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Consultation Information
Make sure you bring the following to your appointment:
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At the first consultation, it is important to review and go over your medical history, goals and expectations as well as seeing if you and the plastic surgeon have a good rapport. Building mutual trust is paramount for a great relationship to be established between patient and surgeon. More than likely you will have the option of viewing before and after photos of the procedure you are interested in. With breast augmentation the procedure and your options are discussed in length. The breasts will be examined closely so that the plastic surgeon can ensure the expectations you have can be met. You will also be going over the surgical plan on the day of surgery, implant size along with incision and placement of the implant and where your scars will be located. Appropriate implant size for your statue and body will be determined along with you telling the surgeon what cup size you are aiming for. The surgeon takes into accountability the width of the breast (breast width dimension) distance from the crease under the areola and of course the thickness of your tissue and what coverage would be best. If the patient has all the breast tissue above the inframammary crease and the areola/nipple complex is in the middle of the breast mound, then this is the ideal candidate for breast augmentation. If your breast tissue is sagging and the nipple/areola complex is at the level of the inframammary crease or lower, then usually some sort of breast lift is going to be suggested. Your surgeon will be going over all the pros and cons of each implant placement and implant incision site, and more than likely tell you exactly how big you can go with breast augmentation without forsaking any unforeseen complications. You need to remember that rippling is fact of life with implants. Saline implants however do ripple more than silicone, but even with silicone thin patients who have very little tissue can still occasionally see rippling. Patients who want to have silicone implants are required by law to be the age of 22. If a patient is younger than this and has some sort of deformity of their breasts or lack of tissue, then with the plastic surgeon’s okay, you can receive silicone implants. The most important thing to remember going into this procedure is that breasts are not symmetrical. Different size implants are used commonly to help improve symmetry and or saline implants so that the surgeon has the ability to add more saline to one of the breasts to even them out. Every effort will be made by your surgeon to make your breasts symmetrical and as close as possible to your desired size, however, there are no guarantees as to what you might end up with size, shape or if the breasts are symmetrical. Patients will be encouraged to try on various size implants to help with determining size. You might be encouraged as well to do this at home with the Rice Test and or Water Test. This way will help you become accustomed to your new prospective size and to see if you can live with this comfortably. More than likely you will be sent in to discuss the financial end of the procedure with the patient coordinator. This person is so important in your journey with plastic surgery, as she is normally the one that will be able to answer any of your concerns you might have as well as tell you when the surgeon has an opening for surgery. Information with “informed consent” is given to you along with instructions of what you can be expecting pre and post operatively.
If you do decide to go forward and schedule the surgery, you will be instructed to get a pre operative physical with a routine blood analysis so that you will have your medical clearance for surgery.
More than likely your Plastic Surgeon will give you a list of over the counter and prescription medication to stay away from for a few weeks leading up to the surgery. Your Plastic Surgeon and also the Anesthesiologist needs to know everything you are taking on a routine basis, so that there is no drug interactions and complications caused by any herbal, over the counter analgesics, and prescription medication.
Read the Printable List of Medications you should be concerned about before your procedure here
The price of having a breast augmentation consultation ranges from free to $500.00. Normally when the consultation costs money upfront, the plastic surgeon will allow you to deduct this price from the actual procedure. It is very important you find out before hand what the cost of the actual consultation is going to be, so make sure you have this clear when setting the appointment. Normally consultations can take from 15 minutes up to more than 2 hours. Make sure you bring your list of Consultation Questions that you have printed out with you so you can stay on track with making sure every concern is addressed. Choosing a surgeon based on price alone is not a wise move to make, as this is your body and major surgery.
Making an informed decision on the plastic surgeon your are considering include:
Not all cosmetic procedures include surgery. Nevertheless your safety is still important in every case. Non-invasive procedures are most commonly performed in your physician’s exam rooms. These include the following procedures that don’t require anything more than a local anesthetic and or oral sedation.
Surgery however can take place in one of three settings:
Where surgery takes place is often a matter of your doctor’s preference as well as your own. According to ASAPS in 2003, some 75% of all cosmetic procedures (surgical and non-surgical) were performed outside a hospital setting, in either a freestanding surgery center or offices. It is very important that the facility where you have your surgery is properly accredited. Some situations necessitate surgery in a hospital setting. If a patient is diabetic, has high blood pressure or other medical conditions they may need to be in an environment where immediate consultations with experts in other fields are available. For most healthy patients, office based surgery can be more comfortable. Studies show when you are in an accredited office-based surgery facility you are as safe as you would be if you were in a hospital or ambulatory surgery center.
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Ask specifically about the accreditation of the facility recommended for your surgery. Then verify that the accreditation is active and in good standing. Look for accreditation from these three national organizations: American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF) www.aaaasf.org (888.545.5222)
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) www.jcaho.org (630.792.5800)
Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) www.aaahc.org (847.853.6060)
Also individual state licensing and accreditation can be considered. Each accrediting organization has defined individual standards for its member facilities.
In general accreditation requires the following:
The American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS) and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) are the only two professional medical societies that require members to operate in accredited or licensed facilities as a condition of membership. Some physicians go through accreditation as a requirement of state licensing, and some do voluntarily. Meeting high standards established by accreditation organizations may not be required in order to practice outpatient surgery. But given the choice, where would you rather obtain your care – in a facility that is accredited or one that is not?
No physician can do this alone. Therefore you need to know who else is going to be involved in your treatment experience. It is not uncommon for doctors to have patient coordinators, nurses or other support staff participate in your consultation and care. But these staff members should never be a substitute for consulting with the doctor and certainly not a substitute for meeting with the doctor who will be performing your procedure. There are instances and procedures when someone other than the physician may be appropriate to provide your treatment. They might include registered nurses with specialized training in injection therapies, light based treatments and non-invasive skin resurfacing, or even have an aestheticians for less ablative skin care. If your treatment will be provided by someone other than a physician, make certain that person is being supervised by a doctor who is on site. An appropriate provider with experience in a safe and regulated setting is as important to a medi-spa treatment as it is to surgery.
Nine Signs that a Doctor is not the One for You:
In order to schedule surgery, most plastic surgeons will need some sort of deposit to hold that specific day open. You might be looking at anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks or more depending on how busy the plastic surgeon is. Sometimes the patient coordinator is able to fit you in sooner, if they do get a cancellation, so make sure you ask about this option, and to be considered if someone does in fact cancel. The office will make sure you have your pre-operative appointments within 2 weeks of the actual procedure. This is to ensure that you are in good health and able to endure surgery. Any physical or emotional conditions you have should be addressed before the procedure and how these may influence your cosmetic enhancement choices. A lot of surgeons ask for their patients who are over the age of 35, to get a baseline mammogram if they haven’t had one recently. The balance of the surgery costs are usually paid in full by this appointment. Remember you have to feel 100% confident in the plastic surgeon you have picked, so if you have any questions that have not been answered, then make sure you schedule another appointment to speak directly to the surgeon before the procedure.
With the age of computers it has enabled us to use the type of imaging to show your surgeon what type of look you are after with breast augmentation. Although not a perfect science, it does give us an idea of what a certain size implant might look like on a computer generated photo. Computer imaging can show you how you look now and then the changes the photo to resemble what you might look like with the addition of breast implants. There are Imaging programs you can buy for your computer or you can have this done through a service such as Plastic Surgery Imaging. This site is useful in all plastic surgery procedures, by enhancing communication with your doctor with clarifying your expectations with surgery. This site’s fees ranges from $19 to $100 depending on the procedure you are doing. There is also Inamodel 3-D Breast Augmentation Imaging which is free. Not all plastic surgeons offer virtual imaging; however more and more seem to be doing so. Digital Imaging simulates your potential results of cosmetic surgery and is an excellent tool to guide discussions with your cosmetic surgeon.
Axis Three is a company which offers patients considering breast augmentation with the ability to view what their body will look like after surgery, before surgery. Ultimately, it allows the patient to feel more comfortable and make the decisions easier, as they can view different types of implants and different sizes side by side. Many surgeons across North America are quickly adopting this technology in their consultation procedures.
Learn more about Axis
Three Imaging
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