FAQs

Eat a healthy, balanced diet. What you eat affects both the surface of your skin and the underlying structures, including nerves, blood vessels, cartilage, and muscle tissues. A healthy diet promotes a vibrant complexion and an overall healthy glow.

Quit smoking. Smoking affects the blood supply to the skin; it may slow healing time and increase the risk of bleeding and other complications.

Exercise! A regular pre-operative exercise routine will help you post-operatively. Also, relax and prepare yourself mentally for the procedure. A positive mental outlook can actually speed healing time and help you look and feel your best.

Reconstructive surgery is covered by most health insurance policies, although the specifics of coverage may vary greatly. Cosmetic surgery, however, is usually not covered by health insurance because it is elective and not considered a medical necessity. You will want to contact your insurance company for more information on your individual coverage.

Yes. Clevens Face and Body Specialists offer health care payment options through nationally recognized financial lenders CareCredit and Alphaeon. With financial support from our lenders, you can attain the look you've always wanted via a cosmetic procedure with our specialists. We offer a variety of flexible, low monthly payment options, so you can focus on the treatment you want instead of the cost. Please contact our Patient Care Coordinators about the s you are considering and the flexible payment options available to you.

Yes. Your specialists will carefully assess your skin type because the outcome of your surgery may be affected by such factors as the thickness of your skin, the amount of oil it contains, the degree of pigmentation, and the quality of underlying cartilage. It may be necessary to modify, or even avoid certain procedures to minimize the possibility of scarring or prevent undesirable changes in pigmentation.

The initial healing period for many plastic surgery procedures is one to two weeks, and exercise and heavy lifting can usually be resumed after six weeks or so. Much of the swelling that may occur resolves within this period and any discoloration can be effectively camouflaged with high-coverage cosmetics. This is just an average, however, and does not apply to all procedures or combinations of procedures.

We realize our patients have active lifestyles and want to minimize recovery time as much as possible. That's why Dr. Clevens and our other specialists take steps during your procedure to help accelerate your healing process. One option we offer our patients is a natural healing gel that is applied during surgery to help speed recovery and minimize your downtime. This gel is designed to harness the power of your body's own natural healing abilities and can be used to complement nearly all of our cosmetic surgery procedures, including facelifts, laser skin resurfacing, breast and body surgery, hair restoration, and nasal surgery. This natural healing gel is made using the patient's own cells. Immediately upon application, the gel goes to work, speeding healing and shortening recovery time. Dr. Clevens has used this natural cellular healing gel in thousands of procedures over the years and has seen downtime after facial cosmetic surgery shortened by 25% to 40%. In fact, the results have been so impressive that Dr. Clevens has given lectures and published articles on the use of natural healing gel in plastic and cosmetic surgery throughout the world.

An ambulatory surgery center, such as the ones where Dr. Ross Clevens and his team operate, undergoes strict licensing and tough inspections by the State of Florida, Medicare, and independent accrediting organizations just like a hospital does. An office-based operating room does not have to be accredited and usually does not meet the same standards of care. Visit aaahc.org or jointcommission.org for more information.

Dr. Clevens partners with board-certified physician (MD) anesthesiologists to perform anesthesia. These professionals have completed years of rigorous training to meet the highest standards of care. Many other cosmetic surgeons instead use unsupervised nurses to put their patients to sleep.

Surgery to correct protruding ears may be done as early as age five or six. At an earlier age, the ear has not fully formed and is still growing. In another year or so, your child’s cartilage will still be soft and moldable, therefore producing very good results. A consultation with any of our facial plastic surgeons would be best to evaluate your child’s situation and develop an optimal plan.

Yes, sleep deprivation can affect your health and your appearance. When your body gets enough rest, you awaken with renewed energy, refreshed and ready to go. During sleep, your body fights infection and replaces old cells in organs and muscles. Your skin is the largest organ of your body, and as the skin ages, the collagen and elastin fibers in your skin become less efficient and are replaced at a slower rate.

Sleep plays an important role in preventing the premature aging of these fibers, and during the deepest stage of sleep, your body releases growth hormones for cell repair. If your sleep is frequently interrupted or of short duration, your body has less time to repair and replenish itself. Without this effect, your skin’s texture, thickness, and elasticity are diminished. Adequate rest, along with a healthy lifestyle, can help your skin rejuvenate and glow on a daily basis.

Yes, make sure you wash your face gently with a mild soap before going to bed. Pat your face dry without rubbing. Apply a moisturizer to promote hydration. Dr. Clevens will often prescribe a cream to his patients that will work to lighten and smooth uneven skin tones while you sleep. Also, to reduce morning puffiness, try sleeping on your back.

During the aging process, the distance between the base of the nose and the pigmented portion of the lip increases, causing a thinning appearance. Both men and women seek lip enhancement as a means to look more youthful and increase their confidence. Lip augmentations to achieve pouty or voluptuous-looking lips can be surgical or nonsurgical. Nonsurgical lip augmentations can involve various products that can be injected into the lips with very little discomfort. Products like Restylane and Juvéderm are quickly absorbed into the lips with excellent, but temporary results. Surgical lip augmentation offers a longer-lasting result.

Laser resurfacing is performed to reduce the signs of aging by removing the damaged outer layer of the skin and allowing a new, supple layer to emerge. Immediately following one of the deeper skin resurfacing treatments we perform, most patients experience redness and some swelling. Some patients have mild discomfort that can be alleviated with pain medication. Most patients feel uncomfortable returning immediately to work due to the reddened appearance and may take five to seven days off from work. Each individual responds differently to their treatment, and our team can review the expectations of your recovery with you, including recommending a series of milder treatments if downtime is a concern for you.

BOTOX may be a very simple and suitable solution, but this depends on the severity of the lines and whether there are any related problems that you might want to address. For example, if you are bothered by brows that are too low and wanted to address this surgically, then a long-lasting surgical solution to your vertical frown lines could be achieved with a browlift. As you may know, BOTOX injections must be repeated periodically to maintain results.

A Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon has training specifically in plastic surgery of the face, head, and neck. The American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ABFPRS www.abfprs.org) is the recognized board that certifies exclusively in the specialty of facial plastic surgery. In addition to board certification, a surgeon’s special interest and experience in facial cosmetic surgery as well as documentation of a plastic facial surgeon’s wide experience and training in facial surgery are all important considerations in selecting a qualified surgeon. These requirements indicate extensive knowledge of current facial cosmetic surgical techniques. Equally important is the assurance that your surgeon abides by a strict code of professional conduct, which helps to ensure the highest quality patient care.

It seems that you have a functional problem and a cosmetic imbalance with the nose. It appears that you need your septum reconstructed to straighten your nose, and to alter the other nasal cartilages to recontour your nose. The nose is the most prominent projection of the face, and when looking at another person, your eyes are readily attracted to the nose. With specialized training in both rhinoplasty and septoplasty surgery, Dr. Clevens and his team of facial plastic surgery specialists are uniquely qualified to address both the functionality and the appearance of the nose. It is crucial to examine the structure of your nose, both externally and internally, to evaluate what you can expect from surgery, so a consultation with our team is the best next step.