47 Secrets Surgeons Are Keeping Away From You

• THANK-YOU CARD

‘It was very meaningful. Letters are a good reminder of how important this is and how people entrust themselves to us. I save everyone.’ —Marc Gillinov, MD

• PATIENTS THINK THAT WE DON’T CARE

‘But we do. We care deeply. Those of us who are spiritual pray for our patients. My family and I pray for my patients at dinner the night before surgery.’ —Kathy Magliato, MD

• I WAS ABOUT TO APPROACH THE BACK OF A PATIENT’S KNEE INSTEAD OF THE FRONT FOR A BIOPSY

‘Because of a checklist, I looked at the imaging again and thought, Yikes! What am I doing? Thankfully, I caught the mistake before I even draped the patient, and no harm was done, but I felt horrible about it. It was more than a year ago, and I still think about it.’ —Kevin B. Jones, MD

• MISTAKES ARE MADE BECAUSE OF THE FATIGUE AND IMPATIENCE

‘But unless you ask, your surgeon is not going to tell you that he was up all night on call before your procedure and that he may not be in tip-top form.’ —Paul Ruggieri, MD

• ‘HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW OF ANOTHER DOCTOR WHO SHOULD NOT BE PRACTICING MEDICINE BECAUSE HE IS TOO DANGEROUS?’

‘Every hand goes up.’ —Marty Makary, MD

• PLASTIC SURGERY PATIENTS DON’T ADMIT TO A PREVIOUS SURGERY

‘I’ll go in on an eyelid or a nose, and it’s just a mess. If you don’t tell us you had lipo, there will be scar tissue, and the fat won’t come out normally. So please be 100 percent honest. There’s no need to be embarrassed. We’ve heard it all, and we don’t judge.’ —Andrew Ordon, MD, cohost of the television show The Doctors and a board-certified plastic surgeon

• PRODUCTS LIKE SCAREASE, SCARGUARD, AND MEDERMA DO WORK TO REDUCE SCARRING

‘Start applying daily as soon as your wound has healed, and avoid sunlight or use a sunscreen with zinc oxide for at least six months after surgery.’ —Andrew Ordon, MD

• PATIENTS GET DETAIL-ORIENTED ABOUT A SURGERY TECHNIQUE BUT FORGET ABOUT BASICS LIKE PRE-OP OR PORT-OP INSTRUCTIONS

‘That’s just as, if not more, important.’ —Andrew Ordon, MD

• THE BIGGEST MISTAKE DURING RECOVERY IS NOT GIVING YOURSELF ENOUGH OF A BREAK

‘Give yourself time to heal. If you don’t, you can cause complications and prolong your recovery.’—Andrew Ordon, MD

• IF YOUR DOCTOR WANTS TO GIVE YOU A STENT, ALWAYS ASK: IS THIS BETTER THAN MEDICINE?

‘If you’re not having a heart attack or an unstable angina, you will do equally well with a stent or medicine, studies show. Having something permanently implanted in your body is not a risk-free proposition. There is evidence that thousands of people have had stents they likely did not need.’ —Marc Gillinov, MD

• IF YOU HAVE A SERIOUS MEDICAL CONDITION, YOU SHOULD GO TO A TEACHING HOSPITAL

‘You’ll get doctors involved with the latest in medicine. Even for simple cases, if there’s a complication that requires an assist device or a heart transplant, some hospitals may not be able to do it. At a university hospital, you also have the advantage of having a resident or physician bedside 24-7, with a surgeon on call always available.’ —Tomas A. Salerno, MD

• BEFORE ANY OPERATION, ASK WHAT’S BROKEN

‘Just because you have a blockage in an artery doesn’t mean you need it fixed, especially if you don’t have symptoms.’ —Marc Gillinov, MD