists working alongside your surgeon.

• How long has the surgeon been in practice and how many years of surgical training have they received?

This is a very important question to ask because the longer a cosmetic surgeon has been practicing and the more training that they have had, the more experienced they are and the better results you are likely to get from that surgeon.

At a minimum, try to find a cosmetic surgeon who has been practicing for 5-10 years, as that will have given them plenty of time to practice on other patients rather than having to practice on you!

For very experienced surgeons who have been practicing cosmetic surgery for decades, you will probably find that they practice out of their own cosmetic surgery company and are recognised as some of the top cosmetic surgeons in your country. They are also likely to be the most expensive!

• What percentage of the surgeons procedures are devoted to cosmetic surgery? And how many times does the surgeon perform the procedure I want to have done each month?

Again, another very important question to ask as it could affect the results you get from a cosmetic surgeon.

The best plastic surgeons will do only plastic surgery. As a result, they do surgical procedures on a weekly basis and so are able to develop their skills to a high standard. Other types of surgeons however, may only do plastic surgery procedures in their spare time or in addition to their other duties.

As a result, such plastic surgeons may be less skilled at doing plastic surgery and if they do surgery infrequently, they may even be out of practice. Obviously, this will increase the risk of something going wrong or you getting a result that you are not entirely happy with.

So if you want cosmetic surgery, go to a company that only does cosmetic surgery and nothing else.

Note: Cosmetic surgery can include surgical procedures, such as abdominoplasty and facelifts, in addition to non surgical procedures such as microdermabrasion and collagen injections.

• What kind of follow up care or patient after care does your company provide?

Aftercare is a very important part of cosmetic surgery and involves how you are treated once your procedure has been completed. You should be made aware of what is expected of you after your procedure in terms of how long you are able to stay in the medical facility or hospital.

Most companies will only allow you to stay for a short period, so you will need to make arrangements to get home once your procedure has been done. At a minimum, the company you go with should be able to book you a cab home or arrange some other form of transportation for you.

For major types of cosmetic surgery, such as abdominoplasty or thigh lift surgery, you will be able to stay in the facility for longer than most other plastic surgery procedures and this should be included into the cost of your surgery.

If you are concerned about how you will cope during your recovery period, ask if they will send anyone to check up on you and when you are expected to return to your surgeon after your surgery for a checkup. With some procedures, such as rhinoplasty, you will be expected to return to your surgeon at a later date in order to remove the splint on your nose and to check that your nose is healing as it should do.

Finally, you should also be informed about any pain medication or antibiotics you are given, in addition to information on cleaning your wounds and changing your dressings. Obviously, you are not going to be given detailed information about this if you are just calling up asking for general information, but you should find out if such information will be available to you at a later date.

• What are the common complications for the procedure I want done?

All surgeries carry risks and cosmetic surgery is no different. You should be made fully aware of the risks that could happen during your procedure such as medical complications during surgery, the risk of getting a result you do not like and the risk of permanent damage to your body.

Although your chances of suffering from such complications will be greatly minimized if you go with a reputable cosmetic surgery company and cosmetic surgeon, they still can happen and so are something that you should be aware of and accepting of.

Remember, when it comes to cosmetic surgery there are no guarantees, so you must be prepared for all eventualities.

If you are told the risks are nothing to worry about or are not told about the risks of cosmetic surgery at all, be very wary of going with that company as they are likely purposefully not telling you about the risks of surgery so that you are not scared away.

A good cosmetic surgeon will tell you all the risks you face no matter how unpleasant those risks may be.

• What procedure does the surgeon perform most frequently?

You are likely to get the best results from a cosmetic surgeon who does your procedure and your procedure only.

So if you want rhinoplasty, look for the best rhinoplasty cosmetic surgeon you can find. If you want breast surgery, look for the best breast augmentation cosmetic surgeon you can find. And if you want a facelift, look for the best facelift cosmetic surgeon you can find.

By going with a specialist, you will know that they are well experienced and capable of doing your procedure to a high standard. If for no other reason than they have had a lot of practice!

The other type of surgeon that you can go with is known as a general plastic surgeon. Such surgeons carry out all types of plastic surgery, so one day they might be doing rhinoplasty on someones nose, the next day they may be inserting breast implants into a woman’s breasts and then the day after they may be sucking fat out of someones waist with liposuction surgery.

A general surgeon will have less practice doing one particular type of procedure, so they are unlikely to be as skilled as a specialist surgeon. They will however, be cheaper as they will usually work for the large national plastic surgery firms you see advertised in magazines or on TV.

So try to go with a plastic surgeon who does your procedure on a regular basis, and ideally, does it as their primary surgery.

• Who pays for the cost of a second or third surgery if it becomes necessary?

Not all cosmetic surgeries go according to plan, and so sometimes things go wrong which leave you with a result that you neither want nor were expecting. In such cases, what you would probably think of as “awful plastic surgery”, a secondary surgery called a “revision surgery” will be required to correct the results of your first surgery.

It is important that you find out the companies policy on revision surgeries, because not everyone has the money available to pay for a second surgery so soon after their first.

As a result, if you do get a bad plastic surgery result and don’t have the money for a second surgery, you could be left with a disfigured looking appearance until you are able to afford the second surgery. This is obviously a position nobody wants to be in, but it has happened to more people than you might imagine.

It is worth asking if you will have to pay for a revision surgery if one is required, or if a revision surgery will be carried out free of charge. If you do have to pay for a revision surgery, which is usually the case, this should be done at a discounted rate and should not be the full cost of your original surgery.

Feel Comfortable With Your Cosmetic Surgery Choice

You will be surprised at how much information you will be able to gather just calling or emailing cosmetic surgery companies, but not all of this information comes in the answers they give to your questions.

For example, some cosmetic surgery companies will respond quickly, providing lots of information and offering more information if required. Whilst other companies may take a long time to respond, and overall are not very helpful in addressing your questions and concerns.

Many high quality cosmetic surgery companies will also offer you a free consultation with the surgeon who could potentially be operating on you, whilst others make you pay for the consultation or only allow you to meet with a representative.

Because each cosmetic surgery company will treat you differently, it is very important that you contact as many as you can rather than just one. It is only by contacting many companies will you be able to compare the level of customer service they each offer.

However, it is important to note that even though your aim should be to choose the company offering the best quality service, that particular company may not be within your price range as generally the higher the quality of service you receive the higher the price you can expect to pay.

So you must be willing to balance quality with price, although your priority should obviously be on quality even if this means having to wait a little longer before you can afford to pay for your cosmetic surgery.