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Active vs Passive Listening to Patients in Plastic Surgery

Every plastic surgeon understands the importance of listening to patients, either before as well as after any operation. Plastic surgeons understand this better than any other medical specialty, short of psychiatry. (and we have to be part-time psychologists often!) But, quite frankly, listening takes time and extensive time is often not possible at each Read More…

Fat Transplantation and Grafting in Plastic Surgery

Despite the more recent public awareness of fat removal by liposuction and fat injections for volume addition in the past 20 years, the use of fat in plastic surgery has been around for over 50 years. The history of liposuction dates back to the early 20th century with the famous first case of unsuccessful liposuction Read More…

Fat, Liposuction and Fat Injections – Questions Yet To Be Answered

As a plastic surgeon, I certainly am asked and do treat a lot of fat concerns. Whether it be liposuction treatments for fat removal or fat injections for adding volume somewhere, plastic surgeons probably handle more fat than any other medical specialty. Yet, we still do not understand much of its physiology and its response to Read More…

The Need for Simplicity in Plastic Surgery Patient Communications

As a physician and plastic surgeon, I have been extensively educated and have been trained to speak the medical and surgical ‘languages’. Furthermore, spending a lot of time talking to and educating other doctors, I have learned to speak in an erudite and ‘big word’ manner. However, when it comes to talking with patients, Read More…

Assessing Credentials in a Plastic Surgeon

The typical prospective patient over the past decade has been extensively instructed to investigate the credentials of their chosen plastic surgeon, from board-certification to patient recommendations. All of these are very good and certainly should be done. But many plastic surgeons in any given community will pass the ‘credentials test’. Then what? Don’t overlook the Read More…

The Value of Speaking in Plastic Surgery

Like writing, speaking teaches you. I have given many hundreds of presentations and lectures on plastic surgery from audiences as small as one to hundreds of people. In every single instance, the person who learned the most from each experience was me. One side of learning in speaking is in the actual preparation. I have always Read More…

The Impact of Blogging and Publishing in Plastic Surgery

I currently have a large daily plastic surgery blogs and, some of my patients who actually have seen or read it, have asked the question…why do you write? The answer is a simple one…I learn more when I write than when I read. When I was at the University, there was some relevance to Read More…

Spring Time Skin Rejuvenation – How To Freshen Up Your Skin

Spring is finally here – and this is the time of year when one starts looking in the mirror and seeing dull, dry winter-time skin. I’m often asked which skin care treatments are most effective and how patients can best maintain their surgical results. While the answers aren’t the same for everyone, I can Read More…

The Need for Revisions in Rhinoplasty Surgery

Rhinoplasty (nose surgery) is one of the top ten procedures performed around the world in plastic surgery for men and women. Due to the tremendous complexity of nasal anatomy, the many different components of bone and cartilage which overlap and interdigitate, and the potential unpredictable forces of healing and scar contractures, rhinoplasty surgery results Read More…

Patient Embarrassment in Plastic Surgery

As part of being a plastic surgeon that does cosmetic surgery of the body, I have seen a lot of naked people both in the office and on the operating room table. And it is understandable that many patients feel quite self-conscious during an initial examination. As 99.9% of the population is far from Read More…