How to Judge Whether a Doctor
Does Much Eyelid Surgery
with One Phone Call

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.

Be direct with your questions. Don't ask questions like whether or not the doctor performs cosmetic eyelid surgery (they answer will be "yes"). Rather, ask how many cosmetic eyelid surgeries the doctor does in an average month. Ask what percentage of his or her practice is devoted to eyelid surgery. Ask how long the surgery takes. Ask the price for upper blepharoplasty alone, for lower blepharoplasty alone, and for both upper and lower blepharoplasty performed simultaneously. Ask the receptionist if the doctor "likes" to perform eyelid surgery -- it may seem like a stupid question but it doesn't hurt to ask and the answer may be illuminating. Ask if the operation hurts and how quickly you should expect to recover. Ask for the address of the doctor's website.

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.

A cosmetic eyelid surgery medical practice is a business much like any other. If you phone any other business with basic questions but can't get straight answers, it makes sense to look elsewhere.

By the way, when you later visit the doctor's website, take a good look at it. Is it tacky, garish, and lacking in aesthetics? Is it nothing more than a glorified business card? Does the content suggest an emphasis on breast augmentation? Are there plenty of sharp close-up photos of the doctor's own work?

And what if the receptionist informs you that the doctor doesn't have a website or is "so popular" that he doesn't believe in "online advertising?" Think about it. This isn't 1950. To expect a helpful web presence is a modern given. Chances are that even your plumber realizes that potential clients who care about what they're getting are entitled to some insight into his qualifications and way of conducting business before inviting him into their homes.

In our opinion, 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-in-law or office manager.

Finally, be aware that such screening by a phone call is not fool-proof. Maybe the receptionist is brand new or has two other callers currently 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 of his 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? We've tried it.

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