Before You Undergo Plastic Surgery: The 6 Indispensible Steps
You are ready to make a change in how you look and have worked through the emotional issues involved with a major change in your appearance. Ready to schedule the surgery? Not yet! The following six steps are critical before you undergo a plastic surgery procedure.
1. Find the right surgeon. It’s always good to ask others in your community whose opinion you trust—and whose look is youthful and natural. Then make sure the surgeon receives favorable reviews for the specific procedure you want done. It’s always preferable, for example, to go with the surgeon who operates often, rather than a few times a month.
2. Review before and after pictures on the surgeon’s website. These should be actual patients with results that you like!
3. Learn everything possible about the procedure to prepare for your meeting with the surgeon. When you are informed, you are able to ask the right questions. Your surgeon should be open and willing to address any concerns you have. You are undergoing a major surgery, often requiring a significant financial commitment. You deserve a patient, thorough explanation of the procedure that leaves you comfortable, prepared, and excited about the potential results.
4. Be direct about your total financial responsibility. Consider all the financial options with your surgeon—in-house procedures are usually less expensive than those in surgical centers. Understand exactly how much time away from work is required. And get a handle on the cost of ointments, creams, prescriptions, and post-operative exams that may not be included in the initial surgery cost estimates. **However, surgical centers have more staff to provide a higher degree of safety.
5. Understand all of the risks associated with your planned procedure. All surgery involves risk, from infections, to adverse reactions to anesthesia, to allergic reactions to sutures. Specific plastic surgery procedures may involve additional risks. An excellent surgeon will have minimal adverse results, but be sure to have an in-depth, honest conversation about the possible risks as well as the benefits you can expect from the surgery.
6. Understand what you can do to prepare for the surgery to maximize healthy healing. Most surgeons require you to stop smoking before surgical procedures to enhance healing. You may have to make temporary changes in prescription medications, OTC pain medications you take, herbal supplements that can affect blood clotting, and alcohol use. Be sure to provide your surgeon with a list of all medications and supplements you take as well as an accurate review of your life style, from alcohol/drug use, to exercise and diet, and levels of stress. All can impact your ability to heal quickly.
By taking these steps, you can will increase your chances for pleasing results–aesthetically, emotionally, and financially!
