Why do surgeons hate fingernail polish for surgery?!

One of the least invasive ways to monitor the oxygen level in your blood is with a pulse oximeter. See the photo above. A pulse oximeter, or ‘pulse ox’ for short, lightly clamps onto the finger tip and monitors the level of oxygen in your blood in real time. This is certainly easier than drawing blood from the patient’s artery every time the anesthesiologist wants to check the level of oxygen.

The pulse ox needs clear access to the blood vessels in the fingertip and nail polish can affect the readings. This study set out to assess how these 10 different colors affect pulse ox readings:

“Ten different colors of Wet ‘n’ Wild (Pavion; Nyack-on-the-Hudson, NY) fingernail polish were used: red, yellow, dark blue, green, black, purple, fuchsia, light blue, brown, and white.”

According to the study, black and brown were the only colors to alter the readings to a statistically significant degree. However, even in those circumstances, if the pulse ox was placed on the finger in the ‘side-to-side’ direction rather than the normal ‘top-to-bottom’ direction of the finger, the readings were again accurate.

So next time you go to surgery, you have 3 options:

1. 1. don’t wear any nail polish.
2. 2. allow the OR staff to remove your nail polish.
3. 3. argue with the staff and cite this article and tell them to place the pulse ox in the side-to-side position if you’re wearing black or brown nail polish. Or the top-to-bottom position if wearing any of the other 8 colors above.

 
I would recommend against the 3rd option. Arguing with OR staff before your operation is bad karma!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Do you really need to remove fingernail polish for surgery? first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

What to wear for surgery

Determining what to wear for surgery requires knowledge of what happens in the operating room. Obviously the surgeon needs access to the area where the operation is occurring. Is it the chest, arms or abdomen? Maybe the face. So you want to make it as easy as possible to get out of your clothes upon arrival. But more importantly, you want to wear clothes that are easy to get back into after surgery.

For example, if you’re having facial surgery, you should wear a button down shirt so you don’t have to pull a shirt over your head. If you’re having breast surgery, there’s no reason to bring a bra because your surgeon will probably place a postop garment on you after surgery. There’s no need to wear tight jeans because you don’t want to put yourself in the situation where you have to struggle to put your pants back on. In light of these situations, you should focus on baggy clothing. That includes a button down shirt for the reasons mentioned above and sweat pants. Slip on shoes are best so it’s easy to get back on after surgery.

But what about accessories?

I know you want to look as pretty as possible for surgery but you really don’t need to wear any makeup or jewelry. It’s best if piercings are removed but I understand non-traditional piercings can be difficult to remove. For patients that have nipple rings, we cover these with a sterile dressing during surgery if we’re not making incisions around the areola. By allowing the patient to keep those piercings in place, there’s less frustration for the patient and it avoids a delay in surgery trying to get them out!

Don’t forget to wear similar loose-fitting clothing for your postop appointment so it’s easy for your doctor to examine your surgical site. Best of luck!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post What should I wear for surgery? first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

An email database can be more powerful than Facebook and Google!

As the image below shows, when you create a Facebook ad, you start with a large audience. The city of San Francisco in this example. Then you narrow that search to include people that are most interested in things related to your services (plastic surgery). So you focus on women, age 23-64, that pay attention to beauty, fashion, fitness etc. I think it’s reasonable to assume that women in that demographic with those interests would be interested in cosmetic services. However, it would be much better if you knew they were interested in cosmetic services, not just related interests.

What if you could create an email database of people that want the exact services you offer, without having to rely on Facebook’s educated guesses? Well, there’s a way. You can use a Price Estimator on your medical website so consumers can check pricing for your services but only after they provide their contact info. That way, they get accurate estimates on your services, something they can’t find anywhere else, and you get a lead (an email address) in the process. You could offer an ebook or some other “carrot” other than pricing to convince someone to leave their contact info but I’ve found pricing is by far the most effective in getting visitors to leave their contact info behind.

How to build your email database quickly

But a few leads aren’t enough. As the image above shows, Facebook can advertise to 3,600 to 9,600 people in the example demographic with the example daily budget shown. By using a Price Estimator on my website, I’ve created an email database of over 6,500 consumers. Not only that, I know they are considering my services, not just related services.

So while I may not have access to 9,600 people like Facebook, I have a very substantial database whom I can email once a month or more (or less) if I choose. In other words, I own my marketing because I now have a large email database. As I develop that database, I can reuse it over and over again. Facebook isn’t giving you their database for your own use! And I can say with certainty that my database contains people that are more assuredly interested in cosmetic services. Facebook doesn’t really know for sure.

Get started. Build your own email database. With a Price Estimator and every consult you ever see, get their email address. Then you can educate your patients on a regular basis and know you’re interacting with people that want to hear from you. How do you know they want to hear from you? Because they checked that box when they signed up to see your pricing!

To learn more about how BuildMyBod Health can help you improve your interactions with your patients, email us at info@buildmybod.com

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Build your email database and own your marketing! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Source: Quality Stock Arts/Shutterstock.com 

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Treatment Methods for Sweaty Palms

With sweaty palms, much like excessive armpit sweating, the sweat glands are over-stimulated. Nearly any technique to block this stimulation is effective, with some more effective than others over longer periods. 

1. Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Sympathectomy

For a more permanent solution, a patient can undergo a video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathectomy, in which your surgeon places a camera and scope into your chest and cuts the nerve responsible for excessive sweating to the palms. While this may sound extreme, it is an effective and permanent solution. 

2. BOTOX®

For those faint of heart and unwilling to go under the knife, there’s a more temporary solution: BOTOX®. BOTOX® is a protein made from Botulinum toxin and is used to paralyze muscles temporarily. For those wondering how long does Botox last, injection of BOTOX® or XEOMIN® into the palms can stop sweating for 3-12 months, depending on the patient. Just as BOTOX® and XEOMIN® block certain receptors in the muscles to cause relaxation and remove wrinkles in the face, these same neuromodulators can block the same receptors on sweat glands to stop the production of sweat.

Learn More & Book a Consultation

Neuromodulators like BOTOX® and XEOMIN® block muscle contractions. So, it’s possible for injections to the palms to affect hand muscles. Luckily, hand muscles are deeper within the hand, and the sweat glands are closer to the skin. As long as the injections are superficial, the deeper hand muscles will continue to function normally, as seen in the video below.

BOTOX® or XEOMIN® Treatment for Sweaty Hands — Video 

Using BOTOX® or XEOMIN® for excessive sweating to the armpits is also very effective. It’s easier to see the pores in the armpits, so treatment can be more specific to certain areas rather than injections throughout the entire armpit. You can check pricing on injections for sweaty palms and other plastic surgery prices with Dr. Kaplan on Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery’s website. 

The post Why Are My Palms Sweaty? 2 Treatment Options first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Advertising only works if it generates leads

Patients are exposed to marketing constantly. Let’s try to name all the ways they’re bombarded with our messaging. TV commercials. Google AdWords. Retargeting with pop up ads and banners. Radio commercials. Sponsored ads in social media. Billboards. Print (newspaper/programs/brochures/magazines) advertising. Press releases. Product placement and general PR. Probably forgetting a few.

Anyway, the point is that all of that advertising is pointless unless you provide a call to action and drive folks to your website or phone number. But getting them to your site still isn’t enough. You still have to convince them to provide their contact info. You have to give them a reason to reach out. That’s why I’ve argued that the most useful call to action is the consumer’s need to determine price on a particular service before they come in for a consultation.

Our office gets literally hundreds of leads every month. Mostly through our BuildMyBod Health Price Estimator. This allows consumers to add procedures-of-interest to a “wishlist” and then submit that wishlist along with their contact info. Instantly and automatically the consumer receives an estimate for those services. Instant gratification. At the same time, our office receives the consumer’s contact info, the lead.

Patient Leads after Midnight

Along with the wishlist leads and leads through the contact submission forms, we’ve noticed that any leads late at night, particularly after midnight go nowhere! Whether it’s alcohol that drove the consumer to contact us through one form or another on the website, or boredom, the act of spontaneity was fleeting. They weren’t really serious. At least not when we followed up with them.

Which is why it’s all the more reason to filter serious vs non-serious consumers in an automated and efficient way. Whether it’s an automated price estimator or an e-book that answers the consumers’ question, it’s important to not put patients in an awkward situation wherein they come in for a consult for a procedure they can’t afford or divulge their deepest insecurities for a procedure they’re not a candidate for. So while leads after midnight may lead nowhere, better the patient knows that in the privacy of their mobile device or computer, rather than taking time off work to learn their procedure-of-interest isn’t an option in a 45-minute to an hour long consultation.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Why patient leads after midnight lead nowhere first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Paying it forward

Video is critical to a patient’s preop education. They book their surgery and they want to be prepared. Reasonable enough. In the distant past, that meant talking to someone who had a similar experience. Then in the not too distant past, they started reading about it online. And now more recently, with the rise of video clips on Snapchat and YouTube, they’re watching the entire procedure ahead of time and checking the cost.

Patients benefit and appreciate that video preparation. So when the patient undergoes the procedure themselves, they want to educate those that come after them, i.e. paying it forward. In the case of a procedure under local anesthesia, patients are filming their own surgery. You can see an example below of a patient getting their upper eyelids “done.”

Video: Patients are filming their own surgery

Considering surgery? Click here and check pricing from Dr. Kaplan but also watch some video of the procedure!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Patients are filming their own surgery! Yeah, that happens! [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Check smokers’ compliance

There are urine and blood tests that can screen for the by-products of nicotine to ensure compliance.

While patients think they’re supposed to quit smoking due to the risks of lung cancer, which is true, the main problem when it comes to surgery is not smoking, it’s the nicotine.

So I’m clear with the patient that not only do they need to quit smoking, they need to quit all forms of nicotine (patches, gum, dip, cigs, cigars) since the nicotine impedes the normal ability to heal incisions. Incisions that don’t heal well can trap bacteria and lead to infection.

If a patient states they can only stop temporarily, I require they quit 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after surgery.

Sure it’s possible for a patient to lie and “fool” me and get their surgery. But in the end, they’re only fooling themselves if they risk an infection for an operation they just paid out of pocket for.

After you quit smoking, check pricing for procedures from Dr. Kaplan by clicking here!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Smokers and Surgery first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Why women get labiaplasty

The excess skin of the labia minora exit from the area within the vagina. This is not the outer labia or “lips” but the thinner skin that can extend down from the vagina, often after pregnancy. But it doesn’t always occur only after stretching associated with pregnancy. It can also occur during puberty. There is nothing “wrong” with the labia minora and they do not require any alteration in general. However, in some situations, they can cause social discomfort for the woman.

For example, the tissue extending from within the vagina can hang down and be visible through a bikini bottom or any type of bathing suit. The tissue can make a woman feel unattractive during intimate situations. And if we’re not that person and we don’t know what they feel like in that scenario, we also can’t tell them how they should or should not feel.

Notice that the feeling of discomfort is not associated with age. So if someone is young, as in younger than 18 years of age, and they feel social anxiety in a bathing suit due to large labia minora, they may want a labiaplasty. It’s reasonable to argue that the patient should wait until they complete puberty and their secondary growth phase. If a patient gets a labiaplasty too soon, they could continue to grow and the excessive labia minora could recur prior to the completion of puberty. But again, this is a personal decision and will need to be decided on a case by case basis.

If you are looking for pricing regarding a labiaplasty from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post How young is too young for a labiaplasty? first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.