Questions Asked By Patients Before Surgery

Dr. Deniz Akyurekli of The Best You, Centre for Personal Enhancement, Owen Sound discusses the questions he is asked by patients before surgery.

When people come to see me about the possibility of undergoing plastic surgery, they are concerned not just about the procedure, but also with what happens after the surgery.  They want to know what the recovery time is, and what they are going to feel like during the post-operative time period. One concern is whether the recovery period will interfere with their lives or not. The fact is that most cosmetic surgery procedures today have a fairly quick recovery time. There are many minimally invasive procedures that are very safe and allow people to return to their activities quickly.

Some people are not sure about surgery as an option, and they want to know about the risks involved.  At some point in their decision-making process, every client receives a clear, detailed explanation about the risks of the particular surgery. The most common potential complication with anything cosmetic is simply not being satisfied with the result. It is important that people have a good sense of what is possible through surgery and what the most likely outcome is going to be. Of course, with any procedure, we provide options. There may be non-surgical options available, and there’s always the option of doing nothing at all. The client has to weigh all of those options and then make a choice.  It’s usually the people who are really unhappy about a certain feature of their appearance, who are otherwise healthy both physically and mentally, who decide that the potential benefits far outweigh the potential risks.

I think anybody who has surgery also wants to know about the person who is performing the surgical procedures. I think they get a good sense of who that person is and their confidence grows based on their interactions during the consultation process. Most of the people that I see already have some knowledge of me either through their family doctor or through somebody who has had surgery. People, who don’t have any knowledge of me, usually ask questions about how many procedures like this that I’ve done in the past. If they’re receiving good information that makes sense to them, and they feel comfortable with me, that certainly gives them a lot more confidence in pursuing the procedure.

People also ask about where the surgery will be done, whether it’s the hospital or in a surgical centre.  Our surgical centre is an accredited facility, so we like to reassure the client that all the staff at our facility are part of a team of people who look after the patient just as they would be cared for in a hospital.  Patients get a little bit more personalized care in our surgical centre because the volume is such that each patient has his or her own team.  So, a Royal College certified anesthesiologist, the nurses and the recovery room staff are typically the same staff that would be working at the hospital. On the day of their surgery, patients have a chance to meet the team who will be responsible for them that day. The anesthetist, the nurses, the complete team is focused on that one patient during the procedure and in the post-operative period as well. People can feel reassured that everyone is vigilant about the patient before, during and after the procedure.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 7:52 am and is filed under Presurgery Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.