"How much does it cost?" Why this is the wrong approach to plastic surgery

Some of the questions I am increasingly asked (especially on my social media) are "how much does it cost?", "price?" or "surgery cost?", often without having read the message I intended to communicate or even introducing themselves or saying hello!

Although I understand the need to know the cost of an operation to assess whether it is within the budget a person is able to afford, I am absolutely opposed to this approach to plastic surgery- to reducing a complex discipline to a mere price list.

Plastic, reconstructive and cosmetic surgery is a serious subject matter (not a sale item) involving years of study, specializations and further training. A Plastic Surgeon is a physician who, after graduating from medical school, undertakes an additional 5 years of specialty training in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery. The title of Specialist in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery requires at least 7200 hours of training and participation in thousands of surgeries.

The first question anyone interested in undergoing surgery should ask themselves should be whether the plastic, cosmetic, and reconstructive surgeon they are trusting is sufficiently trained and competent, not how much the surgery costs. The choice should be dictated by the reliability and experience of the surgeon, certainly not by chasing the price down.

The cost of any surgery is given not only by the experience of the doctor but also by the clinic in which he operates and his team.

A surgery that requires more hours in the operating room or hospitalization of one night will have a higher cost than a surgery that can be performed in a day hospital. A trained team is a prerequisite for successful surgery (I am referring to the role of the anesthesiologist, who is in charge of pain control and patient care before, during, and after surgery, as well as the importance of the assistant or instrumentalist present in the operating room.

Another portion of the cost is the equipment used, which must always be up-to-date and state-of-the-art. A simple example may be the implants that are inserted during an additive mammoplasty. There are implants on the market in every price range and at every quality level. Clearly, their choice affects the final price of a breast augmentation just as their quality affects the final result of the surgery: the better the implants, the more natural and beautiful the breasts will look.

In addition to these more technical aspects, in order to make a realistic cost estimate, one must evaluate the starting point of each patient's situation. In order to consider a surgery, whatever it may be, it is necessary to undergo a thorough examination so that the plastic surgeon can examine the patient's baseline, their physiognomy and build, determine whether there are any complexities or problems, and thus design the most suitable surgery in light of the patient's needs and wishes.

Often, through an examination, it may emerge that the patient does not need to undergo the surgery they think at all or that the most suitable procedure for their case is quite different.

Only in this way do we avoid plastic surgery being reduced to a simplified mechanical operation but instead a complex profession that studies each individual case in detail taking into consideration the patient’s body and needs to choose the most suitable technique and sometimes even combining several together.

This is why I caution other to be wary of unrealistic prices or super bargains in surgery. Behind prices that are too low may hide precarious sanitary conditions during surgery, the absence of suitable equipment or adequate training on the part of the doctor, conditions that can compromise the result of the surgery and put the patient's health at risk.

It is essential to choose a skilled and trained plastic, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgeon with sufficient experience and case history of surgery to be able to guarantee good and long-lasting results. A poorly performed surgery could be very difficult to correct later, so it is necessary to trust expert hands.

For more information contact me for a consultation at one of my offices, also present in Caserta and Den Haag (NL).