The Stages of Cosmetic Surgery Acceptance
I recently met with a wonderful, insightful patient. She was in for a preop consultation for a cosmetic procedure. She was very inquisitive and clearly had done her research. I asked her why at this point in her life she had decided to have cosmetic surgery (the type of procedure is inconsequential for the purposes […]
First Weekend in Our New Hometown (San Francisco)
First weekend in San Francisco. 37th Annual Union Street festival – check. Brisk jog down to the Marina, with a pass by the Bar Method – check. Signed up for Uber cab – check. Picked up my badge for California Pacific Medical Center – check. Visit to my new office at Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery […]
Health Plans in the New Health Care Exchanges
If you’ve been keeping up with the health care debate you’ll notice that Republicans are predicting the demise of Obamacare and Democrats are predicting it to be the “second coming”. The debate is coming to a fever pitch again because the new health care exchanges are about to come to fruition. A health care exchange […]
Doctors Taking ER Call: A Dying Breed
In the future, if you go to an emergency room and you have a problem that requires a specialist – like a brain surgeon, orthopedic surgeon or plastic surgeon – you may have difficulty finding a specialist to see you during your ER visit, even if you have insurance. According to the Medical Group Management […]
Are plastic surgeons doing too many “Medicare” eyelid lifts?
According to an article by Joe Eaton and David Donald on the Center for Public Integrity website, “from 2001 to 2011, eyelid lifts charged to Medicare more than tripled to 136,000 annually.” Physician billing data by the Center for Public Integrity showed that “in 2001, physicians billed taxpayers a total of $20 million for the […]
Why do patients continue to go to the ER for their primary care?
Just recently, Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA, the “charity hospital” of Baton Rouge for the under and uninsured, closed. In a very coordinated and labor intensive transition orchestrated by Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, the patients have been given more treatment options. The transition was supposed to occur in October but […]
And the move to San Francisco….begins!
Moving is my most hated and most loved activity! For obvious reasons, I can’t stand it. It’s not just moving the big things but you quickly realize how many small things you have to move and it goes on and on, almost never ending. Memorabilia like anniversary cards just can’t be thrown away. But at […]
The Cost of Cosmetic Surgery…but more informative!
So I’m looking at a weekly email that I receive which highlights new articles in the media pertaining to plastic surgery. As a plastic surgeon, it’s natural for me to want to stay up to date on the latest developments. But as the founder of BuildMyBod, a website that provides total price estimates on cosmetic […]
See, not all plastic surgeons are superficial!
With so many stories about butt implants and Plastic Surgery Wives, it’s easy to confuse the shenanigans of “cosmetic surgeons” that aren’t actually trained plastic surgeons and miss out on the less glamorous reconstructive efforts by many board certified plastic surgeons around the country. Take for example, Shashi Kusuma. Dr. Kusuma was a year […]
The Evolution of Setting Up a Plastic Surgery Practice
I’m getting ready for the big move to San Francisco, to join Dr. Donald Brown, a plastic surgeon in practice for 30 years. So luckily I’m not starting from scratch but there are important tasks to address, such as updating Dr. Brown’s website and social media/online marketing accounts to include my name. The fact that […]