Do surgeons usually follow up in person or have their nursing staff do it for them?

Each surgeon has their own way of doing things.

Ideally patients should review everything and have a clear understanding before committing to having surgery.

The fact that your surgeon wasn’t thorough with you during the consultation should’ve been a sign of how they run their practice.

Ultimately your surgeon is responsible for the outcome of your procedure and you are responsible for choosing that surgeon.

I’ve seen the full spectrum and personally would choose providers who do everything themselves and are much more hands-on.

This includes my current dentist who took it upon himself to do my teeth cleaning because he could and had the time.

Personally I have always done one hour consultations for major surgical procedures and have always seen my own patient for every visit.

Consider contacting your surgeons office and requesting a copy of your medical records.(that often gets people a little jumpy) consider requesting an in person postoperative visit with your provider.

Your medical records will include the operative report which will tell you exactly what was done during the procedure though it may be written with medical terminology.

Physicians can legally delegate work to staff and in some fields of medicine what you experienced is pretty standard.

This is especially true for complex surgical procedures like heart surgery and transplant surgery.

For these procedures surgeons often have staff members do all postoperative care as long as it’s routine.

Considering how much money people are paying for cosmetic surgery it seems only decent to at a minimum say hello and make sure your patient is doing well after the procedure.

Typically not doing so tends to reflect on a providers reputation.

I recommend all patients read all physician reviews and all major physician review websites before committing to surgery.

I also recommend patients avoid providers with any significant number of justified negative reviews.

The absence of justified negative reviews tends to be far more important and more telling than an abundance of positive reviews.

Some providers go into medicine to become medical care providers while others do it as a way to achieve financial success. I’ve seen both.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD