Frequently Asked Questions

What are the general risks of plastic surgery?

Whenever you have an operation, there are always potential side effects. Some are normal reactions of your body:

Pain: Pain varies from patient to patient and depends on your pain threshold. If you have a sedation or a general anesthesia, the anesthetist will inject in your drip strong long lasting pain killers. After your surgery, you will be given tablets of pain killers, generally for the next 7 days.

Scars: For any operation, there is a scar. Your surgeon will show you during the consultation the type of scars you have to expect. He will tell you where they will be, how large they will be and their normal evolution. Certain patients for genetic reasons don't heal very well and their scars, instead of being very discreet, tend to be quite red, or even with time get larger (hypertrophic scars) and very lumpy (cheloid scars). You have to tell your surgeon if you had problems with scarring in the past, so that he can minimize the risk of bad scarring.

Swelling: After your surgery it is normal to have a swelling on the operative site. This swelling will last several weeks or even months. The duration of the swelling depends on how aggressive the surgery was and how your body reacts to it. To minimize the swelling you are often asked to wear a compression garment for a few weeks (to be specified by your surgeon). Also massage sessions are recommended after surgery to have a quicker disappearance of this swelling.

Bleeding: Usually, for a lot of operations, at the end of your surgery, your surgeon will leave a drain in place. This drain will stay in place a few hours and will allow any oozing coming from the operative site to be collected in a small container. But sometimes, there is a real bleeding starting after the end of the surgery. If it happens, you need to go back to theatre so that the bleeding can be dealt with by your surgeon. It is important to tell your surgeon during the consultation if you are taking any blood thinners or anticoagulants as they need to be stopped before your operation. It is also important to have a blood test before surgery to detect any potential problem in your coagulation capacity.

Infections: Infections are a real medical problem. Prevention is very important: before surgery you need to have a blood test to check if you already have an ongoing infection and a swab to check if you have resistant bacteria on your skin (MRSA). Then it is recommended to take a shower with antiseptic before your operation. During surgery, the anesthetist will give you an IV antibiotic. After surgery you will be given tablets of antibiotics for a week and instructions regarding the change of your dressings. Changing of the dressings regularly by a nurse is very important in the prevention of infection.

These are the general risks of any procedure in plastic surgery.

They are also specific risks for every procedure that will be explained further.

Why do I have to pay for the first consultation?

A lot of agencies are advertising for a free first consultation. Consequently patients are tempted to see several agencies and compare.

But who is the patient actually seeing during this free first consultation? A counsellor or a nurse who is paid on commissions and will deliver the same explanation about one type of surgery to all patients.

When you make an appointment with a qualified plastic surgeon, you are actually seeing the person who is going to do your surgery. He is qualified (15 years of training) and experienced (he has done this operation many times before).

He is able to tell you if you are suitable for this operation and what kind of results you can expect.

He has a professional insurance (very expensive one); counsellors don't have an insurance. He is paying for the consulting room. For all these reasons, it is normal that a plastic surgeon, just like a dentist or a gynaecologist, charge for this first consultation.

Why can’t I have in one single surgery the buttock size of certain celebrities?

Everybody is different. Genetically some patients already have a certain size and the surgery adds a visible volume to some pre-existing situation. Some patients have a small frame and they have to build up the volume they want step by step. You cannot put too large an implant inside the gluteus muscle: if this implant is too large, it will be rejected. The same is true for fat transfer to buttocks: not only do you need to have sufficient fat available but also injecting too much fat is not safe and can result in complications (infection, embolism).

Why should a patient always select a surgeon/practitioner with experience and an artistic eye?

The success of a cosmetic procedure is not about the marketing. It depends on the experience of your surgeon but also on his artistic skills. Your surgeon, by his experience, knows how to give you the best result and avoid all the complications.

But your surgeon also wants to reach some kind of harmony with the result of his operation. You would not like to get the perfect rhinoplasty, but then find out that your new nose doesn’t suit your face at all. That's what harmony is about.

Can a patient die during a cosmetic surgery procedure?

In theory the answer should be yes but very unlikely: do you think that you can be run over by a car when you cross the street?

There are many ways to avoid such a tragic outcome: it starts with the medical questionnaire. You have to tell your surgeon absolutely everything about your health status (past medical history, ongoing treatments, allergy to medications, etc.), so that the staff can detect any counterindication or situation where we need more investigation. Then the anesthetist will come and see you and assess if there is any risk in putting you to sleep. Finally, your surgeon will choose the safest and the most successful technique to operate on you.