Patient safety in Plastic Surgery

Your choice of plastic surgeon is the one of the most important decisions that you can make in having a safe successful surgery. It starts with your surgeon; they will pick the operating room team and choose the facility for you to have your surgery. Select a surgeon that is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons or the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. These two surgical societies have members that are board certified and adhere to a strict code of ethics.  Makes sure your surgeon has hospital privileges to do your surgery in the hospital. Can you have the same surgery in the local hospital? Only use surgery centers that have been inspected by the state Florida. I have reviewed many problem cases involving cosmetic surgery and I found most problems are related to inadequate training of the surgeons or the facilities cutting corners in an effort to reduce costs.

Your safety should be your priority not the cost of surgery. Centers that advertise low costs may use increased volume to make up profits. It is important to be proficient in your surgical technique; however I would not want to be one of ten patients having surgery during a given day. Some of these centers may have non physicians "selling" procedures. The patients meet the physician only after being signed up for surgery. This is not the way to be evaluated for surgery.

Ask who is performing the anesthesia? Is the provider a board certified anesthesia physician? Is there a full crash cart available in the rare case of an emergency? Is the staff well trained and familiar with all the safety equipment? Does the surgery team practice running through emergency situations to stay sharp and focused?

What about the traveling cosmetic physician? Do you really think the proper place to be evaluated and treated with medications is the living room, or the local spa or hair salon? Is the traveling laser surgery or injection really safe? Just because it was on TV doesn’t make the procedure effective or safe. If it is safe your local plastic surgeon that lives in your community will have it available to you. Traveling injectors have treated patients in Vero Beach with silicone injections into the face resulting in scarring that cannot be easily corrected. Plastic surgeons have known for decades that free liquid silicone causes scarring, and they uniformly condemn the injection of silicone into the face.

What about traveling out of the country for your surgery? Hopefully all goes well, but how do you get your follow up care? If you have complications who will take care of you? If you had a recent breast augmentation in Europe or South America you may have been implanted with a PIP breast implant. (Not used in the USA) The PIP implants are made of a non- medical grade silicone and require removal. Unfortunately the company has shut their doors so the patients are stuck with the cost of additional surgery.   Finally, medical regulations, local bacteria, and level of the physicians training may not be up to our standards.

Plastic surgery can be done safely with well-trained surgeons and licensed facilities. However, it is real surgery and risks and complications are possible. The better trained and the more experience your surgeon has the less likely these problems arise and if they do happen they are corrected swiftly and with as little hardship as possible. No surgeon is perfect and no operation is without risks even injections. So carefully choose your Plastic Surgeon your health may depend on it.

The Rosato Plastic Surgery Center is a state of the art facility that was built to serve the plastic surgery patients of the Treasure Coast. The center is licensed by the state of Florida and it has had a perfect record of meeting all standards. Dr. Rosato was trained at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and came to Vero Beach in 1992. He has treated almost 20,000 patients. He is past president of local and state medical societies as well as chief of Plastic Surgery at IRMC. He is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. For more information or to make an appointment call 772-562-5859 or visit us on the web at, www.rosatoplasticsurgery.com, or like us on Facebook, www.Facebook,com/TheRosatoPlasticSurgerCenter