Chattanooga Tennessee Plastic Surgery FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions About Plastic Surgery Procedures at The Plastic Surgery Group, P.C., in Chattanooga, Tennessee:

Where Will Surgery Be Performed?
What Type of Anesthesia Will Be Used? How Long Will The Procedure Take?

Location
Plastic Surgery can be performed in multiple locations. An important quality to seek in your Plastic Surgeon is
that he or she has privileges to perform the same plastic surgery procedures at the community's large accredited hospitals that they perform in either their office-based surgical suite or at another outpatient facility. This assures you that a hospital review committee has approved the surgeon's qualifications and competency. Just because a doctor states that he is "board-certified" does not mean he is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. It is critical to your health and ultimate cosmetic
result that you check your doctor's credentials very carefully.

Our physicians are credentialed to operate in our office-based surgery suite, free-standing surgery centers, and all the major hospitals in our area. Whenever possible, the patient's preference determines where surgery will be performed, although sometimes the decision is dependent upon the procedure or the patient's overall health. Always, safety is our top priority.

Typically, all of our top ten cosmetic procedures may be performed as an outpatient in our office-based surgery suite, a freestanding surgery center or a hospital outpatient department. Sometimes insurance considerations, anesthesia requirements or a desired overnight stay will determine that the surgery be performed at the hospital or in an outpatient facility offering 23 hour observation. Usually breast augmentation, breast lift, brow lift, blepharoplasty, facelift, laser resurfacing, lipoplasty and rhinoplasty are scheduled in our office operating suite. Breast reduction and abdominoplasty are sometimes performed elsewhere.

Anesthesia
In our office-based suite, we use local anesthesia and sedation monitored by a nurse anesthetist. Advances in
anesthesia medications provide a stronger but shorter-acting alternative to general anesthesia and a faster "wake-up" following surgery. This method provides patient comfort, surgeon satisfaction, and the safety in knowing that you don't have to "go to sleep" for your surgery. The sedative method allows you to breathe on your own with the minute-to-minute monitoring of an anesthetist.

In general, all of the most popular procedures can be performed with local plus sedation type of anesthesia. Occasionally, patients undergoing breast reduction will require general anesthesia when a large volume of breast tissue is to be removed and the skin requires significant manipulation and rearranging. Likewise, abdominoplasty patients may desire general anesthesia when there is a good bit of skin and fat to be removed and abdominal muscles will be tightened. Sometimes the physician may feel a particular patient may do better if general anesthesia is used but this option will always be discussed during your office consultation.

Average Surgery Times
Augmentation Mammoplasty - 1 to 2 hours
Breast Lift or Mastopexy - 1 ¹/2 to 2 ¹/2 hours
Breast Reduction - 2 to 4 hours
Brow Lift - 1 to 2 hours
Blepharoplasty - 2 hours
Facelift - 3 to 4 hours
Laser Resurfacing - 1 to 2 hours
Rhinoplasty - 1 ¹/2 to 2 ¹/2 hours
Liposuction - 1 to 3 hours
Abdominoplasty - 2 ¹/2 to 3 hours

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