It is August already, and as Summer marches on, I am reminded of the Summer of 1998.  It was my second year in practice, and I was not as well known as I am now.  For some strange reason, I got an influx of patients for breast implant surgery.

I was so excited that my practice was growing, and that I was making it happen for myself.  With no real money and a lot of school loans, I had managed to survive a whole year as a solo plastic surgeon in Manhattan.  I could feed myself and afford rent on a one bedroom apartment outside the city.  Sadly, this was similar to when I was a resident in terms of my disposable income.

I had always been very good at selecting breast implant sizes, even as a student.  Spatially, I could see a woman and a photo of what she wanted in terms of breast size, and instantly know the implant size required.  I never use sizers during surgery, nor do I order multiple sizes for a single patient.  I had been fortunate to have a patient or two who didn’t mind sharing the fact that they had surgery with me.

It came to pass that in that month, I had a string of days where nearly all the cases were breast augmentations.  At that time, it was far and away a record for most implants in a single month.  We called it “Aug August.”

Now, I sometimes do that many implant cases in a week.  Don’t worry, the breast is yet to come.