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  • Can I Have Multiple Procedures Done at the Same Time?
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Hi, I'm Dr. Dan Shapiro. I'm a plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. I've been practicing plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery in the Scottsdale Paradise Valley areas since 1992. I only do cosmetic surgery, and I do it in areas all over the body. And people often want multiple things done at once; that would be multiple sutures in different parts of the body. They wanna know if it's safe to have a face lift with a tummy tuck or a lot of liposuction. And the best thing to understand is, first of all, this is elective surgery, and I think that you wanna make sure that you're doing something safe. And it's not something that should be pushed upon you, and I think that you should feel as though your plastic surgeon has your best interest in mind.

What does that mean? Well, if somebody wants to do, let's say, 10 hours of surgery on you and perform liposuction with the tummy tuck and a full facelift and a rhinoplasty, that's a lot of surgery for anybody. And I think that what you want to do is make sure that your body is optimized with regards to your preoperative status and make sure, maybe through your family doctor internist, that this is a safe thing to do for you. The other thing is, I think if you are second guessing your surgeon's judgment, I think you should get another opinion.

What does that do for you? Well, it gives a new fresh perspective on what you're contemplating and also gives you something to compare. I often will do multiple procedures on people, but I don't do, for instance, a lot of liposuction and a tummy tuck and a face lift at the same time. I think that's too much physiologically for somebody. A tummy tuck, it can be done with a face lift and a rhinoplasty. And once again, the time factor. I don't think we should go beyond six to eight hours.

But I think the main thing is to use your gut feeling. And if somebody you feel is giving you an opinion to try to appease you that you want to have all this done, I think that's a red flag for you. I think you might want to get another opinion. And it's always good to get multiple opinions when you're considering plastic surgery. But the main thing to understand is that since it's elective, it can broken down. For instance, you can have a face lift with a tummy tuck; or you can have a facelift, and a tummy tuck, and have a liposuction later. The main thing that's important is your safety. And I think as a consumer, you should guard that. So the best thing to do, I think, is get a seasoned opinion from a board-certified surgeon to make sure you're doing the right thing. Thank you.

Can I Have Multiple Procedures Done at the Same Time?

Dr. Shapiro's gives basic guidelines for performing multiple procedures, taking into consideration the patient's health.