Know More About Plastic Surgery

Hello I'm Dr. Siddharth Prakash. I'm a cosmetic and plastic surgeon and I practice at Lilavati Hospital in Bandra and at my own clinic in Andheri Lokhandvala. Today I would like to talk to you a bit about plastic surgery in general because most people do not have a lot of information about this branch.

Plastic surgery involves a very wide variety of procedures. These procedures can vary from reconstructive procedures which came to correct abnormalities which come from cancer surgeries, from injuries, from bonds, from difficult wounds and it can also be cosmetic plastic surgery. Cosmetic plastic surgery aims to make you more beautiful to improve your appearance. The most common question, the most common inquiries that I receive in my own cosmetic surgery practice is about liposuction. Liposuction is a fat reduction and our body reshaping procedure. Then I'm asked about tummy, talk about abdominoplasty, about breast surgeries like breast augmentation, breast lift, breast reduction, male breast correction. I'm asked about facial plastic surgeries like face lifts and nose jobs, lip augmentation, chin and cheek augmentation. I'm asked about other skin-tightening procedures after weight loss and many more. The list is endless but if you are considering any of these procedures, I am sure you have a lot of questions. If I could just touch upon some of the questions today to be good. The most common question would be how do I choose my plastic surgeon.

Now you don't visit a plastic surgeon only because this clinic is very close to your home or he charges very less or his waiting room his always full. Those are the wrong reasons. The right reasons- you would have to be sure about his credentials, his qualification, is he a qualified plastic surgeon because unfortunately there are many general surgeons or even plain MBBS doctors who are doing a lot of cosmetic surgery. Now that is not safe and I would not advise that.

The other thing would be that we have additional training or fellowships in cosmetic plastic surgery because a good reconstructive surgeon may not always be a good cosmetic surgeon and your doctor should be trained in the procedure that you are planning to have.

Another question would be which hospital is your doctor attached to. Naturally the best hospitals in the city would employ be the best cosmetic surgeons as well so that becomes an automatic choice. Another important factor is what sort of a connection that you're able to you know have with your plastic surgeon. Does it give you time, does he listens to you, does he answer your questions. So in short, how comfortable is your plastic surgeon making you in your consultation. So that first consultation is an important time. I usually keep about one hour for my new patients because I need to know their expectation, I need to know what what they have come in with, what are their desire, you know what changes do they want in their appearance and they want to know from me which procedure would be exactly right for them, what could be the possible side effects or I need to know what concerns they have, so this involves time, it involves a building of a relationship and I need to be able to answer all your questions thoroughly, so that you are mentally and physically ready for your surgery.

The other questions that people have are regarding place, time cost. If it's a small cosmetic surgery procedure I can do it in my clinic but larger procedures need to be done in a fully equipped hospital. I would never advise anybody to get cosmetic surgery procedure in a small clinic, in clinic sort of a nursing home or place, simply to save some money. That would not be safe.

As regards time, if you come into the hospital in the morning you can be ready to go home by evening. You know more surgeries nowadays are day care procedures. If it's a bigger surgery when you might need to stay in overnight and if you are an overseas patient. If you are coming in from the city you can choose to stay back in the hospital for a few more days when that by choice. As regard cost depending upon how big the procedure is the cost is very variable and it can be something very little to something much more depending upon how much time the surgery is going to take but believe me cosmetic surgery is affordable. No it is not as expensive as some people would like you to think. Other questions that people have regards what results can I expect from plastic surgery. Now i can give you pretty impressive results and they can make a big difference to your appearance but if you believe that you are going to be able to look like that particular celebrity or somebody totally different then that fiction, that's only in movies and cinema is not true. Will these results last?  Yes most results from surgery will be lifelong and if your doctor does advise you some dietary or health modifications then you should keep that in mind but result will be permanent. Results will last and l these results are safe and these procedures. If they are very safe that's not a problem if you are in the in the right hands, in the right hospital. All surgical procedures have a small risk of bleeding or infection or scarring but what is more important is your doctor's ability to be to be able to keep the chance of anything like that happening to the minimum and if some rare thing occurs he should be confident enough to be able to handle it well. You know your doctor should be with you through your recovery period, through the entire healing process. It should be able to answer your questions and I aim to be there for everything. So that you are comfortable and you're well taken care of. So in general plastic surgery is very effective, very safe and I'm sure you have a lot more questions specific to certain procedures that you have in mind.

You could always contact me by Lybrate and come into my clinic for a personal one on one consultation. Look forward to see you. Thank you.