Cosmetic Surgery Pearls from Vegas

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Except at the annual Vegas Cosmetic Surgery meeting. What happens there? Teaching, learning, examining the newest technology, and discussing trends with colleagues. The Vegas Cosmetic Surgery meeting was unique because it united all four core cosmetic specialties: Plastic Surgery, Facial Plastic Surgery, Oculoplasty Surgery, and Dermatology.

Dr. Canales and I bounced from room to room. In the Exhibit Hall we saw, touched, and felt new devices and products. In the lecture halls, we heard about different techniques in surgery, minimally invasive procedures, and non-invasive treatments. But the thing we loved was all the education geared toward staff. That’s why we brought Tara, Abby, Keri, and Carolyn. At the end of the meeting, I asked them to jot down a few notes to give you an idea of what they learned.

Dr. Francisco Canales and Dr. Heather Furnas with Tara, Keri, Abby, and Carolyn

TARA: Our days were packed full of information and insights to help me as an administrator. I’m excited to bring back tools, like How to Wow. By listening to faculty and audience members from around the world, I learned different perspectives in both running the office and medical spa, as well as delivering clinical best-practices. The meeting also gave me the opportunity to learn, laugh, and bond with my own team. We volleyed ideas back and forth, and we’re excited to implement new gems to improve our service and to fulfill our commitment to bringing joy to our patients’ lives!

Plastic Surgery Associates of Santa Rosa’s Tara, Keri, Carolyn, and Abby

ABBY: What an incredible conference! We’re heading back to the office with lots of ideas. My focus will be improving the way patients learn about procedures and products. You can look forward to seeing more real patient stories (where actual patients share their first-hand experience) and more blogs from the doctors. At the conference Exhibit Hall, we also viewed the latest version of TouchMD (an online tool which includes before & after photos, videos and more). I can’t wait for the release of this more advanced version in Fall 2015! Updates on these developments and more will be posted on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

View from the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, site of Vegas Cosmetic Surgery meeting

CAROLYN: As a nurse practitioner in Allegro MedSpa, I loved this opportunity to learn about upcoming technologies and products. But most important was the focus on improving patient education and safety. I found particular value in the attention given to the unsafe technologies that are out there as well as how to minimize complications. (Patient safety is our number one priority!) “Your face is not your friend’s face!” I loved that quote because it illustrates the importance of maximizing treatment results through individualized treatment plans. That’s something we already do, but I learned how to do it even better. And this was no surprise: Patient education maximizes results while minimizing complications. I’m excited about new tools we’ll be adding to help our patients learn.

Plastic Surgery Associates of Santa Rosa’s Keri, Tara, and Abby visiting the Elta sunscreen booth

KERI: There’s a lot going on in skincare, and I’m looking forward to bringing that knowledge back to our patients. I loved learning about new products, but hearing how great the ones we already offer is exciting, too. The customer service lectures can be whittled down to this: it’s all about the patient. We’re always looking for better ways to add joy to our patient’s lives, and education will be a big part of that. Outside the lecture hall, I loved spending time with our team. It’s one thing to hear about a bunch of ideas, but it’s another to implement them. We have the commitment and passion it takes to put those ideas into practice.

Plastic Surgery Associates of Santa Rosa’s Abby, Keri, and Tara

DOCTORS: We loved connecting with colleagues we’ve known for years. Sometimes sharing personal experiences about techniques and devices is the best education of all. We’re looking forward to introducing new technology to our office in the coming weeks. (More on that in a future blog post!) In between lectures, Dr. Canales recorded a video in the RealSelf studio to discuss scars to expect from a Mommy Makeover and new methods to minimize them.

And I stepped into the RealSelf studio to record a video about how to tell your partner you want plastic surgery.

Now we’re ready for what happened in Vegas to leave Vegas…and come to our practice.