Are you considering treatment, but have questions? Here’s where to begin. Board certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Craig Mezrow of Philadelphia Cosmetic Surgery Center walks you through the process, from head-to-toe.
Tell us a bit about your practice, and your practice philosophy: I’m a board certified plastic surgeon, specializing in aesthetic – cosmetic procedures of the face, breast, and body. The key, and the way we approach patients, is through individualized care. We tailor the patient’s treatments to address their individualized desires and concerns, offering surgical and non-surgical options.
Where do you believe your expertise lies as a practice? What sets us apart is the comprehensive approach in caring for our patients. We offer non-surgical laser modalities and injectables to compliment any surgical procedures performed. For instance, for a patient who has undergone or planning to undergo a face and neck lift procedure; that is only part of the rejuvenation process. If we don’t address the skin, they will still have aged, wrinkled and sun damaged skin. We also specialize in cosmetic body contouring procedures including liposuction, breast augmentation/reduction, tummy tucks (abdominoplasty), etc. In the same manner, as in treating the skin of the face; we also treat the skin of the body. If a patient has lost some skin tone with age, has sun damage and or cellulite, we offer treatments to improve the color and quality of their skin.
We focus on treating the entire patient. The skin is just as important as the surgical component. Leaving patients with sun damaged, aged skin and wrinkles would leave the patient treatment incomplete. We offer comprehensive regimens for each patient. In addition, for patients that do not desire surgery or who happen not to be a candidate for surgery, we have a full laser center to offer non-surgical options.
Who is your practice comprised of in terms of team members (nurses, specialists, etc.)?We have a licensed aesthetician, registered nurses, and patient coordinators. My staff have been with me for many years. It is important to have continuity of care with the physician and aesthician who knows each patient’s medical history, skin and concerns. The patient will typically be seeing the same team members during each of their appointments.
Describe your ‘head to toe’ so-to-speak, approach to patient care and services: Not only providing all the surgical aspects of aesthetic cosmetic procedures of the face, eyelids, neck, breast and body; we have a complete laser center. We commonly perform non-invasive laser treatments on the face and body during the same office visit, as well as performing all injectables, to decrease the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, such as. Botox Cosmetic, Dysport, Juvederm, Restylane, Sculptra, etc. We can improve sun-damaged skin and tighten the skin of the neck, all during the same session. The key is to customize each patient’s treatment regimen to their specific needs and desires.
What is the best course of action for someone who is considering plastic surgery for the first time? The most important consideration is that the patient is interested in undergoing the procedure for themselves and not some external motivation. They should not do it for a spouse or a loved one. They should only do it for themselves. Second, you need to be a good candidate for the procedure. It’s a journey that the patient takes with us, and they need to feel very comfortable with the office and my team. It’s not going to be a one-session process – you see us before surgery and post surgery, because post surgery care is just as important as the day of the procedure. We have an open-door policy for any patients who may have concerns. I call all patients back directly to address any of their concerns.
What’s especially wonderful about the laser center we have is, if someone is not a surgical candidate, or they can’t take off time from work, we have options for them to make them feel better about themselves without having to undergo surgery. Very often, a patient that is overweight will come into the office. It is really more a matter of them needing to change their lifestyle. The wrong thing for myself or another physician would be to operate on them without implementing a diet and exercise regimen. Instead, I discuss with them, that I understand why you’re here and we’re going to do this as a team approach. We’ll suggest lifestyle changes, which involves non-operative technologies to reduce fat or tighten skin or reduce cellulite to get them motivated and increase their confidence.
What is your newest service to offer your clients, and what are you most excited about? We have so many news things. I love staying ahead of the curve when it comes to technology and new services. I’ve been in practice for nearly 17 years now and lecture all over the country. I come from a background that is a little different than most plastic surgeons. I worked in heart surgery for nearly a decade and decided to change career paths because I wanted more variety. Our approach to patient care is also unique. What really sets us apart from other offices is that we do not take an assembly line approach. We tailor to each treatment to the patient’s specific needs. One of the most exciting new areas is vaginal health rejuvenation, which not only improves the appearance of the external vagina, but overall health. Not only does the vagina relax with childbirth, the tissues become thinner and dry with the hormonal changes of perimenapause and menopause. We use the Core Intima to re-establish a more youthful vagina from an aesthetic and also functional standpoint. Now we can rejuvenate the vagina in a non-operative way, by treating not only externally but also internally, which is life-changing to many women.
While CoolSculpting is good technology in decreasing fat, we offer UltraShape Power. UltraShape Power is the only non-invasive; non-thermal FDA approved technology to destroy fat. It doesn’t “freeze” or “cook” the fat as in other technologies. UltraShape Power gives us the ability, unlike many other technologies, to customize the area we are treating to reduce fat. I’m all about customizing treatments for our patients.
We also have the latest Pico technology. PicoWay has three wavelengths to remove the greatest variety of tattoos in all skin color patients. There is less discomfort with it, but most important, it is the best technology out there to remove tattoos. We can reduce the number of treatment sessions by nearly half as compared to other technologies. PicoWay is also one of the few machines of Pico technology that we can use to perform skin rejuvenation treatments. PicoWay Resolve uses fractionated Pico wavelengths to treat the neck, face, arms, chest, etc to improve skin color, texture and wrinkles. What is fantastic about this, is that it has minimal downtime as compared to other technologies, and minimal discomfort.
Additionally, the laser center offers many other technologies to treat unwanted hair, wrinkles, acne, acne scarring, sun damaged skin, cellulite and more.
Board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons as well as The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Dr. Mezrow is one of the premier plastic surgeons serving the Philadelphia area. Dr. Mezrow’s education includes Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He received his medical degree from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Dr. Mezrow worked in the field of Cardiothoracic Surgery for nearly a decade where he published extensively and lectured throughout the United States and also internationally. Desiring a surgical career with greater variety, Dr. Mezrow trained for five years in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He received additional training in Cosmetic Surgery at the Manhattan Eye Ear and Throat hospital in New York City.
