Doctor Shopping: Why Cheap is a Disastrous Parachute with Your Face–Facelift, Laser, Botox, Injectable Fillers
Why Cheap is a Disastrous Parachute with Your Face –Facelift, Laser, Botox, Injectable Fillers
We all want to get the best possible results at the best price. But how do we know what represents good value, avoiding lower price but also lower quality? What are the pitfalls? Dr. Bass is back to share his advice on how to avoid cheap and get value for money with high quality plastic surgery care. Price is not the only issue. Picking the right doctor and treatment by getting second opinions? Good up to a point. Hear Dr. Bass explain how a consistent approach with a plan saves time and money compared to picking a different provider every time. Find out about whiplash aesthetic treatments and more by streaming the episode.
Links
- Learn more about facial rejuvenation
- Read more at Dr. Bass’s blog
About Dr. Lawrence Bass
Innovator. Industry veteran. In-demand Park Avenue board certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Lawrence Bass is a true master of his craft, not only in the OR but as an industry pioneer in the development and evaluation of new aesthetic technologies. With locations in both Manhattan (on Park Avenue between 62nd and 63rd Streets) and in Great Neck, Long Island, Dr. Bass has earned his reputation as the plastic surgeon for the most discerning patients in NYC and beyond.
To learn more, visit the Bass Plastic Surgery website or follow the team on Instagram @drbassnyc
Subscribe to the Park Avenue Plastic Surgery Class newsletter to be notified of new episodes & receive exclusive invitations, offers, and information from Dr. Bass.
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Welcome back to Park Avenue
Plastic Surgery Class,
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the podcast where we explore controversies
and breaking issues in plastic
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surgery. I'm your co-host Doreen Wu.
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And I'm here with Dr. Lauren Bass
Park Avenue plastic surgeon, educator,
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and technology innovator. The title
of this episode is "Doctor Shopping:
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Why Cheap is a Disastrous Parachute
With Your Face-Facelift, Laser,
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Botox, Injectable Fillers." Nobody
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likes spending more money than they have
to shopping for plastic surgery is an
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even trickier endeavor.
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Given that patients don't have the
ability to see the product before making a
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decision, how can they ensure that
they are making the right choice?
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In other words, Dr. Bass, how do I get
the best results at the best price?
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This is a challenge and there are
a lot of potential pitfalls here.
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There are a lot of ways that
things that have a low price
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tag on them can really not
be value or not help you
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successfully accomplish your beauty plan.
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One way is a treatment that's cheap,
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but there's no plan associated
with it going forward.
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So sometimes we just need a quick fix up,
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but overall having a
well-established plan of beauty,
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lets us do fewer treatments
and have an overall better
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maintained appearance.
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So cheap with no plan is really
not as cheap as it seems.
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Another way is a service that's cheap,
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but the provider doesn't have
finesse or technical skill.
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This is an experience and training issue.
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So obviously on a certain level,
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you get what you pay for an experienced
provider who trained in one of the
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aesthetic core four specialties
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who has years or maybe
decades of experience
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is more likely to be
able to bring the result.
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There are some great providers
that came through other paths, but
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chances are you're making a
better bet with the experienced,
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fully trained provider.
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There are a couple of other kind
experiences that are not really
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likely to get you the technical result
that you look for. Cause remember,
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this is about what you see.
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And one is treatments that
are done very, very quickly.
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I call these whiplash encounters where
you're in and out of the office in five
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minutes or 15 minutes,
nobody looked at you.
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The treatment is done as fast
and slap dash as possible, uh,
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because the price is low and it's
all about making it happen quickly.
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Again, you know, it's your face.
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We're talking about fine details of
your appearance and a little bit of time
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and a little bit of care to
do that is probably important.
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The other thing about encounters
are ones that are really focused on
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unrelated priorities. You know, you
get great social media experience,
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um, but, uh, that's not about
your face and your beauty.
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That's about your social
experience and not the technical
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results.
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So it's important to stay on point
you're coming for medical care to get a
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treatment that's going to
impact your appearance.
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That has to be the priority.
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Wow. I never thought about it that way.
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When it comes to aesthetic medicine,
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do you think price shopping
is the smartest way to go
about it? Because to me,
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I see the lower price tag
and I'm thinking to myself,
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I might be able to save a bundle.
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You might, but lower price
is not always lower overall.
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So sometimes when you get
a lower price treatment,
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you're getting a lower amount
of whatever the treatment is,
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a lower amount of filler, a
lower number of units of Botox.
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You're getting a service
that in at the 50,000
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foot view looks like it's the same,
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but in reality is not the same. Uh,
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an example would be liposuction.
So a lot of people say, well,
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I'm getting liposuction
in one area or two areas.
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And one provider is X dollars
and the other provider is half of
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that price. Well, is the procedure being
done in an accredited operating room?
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What is the volume of liposuction?
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How does each provider divide
up the number of areas?
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Some people split the
areas up into smaller
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subdivisions. So two areas might
be one area to another provider.
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All of these things make a big difference
in the volume of fat that suctioned.
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A 500 CC suction and a 2000 CC suction are
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still both liposuction of the abdomen,
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but they're not going to get
you to the same end point.
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And so there might be a value difference
aside from just the price tag.
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So that's really important.
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Low price sometimes with small
amounts also means you have to redo
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the treatment more frequently. So there
are some people doing Botox monthly,
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and there are other people who are doing
it every three, four or six months.
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You have to look at what the ultimate
cost is when you totalize that
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not an individual treatment.
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One treatment in six months will
probably cost you more than that
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single treatment that
you're doing monthly.
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But in six months you may actually have
spent more money doing the monthly Botox
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treatments than a more
expensive but longer
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lasting treatment.
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A last example is again,
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another example of what I view
as hit and run medical care,
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where there's no consultation and no
plan at all. So you come in and say,
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I need Botox here, or I need filler here.
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And you are replacing the provider
as the planner of your beauty care.
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And that's okay if you're getting what
you want. And you're sure, you know,
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sometimes you've done it many
times before and you know,
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that's all you need right
now and that's fine,
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but it's important to have
professional assessment in
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conjunction with that to make
sure you're staying on track.
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And that's part of what you're paying for.
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When you come to see a plastic surgeon.
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It all makes a lot of sense.
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And I'm starting to understand that
there's so many more ways in which the
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service can be less adequate
than I initially realized.
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Now let's discuss doctor
shopping in a different context.
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What about patients who shop around for
opinions until they hear what they want
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to hear? What are the dangers of
getting too many, second opinions?
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So too many opinions can sometimes be
too much information and you almost
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never get exactly the same
answer from different doctors.
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Because as we've talked about
previously in this podcast,
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different doctors have different ways
of approaching things and they know what
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works well in their hands.
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So it doesn't mean one answer is
right and the other one is wrong. Uh,
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but overall,
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a second opinion or two can be helpful
just to make sure that things are
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generally going in the right direction,
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but many opinions ends up being confusing.
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And if you end up seeing a different
doctor, each time you get a treatment,
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you're ending up with no plan,
the plan gets remade. Uh,
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without any feedback from previous
treatment, each time you see someone,
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uh, another way that people
see multiple doctors is
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different providers for different
treatments rather than one team of
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providers.
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So they have their Botox doctor and laser
doctor and filler doctor and facelift
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doctor,
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none of whom are talking to any of the
other doctors or even know that the other
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doctors exist
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very hard to make a plan that way
and let things be coordinated.
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If you have a team that works together
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in a single practice,
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the ability to have a coordinated plan
and see the outcome over time is much
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easier.
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Right? When you have too
many hands in the pot,
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it can be challenging to maintain that
coordinated care plan with a team that
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you really trust.
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Exactly. It's like four or
five cooks seasoning the soup.
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That's not a dish I want for dinner.
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Me neither. So Dr. Bass,
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now that we have tackled the problems
of bargain shopping for plastic surgery,
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can you give our listeners
some parting advice?
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Well, this goes back to the title
of this episode and you know,
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this was advice that the pre-medical
advisors when I was an undergraduate at
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Cornell gave us when we were all applying
to medical school, that parachutes and
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your scope of applications for schools,
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it's a bad place to economize. So
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it's important to pick a quality provider
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and receive quality treatments,
cut rate treatments,
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have all of the pitfalls that we've
discussed in this podcast earlier,
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a different doctor,
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every time means no plan and
no refinement based on results.
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So
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you're just getting a proforma
or cookie cutter treatment.
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Remember people see your
face all day, every day.
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It's a really poor place to economize.
Everything has a budget in life,
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but it's important to be real about
what's value and what's false economy.
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That's incredibly useful advice, not
only for my plastic surgery treatments,
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but all my life purchases. I can see
there are always levels of value,
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especially with something as complex
as plastic surgery and my face.
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Thank you for sharing
these insights, Dr. Bass,
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and I'll think a little more carefully
next time before jumping in on a quick
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fix at a bargain.
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Yes, Doreen. You know, your face is
one of your most valuable assets.
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It's how the world sees you. Unlike a car,
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you can't trade in your
face for a new one.
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You've got to take the best possible
care of the one face you've got.
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Definitely. I couldn't agree more.
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This is Doreen Wu thanking you for joining
Dr. Bass and me for this discussion
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of the pitfalls of doctor shopping.
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Don't forget to join us next time
for our episode, "the power of one:
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why more isn't better when picking your
plastic surgeon or aesthetic provider."
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Stream the episode to find out.
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Thank you for joining us. In
this episode of the park avenue,
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plastic surgery class podcast with
Dr. Lawrence Bass Park Avenue plastic
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surgeon, educator, and
technology innovator.
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The commentary in this
podcast represents opinion.
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This podcast does not
present medical advice,
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but rather general information about
plastic surgery that does not necessarily
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relate to the specific conditions
of any individual patient.
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No doctor-patient relationship
is established by listening
to or participating
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in this podcast,
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consult your physician to advise you
about your individual healthcare.
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If you enjoyed this episode,
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please share it with your friends and
be sure to subscribe to our podcast on
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Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, Stitcher,
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or wherever you listen to podcasts.