One of the reasons you are here is to choose a plastic surgeon. I know you are about to make a very important decision. Choose wrong, and you may regret it for a very long time. I value your time, so here are some bullet points as to why I think you should pick me. These are brief -- this is the "No Spin" version. Please feel free to ask me or my staff to elaborate on any of these points. "I'm not bragging, I'm applying for a job."
I am a member of the two major plastic surgery societies, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Members of those societies voluntarily subject themselves to a stringent code of ethics, which does not apply to those who are not members, and have agreed to undergo continuing education, including education about patient safety.
I'm experienced, but not too experienced. I am at the peak of my career, having done plastic surgery for almost 30 years. For myself, I would not want a surgeon who had only been in practice for just five or ten years, nor someone about ready to retire.
I didn't take short-cuts with my training. I completed a full five-year general surgery residency, and then a full three-year plastic surgery residency, and am board certified by both the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery. That was eight years of residency. After completing medical school.
Plastic surgery was my focus from the beginning of my entire eight years of residency. When I interviewed for my general surgery residency in 1980, I told the Chairman of Surgery that I was going to be a plastic surgeon. If your surgeon trained in something else and then started doing plastic surgery, ask them when and why they decided to change, and why they didn't start out in plastic surgery.
I didn't rush into private practice right out of residency. Instead, I started my practice by training other plastic surgeons, as a full time faculty member at the University of New Mexico, and I was subsequently appointed Chief of Plastic Surgery and Program Director of the ACGME accredited plastic surgery residency at UNM, a position that I held from 1990 until 1995. I earned tenure at UNM. Arizona did not have its own plastic surgery residency, and I believe I am the only practicing plastic surgeon in Arizona who has ever been the Program Director of an accredited plastic surgery residency at a university. (If you know of another one, I hope you will tell me, although Mayo Clinic has since opened a plastic surgery residency, and its present and former Program Directors practice in Arizona.)
I have been practicing plastic surgery in Scottsdale since 1995, after I had already been practicing plastic surgery at UNM for seven years.
Always striving to grow intellectually, I decided to go to Law School at night. For fun! And it was fun. I graduated in December 2017, second in my class, and was officially admitted to the practice of Law by the Arizona Supreme Court in May, 2018. Not that I would ever want to stop doing surgery, but I have always been fascinated by the law, and I know there are areas where I will be able to contribute without interfering with my surgical practice.
Besides, where else can the Bride-To-Be get her breast implants and her Pre-Nup under the same roof?
I will take the time to listen to you, to understand what you are trying to accomplish, and to help you decide what to do. If your surgeon doesn't have enough time for you before surgery, how likely are they to have enough time for you after?
I care deeply and personally about my patients. I know, everyone says that on their website, but I really mean it.
If I don't think surgery is your best option, I will tell you. Really. Because I'd much rather you found out before surgery than after.
In all the years I have been in medicine and surgery, I have never lost or settled a lawsuit. The only two lawsuits in which I was named were at a university, were emergency room patients, not cosmetic surgery patients, and I believe I was just one of many participants who were named. I was also named in a third claim where I was only observing, but I was quickly dropped from that claim. It may be rude to talk about this, but you want a careful surgeon. Of course, anyone can be sued -- it's what happens next that matters. If you don't feel you can talk to your surgeon about this, perhaps you should find another surgeon. And keep in mind, there have been surgeons who have not been completely honest -- if they don't have it posted on their websites, they can always deny what they said in private. You might consider why they have chosen not to include this information on their websites.
I drove my last car for fifteen years. Even after fifteen years, It ran great.
I don't drink, smoke or use drugs, and have never had a DUI. I've never been arrested, or even had a traffic ticket. If you need me after surgery, I will not be impaired.
I don't take emergency room calls, so I won't have been up all night doing emergency surgery.
I will give you a direct line to my cell phone, so you won't have to wait to talk to me if you need me.
I will do your tummy tuck without a drain. I didn't invent that -- the only way you can invent surgery is to experiment on your patients, which I do not do. However, once it was proven, I started doing abdominoplasty without a drain in May 2008, and have been doing it that way ever since. Combined with Exparel® long-lasting anesthetic, this technique results in significantly less pain and quicker recovery after a tummy tuck.
I regularly go to the major plastic surgery meetings, generally twice a year. And I actually go to the meetings and pay attention.
I am Chair of the subcommittee that runs the Hot Topics course for the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the largest organization of Plastic Surgeons in America. Those popular, evidence-based courses introduce plastic surgeons to what is new, what is worthwhile, what has not been proven, and what should be avoided.
I have received the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation's highest honor, its Distinguished Service Award for 2004. It was awarded on October 7, 2004 in Philadelphia. The Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation is the educational sister society of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
My office is quiet, and private, with parking right outside the door.
My favorite color is purple. Admit it, you like purple, too.
I write commercial computer software as a hobby. In Ruby, C++ and C#. It helps keep me sharp, and it's great fun.
I aim for a natural result. Of course, not everyone wants a natural result, so I listen to you and try to give you what you want.
Every surgery is customized to your desires, your tissues, and your anatomy.
I love my job. There is nothing better than helping people achieve their goals.
I did my residency before the moratorium on silicone gel implants began in 1991, so I have lots of experience with all kinds of implants.
I have a great staff. I have had staff who worked for me for up to fifteen years, and are all very nice, very smart, very caring, and fun to work with. But please don't tell them I said so.
Actually, they already know.
I have been doing Mommy Makeovers since the 1990's, before that term was invented. I called it the Post Baby Tune-Up®, trademarked that name, and the 2004 newspaper story about my Post Baby Tune-Up® was the first recorded use of the term "Mommy Makeover" to refer to plastic surgery.
I'm not afraid to take on the tough cases. If you have a problem, I am happy to see you and give you my honest advice. But I won't operate on you unless I think I can help.
I do not charge for consultations. Your time is valuable, too.
After your consultation, I will send you a copy of your consultation note. You will see whether I listened to you.
I am on the "Top Docs" lists, too. There are lots of them. Just be careful not to make this criterion too important. Those lists sell a lot of advertising space and magazines, but they don't really mean very much. Some bad mistakes have been made by doctors on those lists, some of whom are not very experienced, and some of whom have had their licenses suspended by the Arizona Medical Board. You have been warned.
I'm not the most expensive, and I'm not the least expensive.
I do all of my surgery in a real operating room run by a real hospital or an accredited and certified surgery center. I know it costs a little more, but they spend a lot of time and money making sure everything is up to snuff. Nobody is going to spend that much money or time on an office or an unaccredited surgery center.
I do all of my surgery under general anesthesia with a physician anesthesiologist. I know it costs a little more than using a nurse or nurse anesthetist. But that is what I would choose for myself or my family.
I have, and use, the first 3-D breast surgery simulator in Arizona. It's a great tool to help you visualize the effect of enlarging the breast. Of course, the one we use today is an updated version, and is in its third generation.
I take all of my before and after pictures myself, and I go over them with you myself.
If you have a treatment in my office, it will be done by me, including BOTOX®, Juvéderm®, and other injections. These are serious medical treatments, and you will have to live with the results. You deserve to have them done by an experienced plastic surgeon.
I do all of my liposuction myself. It may be hard to believe, but many Scottsdale plastic surgeons delegate liposuction and other parts of your surgery to staff, often unlicensed staff such as surgical techs. Including the other Scottsdale Plastic Surgeons on the "Top Docs" lists. While I use Robin, a licensed and Registered Nurse First Assistant, to speed up your surgery by helping to sew the incisions, she is never working when I am not. If your surgeon does not mention this on the website, you might ask. And ask why that information is not on the website where they can't later deny it.
We do not use voicemail during office hours. When the phone rings, it is answered by a person. A nice person.
We do not turn off the phones at lunchtime (unless we are having a meeting). Lunchtime is a great time for you to make your personal phone calls. My office operates for the convenience of my patients, not for my staff. To find out how important you really are, call your doctor's office at lunchtime. We will be here to answer when you call.
We do not have a waiting room, we have a reception area. I hate waiting at the doctor's office, too.
We do not do body wraps. Anyone who believes that "ten body wraps is the equivalent of liposuction" is probably smoking something.
I insist on a twelve inch separation between sterile and non-sterile in the operating room. Although that is supposed to be the AORN standard, most surgeons and surgical staff, even at a real hospital, do not follow that rule.
At the hospital, I use regular hospital scrubs. They may not be my favorite color, but when doctors bring their own scrubs to the hospital, they are not laundered using the specialized hospital facilities. So here's a tip: if your surgeon is wearing scrubs at the office, especially if they wear the same ones at the hospital, or if they wear special scrubs at the hospital or surgery center, they probably do not think that hospital-clean scrubs are as important as their own convenience.
I have a sense of humor, even though Amber doesn't think so.
And the best reason to pick me as your plastic surgeon: there is not just a single reason! Tell us at your first consultation that you read all the way to the bottom of the "Why Dr. Nachbar" list (and wear something in my favorite color!), and we will give you an extra 5% off your surgeon's fee for your first surgery.