You've heard the names of three plastic surgeons mentioned by different friends over several years. You've seen ads proclaiming their praises in the newspaper. Two of your girlfriends have undergone successful breast augmentations by the same surgeon. One of your friends had a large growth removed from his eyelid by an ophthalmologist. The mirror tells you it's time to consider cosmetic eyelid surgery, and you're ready to schedule a consultation with a doctor.

There's just one problem.

You've heard about people who have been disappointed with specialty plastic surgery performed by non-specialty plastic surgeons, and you've decided that you want to go to a surgeon who emphasizes blepharoplasty in his or her practice and performs the operation on a regular basis. How do you determine which surgeons to consider?

You may discover that it isn't always easy gathering such information. The phone book may list most practitioners as "specializing" in seventeen different operations ranging from face lift to liposuction, with "eyelid surgery" at position eleven on the list.

One thing you can do is to ask your regular physician for an opinion. What you may find, though, is that while your family physician will be able to give you the names of several respected plastic surgeon colleagues, he or she will profess ignorance when it comes to personal knowledge about each surgeon's skill with specific procedures.

Finding the "perfect" surgeon is hard, but here's one easy thing you can do to get the process started: Phone the doctor's office. You'll be amazed at how much you can learn by talking with the doctor's receptionist for just a few minutes.

Don't be shy. All surgeons who perform cosmetic surgery receive phone calls for information from potential patients on a regular basis, and the receptionist should be prepared and willing to discuss details about any and all operations the doctor performs frequently.

If the receptionist can answer your questions without much hemming and hawing and if you like what you hear, you may wish to schedule a consultation with the doctor to discuss specifics (which you should not expect a receptionist to do). On the other hand, if the receptionist seems tongue-tied or clueless, chances are that she doesn't know the answers because the doctor performs so few blepharoplasties that such information is not readily available.

By the way, when any requested literature arrives in my mailbox, take a close look at it. Is it a "stock brochure" purchased in mass from a secondary source or did the doctor go to the trouble of creating a custom presentation of his own thoughts and philosophies. Most doctors who perform much cosmetic eyelid surgery will not be satisfied with mailing out the sort of bland and generic brochures designed for any doctor who is willing to pay for them.

In our opinion, by the way, it is neither helpful nor legitimate to ask to speak with other patients who have undergone blepharoplasty by the doctor in question. Not only is this an invasion of the patient's privacy, but don't be shocked to find out that you've been given the names of highly-screened happy patients, if not the doctor's mother or office manager.

Finally, be aware that such screening phone calls are not fool-proof. Maybe the receptionist is brand new or has two other callers already waiting on hold. Maybe the doctor is fresh out of training and has so much free time that he's been able to devise elaborate scripts for all staff to follow.

Still, you will be surprised at the wide range of responses you'll get with such calls and the value of those "first impressions". How do we know? Because we've tried it many times.

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