At the beginning of the plastic surgery process, you will meet with a surgeon in an initial consultation to discuss surgery options. Somerset Plastic Surgery offers facial, breast, body, and skin procedures. Here is the information the plastic surgeon needs to know:
Appearance and Health Goals
Cosmetic and reconstructive procedures are able to help with scarring, health conditions, or overall appearance. During a consultation, you have the opportunity to review your surgery goals with your plastic surgeon. These may include
- Breathing: improvement: Past trauma or congenital issues are able to affect your ability to breathe through your nose. A rhinoplasty procedure helps reshape the nose.
- Skin tightening: Reducing wrinkles and removing excess fat from the eyelids or face promotes a more youthful look. Surgical options include facelifts, brow lifts, and eyelid surgeries.
- Back pain reduction: Women with larger breasts may experience neck and back pain or skin rashes. Breast reduction surgery reduces fat and glandular tissue to form proportional breasts.
- Breast reconstruction: Cancer treatments may require a mastectomy, or breast removal. Breast reconstruction surgery creates new breast mounds.
Other potential goals are excess skin removal after weight loss or body reshaping after pregnancy. Surgeons are able to perform arm lifts, liposuctions, and abdominoplasties to shape your arms, abdomen, and waist. Bringing reference photos can help convey your objectives.
Knowing your goals allows the surgeon to customize a treatment plan for you. They will review surgery options that align with your goals, discussing potential results with you to help align your expectations and assist you with making informed decisions. We offer before and after photos of our surgeries on our website to display the work we do and offer insights into results.
Discuss the possibility of combining surgeries with your surgeon. This process can help you achieve more of your goals while undergoing fewer procedures. For example, surgeons are able to perform a browlift and eyelid surgery simultaneously.
Personal and Family Medical History
To determine whether you are a candidate for specific surgeries, the surgeon will require your personal medical history. Practices offer intake forms for you to complete ahead of time. Forms for established and new patients are available on our website for your convenience. Include information about past health conditions, previous illnesses, and surgeries. List any current health issues you are experiencing.
Reputable surgeons prioritize your health and safety. Knowing your medical history allows the surgeon to plan appropriate treatments and prevent risks. Diabetes and cardiovascular issues may impact your candidacy for specific surgeries, as they are able to cause complications with surgeries. As some conditions are genetic, you will be required to provide your family’s medical history as well. Include cancer history or family heart conditions.
During the consultation, your surgeon will go over your health information and may ask follow-up questions. They will also perform an assessment of the area that will be impacted during surgery. This allows your surgeon the opportunity to find underlying conditions that impact candidacy. If health issues eliminate your chosen procedure, the surgeon can discuss alternatives with you.
Allergies and Medications
Provide your surgeon with information on any allergies you have. Having information about your allergies to medications and anesthesia allows the surgeon to create an appropriate treatment plan for your surgical and post-surgical treatment and prevent negative reactions. On your intake form, include information on family allergies as well.
Talk to your surgeon about any medication you are currently taking. This includes vitamins, supplements, and herbal products. You may need to stop taking specific drugs as part of your surgery preparations, as aspirin and anti-inflammatory drugs are able to increase bleeding risks.
Current Lifestyle Habits
Go over your current lifestyle habits with the surgeon. This can include talking about alcohol and tobacco consumption, drug use, and exercise levels. Knowing your lifestyle allows the surgeon to give you specific and accurate pre-surgery instructions.
Pre-surgery preparation helps promote beneficial results for your procedure. Instructions from your surgeon may include making changes to your lifestyle. Examples include:
- Avoiding alcohol: The lack of alcohol improves platelet amounts in your blood. This reduces bleeding and bruising during treatment.
- Quitting smoking: Quitting the use of tobacco products helps promote healing after surgery. Without nicotine, blood vessels are able to send nutrients and oxygen to the recovering tissues.
- Adjusting diet and exercise: Regular exercise and a balanced diet help with overall physical health. This can help reduce recovery time and reduce the chances of complications.
Consult With a Plastic Surgeon
Your surgeon is able to answer your questions during your consultation and explain the surgical process to you. Providing information about your health allows both you and your surgeon to adequately prepare for your plastic surgery procedure to promote the best results. Somerset Plastic Surgery also offers BOTOX® and Juvéderm procedures. To meet with a plastic surgeon, contact us today.