Online Plastic Surgery Consultations WITH BLUE WATER PLASTIC SURGERY

Online (or ‘virtual’) plastic surgery consultations are commonly used to meet and advise prospective patients at Blue Water Plastic Surgery. Discerning patients from all parts of the country and from all over the world meet online with Dr. Michael Law and Dr. Alexandra Schmidt to discuss their interest in natural-appearing results from aesthetic plastic surgery. We do our best to provide our consultation patients with comprehensive, state-of-the-art information and a detailed, individualized treatment plan.

STEP ONE: Surgery Coordinator Telephone Appointment

The first step in our process is a telephone appointment with one of our experienced surgery coordinators, Debbie, Angie or Amaris. During this phone meeting we answer questions, provide you with information about our approach to the evaluation and care of cosmetic surgery patients, and help you determine if an online consultation appointment with Dr. Schmidt or Dr. Law is the appropriate next step for you.

Call 919-256-0900

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STEP TWO: Submit medical history and photographs

Before your online consultation, we will ask you to provide a medical history and photographs that your surgeon can review prior to speaking with you. Photographs are sent via a secure server in specific positions (front, side, oblique, etc.). Adequate photos are important to foster a clear and productive discussion of each patient’s aesthetic concerns and treatment goals, and to assist in the development of an appropriate surgical plan. We will share submission instructions during your phone consultation.

STEP THREE: MD Online Consultation

Your online video consultation with a Blue Water Plastic Surgery physician will vary in length depending on the extent and complexity of the procedure(s) to be discussed. Our online consultations always include a Blue Water Plastic Surgery professional serving as “chaperone”, as would any in-person consultation. We use a video program designed specifically for medical practices to protect your privacy.

Our top priorities during your online MD consultation are your comfort, your safety and your security. We NEVER ask prospective patients to disrobe during an online consultation. The idea of disrobing on video is not only supremely uncomfortable, but also it is not the ideal way in which a surgeon and patient should discuss treatment goals and envision ideal outcomes. Instead, patient and surgeon review previously submitted patient photos together.

STEP FOUR: Surgery Scheduling

An experienced member of our surgery coordinating team is available to meet with each prospective patient after their online surgical consultation to discuss pricing and scheduling. If you are ready to proceed with surgery right away, we will do our best to accommodate you. If you need some time to think about the proposed treatment plan, or perhaps solicit one or more additional opinions, we encourage you to do so.

There is never any pressure to schedule surgery. Our surgical coordinators do not have scheduling quotas or receive commissions for scheduling surgical procedures (unfortunately, that is a common approach in many aesthetic surgery practice). You will know when the time is right for you, and we are more than happy to wait until you are ready to proceed.

Prior to your scheduled procedure, you will meet your surgeon in-person for a pre-operative visit. For local patients, this visit is scheduled 2-4 weeks prior to surgery. For travelling patients, we will review essential information with you by phone well in advance of your date of surgery, and the MD preop appointment will usually occur on the day prior to surgery. The pre-operative visit allows the surgeon to review the plan, answer any remaining questions, and obtain pre-operative photographs.

SURGERY AT BLUE WATER PLASTIC SURGERY

Your privacy is of utmost importance to us. The practice occupies a single-story medical office building, so as our surgery patient you will never have to pass through a public lobby or use a public elevator. On the day of surgery and during early post-op appointments, you will access our clinic through a private door and use our private parking spaces just a few feet away.

On the day of surgery your board-certified, highly-experienced MD anesthesiologist will interview you preoperatively in our private preop area, will accompany you to the OR and remain present for the duration of your surgery, and will accompany you to the post-anesthesia care unit where you will be closely monitored by RNs, your anesthesiologist and your surgeon until you are ready to leave. We have one preop bed, one OR and one postop bed, so you will at all times receive the undivided attention of the medical professionals who are caring for you.

Our surgery center is accredited by both The Joint Commission JCAHO and AAAASF; JCAHO is the organization that inspects and accredits hospitals and hospital ORs. We are preemptive and proactive about pain control and our goal is for you to leave the recovery area feeling comfortable and with a smile on your face. Overnight care is available for patients who are not traveling with a family member or friend.

Our nursing team will be in continual contact with your loved one or friend during the surgical procedure. Our team of physicians and experienced nurse practitioners will be available to you at all times following your surgery. For patients staying overnight for RN observation at The Plastic Surgery Center, Dr. Schmidt or Dr. Law will check on you in person in the evening of surgery and again the following morning before you are discharged.

OUR CULTURE OF PATIENT SAFETY

At Blue Water Plastic Surgery, your safety is our highest priority. For that reason, we are not able to accept every patient for surgery. In some cases, ongoing health issues of concern can be evaluated and treated to make surgical treatment a possibility, and to promote the best possible aesthetic outcome.

Inevitably, this level of care will come with a different price compared to plastic surgery practices that do not maintain Joint Commission accreditation, that do not have board-certified MD anesthesiologists providing the anesthesia care, and that have not made a commitment to a physical layout that maximizes patient privacy. Our pricing is all inclusive and includes everything from compressions garments when needed, to post-operative laser treatments tom accelerate the healing of scars and even a lymphatic draniage treatment to reduce swelling and accelarate healing.

OUR COMMITMENT TO PRIVACY

A word about high-profile and other very private patients: we have protocols in place to protect your identity and to make your experience with us completely private. Our patient coordinators Debbie and Amaris have been with us for more than 15 years each and are accustomed to serving the needs of patients who require the greatest discretion.