BETTER • HEALTH “The Real Beauty Bible” by Scottsdale-based Dr. Richard J. Brown, features tips on scheduling, preparing for and recovering from plastic surgery. (Photo courtesy Dr. Richard J. Brown)
Finding
Beauty
Scottsdale doctor offers tips on plastic surgery in new book By Mckayla Hull
uick and fast are two buzzwords for items like food and miscellaneous services. But, according to plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Richard J. Brown, that shouldn’t include his field. “Everyone goes to the Dominican Republic because they want plastic surgery now,” says Brown, of Brown Plastic Surgery in Scottsdale. “It’s the Amazon Prime Syndrome: gotta have 68
it now—can’t wait for it.” This is one of the reasons why Brown wrote “The Real Beauty Bible,” his guide to plastic surgery. He will sign copies of “The Real Beauty Bible” from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, August 28, at his office, 11000 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 130, Scottsdale. Guests can RSVP by emailing office@rbrownmd.com. The 48-year-old double board-certified surgeon in general and plastic surgery says “The Real Beauty Bible” explains everything he would tell a patient before surgery: the right reasons to get plastic surgery, how to prepare, what would be discussed in consultations, the process of
AUGUST 2019 | SEPTEMBER 2019 NORTHVALLEYMAGAZINE.COM
multiple body surgeries and recovery. “I realized in plastic surgery there was no real guide where someone could just pick something up, read it from cover to cover and understand all the basic blueprint principles that they needed to safely choose a surgeon to have an operation and decide if it was even right for them,” he says. Brown says the world is filled with botched surgeries that are giving his profession a bad name. “I feel like the public is uneducated about what it means to choose a board-certified surgeon,” he adds. He urges potential patients to ask their surgeons if they’re certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. The Georgia native says a cosmetic surgeon is not the same as a board-certified plastic surgeon. “They call themselves cosmetic surgeons because they know it’s going to get people through the door, but they’re not officially certified.” The Board of Cosmetic Surgery isn’t recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties, a not-for-profit organization that sets professional and educational standards for medical specialty practice and certification in partnership with its 24 certifying member boards. Simply asking if someone is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and seeing his or her diploma can save a patient from being botched, he says. “In this country, there is no one who polices and says a family practitioner can’t open up shop across the street and do liposuction,” Brown adds. In “The Real Beauty Bible,” Brown also encourages patients to discuss surgery with their spouses and children to make sure they have the support they need. Financing surgeries is important as well. Patients should save enough money to go to the right surgeon, not the quickest one. “If you needed a cardiac valve replacement, would you go find the cheapest cardiac surgeon in town? No,” he says. “You’re going to find the best surgeon you can find. Why is your body cosmetically any different than that situation?” Along with divulging surgeries to family and friends and how to finance and pay for surgeries, Brown dives into the mind, body and soul. “I’m teasing out what their reasons are,