Facial plastic surgery can be used to help correct deformities due to trauma or certain medical conditions including cancer or to reverse some of the signs of aging. Patients considering facial rejuvenation often have questions about the procedure whether it is functional or cosmetic in nature. As with any medical procedure, it is important to be as informed a consumer as possible, realizing though that not everything you read may be applicable to your situation. In the world of cosmetic surgery, this is particularly true as the market is very competitive and advertising can be misleading. Often asked questions about facial plastic surgery include:

Who is the best plastic surgeon? The best plastic surgeon is the one that you trust to perform your surgery. There are no set criteria for determining who the best surgeon is. There are guidelines to helping choose a surgeon but in the end you must be comfortable with the person that you choose. Unfortunately every surgeon experiences complications and good surgeons will be those that not only are able to produce good result with ideal post operative courses but those that can handle unexpected complications should they arise.

Does the surgery hurt? There are many types of anesthesia used to perform plastic surgery. Depending on the type of surgery, local, intravenous, or general anesthesia may be used. The procedure itself should not be painful. During the post operative recovery period, pain medication can be prescribed by the surgeon to decrease discomfort. Unfortunately, all plastic surgery procedures, regardless of the invasiveness, produce some discomfort and every persons perception of pain is different. It is therefore difficult to answer if a particular procedure is painful.

Are facial plastic surgeons well trained? Facial plastic surgeons are specialists in cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries of the face alone. Most facial plastic surgeons will complete a 4-6 year residency in head and neck surgery and go on to partake in an additional year of training in cosmetic surgery of the face only. Board certification is available and the surgeons are highly specialized in facelift procedures, rhinoplasty (nose job) procedures, blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery), forehead lift, and other facial rejuvenation procedures.

Are results of cosmetic surgery permanent? This is a difficult question to answer. Though some procedures such as facial fillers and neuromodulator injections are known to be temporary, more invasive procedures are often designed to be permanent. None of these procedure stop the aging process. Therefore, patients will continue to age and although the results may be designed to be ‘permanent’, if a person ages drastically, they may feel as though the results did not last. In some cases, procedures may need to be repeated during a patient’s lifetime though it may be 10-20 years before a revision is necessary.

D.J. Verret, MD is a facial plastic surgeon in the north Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas. For more information about facelifts, eyelid surgery, blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty, frisco Botox, forehead lift, brow lifts, chin augmentation, and other surgical and non-surgical facial rejuvenation procedures, visit his web site http://www.innovationsfps.com or call for a consultation 972.608.0100.

Tags: blepharoplasty Dallas, chin augmentation, Cosmetic Surgery, earlobe repair, facelift Dallas, facial plastic surgeon, Plastic Surgery