i believe if one has a more invasive procedure such as a major tummy tuck and a major face and neck lift again these can be long operations recovery in a professional facility trumps recovering at home. now again in most big cities now there are facilities for patients to recover with professional care. these are dedicated focused again super specialized facilities. we have 4 or 5 of them within a few miles of this office here in beverly hills. one is in a wing of a hotel. the wing is not for hotel guests. it’s exclusive it’s secured only for patients who’ve had cosmetic surgery. i’m not the only surgeon to utilize it. my colleagues use it also. what they provide is a comforting professionally administered post-operative sojourn. we provide the medications they provide the tender loving care and most importantly they act as my eyes and ears because when i call that facility at 8:00 o’clock at night and again at 10 to check on the patient talk to the nurse she’s telling me how they are doing how’s the pulse how’s the blood pressure is there too much bruising is there any discomfort? i mean these are signs that i may even have to go check them out go down there and take a look. but they kind of know how to sort things out. they know what to expect because this is all they do. these nurses know what to expect they have my written instructions they have their little pharmacy there of the medicines that i have provided them in case of say a sudden elevation of blood pressure. most people aren’t going to have that but occasionally somebody does. again we don’t want to have to wait to have a pharmacy to send anything over. again forethought planning they are in an environment which is a couple of notches below a hospital see? is there an extra cost for that? there is. for the patient that has that service basically the cost is built into the service. in other words it’s an outsourced cost if you will. or if the patient wants to pay for it directly themselves they can but basically they usually just pay us for all the services and we pay the outpatient surgery center and the doctor anesthesiologist and then the hideaway because frankly it’s just simpler for the patient to write one check for all of the services and we take care of the details. again we’re acting like a general contractor but all the subcontractors are fine with that and it works out fine. and patients like to know that they are in an environment where they are safe and they are safe and we can’t expect their brother or sister to be able to pick up the early signs of say leakage of blood under the skin in excess of what we expect or more bleeding after the nose job. we can’t expect the average lay person to ascertain whether this is normal or it is not normal. but our nurses know and frankly it’s a service that is mandatory for certain procedures. in other words if someone is having a face lift in our practice they have to go there. they have no choice. it’s not an option. again it’s part of the service built into the fee. i can tell you that a service like that runs around $700 a night $750 something in that range. but you’re getting your hotel service by the way a round the clock kitchen and it’s special meals. they know what to do. and the nursing and they even have a limo that brings the patient back and forth. so basically when the patient is dropped off at the surgery center in the morning when it’s time to go to the hide away and that may be 3 4 5 o’clock in the afternoon they have no worldly concerns. the family is off the hook because hey mrs. smith is being picked up taken there they are going to look after her they bring her back in the office in the morning. sometimes a one night stay is required sometimes a two night stay and by the way some patients elect to stay 3 or 4 nights if they feel like popping for that luxury but typically 1 or 2 nights is all they need. it’s a great service. it is unique i think in communities where cosmetic surgery is done in large volume. i wouldn’t expect to find that type of facility in a town of 200 00 people it’s just not likely.
when should i use a professional clinic for my post-op recovery?