Unqualified Personnel, Medical Tourism, Branded Procedures: Seek Quality Cosmetic Procedures
Seek Quality Cosmetic Procedures
Beware. Seek value, but dont surrender quality. At times potential patients are considering a facial enhancement or breast & body procedure. Some of them may be your friends and acquaintances. There are some options they may need to be warned against. Check out the list below:
1) Inexperienced or unqualified personnel: This is a particular concern with laser and injectable treatments. Plastic surgeons have a reputation for extensive education and broad experience, both in evaluation and in treatment of facial and body cosmetic concerns.
Companies that produce filler injections and lasers market them heavily to doctors in many fields that have little experience treating skin and aesthetic problems. Some salons and spas solicit a doctor to give assurance to wary clients. Ask about board certification? In what specialty? How much training? Is the laser operator a MD or licensed RN? Be wary of technicians without nursing or medical degrees. If an injection is involved, is the substance FDA approved? Is there data to support off-label use?
2) Medical tourism is a growing industry. For decades, patients have come to specialists in the US for outstanding care. Quality training and high safety standards have been our hallmark. A reverse phenomenon is the flow of patients to second and third world countries for discount cosmetic surgery. Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, and Hong Kong have some respected well-known plastic surgeons, but many well-marketed doctors in Central America and Asia entice patients with low prices. They do not offer US medical care standards or important follow-up. These situations have produced both excellent results and injured or disfigured patients.
3) Branded operations are cleverly marketed procedures. One can usually recognize these procedures by their gimmicky names: Lite-lift, Easy-lipo, Wonder-lift, Laser-lift, or Make-over lift. The appeal is the possibility of cheaper, fast, simple, painless, or risk-free surgery. The procedures are usually relatively minor modifications of common operations not break-through developments. Some are scaled-down versions of procedures. Some of the operations were generally abandoned by surgeons as having limited effectiveness. More established operations exist for a reason proven effectiveness helping patients achieve quality results.
Dr Graham and his staff have excellent background, years of experience, and receive on-going training on quality procedures. We have the ability to offer a range of aesthetic techniques, minimally-invasive options or operations designed to address each of your concerns safely, effectively and at moderate cost. We can design a plan to do simple things now, and transition to more substantial improvements as you wish.
