PROCEDURE PROCESS Bellevue & Seattle

After you have decided to schedule a procedure, we will set up a Pre-Procedure Appointment for you that is at least 2 weeks before your procedure. The 2 week time point is chosen to allow you to stay off blood thinners for 2 weeks before and after your procedure. You can find out about medications and blood thinners to avoid for plastic surgery.

During your Pre-Procedure Appointment, we will go over your procedures in more detail and make sure that all of your questions are answered. Your medical history will be reviewed to make sure that you are healthy enough to have the procedure. Any medical clearances from your primary care doctor or other doctors will be discussed and requested at this time. If you are having a fat transfer procedure, you may be requested to see another physician to rule out the presence of hernias. We will also go over the consent forms with you and have you sign them as well. We take full payment at the 2 week appointment. So this is something that you have to be prepared to do at this meeting. You will have medications that are needed for the procedure prescribed to you. Your follow-up appointments can also be secured at this point if you know your future schedule. These follow-up appointments can also be made on the day of your procedure for your convenience as well.

We may also take more pictures at this time. Any additional imaging and computer morphing of these pictures can be done during this appointment. These pictures will be reviewed again on the day of your procedure to make sure that your desires are heard and understood to the fullest degree possible. If you are having oral or intravenous sedation, you will need a caretaker with you for at least 24 hours after your procedure. This is another topic that we will discuss with you. You can learn more about the different levels of anesthesia we provide here. We have a caretaker consent form that we will want your caretaker to sign. This will insure that you will have someone responsible taking care of you after your procedure. We want the best for you and this obviously includes your safety. Having a caretaker is an integral part in this safety minded approach.

If you don’t have someone that can take care of you after your procedure, we have resources that we can put you in touch with. We can help you coordinate this as well. In relation to having oral or intravenous sedation, it is important that you don’t have anything to eat or drink (not even water) 6 hours before your procedure. We will emphasize this during this Pre-Procedure Appointment. We also stress the importance to drink 64 ounces of fluid (something with solutes like Gatorade, etc and not just water) up until that point that you are to stop eating and drinking. Failure to do so could lead to your procedure’s cancellation for your safety.

During this appointment, you may be seen by our nurse and medical assistant in addition to the Doctor. Their role is to facilitate your Pre-Procedure Appointment and also offer you some continuity-of-care during and after your procedure. They are a great resource and are able to answer a lot of questions and help you a great deal during this whole process. It may be a good idea for you to read our patient care packages that have been put together for you here, Patient Care. We will be going over your consents, your history and physical , as well as prepare you for your procedure including starting the process of getting a medical risk assessment or a hernia assessment with an ultrasound.

We will also be prescribing medications for you which will include a pain medication (percocet, vicodin, tylenol codeine, etc), antibiotic (clindamycin, keflex, etc), anti-nausea (ondansetron, phenergan, etc.) and possibly other medications. The CDC (“Guideline for Prevention of Surgical Site Infection, 1999 Adobe PDF file [PDF - 217 KB] “) has a good guideline on whether you should be getting antibiotics before your procedure: http://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/pdf/guidelines/SSI_1999.pdf.