The consultation is a paramount in your beautification project. Your motivations and precise demands should be clear. A detailed examination of yourself, your anatomy and all the medical conditions that could be responsible of the situation will be studied as well as other elements that might be not beneficial or contra-indicate the procedure. The benefits or what can be achieved by the procedure and what cannot be expected will be thoroughly exposed. In this way a well-informed patient and surgeon can have a mutual and authentic consent for an aesthetic procedure with the objective to prevent from post procedure deception. If the intervention implies general anaesthesia, the pre-surgical protocol will be respected: biological blood exams, electrocardiogram, anaesthesiologist consultation, pre-surgical fasting, non-aspirin or aspirin like medication at least 10 days before the procedure, stop smoking at least 2 weeks before your intervention. For some procedures local anaesthesia only will be proposed, or associated to a light sedation if you feel “nervous” or if the procedure will last more than 1 hour for your comfort and convenience. The duration of the intervention depends of the complexity of it, for some could be as quick as half and hour for an upper eyelid only surgery or 4 hours for a proper liposculpture procedure. Ambulatory procedures are the rule in modern plastic surgery (entry in the morning and exit by night). In order to assure a proper care, sometimes an overnight stay will be proposed.

Nowadays the sutures used to close the skin are very thin and stiches removal very quick as for example eyelids surgery. In other locations completely dissolvable suture will be used so no stiches removal at all. Scars from the elective plastic surgery procedures are placed in anatomical folds or areas where it can be easily hidden or almost invisible. The surgical dressings will give you comfort and protection during the first delicate days after your procedure, for some compression garments will be recommended to enhance and improve the final result. Pain in general is not major, discomfort or tightening sensations are commonest due to swelling, bruising or the tension forces put it in place by the surgical procedure, it will fade in time. Risk and complications exist for any procedure; it will be reduced by choosing a well trained and certified plastic surgeon. Nevertheless even in the best hands complications could be present many of them are benign and easy to cure. Others are more important but rare, a proper study of your case before an elective procedure might reduce the risk. Plastic surgery interventions gives long term results, measured in years, aesthetic medicine procedures are well positioned as a course of treatments that can be done with a frequency to give effects in a short or medium term, which is measured in months. Aesthetic medicine and plastic surgery are complementary both at the same time or very often one after other.