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Tips for Choosing Your Surgeon, Pt. 1

Posted February 25, 2023 in Uncategorized
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There are so many choices available when seeking a facial plastic surgeon, that it can initially be a bit overwhelming. Where do you begin? At ImageLift, our doctors have a minimum of fourteen years of education and training before they begin their career. College, medical school, internship, residency, and
fellowship all add up!

Dr. Castellano ImageLift® Plastic Surgery Tampa

Education and Training

Plastic surgery comes from the Latin word ‘plasticus’ or Greek ‘plastikos’, meaning “able to be molded.” So plastic surgery is anything that changes the shape or form of the anatomy. The word “plastic surgeon” is loosely used to describe any doctor who performs these procedures. This is different from the definition of a doctor who has been through a plastic surgery residency.

It would be irresponsible to consider that only those who have completed a plastic surgery residency are capable of performing cosmetic and plastic procedures. In fact, many plastic surgeons do not specialize and focus only on cosmetic surgeries. Often, plastic surgery practices focus on breast and body procedures, burns, wound management, reconstruction, trauma, hand surgery, and a myriad of other treatments in addition to cosmetic procedures.

Make no mistake about it, training is important. However, if you want a cosmetic procedure, should you really to go to a surgeon who does not specialize in cosmetic procedures? After all, you wouldn’t call in a
plumber to do a roofing job. ImageLift stands by our ethics of performing procedures that we have undergone residency training and specialization for.

Dr. Castellano ImageLift® Plastic Surgery Tampa

Where You’ll Be Seen

We focus exclusively on cosmetic treatments and procedures of the face and neck and pride ourselves in being a center of excellence for facial cosmetic treatments and procedures. It is worth describing the different levels of facilities where procedures are performed:

✵ Office Based – similar to a dentist’s office, local anesthesia with or without relaxing medication. There is no IV or general anesthesia. Facilities may or may not carry accreditation, which is an additional standard of credentialing and oversight.
✵ Surgery Center – may be freestanding or a part of a physician’s office. Requires credentialing, and allows the use of IV sedation and general anesthesia with the assistance of an anesthesia provider to monitor patients who are anesthetized.
✵ Hospital – traditional way that surgeries have been performed with a full support staff. Today’s trend is to move away from taking patients to a hospital to minimize the risk and expense involved in major surgical procedures.

Consider that there are facial plastic surgeons specializing in only one part or area of the face, such as the nose. There are also plastic surgeons that only do body procedures (breast augmentation, tummy tucks, body liposuction, etc.) and don’t perform any kind of facial treatment. Conversely, there are
surgeons who concentrate solely on the face, just like our facial plastic surgeons at ImageLift.

Dr. Castellano ImageLift® Plastic Surgery Tampa

Continued in Pt. II