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Our Consultation Process
Easy! Call us at 406-577-2346, email info@gallatinplasticsurgery.com, or fill out a form on our Contact Us page!
A consult fee helps us decrease the number of late cancellations and “no show” appointments, allowing us to serve you more efficiently.
If you schedule surgery within 60 days of your consultation, your consultation fee will be applied to the cost of your surgery. Note that surgery only has to be scheduled, not completed, in 60 days.
After scheduling your consult a link will be provided To fill out your medical history online. This will allow maximal time during the consult for discussion of your concerns.
On the day of your consultation you will have the opportunity to sign standard forms, such as our HIPAA and cancellation policies. Our nurse will review your medical history and, it was cases, obtain standardized photographs. Dr. McDaniel will then meet with you and perform an examination, after which time he will discuss the physical exam findings as well as recommendations to address your concerns.
Finally, you will meet with the office manager, who will provide you with a detailed financial quote and information regarding scheduling surgery, if applicable.
Scheduling An Operation
Once you have been provided with a quote for the cost of surgery, you may schedule at any time by setting a surgical date with our office manager, either in-person or over the phone. At the time of scheduling a deposit will be required, with the full balance of your operation cost due at the time of your preoperative appointment, usually 4 weeks before surgery.
It is important to note to that, until a deposit has been made, your surgical date is not reserved.
How far out we are booked for surgery depends on a few factors, including the length of the proposed operation and the type of anesthesia required. Up-to-date information may be obtained by calling our office.
Surgery
Patient’s will have a preoperative appointment either in person or over the phone, usually 4 weeks before surgery. During this appointment, the surgical process will be described and postoperative instructions will be provided, as well as surgical consent forms for review and signature. Instructions for optimizing surgical outcomes will also be provided, including increasing protein intake, discontinuing the use of certain medications, and obtaining any necessary preoperative testing.
Most of our surgeries are performed in our AAAASF-certified operating suite on the first floor of our building. Next of the entrance there is a button that you will push in order to inform the operative staff you have arrived, and chairs next to this area to wait until you were brought back for your procedure.
The day before your operation, our nurse will call to review your presurgical instructions and to confirm your time of arrival for your operation.
Most operations require a responsible adult to be present with you overnight, including driving you from surgery. For patients without a local friend or relative we offer resources for visiting nursing for your convenience.
Recovery
The amount of discomfort after surgery varies widely based on the type of surgery as well as each person’s individual response to pain. However, it is a very rare for patients to have severe pain, even with combination operations. At Gallatin Plastic Surgery we use a multimodal approach to decrease pain, including treatments before surgery, during surgery, and after surgery. After safety, your satisfaction is our primary concern.
After surgery your body will need to heal. Following activity restrictions decreases the risk of complications which may require additional surgery. The duration and intensity of activity restrictions will vary between surgeries. We will review restrictions for your proposed operation with you at your consultation.
Yes! Follow-up is essential to ensure that questions are answered, restrictions are clarified, and any potential complications are identified and dealt with in a timely fashion. Cosmetic surgery patients are not charged for any follow-up visits. Typically, patients will follow up 1 day, 2 weeks, 2 months, and 6 months after surgery.
For out of town patient’s, telemedicine is offered for both the initial consultation visit as well as follow-up visits in some circumstances. Specifically, the 2 month follow-up is often able to be performed via telemedicine. However, patients are always welcome to follow-up in person if they prefer.
Drains, which are soft silicone tubes that connected to a bulb or reservoir, are used in certain operations to decrease the risk of fluid collections. Thses are typically maintained for 1-1/2-2 weeks after surgery, but the practical length of time depends on the drain output. Drains are always removed by 4 weeks after surgery.
There are many ways to help surgical scars, although most of these involve allowing the scar to “mature” faster, rather than producing a better scar than time alone would allow. Among effective scar treatments are silicone sheeting, silicone-gel (such as Mederma or bio corneum), scar massage, laser, and sunscreen (to prevent scar darkening). In your follow-up visits after surgery, different scar treatments will be discussed.
Generally two weeks after surgery.
You may drive once you are not requiring pain medication and once you are able to swerve to avoid an accident. For many surgeries, this would be within a few days after surgery.
Financial Questions
The cost of surgery depends on the exact type of surgery as well as the estimated time required for the operation, in addition to the type of anesthesia that would be performed. In order to avoid misleading patients by suggesting a higher or lower surgical cost, we prefer to provide patients with an exact cause of the time of their consultation. This is a quotation, and not an estimate; patients are not charged more than the quotation if surgery takes longer than expected.
A quote is valid for 60 days after it is received. After that point in time, an additional visit may be required to provide an updated quote.
A deposit is required at the time of scheduling surgery. The balance is required at the time of the preoperative visit, usually 4 weeks prior to surgery.
Patients may pay with credit card, cash, money order, or personal check. Patients receive a 3% discount for paying cash. Patients may also apply for Care Credit as an alternative form of payment.
In order to avoid misleading patients by estimating a higher or lower cost for procedure, we prefer to give individualized quotes after Dr. McDaniel can assess the appropriate surgical plan. At the time of your consultation, we provide an itemized quote that includes all costs for the operation.
At Gallatin Plastic Surgery we accept many forms of insurance. Some of these insurances contract with us in our private, certified operating room, allowing patients to undergo covered procedures in a safe, private, and efficient environment.
At this time we do not accept Medicaid.
Breast Implants
At Gallatin Plastic Surgery we have a wide range of implants available to meet our patient’s needs. We predominantly utilize Motiva silicone gel implants, and also implants from Sientra and Allergan.
Implant sizing is performed in the office, and the vast majority of patients are satisfied with their implant selection after surgery.
Replaced every 10 years, there is little scientific evidence to support this recommendation. Saline implants last on average between 12 and 15 years, and silicone implants tend to last between 25 and 35 years. This is, of course, an average, and some individuals will have more or less longevity. Implants used and breast reconstruction tend to last a lesser amount of time compared with those placed for augmentation purposes.
Implant selection is performed using state-of-the-art three-dimensional imaging. To confirm sizing, implant sizers will occasionally be used under a surgical bra and T-shirt; however, this is not as accurate as sizing using imaging, and should only be used to verify. Patients have a very high satisfaction rate when the implants selected by 3D imaging are used in surgery.
In the vast majority of patients, no nodification of the patient’s implant selection is necessary. In cases where too small or too large of an implant have been selected by the patient, Dr. McDaniel will discuss his recommendations to make sure that the implant fits with your tissue and goals.
Silicone implants of the most study medical devices in the world. All those these devices were off of the market for breast augmentation patients for a time between the early 1990s and early 2000’s, the FDA allowed silicone implants back onto the market after many studies independently demonstrated no health risks associated with the devices.
Although social media often highlights health concerns regarding implants, there is very little scientific evidence to suggest any actual medical issues linked to implants.
Although saline implants have long enjoyed a reputation of being safer than silicone devices, no evidence to support this has been demonstrated in the mountains of research that have been performed comparing patients with silicone implants with control patients without implants, or with patients with saline implants.