A ^Retired Plastic Surgeon's Notebook

This post is based on a phone consultation from earlier this week.  I’ve changed a few unimportant details to protect patient privacy. This lady has smooth, saline implants that are about 10 years old.  She is part of the Pacific Northwest Breast Implant Illness (BII) Facebook group and she thinks her implants are making herContinue reading…

Occasionally I have a request from a patient’s friend or family member to come into the OR to “watch the surgery.”  Many times they tell me that they have seen it on T.V. or on YouTube and just think it will be cool to see it in person.  The answer is always no and hereContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon ponders the meaning of all of these awards than just seem to arrive in the mail along with a place for credit card information.   I was dejunking my office this week and came across a bunch of letters and a few emails informing me how fabulous I am and inviting me toContinue reading…

Portion control is very important for maintaining a healthy weight and it becomes more and more difficult as restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, keep increasing the size of the offerings.  There is a Mexican place in Seattle that  has a poster of one of its burritos next to a new born baby.  They are theContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon answers another FAQ. It is common to combine surgical procedures and often makes a lot of sense to do so.  Combining procedures saves a trip to the operating room, saves some money and consolidates recovery time.  Procedures often done in combination include breast lift with a tummy tuck and face lift withContinue reading…

I recently returned from a 12 day stay in Vaison La Romaine, France where my husband taught his yearly Travel, Food and Wine Writing class.  This class combines some excellent sight seeing, lots and lots of eating and, of course, some winery tours.  On one of the tours, I skipped the usual sniffing, sipping and spitting routine andContinue reading…

Recently I saw a patient who I just did not like.  I did my best to be professional and courteous but there were some very important health issues that he was unwilling to discuss.  It was sort of like he thought I was a technician who could just do what he told me he wantedContinue reading…

I saw a patient this week that really drove home the importance of diagnosis before treatment.  In plastic surgery, diagnosis is usually very straight forward and can be made from across the exam room or sometimes even from across the street.  Common diagnoses in my practice include large breasts, saggy breasts, small breasts, asymmetrical breasts,Continue reading…

HRT and Plastic Surgery:  Insight from a menopausal plastic surgeon. It is well know that hormone replacement therapy can increase the risk of postoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT).  Some surgeons just recommend to “just stop taking your HRT medication for two weeks before and two weeks after surgery.”   I take a different approach.  “Just stopContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon dials it down a few notches for dudes. I’ve been doing quite a few cases on men lately.  Almost all of my male facial plastic surgery patients are eager to tell me what they don’t want.  Names like Mickey Rourke, Bruce Jenner, Kenny Rogers and Burt Reynolds come up frequently.   All ofContinue reading…