What Questions to Ask a Plastic Surgeon before Plastic Surgery It is important that you are able to talk to your plastic surgeon and feel comfortable with him/her. This article lists some important questions you need to ask your plastic surgeon. There may be many unanswered queries in your mind before starting your research and deciding on the plastic surgeon to carry out the surgery. You may have no idea as to where to start from and what questions to be asked. People tend to get intimidated by the prospect of questioning plastic surgeons. However, it is important that you are able to talk to your plastic surgeon and feel comfortable with him/her. Before making this important decision, you need to consider many things. The prospective surgeon’s experience, skills and credentials should be known to you. Mentioned below are some important questions for you to ask before deciding on the right plastic surgeon: How experienced the surgeon is in providing the procedure? An experienced surgeon is the preferred choice of everyone. Though you may feel uncomfortable asking this question, it is important that you have clear knowledge regarding the surgeon’s experience. Details regarding the other medical staff that will assist the surgeon during the procedure? Knowing the details about the surgeon’s support staff is very important. Who will assist the surgeon and what about their qualifications? Ask for details of the doctor who would be administering and monitoring anesthesia. Where will the procedure be performed? While some of the procedures are performed in hospitals, there are a few which are carried out in outpatient ambulatory centres, and still others which are performed as routine in-office procedures. For deciding on the place best for your surgery to take place, various factors such as health issues related to your case and complexity of your procedure should be considered. Do you have hospital privileges to perform this procedure? (At which hospitals?) Even though the surgery is being performed outside the hospital, ask your plastic surgeon whether he/she has hospital privileges to perform it. Hospitals have stringent requirements for granting operating privileges. This could also prove to be important if anything untoward occurs during the procedure and there is need for you to be shifted to a hospital. What is the type of anesthesia that will be used during the procedure? As there is a greater risk involved in general anesthesia, highly specialized and trained doctors are required for monitoring and administering the same. IV sedation, also known as “twilight sleep,” can be made use of in single procedure surgeries as it is safe and less expensive comparatively. Local anesthesia is the safest option of all and is highly

recommended in case of the surgeon feeling the need to communicate with you at the time of the surgery. However, it is not possible and advisable to make use of local anesthesia in many procedures. What are the risk factors, associated with the surgery? All surgeries come with some common risks associated them. Serious risks include infection, excess blood loss and adverse reaction of general anesthesia. Risks may vary from procedure to procedure and from patients to patients. While some plastic surgery procedures are risky, complications are unlikely to arise due to advanced technologies.