If you would like to learn more about the treatment of stretch marks please call us at 866-417-6996, or you can schedule a complimentary consultation online today.

The treatment for either broken saline or silicone implants is to remove and/or replace the implants. The removal and replacement of saline implants is generally relatively straightforward…the broken implant is removed and replaced with a new implant. In the case of broken silicone implants, removing the broken implant and its filling material can be significantly more complex. This is particularly so in older silicone implants (pre-1994) when the silicone filling was a semi-liquid and the outer shell was relatively fragile. Current modern silicone implants have a much more durable outer shell and a semi-solid cohesive silicone filling. In cases in which old silicone implants have ruptured or leaked, the implant shell, the implant filling material and the outer capsule (scar tissue that the body forms around implants) should all be removed as much as possible. Simply removing the implant shell and filling material, while expedient, is not adequate. It is important to note that while the implant and its contents should be removed, the extruded silicone is not a health threat. It is a condition that ultimately should be addressed, but is not an emergency requiring immediate surgery.

Heart disease from smoking is the result of the accumulation, over many years, of changes to your blood vessels. Initially, smoking affects only the smallest blood vessels. Over time, the changes in the small blood vessels affect the larger blood vessels, and eventually these changes ultimately affect the heart. Someone with heart disease is typically not a good candidate for elective cosmetic surgery. The changes to the heart caused by smoking, however, are not the only changes that can be detrimental with respect to cosmetic surgery. In fact, it is the short term changes that take place in the small blood vessels, as a result of smoking, that can be the most problematic. These changes adversely affect healing and may lead to poor quality scars, delayed healing and even open wounds.

The goal of cosmetic surgery is to improve a condition from good to better. Everything is done to achieve this goal. And because cosmetic surgery is elective, it should be done only when all of the variables that are controllable, such as smoking, are optimized. Not smoking will not guarantee perfect results or no complications, but not smoking will make it much more likely that the outcome you desire is the outcome you will get.

2. Has your medical license ever been suspended or restricted or sanctioned in Florida or any other state?
Nothing else needs to be said.

3. Do you have hospital privileges?
This is extremely important for several reasons. If you have a problem during or after any procedure, you want your surgeon to be able to take care of you. A surgeon without hospital privileges will not be allowed by a hospital to care for you. Just as important, hospitals will not grant privileges to surgeons without some type of peer review. In other words, a surgeon has to prove to the hospital competency in a given procedure before a hospital will grant him privileges to perform a given procedure. You should not be having a surgical procedure (such as liposuction), if your doctor does not have privileges for that procedure (such as liposuction) in a hospital, even if the procedure is being performed in the office or an outpatient surgical center.

4. Where do you perform your surgery?
Common sense would dictate that surgery should be done only in a facility that is safe and well equipped. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons mandates that its members operate only in accreditated facilities. This is the least that you should expect. However, even accreditated facilities can vary dramatically from one to the next. An office operating room, even with a board certified anesthesiologist, is very different from a surgery center or hospital that have several anesthesiologists and an entire team of nurses and technicians.

5. Who will be seeing me after surgery?
Post surgical care is just as important as pre surgical care. Most complications from surgery are seen within the first 24 hours. Although a nurse or PA (physician’s assistant) can check your wound or even remove your stitches, only your surgeon is fully qualified to evaluate you.

Surgery has many parallels to aviation. In flying, the most dangerous time is taking off and landing. Similarly, in surgery, the most dangerous time is going to sleep and waking up. Whether a flight is one hour or four hours the risk is essentially the same. The same holds true for surgery, the risk for a one hour case is essentially the same as that for a four hour procedure.  Following this logic, flying Miami to New York nonstop is safer than flying Miami to Atlanta and then Atlanta to New York.  There is only one take-off and one landing rather than two.  Similarly with surgery, a combined procedure, may in certain cases, be safer in the sense that that there is only one anesthetic induction and emergence (going to sleep and waking up) versus two or three.  Of course, as the surgery time lengthens beyond four hours, other safety considerations can come into play.

Additional advantages in combining procedures in a single surgery include a single period of discomfort, a single recuperation and less time away from work. There is also a financial advantage. The two or more cosmetic surgery procedures that are done together are usually hundreds of dollars less than doing the same procedures separately.

Another type of combining surgical procedures that is extremely common in my practice is combining a cosmetic plastic surgery with some type of medically necessary procedure. At Memorial West and Memorial Miramar Hospitals I routinely work with the OB/Gyns, the Urologists and the General Surgeons. Typical combination cases with these physicians may include a tummy tuck and/or breast surgery with a tubal ligation or myomectomy or hysterectomy with the Ob/Gyn, or a bladder suspension with the Urologist, or a hernia repair with the General Surgeon. The same advantages that exist with combining cosmetic plastic surgical procedures apply to these types of combination cases as well. There is even an additional advantage in some of these procedures, in that many of the steps of the cosmetic surgery procedure and the medically necessary procedure are the same (i.e., abdominoplasty and hysterectomy). Therefore, the surgical time of the combination procedure is significantly less than if each procedure was done separately. Finally, there is also a financial advantage when surgeries are combined in this manner. The cosmetic procedure(s) that is (are) done in conjunction with the medically necessary procedure is (are) also typically hundreds of dollars less when done with the medically necessary procedure than when the cosmetic procedure is done alone.

Of course, combining procedures may not be appropriate for every patient. However, in the right circumstances,  it can be a welcome option.