How to Plan your Surgery

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As I continue my seventeenth year at Yager Esthetics, I am fortunate to have built a busy and successful plastic surgery practice. I work very hard to minimize the wait for consults and surgery, but will not do more than I can safely manage with professionalism and personal attention.

While I operate two to three days every week, work, life, and school sometimes limit my patients as to when they can get the necessary time needed to recover properly. Because of this, certain surgical dates are more popular, especially around school holidays and over the Summer.

As we are in September, I have already had to open extra days around Christmas and Thanksgiving to try to accommodate the desires of my patients. This is why you should book early, especially if you are looking for a popular date. I am only one surgeon, and I have to make sure I only operate for the amount of time I can give 100%.
When a patient comes in for a consult and expects surgery the next week, it is still surprising. The planning on my side takes significant time. We need to get you to your doctor for testing and clearance, the anesthesiologist has to review your history and lab results, we need to measure you and order garments and bras and implants you might require, and you need a preop visit to review all of your consent forms. The nurses and I have to educate you on risks, alternatives, and the process. For your safety, we spend this time on you.

I would love the opportunity to be you plastic surgeon, but you need to plan well. Come well in advance, and make sure I am the right fit for you. Remember, it is not like buying shoes. This is you life, and you need to be smart.

Picking the size of your Implant

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I do a lot of breast implant surgery. I put in hundreds of implants every year, am in the 17th year of my private practice, and have done literally thousands. I am good at the procedure, I feel my results are quite natural, and the great majority of my patients are very happy. Except for the few I let pick the exact implant size.

In today’s social media and internet world, with online forums and chat groups oversharing everything, information is abundant. I applaud patients who take the time to research their options and come in with a clear idea of what they want. My job is to educate and assist them in the decision making process.

I insist on laying out all of the options in an unbiased way, and having my patient tell me what she wants. What type of implant, how to hide the incision, above or below the muscle, and what size they want to be afterwards. If they select something outside of my tolerance, I explain my reservations, and refuse to do anything I would not feel is in their best interest.

I have had three patients who have come in and insisted on a particular type and size implant, down to the cc, and not be moved by my explanations. All three have been disappointed.

The surgeries were done well, the results were quite good, it was that the patients did not understand the intricacies of implant selection to achieve certain appearances. They became hung up on the number of cc’s instead of what they wanted to create.

3 Things you Should do After Surgery

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Plastic Surgery can do many positive things for you. It can reshape a nose, balance your breasts in size and shape, repair the damage after pregnancy or massive weight loss, and restore a youthful appearance to your face. Advanced laser and injectable treatments can make a big difference without surgery, as well as skincare and peels.

Patients are virtually always pleased with the changes that surgery brings, but they sometimes think that it is a substitute for exercise, diet, and a healthy lifestyle. Sorry, but it is not that easy. If you want to maintain and optimize your results, you should listen to your doctor.

1. After a tummy tuck, or abdominoplasty, procedure you need to exercise to maintain and restore tone to the abdominal muscles. No matter how skinny you are, if you relax the stomach muscles, you will not be totally flat. The surgery reshapes the waist and returns the muscles to a tighter state, but muscle strength is important and something you have to do.
2. Following liposuction, you need to maintain your weight. If you continue to eat in a way that increases fat in your body, you will get bigger and possibly require more surgery. Better to watch your diet and enjoy.
3. You must take care of your skin, as a facelift or eyelid surgery only fixes sagging. The texture and sun damage need to be improved by proper skincare and sun avoidance. Diet and water intake are also important.

If you make the effort to undergo cosmetic plastic surgery, protect your investment. I only want you to look your best and show off my work in the best possible light. What better advertising could there be?

Smart Lipo 101

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As I mentioned in a prior blog, “Is Smart Lipo Smart for You?”, the use of laser assisted liposuction has many potential problems for my latin patients. Darkening of the skin, burns, the inability to use this fat for Brazilian Butt Lifts, and the higher cost without any real scientific evidence of better results are among the most concerning of these issues.

Not to mention the fact that a large number of the providers advertising Smart Lipo and other laser assisted devices are not Board Certified Plastic Surgeons, but Ob/Gyn’s, Anesthesiologists, Family Practitioners, and other MD’s with no formal training in plastic surgery other than the company sending them to watch another doctor do the procedure a few times.

Does Smart Lipo really tighten the skin as they claim? I have yet to see convincing long term scientific studies to back up these assertions. I will say that after liposuction, loose skin can be a problem in certain cases. While I am a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon with experience with thousands of cases of liposuction, there are some cases in which a little skin tightening would improve the results.

Now we have a safe skin tightening laser specifically designed for Hispanic skin. My technique, Smarter Lipo, involves careful liposculpture so that the complications of laser assisted liposuction can be avoided, followed by lymphatic drainage massage and then external laser skin tightening as needed. It provides an even result, and you only pay for the laser you need if you need it at all.
We invite you to come in and see for yourself.