Coronavirus and Aesthetic Plastic Surgery – Where Are We Now?

What should state of the art cosmetic surgery practices be doing during the COVID – 19 pandemic? Our primary message is twofold – first, continue to care for existing and future patients and second and most important, keep both healthcare providers and patients safe.

Recent events have seen the shutting down of elective surgery in hospitals and in outpatient ambulatory surgery centers. So, where does that leave the private physician’s office with a licensed and certified operating room? Are these offices better positioned to provide safer social distancing controls, sterile conditions, and monitor healthy patients for safe and effective elective surgery?

While it is important to follow the Federal, local and state guidelines to temporarily shut office practices down for the last two weeks in March, it is imperative that we continue to communicate with patients via technology and to keep the practice open and available by implementing safety procedures. For patients seeking elective cosmetic surgery, Botox, and non-invasive facial skin tightening procedures such a Micro-needling, we begin with a consultation. We review the patient’s medical history as well as photographs. We also screen patients for their current state of health.

This screen includes:

• Absence of recent foreign travel
• Absence of dry cough, Fever or Headache
• Absence of known exposure to a person with known Covid-19 infection

If after this consultation, we deem them healthy and suitable for treatment, we will proceed with offering them a quote. We are emailing our patients regular updates on changes to practice hours, the scope of services, and office visit guidance and posting on websites and to social media accounts. In a statement from the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) regarding elective surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with guidance from the CDC, they urge physicians to shift some inpatient surgeries to outpatient when feasible.

ASCA recommends the following:

• Keep practices open for urgent elective surgeries.
• Assess the potential risk factors for planned surgeries and postpone accordingly.
• Implement rigorous screening for patients, prior to entering the facility, including temperature readings.
• Adhere to the CDC’s recommendation of social distancing.
• Implement enhanced cleaning as directed by CDC guidelines.
• Work with the supply chain to ensure that hospitals gain priority for necessary equipment and supplies.
• Collaborate with hospitals and health systems to coordinate care based on each community’s individual needs.

With a national practice specializing in breast and body contouring (BBL), we have been providing cosmetic surgery consultations for several years.

Our mission

• Private and informative consultations
• Same-day price quotes
• The safest and the best BBL in the USA