Michael A. Leff // www.drleff.com
The second surgeon I saw was
Dr. Michael Leff. I really liked Dr. Leff a lot. Out of all the surgeons I saw,
he by far gave the most thorough exam. Dr. Leff agreed I was a great candidate
for the surgery. He also recommended lipo around the back hip area.
The point he made that really
hit home is that no one ever tells women how their muscles can separate from
pregnancy. No matter how much you exercise, how much weight you lose, nothing
can repair your muscles. Not even 1,000 sit-ups a day would help get rid of the roll of loose skin around my belly.
He also
mentioned that having this surgery would help my posture, as well as relieve
lower back pain. Since my stomach muscles are detached, my back muscles are
doing all the work in keeping my body upright. (No wonder so many women
experience back pain after pregnancy. Doh!) It was nice to hear a surgeon talk
about the necessity aspect of this
surgery, not just the aesthetic aspect.
There were a few major differences between Dr. Stephens and Dr. Leff. Dr. Stephens uses general
anesthesia administered by board-certified anesthesiologists. You also go home
with a catheter to limit having to get up and down the first night, as well as
a pain pump that administers a constant trickle of pain medication.
Dr. Leff however uses IV
sedation. You are still "asleep," but they have the option to wake you whenever they might need to, and the recovery from IV sedation is much easier than general. He does not use board-certified anesthesiologists, rather he uses board-certified
Nurse Anesthetists. A CRNA is basically a nurse with 2 years of extra study in
anesthesia. And, no pain pump, no catheter, and he doesn’t see you again until the
following week.
That's really interesting. I'm wondering if the necessity argument could be used to get an insurance company to pay for it? It works for breast reduction.
ReplyDeleteA'mee, that's the point that Dr. Leff and other plastic surgeons have been trying to make for years now. He said it's very frustrating that insurance companies don't see it that way.
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