Many patients call on June 15th and want to schedule a surgery during the early weeks of the summer so they can enjoy the rest of their season. Some of my favorite patients are teachers, and as soon as school gets out for the summer, the phones start ringing. Unfortunately, it can take some time to book a consultation, as well as schedule the surgery and the appointments in between; the earlier you plan, the better. We recommend that patients do their research and begin these procedures in the early spring so that they can be summer ready, for the whole summer! Some of the procedures can take up to a few months before the results become noticeable. To help with your process, here are some tips for a successful and carefree summer.
To speed up the process, consider scheduling consults with your favorite plastic surgeon (Dr. Burgess and her team) around February or March. After your initial consultation, the surgery, treatments, procedures, and visits can then be scheduled. The surgery schedule can be full, so the earlier that you decide what you would like to have done, the earlier you can solidify and hold your surgery date. Our practice has had a nice focus on breast augmentation, breast lift, breast reduction, abdominoplasty, and mommy makeovers that can be combinations of these procedures. The best time to do these procedures are when you are “working” from home, since you will not need to go into work, making recovery much smoother. However, some surgeries require about one to two weeks off work, to help with healing.
Some non-surgical treatments and procedures are done in multiple visits, so it may take a month or more to complete the treatment. A great example of this is ThermiSmooth. ThermiSmooth is a radiofrequency treatment for cellulite and tissue contraction by heating the tissue with large electrodes, leaving you feeling like you just had a hot stone massage. This can be done to the abdomen, back, thighs, and arms and is usually treated in a series of six treatments. After the original six treatments, many patients do maintenance treatments a few times a year. To enhance this treatment, some patients add on an acoustic massage for cellulite reduction. Coolsculpting is another treatment that many patients do in a series. Each applicator leads to around a 25% reduction in fat, but it resorbs slowly over several months. In some cases, the abdominal area can take a few treatments to reach beyond the 25%. ThermiTight is a slightly invasive radiofrequency procedure that uses a probe just under the numbed skin to create contraction and improvement, and in some circumstances, liposuction can be done with it. We use this for the face and the neck, but it can also be done to the arms, abdomen, above the knees, and a few other areas. This treatment is a nice alternative, but not a replacement for surgery in the right candidate. Recently we have been using the SecretRF, Microneedling with radiofrequency, in FDA off-label use areas, such as the arms and the “sharm”. The sharm is the area between the shoulder and the arm that can have some loose skin. This procedure is usually treated in a series as well.
With the current COVID-19 conditions, we hope that by summer most people will be vaccinated, and we can travel and have some fun! If you would like to schedule a consultation, or have any questions for us, please contact us at 503-699-6464.
