Home › About › Patient Resources › Consultation Process

Consultation Process

Please call our office at 949-574-0574 or email us at [email protected] to schedule a consultation. While consultations for surgical procedures are complimentary, we do have a 24-hour cancellation policy thus, a credit card is required in order to secure your appointment.

Schedule A Consultation

Contents

1 What can I expect from the consultation appointment?
2 Before the Consultation
3 During the Consultation
4 Scheduling a Surgical Date
5 What occurs at the pre-operative appointment or why do I need one?

What can I expect from the consultation appointment?

The consultation appointment is a very important appointment for the patients. Upon deciding that a patient would like to see Dr. Bandy, it is recommended to either call the office or send a consultation request from Dr. Bandy’s website and have the office contact the patient through email or by phone. Our friendly and informative office staff will be more than willing to help schedule a time for future patients to meet with Dr. Bandy at either our Newport Beach or Torrance office. Consultations are offered Monday through Friday and times range from 9:00AM to 3:30PM depending on Dr. Bandy’s surgical schedule, and existing pre-operative, post-operative and treatment appointments.

Before the Consultation

Prior to your consultation, we will send you a confirmation email with paperwork to fill out and bring with you to the consultation. There are typically many questions and concerns that may arise when considering a surgical procedure, so we recommend writing down all questions you would like to address during the consultation and bringing that list with you. We never feel that a question is “silly” or “stupid” and we encourage patients to ask as many questions as they would like.

During the Consultation

Consultations last roughly 1-hour. During your consultation you will first meet with one of our patient consultants who will give you an overview of the procedure you are considering. Dr. Bandy will then meet with the patient and provide detail about the procedure of interest, what options are available to the patient, what she recommends for a patient’s best results, possible complications and risks, as well as provide the patient with a detailed education and understanding on the procedure. During the physical examination, Dr. Bandy may take measurements or photos that she can enhance to show patients a realistic expectation of results. Finally, you will meet again with the patient consultant who will provide you with a quote for your specific procedure, answer any remaining questions, and discuss financing options available to you. After your consultation, you will remain in contact with our office staff should you have any further questions or concerns.

It is our goal to ensure that patients leave each consultation feeling completely comfortable and confident with Dr. Bandy’s recommendations and ability as a plastic surgeon. Whether recommendations are in a patient’s favor or not, a patient will never be given false information or lack of information as we feel it is in a patient’s best interest to make decisions with the most information at hand.

Scheduling a Surgical Date

It is important to understand our payment policy as well as have a realistic expectation of a recovery time prior to scheduling a procedure or treatment. Recovery times can vary and will be discussed during a patient’s consultation appointment. Once you have decided to proceed with your dream procedure, the next step is securing your surgical date. We will provide you with available dates for your procedure depending on when works best for you. Keep in mind, our surgical schedule fills up quickly, so we recommend booking well in advance. However, we also try accommodate those patients who would require a surgical date quickly. Once you have picked your date, we require a $1,000 non-refundable deposit to secure it for you! The deposit allows our office to schedule a patient’s pre-operative appointment and surgical date, as well as schedule the anesthesiologist (if necessary), the operating room nurse, recovery room nurse, and the operating room.

What occurs at the pre-operative appointment or why do I need one?

Once a surgical date is scheduled, a pre-operative appointment is made for 1-2 weeks prior to a patient’s surgical date. During this appointment, a patient’s blood will be drawn (required if a patient is having general anesthesia), before photos are taken, surgical/treatment consents are explained and signed, the remaining surgical balance is paid, a patient is sized once more with implants (if requiring implants).

The patient will meet with Dr. Bandy again to review and finalize the course of action to be taken as well as discuss any questions, comments or concerns. Also at this time, pre and postoperative care will be discussed, and prescriptions for medication are given as indicated. The pre-operative appointment is typically 1-2 hours in length and allows for any questions, comments or concerns not previously discussed in a consultation to be addressed.

We want every patient to have all of their questions answered thoroughly so that they have a clear understanding of the procedure and what is to be expected prior to surgery, immediately after surgery and for the post-operative recovery time. Patients over 50 are required to have an EKG (within the past 6 months) and/or have medical clearance by their primary physician prior to a pre-operative appointment if they will be having a general anesthesia. This will all be discussed and confirmed during a consultation appointment. Additional testing and/or retesting is rare, but is a possibility and will need to be completed with results produced and available to our office prior to surgery.