Your consultation

The consultation is perhaps the most important aspect of cosmetic surgery. It is very important that you get an honest, informed opinion on whether or not cosmetic surgery can achieve your expectations. You as a patient will have certain expections of what you want to achieve from surgery and you should express your expectations as clearly as possible. I as a surgeon have to identify what I can and cannot achieve with surgery, and I shall try to explain this to you as clearly as possible. Ideally your expectations and my anticipated outcomes will be very similar.

There are several stages to the consultation:

Medical History

Initially I shall then take a full medical history of your previous health problems, current medication, known allergies, smoking and alcohol intake etc to ensure that it is safe to undertake surgery. This will include discussing exactly why you want surgery and what it is that you wish to achieve. My usual practice is to write to your medical GP to update your medical notes. If you would prefer that I did not write to your GP please let my secretary Diane Hagan know at the time of booking your consultation appointment.

Clinical examination

I shall then undertake a careful examination to identify what needs to be done surgically in order to achieve your goals.

Photographs

I will then take a series of photographs. The purpose of this is to record the preoperative appearance and also I shall use these photographs for planning purposes.

Discussion

We will then discuss the operation and the expected recovery period at some length. We will also discuss the possible complications and the risk of developing a complication. Finally I will give you a realistic assessment of the likely results of surgery.