I thought of writing about performing facial plastic surgery on nurses and doctors who you might know as colleagues from hospital, physician offices, surgery centers, etc. The thought occurred to me as I realized all three of my blepharoplasty patients today were nurses that know me through work.

First of all, it is a true badge of honor when a colleague such as a doctor or nurse chooses you to be their surgeon. They have the means to find out the good surgeons in terms of both skill and bed side manner. The approach to performing surgery on medical professionals should be well thought out.

First of all it is important to realize that nurses and doctors have to be treated in the same way as any other patient. By that I specifically mean that all the evaluation, diagnostic and management protocols that are used for regular patients should be applied to nurses and doctors as well. Although they have medical knowledge but it is not specific to facial plastic surgery.

One might be inclined to assume that you don’t need to explain stuff in detail and bother with all the nuances of consent. It is important not to assume that the doctor or the nurse knows all the possible risks. Remember, the patient might be assuming that since there was no mention of any risks or complications, the procedure should be safe.

I encourage all my patients including nurses and doctors to watch EMMI website. It is a professional website that offers educational information on surgical procedures in layman terms. The operation on colleagues can be more stressful at times because you feel obligated to get a perfect result and all eyes are on you (so to speak).

If you do not breach protocol and do your surgery the regular way, chances are it will come out great. Some famous people and celebrities end up getting sub-optimal plastic surgery. It is usually because they were treated differently then regular patients.

Some of the necessary procedures of preoperative evaluation and intra-operative steps could have been overlooked. Think of your nursing and physician colleagues as mini celebrities where you can fall into the same trap. Don’t.

With the proper precautions you can comfortably treat other doctors and nurses and it can be a very gratifying experience.

Dr. Tanveer A. Janjua is a New Jersey based facial plastic surgeon who specializes in facelift, blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty and other facial surgery services.

His main office location in Bedminister, NJ — within easy access from Morris and Somerset County, New Jersey and New York City. For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact us toll-free at 877-JANJUA1.

DISCLAIMER: THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO GIVE A MEDICAL OPINION. TO OBTAIN A MEDICAL OPINION, YOU WILL NEED TO BE EVALUATED IN PERSON. FOR ANY QUESTIONS CALL OUR OFFICE AT 908-470-2600