Your Surgery

Sarasota Facial Plastic Surgery

We take your safety and surgical outcome very seriously. That is why our team is dedicated to the focused discipline of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – we believe this is the best way to maximize the likelihood of desired results while also minimizing the likelihood of undesired outcomes. View a video clip from several of our anesthesia providers: Jay and Donna

We encourage our patients to become educated before undergoing facial plastic surgery. This often starts with attending one of our Timeless Beauty Seminars or visiting our website and continues with the consultation and pre-operative appointments. View a video clip from a pre-operative appointment:

Lisa Meet Lisa Holcomb,
Patient Services Coordinator

Nearly all of our patients elect to undergo their Facial Plastic Surgery procedure(s) under Monitored Anesthesia Care (also known as twilight anesthesia). We utilize Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) to provide Monitored Anesthesia Care for patients undergoing outpatient surgery at our (AAAHC accredited) facility.

Florida Administrative Code regulating outpatient surgery at office-based surgical facilities requires that patients are given a choice of anesthesia providers (MD versus CRNA). We use CRNAs with extensive experience in outpatient surgery anesthesia. For more information about CRNA visit the AANA (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists) website (http://www.aana.com/) . While we do not currently contract with MD anesthesia providers for Monitored Anesthesia Care at our facility, upon request we will schedule your surgery at a facility where an MD anesthesia provider will supervise or administer your anesthesia. Many patients that undergo nasal surgery (rhinoplasty) request General Anesthesia - these cases are performed at a nearby ambulatory surgery center.

In order to minimize the likelihood of complications and to give each patient every opportunity for an uneventful recovery we generally recommend:

Routine blood tests and EKG (patients over 40)
Medical clearance from your primary care physician (patients over 40 or with certain medical conditions) including optimization of any medical conditions before surgery (e.g. hypertension or hypothyroidism)
Smokers should stop smoking for at least 2 weeks before and after surgery. We also encourage complete cessation of smoking for your long-term well-being. We will be happy to refer you to a local smoking cessation clinic is desired.
Prescription and over-the-counter medications and herbal and other supplements that promote bleeding should be stopped for at least 10 days before surgery.
We encourage our patients to participate in the Vitamedica Surgery Program. This includes AM and PM vitamins beginning 2 weeks before surgery and continued through 2 weeks after surgery as well as several herbal supplements that have a beneficial effect on bruising and swelling.
We encourage our patients to utilize the power of their own platelets to facilitate healing. We utilize the services of Blood Recovery Systems to prepare Autologous Platelet Rich Gel and tissue glue (for browlift patients). Autologous Platelet Rich Gel is prepared from each patient's own blood, not from a pool of plasma donors, so that the risk of disease transmission is zero.

bob Meet Bob Brandt,
Blood Recovery Systems
Platelet Gel

The platelets are concentrated and activated as they form a gel over the wound. Activated platelets release numerous growth factors and chemical signaling agents to facilitate wound healing.

Reported benefits from the use of platelet gel include decreased bleeding and bruising, elimination of need for surgical drains, decreased dermal scarring, decreased surgical discomfort, improved appearance of suture lines, increases in collagen formation and new blood vessel formation, faster skin healing (re-epithelialization) after skin resurfacing procedures and acceleration of bone healing.

The use of Autologous Platelet Rich Gel is a procedure that is subject to some variability and that is dependent on normal platelet function - it does not mean that you will experience no bruising or that your overall healing time will be reduced.

7. We recommend that you restrict your activities for the first week following surgery and that you do not resume vigorous exercise until released to do so by Dr. Holcomb.

8. Detailed wound care instructions for your procedure(s) will be provided at the time of your pre-operative appointment and reviewed immediately after surgery.

Please follow these guidelines carefully so that together we can ensure the very best outcome from your surgery. We will monitor your recovery very closely. If you have any concerns that need to be addressed between appointments please call so that we can help you.