A large, national chain opens across the street to much fanfare and with a large banner that reads something like, "Home of the $6 Haircut"
The narrator explains that with the money he saves by purchasing office supplies at GigantoOffice, he is able to address the threat- and the spot shows him hanging his own banner- that reads, "We Fix $6 Haircuts"
(BTW, I agree it is a bit funny that the ad was for a large, national chain of discount office supply stores...)
Soon, the large chain store is closing and he is victorious....
Cute- but what if the damage done by the discounter of services was not to your hair (which, of course grows back), but to another part of your body- and what if that damage required another operation to fix... or worse, couldn't be fixed. What if your visit to the discount provider of services resulted in your death?
The unfortunate reality is that there are at present a very large number of "providers" of aesthetic surgery who (in my humble opinion) have placed their financial well-being above the oaths they (and all doctors) took to protect patients and "First Do No Harm".
Among them are gynecologists, ER doctors, and even eye doctors- all advertising themselves as expert cosmetic surgeons- despite their full understanding of their lack of ACGME (American Council on Graduate Medical Education- the body that certifies training programs for specialities in medicine) training in the surgical discipline they are engaging in. Indeed, in most cases, their "training" consisted of a few hours, days, or at best weeks of watching someone from the company selling the equipment to them do the procedure.
Whether you were aware of it at the time or not, you've been exposed to them... They are the ones telling you that having liposuction in their office under local anesthesia is the safer way to go. That general anesthesia (as the plastic surgeon you saw recommended) is much more dangerous... That if they are capable of doing delicate eye surgery, they should be more than capable of liposuction.
Imagine me telling patients that because I am trained to do delicate plastic surgery, I should be more than able to do their heart surgery.... Hard to imagine? It's happening all around you in the field of aesthetic surgery.
But the fundamental truth is that these doctors are not appropriately trained to do these procedures- fully explaining the deaths we all are reading about.
Previously healthy young women dying during procedures that should not have much risk of death. Dying because they chose poorly and prioritized their financial outlay higher than their safety or happiness. Dying because they fell victim to aggressive marketing campaigns designed to confuse you into thinking the eye doctor in the ad is a plastic surgeon. Dying because they believed the marketing pitch that local anesthesia is "much safer"- when the truth is that for procedures involving larger areas of the body local anesthesia is much LESS safe.
I see a great many women who have been injured and disfigured by these providers of discount or just poor quality services (indeed, an eye doctor in town actually charges MORE than any of the reputable and well trained plastic surgeons I know for liposuction). In some cases, I find myself telling them I can fix their "$6 haircut"- through another operation and at added expense to them of course. In others, I can only mitigate the damage.
And some, like the sister of Michelle Boone, my nurse practitioner, are never able to get this education about the providers of aesthetic surgery without adequate training. Because one of them took her life.
Be careful.
Plastic surgery can be a beautiful thing- restoring an appearance you thought was lost forever or not possible for you. But we should all insist that it also be as safe as possible and that the experience be positive. Be your own best advocate. Do your homework and place your safety and happiness only in the hands of a surgeon Certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery with a track record of safety, success, and integrity.
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