If you’re planning to have a facelift in Inland Empire (where I practice), Los Angeles, Chicago, New York or anywhere else, you want great results. Perhaps the most important factors are your plastic or facial plastic surgeon’s experience, training and skill. Skilled surgeons who perform a lot of facelifts often get substantially better results. Unfortunately, not every doctor who advertises their facelift procedure has the experience you need.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Brian Machida is a highly experienced facial plastic surgeon. He has performed some 4,000 facial plastic surgery procedures, an outstanding level of experience. Dr. Machida taught facial plastic surgery for years at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine.
Why experience is so important CONTACT Dr. Machida Inland Empire, CA
Kaiser Health News reported that three highly-respected health systems – Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth-Hitchcock and the University of Michigan – promised to require that surgeons who wished to perform challenging surgeries at their member hospitals do at least the number of those procedures believed necessary to maintain their skills.
Studies performed at Stanford and many other top institutions consistently found that operations performed by surgeons who are highly experienced in those procedures achieved considerably better outcomes. Patients whose doctors had less experience in the surgery they needed were more likely to suffer less-than-desirable results or even serious complications.
The surgeries they studied were challenging procedures – often a matter of life and death. Now, no one is likely to die because of a bad facelift. But substantial research and practical experience have shown that an attractive face and neck can have a big impact on your happiness, self-esteem, self-confidence and personal/professional success. Therefore, if you want to improve your looks, it’s essential to choose a surgeon with an extensive record of good results in the procedure you need.
How experience helps in plastic surgery
Like musicians and athletes, there is a tiny minority of plastic surgeons so exceptionally talented that they will get excellent results regardless of how often they perform a particular procedure. But to achieve outstanding outcomes, the vast majority of musicians, athletes and surgeons need practice – lots of it. That is particularly true in plastic surgery. The highly esteemed Dr. Malcolm Paul, past President of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, put it this way:
Becoming really good at Cosmetic Surgery does not come from performing 100 different operations once. Rather, real skill in Cosmetic Surgery comes from performing a variation of one operation hundreds of times.
Dr. Paul makes an excellent point. When a plastic surgeon performs the same type of procedure many times, they learn which surgical techniques are likely to get the most pleasing results. They also see the different challenges that can arise during the procedure. They learn to deal with them most effectively. Thus, a highly experienced plastic or facial plastic surgeon isn’t fazed if your body doesn’t respond exactly as expected. They’ve seen the same issue arise many times before and know exactly what to do.
An extra experience advantage in facial plastic surgery
Experienced or not, most plastic surgeons work on the entire body. This lowers the number of face and neck cosmetic surgical procedures they can perform each year. According to industry statistics, in a 30 year career, the average plastic surgeon in the U.S. will do around 500.
Facial plastic surgeons, in contrast, offer a big advantage: Experience in face and neck procedures. For instance, because I focus on the face and neck, I’ve performed some 4,000 face and neck procedures, including more than 3,000 facelifts, necklifts and eyelid restoring surgeries such as blepharoplasty.
Some of the other surgeons on LookYounger.News have a similar experience level. Averaging out our track records, note how we stack up against the average plastic surgeon:
Experience offers an additional benefit in facial plastic surgery
John Birkmeyer, MD, Chief Academic Officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system stated that for any surgical procedure in any given area:
There are usually one or two or three surgeons who are recognized as go-to doctors. But there’s this tail of other surgeons who do only a few a year.
Those of us who have been fortunate enough to gain exceptional levels of experience can offer an additional benefit no surgeon can learn from a textbook. We can customize our facelift, neck lift or blepharoplasty procedures to our patient’s individual anatomy. Everyone’s face is a little different. A high level of experience allows your facial plastic surgeon to adjust their technique to your facial structure. This means you can get the facial plastic surgery procedure that looks best on you.
In addition, a strong record of experience in facial plastic surgery allows many of my colleagues and me to use local anesthetics plus oral sedation. Experts have called this “the safest method available. “ If you want to truly improve your appearance and get the kind of results the patients pictured here have gotten, make sure you work with a truly skilled and experienced facial plastic surgeon. If you’re in Inland Empire, California, you can find me at STC Plastic Surgery in Ontario.
CONTACT Dr. Machida Inland Empire, CA
