Monday, January 11, 2010

Choosing a Plastic Surgeon for your Tummy Tuck

When I got serious about finding a plastic surgeon, I first surfed the web for reviews. I didn't find any! My next task was to find local doctors. It turns out that plastic surgery offices spring up around major hospitals. Okay, I don't have movie star income, so I chose a hospital near me in a city that wasn't too pricey. I wasn't looking for bargain-basement surgery, but I'm not ready to take a second mortgage on the house.

Through more surfing, I found two plastic surgery offices in my target area. I made appointments at both. The first office was owned by one doctor. She's been in the business for years, and got her MD at Stanford. Did I mention Stanford? I visited the office with a list of questions, and she knocked them all out of the park. The office looked tidy, the staff looked happy, and there were plenty of clients coming in and out of the waiting room. Okay, so far, so good.

My second visit was an office that had three surgeons sharing. One of the surgeons is over 70, and the other two are quite young. When I called to make my appointment, it seemed as though 90% of the available slots were for the older surgeon. I booked with one of the younger ones. While I was in the waiting room, a patient was looking distressed at the front desk. Apparently she thought her appointment was with a younger surgeon, but it had been made for her with the older gentleman.

I was shown to the examination room, and in walks the man my mother wished I had married. The man that every mother wishes her daughter married. He was young, gorgeous, and funny. This is the doctor that you put on full makeup for before an appointment. Alright, Amy, get a grip! He seemed like a great contender until I asked one final question. I asked him how many tummy tucks he'd done before. He'd been working there a year-and-a-half (!), and he'd done 12 tucks. Game over, Dr. Handsome.

I went with the first doctor (Stanford! I sound like such a snob!). Except for a couple of times before the surgery when the office didn't answer my questions (when they realized their mistake, they deluged me with correspondence), I've been super happy with my choice. Here's what I learned:

  • Like Aunt Sylvia says, you have to ask how many times they've performed the procedure. That one question made all the difference to me.
  • Look for a decent website with plenty of before-and-after photos. Pray that the photos are of their actual clients.
  • Look for impressive credentials. They can't hurt!
  • Ask for an appointment around the same time that previous patients are coming in for a check-up. Ideally, you want to talk to the clients that are about a month out. For heavens sake, don't talk to the ones who had their surgery two days ago. It will scare the hell out of you.
  • I choose competence and skill over hand-holding. Yes, I'd like my surgeon to be more mothering during our appointments. That's just not her. But I make sure to write my questions down, and follow every last piece of advice. And she is so so good at what she does.
  • Ask about the timing of appointments post-op. So far, I've had appointments at surgery plus 2 days, 7 days, 9 days, and 3 weeks. I feel extraordinarily well taken care of. From some other websites, it seems like the doctors don't have patients come in quite so often. More is better!
Good luck!