PATIENT SAFETY — the most important part of your experience

In 2012 the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery began an initiative to highlight patient safety and make it the ultimate priority for each member of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Core Plastic Surgery historically has taken patient safety very seriously. Here are our requirements to assure high standards on your behalf:

1. In the anesthesia — Core Plastic Surgery is one of a very few plastic surgery practices that uses only physician-monitored anesthesia for the safety of their patients. I previously practiced in a situation where nursing anesthesia was our only option. While the majority of the time everything went well, we did have occasional situations where patients had to be taken to the hospital for situations ranging from asthma to arrhythmias and other issues that can occur under anesthesia.

At Core Plastic Surgery, I committed myself to physician-monitored anesthesia in a hospital setting. Over the past 12 years we have not had a single event occur which could not be easily managed in a hospital setting. We have had a 100% safety record with physician-monitored anesthesia and it is something I insist on for my patients. Only the highest quality of anesthesia should be administered and if you are not receiving physician-monitored anesthesia you are not receiving the best care.

2. Hospital-based operating room — For our implant patients, whether breast, chin, or other, we feel the operating room environment is critical for the long-term performance of that implant. We have a less than 1% capsular contracture rate for our saline implants. We feel that is in large part due to the ultra-sterile environment in our hospital-based operating room. These are the same operating rooms that are utilized to put in hip implants, heart valves, artificial knees, and so on, so they are kept to a much higher standard than the average office-based operating room environment.

3. Back-up — While the overwhelming majority of plastic surgery cases are performed on healthy patients and crisis situations are rare, if a serious problem were to occur within the confines of Trinity Hospital (where Dr. Core bases his aesthetic practice), then we have a critical care unit right down the hall. It’s comforting to know that in addition to our physician-monitored anesthesia and our ultra-sterile environment, you also have critical care specialists at arm’s length just in case.

You cannot find a safer situation for a patient to undergo aesthetic surgery than what we have developed at Core Plastic Surgery. While these measures are more expensive than the usual cost-cutting measures you will see in a private office environment, you will appreciate that that money is being spent on your safety.