Monday, February 24, 2014

Consultations

The consultation process. This will be a lengthy post because to me this is the most important step of the process so grab a snack and read on! I like to refer to this as the "brains of the operation" process. It is absolutely crucial that you take this step in the process very seriously and do your research beforehand.  In my opinion the best form of advertisement is a referral. If you have 110% decided that you want to go through with getting breast augmentation the first thing you should do is ask around and start to network. Capitalize on the use of your resources! Have your friends and family ask around for you. The more referrals you can get and the more reviews you can get from a surgeon the better!

After you have gathered some names of some surgeons, research, research, research! The internet is your best friend. Gather up as much material regarding the surgeon as possible. Explore their website, read their about me section, and most importantly really and I mean REALLY evaluate their before and after pictures. Do you like what you see? Personally, whether right or wrong, I judge the surgeon a great deal from the before and after pictures they post online. To me if you are hand selecting a few photos to put on your website you are selecting your best work! If I don't like the surgeons best work, I take this as a HUGE strike against them. Become knowledgeable of their credentials. If they don't display their credentials that is an automatic red flag! Make sure they are BOARD CERTIFIED. Certification matters! There is a website you can go to that lists the surgeons that are board certified. Just because the surgeons say they are it is always best to double check rather than take their word for it.

When you have referrals, researched, and studied surgeons now its time to figure out the look you want. What do you want your end result to be? There are many different looks that you can get aesthetically as far as size, profiles (the shape of the breast) and where the breast sits on your chest. You want to be very clear with what you want. Crystal clear. If you aren't crystal clear you wont communicate clearly with the surgeon what you want and this could skew your results. I went online and looked at HUNDREDS and I mean literally HUNDREDS of photos. I saved photos of the breasts that to me were EXACTLY like I wanted. I then went on to look at before and after pictures. I saved photos of the before pictures of the breasts that are almost dead on to the breasts I have now and their results were dead on to the results I want. I saved multiple photos like this. I thought about the sizing, profile, and placement of the implants on my chests for WEEKS. It was not something I looked at for a couple of days and made a concrete decision. I looked at the pictures I saved weeks after I saved them to make sure that I still was just as in love with them weeks later as I was the moment I saw them.

I made the decision to go to a size D. Yes a size D! I didn't have a fixated idea of the amount of CC's I wanted (CC's are what they refer to as sizing) because you have no idea what 300 or 400CC's actually looks and feels like until you see it in person. Now, yes, at a size D, my end result breasts are without a doubt going to be large, but at 130lbs and with my muscular, curvy physique it is my personal opinion that they are going to be exactly what I am looking for. Its about what YOU want. Its not about what your boyfriend wants or your husband, sister, mother, father, or even the surgeon wants. Its ALL ABOUT YOU. Y-O-U have to walk around with them! You have to be happy with them 365 days a year! I want to make a note that everyone's idea of sizing is different. You can say" I want a D cup" to someone and they gasp and fall over thinking you are going to look like Heidi Montag and then you can say that same size to someone else and they think of it as much smaller than what it is. Its ALL personal perspective. A size D cup on someone who is 100lbs is going to look a lot different than a size D on someone who is 150 lbs. The same thing applies to the profiles. One persons idea of high profile could be completely different to another's. This is why you need to supply PHOTOS to your surgeon. Show the surgeon what you want your end result to be.

With that being said, I choose a size D, high profile, and for them to sit fairly high on my chest. (again, I have no idea how many CC's at this point prior to meeting the surgeons) I also was 90% sure that I wanted to silicone. There are currently 3 different implants that I know of that are available: silicone, saline, and gummy bear. Do your research on these and find out what you think you prefer prior to talking to a surgeon. Now the overall look I am getting is considered to be the "augmented look." They are absolutely going to look augmented but that's aesthetically my personal preference. I don't want them to look EXTREMELY augmented either. There is a FINE LINE between looking too augmented and just right. Again, pictures are KEY! And CLEAR communication of this to your doctor is absolutely one million percent VITAL! When you are going through this process put on your PERFECTIONIST HAT. Act like a perfectionist even if you aren't. Be a perfectionist. This is your body and you want it to go as perfectly as humanly possible and you want your results to be as close to what you envisioned as possible.

Now that you have a clear idea of what you want its time to start calling and setting up consultations with the surgeons you have selected. 9 out of 10 surgeons will have a consultation fee. I welcome a consultation fee. Some people look at this as a negative aspect but to me I respect a surgeon who requires a fee than the surgeon who advertises the "free consultation." To me the connotation of a "free consultation" means you are hurting for business, the quality of the consults will be poor, and you will act like you can do anything possible even if its not possible to get the business. I would much rather prefer spending the money on a consultation fee to go to someone who is serious with their time and to me this fee portrays quality consultations. I learned this from my step father who is a lawyer and has been a lawyer for many, many years and absolutely exceptional at what he does. He has a consultation fee and the ones who don't see him because of the fee and go to a "free consultation" lawyer are always coming back in the door to him and doing business with him instead.

Do not and I mean do NOT skimp out on the consultations due to the price. Do not just go to one surgeon and call it a day. Always, always get a second opinion, even if you fall in love with the first surgeon. Its always best to hear someone else out and use that to do 2 things: reassure you of your love for the first surgeon or change your opinion of the first surgeon. You will never regret getting more reassurance of your decision to go to a particular surgeon! Most consultation fees are $100-$200 dollars and this amount of money is extremely miniscule compared to the price of the overall surgeon and the amount of time you have to live with these implants!

I went to two consultations. The first surgeon I went to was in Rochester. I knew of people who went to him and his credentials are top notch. On paper he looks like a superstar and the "must go to guy." I paid the consultation fee and met with the chief resident first and then met with the actual surgeon. I am here to be completely honest and not here to sugar coat anything. I will flat out say he did not exceed my expectations. Prior to going to my appointment I was extremely excited to see this doctor. I heard nothing but positive reviews about him. He went to an Ivy League School, graduated with honors, and as I mentioned before looked perfect on paper. I was expecting the consultation to be out of this world informative and to walk out of there with no doubt in my mind that he was my man for the job.

I left unsatisfied. I found that he was not thorough enough for my liking. I don't know why that is. I don't know if he was behind on his consultations or he has been in the business long enough where he thinks he knows exactly what the patients want and need so he doesn't feel the need to be thorough with patients. He almost was telling me what I was getting rather than listening to what I wanted. In my opinion he was putting his ego into it too much and this rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted to be honest with this and share this experience because I feel like this can happen ALOT. You hear about this super star hair dresser and you tell them what you want and they end up giving you the look that THEY want and you don't like it! Just because someone looks great on paper and gets great reviews, don't let that be the only thing you focus on. Make sure they listen to you and listen to what you want. Make sure its not about them and don't put all your trust in them and leave with doubts!

I admit I got too caught up in his credentials and I was thankful that I really took the time to think about my feelings about the consultation and had a paradigm shift. I then called my second surgeon who practices near where I live. I again knew of people who had breast augmentation done by her and were very pleased. I called and paid the consultation fee and met with her for a consult. I fell in LOVE with her. She completely exceeded all expectations! She was extremely thorough. She spoke with me for 55 minutes rather than just 20 minutes from my first surgeon. She listened to everything I said and even printed off the pictures that I showed her I wanted to put in my medical file. This was something that my first surgeon did not do. I tried on multiple different implants with a bra on and then she provided a tank top so I could see how they looked under a tight tank top. I was really able to get the FULL effect of how the implants look. This was something that I did not do with my first surgeon. He seemed to already know the size that looked best on me. In my opinion its so important to try the implants on in a sports bra AND put a tight shirt over it so you can see how you are going to look with clothing on.

After trying on different sizes, I simply solidified my want for a size D and silicone. She also gave me the range of CC's that she was going to order and use. With her help we picked out 375-400CC's which will give me a full D cup. Exactly what I want! Also with her help I chose to go under the muscle (submuscular) and have the incision be under the breast (inframammary incision) I did research on incision options and over and under the muscle options, but it was hard for me to make an informed decision prior to meeting with the surgeons and getting knowledge from them. The incision and the placement of the implant very much are best determined by the surgeons looking at your current breasts, the elasticity of them, the way they sit, how far apart are they, etc. After the surgeon gave me an exam we made the decision together based on my current breasts: submuscular, and inframammary incision.

The costs of the surgery highly depends on your surgeons demographics. The surgeons I saw in upstate NY and from hearing the cost of the surgeons of people who have gotten breast augmentation done around New York State have an average cost of right around $6500-$7500. The surgeon I am going to is $7,200. I would absolutely not go to a surgeon based on the cost UNLESS you love the two surgeons the same and they have the same amount of positive reviews. To me, it was crucial that I picked the surgeon based on how I felt about them, their reviews, their credentials, and the cost was simply just the cost. If you are nickel and diming on this surgery you are making a mistake! I am in no way saying I am rich and money is no object but this is a surgery, expect it to be expensive, make sure you budget wisely for it.

The recovery time from this procedure is a good 3 weeks to a months time. The surgeons both stressed to me that you don't want to rush back into it and risk the consequences by doing so. I will be taking a full month off from lifting. I was told I might be able to ride a stationary bike 3 weeks after the surgery but it cant be certain. The hardest part will be taking time away from the gym but its totally worth it!

With all that being said, my surgery date is March 12th at 9:30 am. I have to be there at 8:30am. The surgery is said to be an hour and a half long. My surgeon said do not expect to leave the facility until at least 3pm and that's if I am good to go when they evaluate me at the time. I have my pre operative appointment this Friday at 10:30am and I will make my next blog post about that appointment!

I hope this information is helpful to you and if you have any questions you can comment below!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Marlena

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