Choosing a surgeon who is trained in Cosmetic Surgery is an important part of your surgical evaluation process. Dr. Robert Kotler, a board certified cosmetic facial surgeon in Beverly Hills, recently contributed to Web MD. Dr. Kotler discusses an article in South Florida Sun-Sentinel after a death from “complications of liposuction and a buttocks enhancement procedure.” Dr. Kotler also notes the importance of choosing a surgeon based on the following requirements numbered below. Southern Surgical Arts, Dr. Deal and Dr. Nease agree with him. “The requirements outlined by Dr. Kotler are important in choosing your Cosmetic Surgeon. We encourage each of our patients to research his/her surgeon’s education, training, experience and proven clinical competence. “Further a surgeon’s before and after gallery should consistently display his/her results time after time and not just one or two examples of when they got it right,” said Dr. Deal. Below are the criteria found in the article on WebMD:
1. The doctor should be board certified in a surgical specialty recognized by the ABMS and should be practicing within the scope of their training.
(At Southern Surgical Arts, our surgeons are Fellowship-Trained Cosmetic Surgeons. Dr. Nease and Dr. Deal performed over 700 procedures each during their cosmetic training. Dr. Nease is certified by the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery, and both are board certified in a specialty recognized by the ABMS.)
2. A post-graduate fellowship in Cosmetic Surgery is a very strong credential.
(Dr. Deal and Dr. Nease have both completed a year-long fellowship sanctioned by the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery. After the fellowship, Dr. Nease then became a Board-Certified Cosmetic Surgeon. Dr. Deal completed his fellowship in June of 2010 and will sit for his Cosmetic Surgery boards in April 2011.)
3. The procedure should be performed in a qualified, credentialed hospital or outpatient surgery center. Credentialing means that the facility has been awarded a stamp of approval by either the State Department of Health, the United States Department of Health & Human Services, or another independent accrediting organization.
(Southern Surgical Arts’ office based surgery center is AAAHC-accredited, which is a nationally recognized accrediting organization.)
4. A specialist in anesthesiology should be in your service. My personal preference is a board certified doctor anesthesiologist because I have always favored the concept of “two doctors in the operating room.” Some surgeons are comfortable supervising the work of a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA). If that is there choice, and the patient is comfortable, that is fine. But the patient does need to know the nature and qualifications of the anesthesia specialist.
(Southern Surgical Arts has a full time CRNA on staff in their current OR and is currently interviewing for an anesthesiologist in their new Chatanooga location)