The Benefits of Combining Procedures

by Dr. Kouros Azar

The moment that a patient first gets to see the results of a facelift, breast augmentation, or other procedure is always thrilling. Being a part of their joy and happiness is one of my favorite parts of my work. Often, those results come from not just one, but a combination of procedures.

While every procedure has its own transformative power, I’ll often encourage patients to consider combining more than one procedure to make their results even more dramatic. There a few main reasons why I may make this suggestion to my patients.

Enhanced Physical Results
Enhancement of a patient’s final results may be the most compelling reason to combine procedures. The perfect combination of treatments can often exceed the results the patient was hoping for.

In the image above, the patient received both a brow lift and a facelift. The brow lift created an arched brow, making her eyes look more awake. This addition to the facelift is subtle, but it undoubtedly enhances the results.

Lower Risks from Anesthesia
One of the primary health-related reasons to combine procedures is to prevent patients from being under anesthesia more than once. The anesthesia process can be costly, and it can make patients feel tired, sick, and groggy for a few days afterward.

I often compare it to the processes of taking off and landing a plane: It’s certainly possible to do it more than once, but it’s better to end up at your destination sooner if you can. While minimal, the risk of being anesthetized twice is slightly greater than the risk of being anesthetized once for a longer period of time.

Reduced Cost
Combining more than a single procedure reduces the cost dramatically, for 2 reasons. First, the patient is paying only once for the first hour of anesthetic, which is the most expensive. Once you have received the anesthetic and are stable, the hourly rate is relatively low. Second, most practices (including ours) offer a discount on procedures when they’re combined.

Quicker Healing and Recovery
The length of time required to heal and recover from a procedure will depend on the extent of the procedure performed, and every patient’s body also heals at a unique rate. Generally speaking, a tummy tuck takes about 2 weeks of recovery time, whereas a breast augmentation takes closer to 1 week.

When procedures are combined and performed at the same time, recovery takes about as long as the most extensive procedure. So if a patient were to undergo a mommy makeover and receive a tummy tuck and breast augmentation, she would be on her way to a full recovery by the 2-week mark, much faster than if she’d chosen to have the procedures done separately.