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The Consultation
 The consultation process begins with your phone call (972-312-8188 or 888-866-3388 between 9 am and 5 pm CDT Monday through Friday) to schedule an appointment to meet with Dr. Lam and his staff. In order to expedite the process, you may elect to download the Encounter Form, fill it out, and bring it with you for your appointment. Also, please download the HIPAA form, read it carefully, and sign at the bottom. This form is to ensure that your patient information remains private. Please bring both of these forms into the office with you to your visit.
Before you come to the office, you may also consider reviewing your payment options: If you do not qualify for financing, our business office can discuss other possibilities for payment.
Please remember that you will be charged a $100 consultation fee for the time spent with Dr. Lam. This fee may be applied to any other service or procedure that you choose to undertake.
Upon your arrival to the office, you will meet with Dr. Lam's patient care coordinator, Constanze. She will ask some preliminary questions to help make your consultation time with Dr. Lam more effective for you. Dr. Lam will then meet with you and review with you in detail your aesthetic concerns, undertake a pertinent physical evaluation, and answer any questions that you may have. As part of the consultation process, he will try to understand what you are truly interested in. If he believes that you will benefit from some other related procedures, he will discuss with you what he recommends. With the aging face, there are so many treatment methods that are available. Dr. Lam will help you discover which method(s) would be the most beneficial for you based on your cosmetic interests, budget, desire for surgical or non-surgical treatments, specific anatomy, and projected recovery time. At the end of the session, you will meet with Constanze, our patient care coordinator again to review with you the costs for the procedures that you discussed with Dr. Lam. At this point, you may decide to schedule your procedure or surgery. As most surgeries are scheduled at least two weeks in the future, you will be asked for your ideal week of surgery and we will make every effort to meet your scheduling needs. Dianne, our Nursing Administrator, will contact you to verify the date and time of your surgery and pre-op appointment. This may take up to 2 business days. At this time, a 20% non-refundable deposit is required to secure your surgery date. The remaining 80% of payment is required 2 weeks before the surgery date. Also, a 3% administrative fee will be levied if you change your scheduled date less than one week prior to the surgery day, unless you have a documented personal emergency. Even prior to your pre-op appointment, it is always a good idea to be evaluated by your personal doctor to make sure you are healthy and able to undergo a surgical procedure. A surgical clearance is required if you are over 50 years old, have any medical problems, or have a family history of cardiac problems or anesthesia problems. If this is indicated, Dr. Lam will fax a letter to your physician with the tests that are necessary before your surgery. Typically an EKG is always included in this request. If you have any known heart conditions or a strong family history of heart problems, he may require a cardiologist or specialist to evaluate you with a formal Stress Test. Should you not have a personal physician, simply let Dianne know and she can help refer you to one of Dr. Lam's colleagues that will schedule a new patient appointment quickly to meet your needs. The care received from this physician will require payment be made directly to this physician. It is not included in the quote from Dr. Lam. Planning ahead for this clearance can truly help you ensure that your desired surgery date is not unduly delayed. Of note, Dr. Lam or his staff will never call to harass you about your decision to book a procedure. You may receive a personal note from Dr. Lam and his staff, but you will not be called unless you contact the office first. We believe in your privacy and support your personal choice in a surgeon.
The Preoperative Session
During your pre-op appointment, you will meet with Dr. Lam and his staff to complete the necessary steps prior to the date of your procedure. During this session, you will meet the following objectives: - Review all of the instructions that are pertinent to your procedure (preoperative instructions, postoperative care, etc.)
- Read over and sign all of the consent forms.
- Review the objectives for the procedure again with Dr. Lam.
- Take your standardized preoperative photographs.
- Complete a detailed health history and physical examination.
- Receive all of the prescriptions that you need for the procedure.
- Confirm that you have undergone necessary medical clearance before your procedure.
- Confirm your scheduled date, your transportation for that date, any accommodations, and after care that you should require along with postoperative dates for follow-up care.
The Procedure Dr. Lam's nurse and sedation/anesthesia team member should contact you the night prior to your procedure to answer any remaining questions and confirm all pre-op instructions and arrival time. You will also be reminded that you cannot eat or drink anything after midnight starting the night before your procedure. Before you go to sleep that night, you may take a prescribed Xanax in order to make you feel very comfortable, alleviate your natural anxiety, and help you attain a good night's rest prior to your procedure. The morning of the procedure, you will take another low-dose Xanax with only a sip of water (since you should not be taking any food or drink that morning) about two hours before your surgery start time. Upon your arrival, you will meet with Dr. Lam's staff once again in the privacy of his surgery center. Dr. Lam's nursing staff will review with you the procedure details, confirm signature on all consent forms, and answer any remaining questions that you may have. As Dr. Lam rarely performs more than one procedure per day, you will most likely be the only patient in Dr. Lam's 5,000 square-foot surgery center. Dr. Lam will then meet with you again to confirm with you the intended surgical plan and mark out the areas that he will work on. (These markers are only temporary and in most cases will be gone by the time the procedure is completed.) You will then be ushered into the O.R. and properly sedated so that you have no discomfort. After the procedure is completed, you will return to the recovery room to be monitored by one of Dr. Lam's registered nurses until you are ready to be discharged, which is usually about 1 to 1.5 hours after your procedure is done. Dr. Lam's staff will contact your ride with advanced notice to come to pick you up. Alternatively, your friend/companion or family member can pass the time in Dr. Lam's private reception room that is equipped with satellite television and other amenities. After the procedure. Dr. Lam will meet with your escort and explain that you are now resting comfortably in the recovery room. You will be then be brought out in a wheelchair through Dr. Lam's private back door and private exit where your escort will take you home. Unfortunately, Dr. Lam cannot permit you to drive home since you will have received sedation/anesthesia and it is unsafe to do so. Further, you cannot take a taxi home without an escort, as state guidelines do not permit you to ride unaccompanied. If you do not have an escort or companion, Dr. Lam can arrange someone to accompany you for a modest additional cost. The companion will take you back to your home or hotel and take care of you for the required minimum four hours or for longer as needed. We offer two levels of service: standard companion service with a non-licensed, non-medical personnel or a licensed registered nurse. Generally speaking, for a healthy individual, standard companion service should be adequate. Obviously, if you already have someone to take you home and to remain with you, you may decline this service. Costs for companion/nurse services are extra, and you will be responsible to pay the individual who will take care of you directly. Also, if you elect to have a non-licensed, non-medical companion, you must sign a waiver stating that the individual is only present as an escort/companion and not providing medical services in any way. Before you leave, Dr. Lam's staff will ensure that you have all of your postoperative instructions reviewed once again. You will also be given your care kit which usually includes cleaning materials, special pillows, and other useful items. Dr. Lam will also provide you his private cellular phone so that you can easily contact him anytime should you have a question, including on the weekend. Dr. Lam will call you the night of the procedure to make sure that you are doing well. Dr. Lam is very responsive to your every need and concern and encourages you to contact him should you ever have a question.
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