What Matters Most About Cosmetic Surgery

What matters most with Cosmetic Surgery or Cosmetic Medical Aesthetics?

By; Brian Sidella – President & Founder, [mrktmade_shortcode config=”practice”]

If you’re reading this blog then you’re most likely a patient or perspective patient of [mrktmade_shortcode config=”practice”]. I want you to think for a moment not in terms of aesthetics but another part of medicine, cardiology. If you had a heart condition would you rely on a Groupon or similar Group Deal of the day to pick your cardiologist? Of course you wouldn’t. Like me you’d likely take time to research the best heart doctor in South Florida or maybe even expand your search nationally. So why then do so many people choose Group Deals to have cosmetic procedure done with the lure of low, low pricing instead of the reputation of the center and qualifications of the practitioners? This question has perplexed and confounded me because when someone is coming towards your face with a long and extremely sharp needle or scalpel, they had better know what the heck they are doing shouldn’t they?

It appears that many patients assume that because the term“cosmetic”is included in the description of many services that it’s kind of routine. The assumption is, if it’scosmeticit must be safe and most anyone can perform the service. Department stores and Sephora sell Cosmetics so isn’t it all the same?

Nothing in fact could be further from the truth. “Cosmetic” surgery while being an elective procedure is still very much surgery & the practice of medicine. The bare minimum qualifications for your surgeon is that they need to be a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon. Why? Let’s assume that all doctors who graduate from medical school are equal in terms of qualifications because at this point, they more or less are. But, this is where a fork in the road occurs… Most doctors will then go into a general residency and into practice without ever performing a single surgery of any type.

If you want to be a plastic surgeon however you will need (4) additional years of a general surgery residency followed by (2) years specializing in plastic surgery and in the case of Dr. LaGrasso another year of Fellowship training followed by rigorous board certification requirements. If you’re counting that’s 7 more years of surgical training “after” you’ve already received your title of M.D! In that time you will have likely performed hundreds to thousands of surgeries before you ever see your first patient in a private practice. You will also have seen & dealt with many life threatening conditions and operated on some patients who were more dead than alive prior to be being placed in your hands.

What should be alarming to you our perspective patient is that in Florida, any doctor, even those without ever having attended a surgical residency of any type not to mention a formal plastic surgery residency, can legally operate and perform cosmetic surgery such as Liposuction or Breast Augmentations. Now would you let just any doctor perform your or a loved one’s heart surgery? So why would anyone looking for Cosmetic Surgery trust their face or body to someone far less skilled than a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon? Well, hopefully now that you know, you won’t…

So how about BOTOX®, Dysport, Xeomin, Juvederm, Radiesse, Restylane and all the other injectables? You need to choose someone who specializes not just dabbles in medical aesthetics. At a minimum, the person bringing that needle to your face needs to a certified Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant and of course and M.D. They should also specialize in medical aesthetics. What does that mean? Some Dentist now inject BOTOX® & Fillers as do some family M.D. practitioners. If someone’s expertise is as a Dentist or Internist and they spend 90% of their time practicing those disciplines and 10% on medical aesthetics, just how skilled do you think they are at medical aesthetics? There are as an example, 7 nerves & 43 muscles in your face. These muscles work individually and collectively with nerves to control how your face moves/reacts to varying emotional states, speaking, surprise, anxiety, sadness and so much more. Working with Botox® & Fillers in the face is not simply possessing the proper degree to inject patients. It involves keen understanding of which muscles to inject, which to avoid, which muscles work together, which muscles oppose each other. You only gain real world expertise in Medical Aesthetics from having performed thousands of injectable medical aesthetic treatments.

At [mrktmade_shortcode config=”practice”] we practice medical aesthetics 100% of the time. Our certified aesthetics Nurse Practitioner Livia Manner has treated thousands of patients and performed countless thousands of medical aesthetic treatments. When you specialize in Medical Aesthetics, stay abreast of all the latest research in your chosen field, attend continuing education to keep at the top of your field and have a passion for what you do, you tend to get to a level few professionals achieve which translates into better patient comfort and results.

My wife litigation attorney Diana Santa Maria has in the past year has taken in cases that are truly horror stories. One patient who was injected by an unlicensed injector with a yet unknown substance spent over 2 months in a hospital and is permanently disfigured. Another patient went in for “simple” outpatient liposuction with a doctor who was never certified as a surgeon and certainly not a board certified plastic surgeon and contracted flesh eating bacteria that also left her permanently disfigured. In both these cases patients listed low price as the main reason they chose to have the procedures done. Two years ago in Weston a nurse died during Liposuction surgery from complications from Lidocaine toxicity from a doctor who was also never surgically trained nor certified. Her husband also said his wife chose the facility because of the advertised low price. There are many luxuries in life for which price shopping can save money. Medical Aesthetic’s & Cosmetic Surgery should never be one of them.

[mrktmade_shortcode config=”practice”] brings our patients the latest FDA approved services from caring dedicated and properly licensed professionals who are the very best in this field. So while price is important (and our prices are always competitive) it’s always secondary to safety, qualifications of staff & results.

So… if you ever receive medical aesthetic treatments somewhere else, please make sure they have the proper minimum qualifications and have the expertise to give you the results and safety you want. If you can’t afford to have a Cosmetic Surgery or Cosmetic Aesthetic treatment done, than wait. Don’t be lured by low prices & always remember these are MEDICAL treatments and need to be done by properly licensed, skilled & credentialed medical professionals.