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Patient Service:

What To Look For From Your Cosmetic Surgery Practice

Medical practices often say that they care, but do they practice what they preach? What do they do to show you that they care? Do they ask for and listen to your suggestions? We do.

Georgia Plastic Surgery is dedicated to delivering the best possible cosmetic surgery experience to our patients. This commitment builds upon the outstanding medical and surgical training that Dr. Sheldon Lincenberg brought from the Mayo Clinic to Atlanta.

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This commitment to excellent patient care is best articulated as a philosophy that Dr. Lincenberg refers to as OCEAN, an acronym which stands for Over-exceeding Client’s Expectations And Needs. At Georgia Plastic Surgery, we strive to incorporate OCEAN into our everyday practice. Our commitment to patient service sets us apart from our competition.

How are we different?

For several years, we have sent out patient satisfaction surveys questioning our patients on how we can improve our services. We ask patients about every aspect of their care in our practice, from their actual surgical experience and recovery process, to the administrative and aesthetic aspects of the office.

We not only ask how we’re doing, we take comments seriously. Our staff meets regularly to discuss how we can improve our patients’ experience. Many of our patients’ suggestions and concerns are the impetus for the patient services we have in place.

The following standards are the state-of-the-art in plastic surgery delivery today. They are our mantra at Georgia Plastic Surgery.

Safety first

Select a board-certified plastic surgeon for your surgery. And don’t be fooled by claims of certification by boards other than the American Board of Plastic Surgery – it is the only one recognized by the American Association of Medical Specialties. Board certification is only the first criteria of your selection process. Your surgeon should also have years of experience performing the cosmetic surgery that you are interested in.

Because you are reading this article, you likely have decided not to cut corners with your health and well-being. At Georgia Plastic Surgery, your safety and comfort are our first considerations, and because of this we perform all procedures that require deep sedation and monitoring in a facility where they can be provided by a board-certified physician anesthesiologist. Also, we only utilize hospitals or surgery centers with full operating room accreditation, intensive care capabilities, and overnight stay options. Cost containment is important, but never at the expense of safety.

Appointment scheduling

We respect your valuable time. We want to meet the expectations of our busy cosmetic surgery patients. We build extra time into appointment scheduling to allow adequate time for new consults and pre-op surgery questions, and there is a strict limit on the number of patients we see in a day.

A dedicated patient coordinator

Our patient coordinator is available to meet the non-medical needs of our cosmetic surgery patients. This person is like a concierge who happens to be an expert on cosmetic surgery. She is available to help out with all of the details surrounding your surgery, from providing financing options to assisting with arrangements for out-of-town patients to arranging for a private duty nurse to visit you at home. Our patient coordinator also answers many of the questions we receive through our website.

“Virtually Painless” plastic surgery

In the last two years, we have had great success with a new device – a pain pump. The pain pump relieves post-operative pain by putting liquid pain medicine directly on the areas affected by your surgery. The pump is the size of a grapefruit; it uses a long-acting form of local anesthesia to numb the pain without causing drowsiness or constipation. We have had tremendous feedback from our patients on the pain pump, and more than one of our patients has called it “painless plastic surgery.”

Post-operative convenience

We know that the last thing you want to do immediately after surgery is go shopping for the items you need for your recovery. Georgia Plastic Surgery provides patients with the first round of their post-op medications. This is free of charge, saves a trip to the pharmacy on the way home from surgery, and is immediately available when the patient gets home.

Also, we have put together packages of products – we call them “comfort kits” – that are useful during the post-operative period. The kits contain items customized for each procedure as well as extra bandages, protective pads for the bed, positioning aids, soothing gels, and other helpful items for the at-home recovery period.

Our convenient office

Most physicians congregate their offices in buildings around hospitals. Parking at these professional buildings is often inadequate and expensive. We have solved this problem for our patients by moving to an easy-to-find corporate campus with abundant free, covered parking. The office is located at the first exit off of Georgia 400 just north of I-285. Goodbye, hospital traffic.

Also, if need be, curbside service at the foyer entrance can be arranged for that first post-operative visit. Our building has a full spectrum of security and amenities that you would expect to find in a business environment, including a café, car wash services, and shoe shine services.

Medical Day Spa

Whether you’re a facial cosmetic surgery patient or someone concerned about good skin health, our Medical Day Spa utilizes the services of Dr. Lincenberg and others, such as medical aestheticians, laser technicians and permanent cosmetic specialists, to offer our patients a variety of services for the prevention and reversal of skin aging, beauty and skin health.

We begin with a thorough skin analysis, complete with computer skin imaging, and develop a plan to restore the optimum health to your facial skin. Your treatment plan may include certain medicated lotions, microdermabrasion, micro-injections such as Botox Cosmetic™ or Restylane®, chemical peels, and laser treatments. To help maintain your summer tan without exposing yourself to damaging UV radiation, we also offer artist-quality airbrush tanning in our office.

The “skinny” on new beauty and anti-aging technology

Our anti-aging program continues to grow at a rapid rate. The media is full of advice for reversing aging, and cosmetic surgery television shows pique the public’s curiosity about physical enhancement through plastic surgery. Sometimes the advice and information available is either misleading or has never been proven to provide benefit.

Dr. Lincenberg continually reviews the current literature to determine if a new medication or treatment has any real value. You can be assured that before Georgia Plastic Surgery offers the latest “advance,” it will be well-researched and proven to be of benefit.

Informative, interactive website

Our website, www.gaplasticsurg.com, can provide you with personalized answers to your initial cosmetic surgery questions. The website is also helpful for obtaining directions to the office or the surgery location, extra copies of instructions or forms, current information on plastic surgery topics, and before and after images of the procedures we offer.

The OCEAN concept has served our patients well. If you are already a Georgia Plastic Surgery patient, you have seen it in action. If you are a potential patient, we hope that you will grant us the opportunity to impress you, too.

Sheldon M. Lincenberg, MD, FACS, is a Mayo Clinic trained, board certified Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon practicing in Atlanta, Georgia.