How I picked my cosmetic surgeon

June 14, 2016

I thought finding a surgeon was going to be overly difficult and time consuming. There are so many worthy cosmetic surgeons in Florida – especially in Miami – I had no idea how to being my search. I was lost sorting through all my options: where to do my surgery, who will do my surgery, what are the surgeons ratings, how do their before/after pictures look, etc.  And although I was disappointed at the lack of public responses to my February Facebook post, I did receive a slew of private messages from many women in my community – most of which used the same 3 doctors. At first I thought, well maybe there are just a few doctors here in Orlando and all the good ones are in Miami or LA; but then I researched these 3 doctors on RealSelf and I knew I had to meet them.

So the very next day, I started scheduling my consolations.  The three doctors I visited were Dr. Thomas Fiala, Dr. Armando Soto, and Dr. Jon Paul Trevisani. And the doctor I chose was …..

Dr. Armando Soto

For those of you looking for your doctor, here is why I picked Dr. Armando Soto:

Reason # 1)   How he performs his breast augmentations.

Rather than having me stand in front of a body mirror and stuff different implant sizes into a sports bra (like I experienced at my consultation with Dr. Thomas Fiala’s) Dr. Soto wants me to bring in images of breast that I like/do not like, and HE will make the final decision on surgery day as to what implant size and shape will accomplish the look I want.

So during surgery Dr. Soto will sit me up vertically on the operating table and “pop in and out” different implant sizes to see which one will give me the most natural look; and based on his reviews and his before/after pictures, it is obvious he knows how to pick the proper implant size and shape.

Personally, I liked this option better. It takes the stress and fear away that I’ll pick the wrong implant size or shape – cause let’s face it, stuffing implants into a sports bra is not a very accurate way to visualize your future results.

As for Dr. Jon Paul Trevisani, I was not impressed.  He wanted to perform my breast lift and implant surgeries 6 months apart; and his reasoning for separating the surgeries was NOT medically related. Who has time to go through 2 surgeries? That to me just seemed silly and I immediately crossed him off my list of perspectives.

Reason # 2) His experience at performing tummy tucks:

In Dr. Soto’s 16  year career, he has only had to make a vertical tummy tuck scar twice (a vertical tummy tuck scar is sometimes necessary when the doctor needs to cut off the belly button due to not having enough skin to pull down during the tummy tuck  procedure). He did say that I have enough excess skin to pull down and I should not need a vertical scar; but in the event that I need a vertical scar, I will at least know that it was a last resort. Also his tummy tuck scars are placed very low – hidden by even the tiniest panties and bathing suit bottoms.

Reason # 3)   My surgery will be performed in Dr. Soto’s accredited in office surgical suite & his nurses will be monitoring me over night.

Believe it or not, surgeries performed in an in-office surgical suite have less post-operative infections compared to surgeries performed at a hospital or out-patient surgical center. Think about it for a moment: A hospital or out-patient surgical center has patients constantly going in-and-out of their facilities, whereas an operating room within a private practice only has patients in there 2 – 3 days out of the week (my surgeon only performs surgeries on Thursdays & Fridays). So it should make sense that less people = less chance of infection.

Also, if you do happen to have your surgery performed at a hospital or an out-patient surgical center, the doctor will usually send you home that very same day! Hard to believe right? Doctors will keep you in the hospital for 3 days following a C-section, but they’ll send you home immediately after a much more invasive mommy makeover procedure. Doesn’t make sense to me.

So there you have it folks!  Dr. Armando Soto it is !!!

I can’t wait to share with you my amazing results!!!

2 more days !!!

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