Patient decisions
What is One of the Most Important Things You Can Do to Ensure You Get the Best Result with Plastic Surgery?
What can you do to support a better plastic surgery experience? Ask questions until you understand the proposed procedure and feel that you and your surgeon share the same goals. In this short episode, Darren M. Smith, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, puts clear communication at the center of the process.
In this episode.
Episode summary
What can you do to support a better plastic surgery experience? Ask questions until you understand the proposed procedure and feel that you and your surgeon share the same goals. In this short episode, Darren M. Smith, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, puts clear communication at the center of the process.
Originally published October 14, 2020. The episode also announces a Facebook group; that invitation is historical.
Key takeaways
💬 Questions at each stage
Questions are useful when first researching a procedure, after a consultation and during recovery.
🗒️ Understanding the plan
Understanding the plan helps clarify expectations and identify concerns to discuss with the surgeon.
🩺 Individual medical care
General education and other patients' experiences do not replace an individual doctor-patient relationship.
Questions this episode answers
What kinds of topics can I ask about?
The recording names how procedures work, preparation, recovery and which approaches may address different concerns.
Can an online group provide my personal treatment plan?
No. Dr. Smith explicitly distinguishes general discussion from advice for an individual's medical situation. Personal decisions belong with the treating clinical team.
🔗 Continue the conversation
Explore current patient guides and the preoperative preparation guide, or schedule a consultation.
Educational information, not individualized medical advice. Good communication supports informed decisions but cannot guarantee a result. Show notes updated September 30, 2026.
Original show notes
Board certified NYC plastic surgeon Dr. Darren Smith discusses the importance of communication and asking questions during your plastic surgery journey, and invites you to join the conversation at here.
Read the conversation.
[00:08] I'm board certified New York City plastic surgeon, Dr. Darren Smith, and this is plastic surgery before and after. Your source for the real deal about plastic surgery procedures, news about trends in aesthetic medicine, and candid sessions with industry insiders. We hope you enjoy today's episode. What is one of the most important things you can do to ensure that you get the best result with plastic surgery? There are obviously a lot of factors that go into helping you get a great result with your procedure. But one that stands out as being critically important is asking all the questions that come to mind to make sure that you have a clear understanding of exactly what's going on and to make sure that you and your surgeon are on the same page and working towards the same goal.
[01:01] So clear communication between you and your surgeon is absolutely essential in the plastic surgery process. And the foundation of clear communication is comfort with asking questions. I wanted to provide you with a way to start asking questions about plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine, regardless of where you are in the plastic surgery process. Maybe you're just starting to think about a procedure. or maybe you've gone for a consultation or two and you're starting to have some better ideas about exactly what you want. Or maybe you've had a procedure and you're wondering about what comes next. So I started a Facebook group where you can have direct access to me to ask your questions and You can also ask questions of other people in the group about their experiences. So you can find this group at www.askdrsmith.nyc and the group is a judgment free zone where you can get the information that you want about anything having to do with plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine. The group is also meant to be fun as well as informative so there will be giveaways and chances to interact with other experts in the aesthetic field. One caveat is that I take the doctor-patient relationship very seriously and this group is not intended to replace that relationship in any way. So I won't be offering any specific medical advice for individual situations.
[02:44] However, any questions you have about the way that procedures work, or the recovery process, the preparation process, or what kinds of procedures are best for different situations are fair game. So I'm looking forward to meeting you at www.askdoctorsmith.myc so that we can get the conversation started. Thanks for listening, and don't forget to subscribe, share the show, and head over to DarrenSmithMD.com for more real-world plastic surgery talk.
Sources and context.
Original Captivate episode. Original release date: 2020-10-14. The recording is the source for the transcript and episode discussion. Later context in the written summary is identified separately.
Behind the conversation.
Darren M. Smith, MD, FACS