A plastic surgery consultation at JEV Plastic Surgery is never a “cookie cutter” situation. From your first phone call to scheduling surgery, our goal is to make sure you feel comfortable, educated enough to make informed decisions, and never rushed.
Danielle, the director of JEV Plastic Surgery and a patient coordinator for over 17 years, takes us through the consultation experience to share the thinking behind why consultation fees are necessary, how quotes are given, how we help out of town patients, and the one thing that will cause someone to lose their deposit.
- Read more about Baltimore plastic surgeon Dr. Carrie Houssock
- Contact us to schedule your consultation
- Learn more about what the process looks like for out of town patients
Transcript
Dr. Houssock (00:04):
You are listening to another episode of Perfectly Imperfect. Hi Danielle.
Danielle (00:09):
Hi.
Dr. Houssock (00:11):
Welcome to the Perfectly Imperfect podcast.
Danielle (00:13):
Excited to be here.
Dr. Houssock (00:14):
She’s not that excited to be here.
Danielle (00:16):
No, not really.
Dr. Houssock (00:16):
She’s totally lying. So for everybody who doesn’t know though, I can’t imagine at this point, who wouldn’t know, this is Danielle. She’s the director of our practice. Danielle has been with this practice for how long?
Danielle (00:27):
I’ve been here for almost 18 years.
Dr. Houssock (00:29):
So I inherited Danielle and I always, whenever I start talking about Danielle, I always have to tell the story of how I heard of Danielle before I even met her. So I was in residency and Danielle was working for Dr. Vogel at the time, and Dr. Vogel used to do all of these dinners with the residents and he would describe how he ran his practice. It’s great knowledge for residents because we don’t know anything about running a practice. He would go through some of the idiosyncrasies of running a business and having a practice. And I remember exactly the dinner and where I was sitting and everything when he started to describe Danielle and he was telling us as residents about breast augmentation and how to do breast augmentation consultations. And he mentioned that in his practice he has a coordinator that does the breast implant sizing for him and how she is so versed in how to run through that process and make patients feel so comfortable. And I remember at the time, and I swear to you, I never saw my life going towards where it is here and taking over this practice. I remember thinking, wow, that is so great. Someday I’m going to do that. When I have my own practice, I’m going to have a person there to kind of coordinate that for the patients. And then total serendipity, I inherited Danielle.
Danielle (01:48):
Yeah, it’s been a fun journey.
Dr. Houssock (01:51):
Yeah. So just tell a little bit about what your position is, Danielle, and what you do here at the practice.
Danielle (01:57):
Main job here is meeting with the patients during the consultations, making sure they get scheduled correctly for their surgeries, consultations, a lot of time spent on the phone with people answering questions about their pre and post-op instructions. Just making sure everything’s in line for their day and making them feel comfortable leading up to that day.
Dr. Houssock (02:15):
It’s true, she’s kind of like the mother hen of the practice in so many ways, not just for the patients but for us as well. And there’s nothing like having somebody who can coordinate and facilitate everybody and kind of be that center kind of starting point. She’s like home base. I’m going to call her the home base. So because of that, we figured we would talk a little bit about starting out with the patient experience, how you get in here for a consult and how do you get to meet us and whatnot. And so Danielle is typically the first person that you will speak to when it comes to coming in and having that consultation. I think knowing that you speak to Danielle and getting to know the practice through her before you even come in makes the day a lot more comfortable and easy. So what happens, Danielle, if somebody wants to come in here, they hear about us, they see some of our results, how do they get in contact with you and how does that work?
Danielle (03:09):
Most patients I find these days will email through the website and then I will call them and send ’em an email. If they happen to call, they’ll get Amanda first and then she’ll pass on the message to me if I’m not available. I usually still like to follow up with an email so they have all the information as far as pricing and things like that. And then I’ll also call the patient to make sure I get the questions of what they’re coming in for, make sure they have an idea of how the day works so that they’re comfortable when they do come into the office that it’s not a shock of how the whole process works that they’re going to meet with me and you at the same time. I guess just explaining to them ahead of time so it’s not come into the office and put a robe on and we’ll see you in a minute, you know.
Dr. Houssock (03:50):
I think that’s so important. Yeah, I think that’s super important because I’ve had, and you probably have had this too, multiple people have asked, why don’t you have an online booking service for your consultations? Why can’t I just go online and book my own consultation? And it’s just way too complex for that. And why is that? What is it that conversation between you and the patient does that kind of steers you to what they need and what kind of consultation they should be booking? How does that work?
Danielle (04:17):
And sometimes part of that too is if someone books a consultation online, they might think they just want a breast augmentation, but having conversation on the phone might lead to, oh, they might be interested in this too, at the same time. And I like to book enough time that we have that to talk about. If they had just booked online, we wouldn’t have enough time for their full consult with everything they’re interested in. So I think it helps that so we don’t feel rushed the day that they’re here. I can ask questions that are kind of important for us to know ahead of time about children planning, weight loss, if they’re coming in for a tummy tuck, just some basic questions to make sure I book it the right way on my end.
Dr. Houssock (04:56):
Yeah, that makes sense. It’s not a cookie cutter situation at the practice.
Danielle (05:01):
No, definitely not. I say that all the time, even though I’ve been doing this for so long and this every single person is different, I never have the same experience twice. And so I love that.
Dr. Houssock (05:12):
And we want them to feel ready when they come in. And you’re right, us being prepared, I mean instead of just seeing on their, okay, breast augmentation. By the time a patient comes in because of the information you’ve gotten and that getting to know them, we know a lot more than that whether they’ve, oh, maybe they had a rupture previously or maybe they just had children or whatever it is. And it allows us to be prepared. So alright, they call you, they’ve chatted with you, they are booked. Do we have any consultation fees at this point? I can’t remember.
Danielle (05:41):
Anywhere from 50 to 150. The base consult is $50. I do charge a little bit more for patients that are out of the country or out of state because it’s a little more involved as far as trying to plan for that between emailing photos, doing a virtual consultation and then an in-person consult. So that 150 and covers all of that, they’re virtual and then thier in person.
Dr. Houssock (06:03):
So the reason for that consultation fee is ultimately what, I mean there’s a couple of different reasons. One is it’s our time, right?
Danielle (06:10):
It’s our time. And we have found over the years that if you’re committed to paying a $50 consultation fee, you’re committed to coming into the office, you’re not going to not show up or if you need to cancel it just like anywhere else, you’re going to do that when you have something involved. I think it just makes it more commitment, if that makes sense. Just more of a commitment that you’re, and that’s why we used to not charge at all and then for a long time and we’d have people that would not show up unfortunately. And we just have to be really respectful of your time, their time also, and then we can actually allow for an actual hour consult with that patient.
Dr. Houssock (06:51):
Yeah, that’s so true. So when you come into the practice though, we book you and Danielle’s really good at booking the time we need. We are not rushing. We want to have enough time where we spend it, but like she’s saying, if you are booked for an hour and you decide last minute, you don’t want to come in, that’s an hour of our time and somebody else doesn’t get to come in today. So that’s why we’ve decided to do that. Patients do ask, but I would also argue that most places these days when you go to do your hair or any other places will often do a cancellation fee and we have something similar, but we do ask for a fee and we do feel like it’s still important and it really has worked out to our advantage both for the patient and for us because it means that we are serious about our relationship. It also means that Danielle won’t book you if she doesn’t think that you’re a potential patient and potential, so she won’t waste your time either. It goes both ways. So there is a fee for it that is always subject to change, but that’s what we do right now. So someone knows that they’re coming in. Is there anything in particular that you’d like them to prepare when they’re coming in? Any photos that you want resources? Is there any kind of preparation on the patient’s end?
Danielle (07:58):
For our hair patients that are interested in hair, I do have them kind of send a photo ahead of time and gather some information about what medications they might be on just in case they really do need to see Lindsay first for pre-treatment with PRP and stuff. So for those definitely out of the country, out of state patients, I have them send photos ahead of time for general consult. Usually encourage that if they have someone they want to bring with them that a good idea husband or a significant other, that’s really it. I try to do as much education for breast augmentation ahead of time with that packet. I send them,
Dr. Houssock (08:31):
Yes,
Danielle (08:31):
to read ahead of time.
Dr. Houssock (08:33):
There’s a packet that is mandated by the FDA at this point. I think every implant company has created one and it must go out to the patients and they should be able to read it and sign it. And then we discuss a lot of it. And really all it has to do with is just being completely educated on the fact that an implant has its risks. Some of them much more common than others, most of them extremely rare, but just giving that knowledge base and education so that patients understand that they’re putting in a foreign body if they decide to proceed with breast augmentation. And then we do also have the, we are electronic medical records. So talk about the portal. How does that whole thing work before we have ’em come in?
Danielle (09:11):
Yeah, the electronic portal, that’s where they can ahead of time make sure we get all their medical information. We don’t really have any paper charting anymore. We can get paper faxes and then scan them in there, but ahead of time we do have patients registered for their portal. All their before and after photos can be loaded right to their portal so they have access to them at home and without having to email them. So their information’s a lot more secure in that way.
Dr. Houssock (09:34):
Yeah, it’s all HIPAA compliant, secured and on a cloud. And so in the world of cyber risk, we really do try to minimize your risk and that just as a complete offset and probably a whole nother conversation’s just that HIPAA compliance. So because we have that portal and also our emails are HIPAA and secured, those are the best ways to communicate with us. People do try to communicate with us through social media and whatnot, but in the end, the safest way is to utilize these procedures. So some people get frustrated by portals and oh, filling out this stuff, but in the end it’s truly for everyone’s safety and security. So we do mandate it. I mean you really can’t be seen until all of that has been submitted. I wouldn’t say our pushback is as bad as it was when we first started it, but we still do get more of the older generation sometimes pushes back I guess, but not too much.
Danielle (10:24):
Well, yeah, we’ll still, if really we let them come in, they just have to come in for their appointment a little early so we can help them with the portal, but it still ends up in the same place. We just do it physically for them.
Dr. Houssock (10:38):
So they’re here, they finally arrive, they get greeted by Amanda, we make sure that all their paperwork and their portal has been done. And then what happens?
Danielle (10:45):
I bring them back into the room first. So I will go out and greet them and I usually spend a minute in the room just to make sure that I have them scheduled appropriately, that what I have in my notes is what they’re here for. And then I just explain to them, I give them a gown usually, unless it’s something face related. And I just tell them that to flip, we have that nice little light little switch that they flip up when they’re ready. Sometimes Dr. Houssock follows it, sometimes not.
Dr. Houssock (11:09):
I get really really excited sometimes.
Danielle (11:10):
She gets so excited. Our patients know, our follow-up patients know. I’ll say flip up the switch when you’re ready so that we know you’re ready. And then she just comes right in. But they know. But usually for the first consult that doesn’t happen. We give you a minute and then I usually tell them what’s going to happen. I just explain to the patient that we’re going to come in together, Dr. Houssock and I, and if it’s for our breast, I just tell them we will go through that packet again with them that they already have a copy of. I’d actually print them a new copy when they come in and I tell them, we’ll walk through all the options from Dr. Houssock, get measurements if we need measurements. And then once that’s done and Dr. Houssock has explained the procedure and all that, usually I stay in the room with them for a little bit longer to take photos, go over the recovery in a little more detail and show them some before and afters.
Dr. Houssock (11:59):
And then ultimately it really is, it’s kind of a team effort between Danielle and I. We recognize that. I mean we’re women and we’ve been through plastic surgery ourselves and quite frankly, I think some of that makes it just that much more easy for us to relate to the situation. But I think it is the most humbling situation to walk into a room with two strangers and bury yourself in a way that is sometimes very uncomfortable and show us things that are very uncomfortable for you. And so we take that very seriously. We do not joke about anything when it comes to this. It’s very serious for us in the sense that we try to make an environment that is both comfortable. You’re hanging out with your friends, but also very professional. And I think I really pride ourselves in that because I want you to feel comfortable in that environment.
(12:50):
I want you to understand that you’re in a room with two women who really understand where you’re coming from and we’re only there to help you and make you feel better. I do think we achieve that. I really do. Even when I think about it, the way that when you’re in the room with us, we do have the patient, you will sit in the chair and you’re fully clothed while I first get to know you, and I’m sitting on a chair right in front of you and we’re just chatting. I’m not standing over you, I’m just sitting with you. And Danielle is in the room, but she is in the background where you actually can’t see her during the consultation. And when I think about that environment as a patient, I think it feels very, it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. You don’t have two people standing at you, like watching you.
Danielle (13:33):
I’m trying to stand next to them almost.
Dr. Houssock (13:35):
Yeah.
Danielle (13:36):
Because I’ve already met them and talked to them a little bit.
Dr. Houssock (13:39):
And so we just kind of sit at your level to make it feel more of a conversation. And then once we’ve had that conversation about why are you here, I’d never look at a patient first. I never have you undress first. I always get a feel for who you are, what you are, what your concerns are, and then we will proceed to the mirror. And I actually have you stand where you can see yourself in a mirror while I am examining you. And I think that’s really important too because I feel like if you just have me kind of examining you and it’s kind of almost blind, it can feel a little overwhelming. But if you can see yourself and you can see what I’m describing to you as I’m describing it, it just makes it kind of a team conversation, right? It’s like we’re just doing this together.
(14:22):
It’s not me at you. And then once I have that examination, sometimes I will take measurements and Danielle will be writing down the measurements for us. I get to see exactly what you have there so that I can make recommendations. Then I have you cover back up with this pretty warm robe again and you sit back down and we have our conversation again. So you’re only bearing yourself naked for a very short period of time, just enough for me to really get a feel for what you need. And then you are covered back up and elegantly able to sit and be covered and not feel so I don’t know out there. And then like Danielle had said at that point, we do take your photos. We do need them for the medical record, they’re just for the medical record, they’re not for anyone else. If you decide down the road to approve that what you see on social media, then that is wonderful. But that is not what the consultation is about. And then we let you get dressed and a lot of the conversation ends up with you again dressed. It’s about dignity. I think we really try to keep that in mind. I don’t want you just feeling like you’re out there naked and kind of uncomfortable. So we’re comfortable with you being naked, but we know that you don’t do this every day.
Danielle (15:27):
And I hear that so much from the patients, how comfortable they are with because we focus so much of our consult on education, not just, this is what you need, have a good day. Here’s your fee quote. We really try to spend a lot of time educating the patient so that they’re prepared for their recovery part of it. Because for us, that’s the most important thing, just being prepared for it.
Dr. Houssock (15:49):
We know that if you are educated, you’ll number one, make the best decision for yourself. Number two, your expectations will be met because we’ll know if and when we could even meet your expectations. So there’s that, and then there’s just, like Danielle said, the recovery is everything. We just saw a patient today and tell them about that. Danielle, she followed everything and look how good she did.
Danielle (16:11):
Oh yeah. I mean her incision was imperceptible. You really could not see it. She followed all of our post-op instructions and she even said that. She was like, I spent this much time and money and I wanted to follow your recommendations because you do guys do this every day. And those are the kind of things we really spent a lot of time preparing. I feel like preparing the patient between our pre-op phone calls, the consultation, all of that, just to make sure that they know everything that we know as far as what can help them in recovery.
Dr. Houssock (16:42):
Set up for success, set up for success. There are things that we know that we can’t control everything. So I mean, we try to just decide. So let’s say, all right, now someone’s in the consultation. They’ve met me, we’ve gone through photos, you’ve gone through some before and afters. Of course we do provide a bunch of before and afters to them. Now they’re at the point where they have to make a decision on whether or not they want to proceed. What information are they left with and how does that process work if they decide to book?
Danielle (17:11):
I give every patient gets fee quotes for whatever we talk about. Sometimes it’s multiple options, sometimes just one. So they’re always left with a fee quote. And I always like to ahead of time give a patient a range so that part of it is not uncomfortable for them.
Dr. Houssock (17:26):
You mean before they’ve shown up to the,
Danielle (17:27):
Before they even showed up to the consult and it’s on our website. We have ranges on our website for all of our stuff. So because money part can be uncomfortable for some people to talk about whether they,
Dr. Houssock (17:37):
Well we also know it’s reality, right?
Danielle (17:38):
Yes. Exactly. Exactly. So I give them fee quotes, I give them CareCredit information in case they want to look into that.
Dr. Houssock (17:45):
What is CareCredit?
Danielle (17:46):
CareCredit is the financing company we use right now. They always, well, they have for a long time, we offer the 12 month no interest financing with them. So it’s a great option for people that want to spread it out over time. So I give them that. I always give everyone all of our available surgery dates for the next six months, how good their fee quotes good for six months. So I like to give them all of our date options so that they can either go home and think about it. Some people want to decide, right? Then some people say, this date works, let’s book it. And then I’ll book their surgery right then.
Dr. Houssock (18:15):
How do you hold your spot then if they say, Hey, I’m ready, let’s do this?
Danielle (18:18):
I always tell them if they’re going to do the CareCredit route, then to fill out the CareCredit information on their website and then they provide me their CareCredit number and I just hold it and then I run it all at one time, two weeks prior to their surgery. If they are paying on their own credit card cash or anything like that, they’ll pay a 10% deposit upfront and then the remaining 90% two weeks before surgery.
Dr. Houssock (18:39):
So they basically have up until two weeks to pay for the procedure
Danielle (18:43):
Yeah, in full.
Dr. Houssock (18:44):
Got it. And then the deposit, talk about that deposit, is it refundable? It goes towards surgery, I assume.
Danielle (18:51):
Yeah, that goes towards their surgery. I tell all the patients, we never like to think about having to keep anyone’s money, but it is a surgery. It is a scheduled surgery. And so once they pay that 10% deposit, it is refundable up until four weeks before surgery. Once we’re at that four week mark, it is not refundable. If in that time something came up and a patient got the flu or got something physical that we could not operate on them, we will move their surgery date. But if they do something, I always tell them if they do something that jeopardizes the risk of surgery. So if they do something we ask them not to do. If they smoke within a timeframe, we ask them not to smoke. If they drink alcohol in a timeframe, then that money is not refundable. If we need to cancel their surgery for something like that, thankfully we don’t have to do that very often.
Dr. Houssock (19:38):
No, thank goodness.
Danielle (19:39):
Our patients are really good about that.
Dr. Houssock (19:40):
And again, it’s just a commitment because I guess have you decided the four weeks is just because it’s for our sake, we’ve already committed to our staffing or why the four weeks and why do you end up keeping it?
Danielle (19:54):
Four weeks is enough time that if we need to cancel a surgery or if someone needs to move a surgery, it gives us time to move someone up that might be farther out that wants to move up. I do keep a waiting list because we tend to book our surgeries and our consultations out a little bit. So that gives us time to have that person then prepare with their primary care to get cleared for surgery. If we need to do sizing, it gives us time for that.
Dr. Houssock (20:17):
Yeah, I mean, I hate to say it, and we are obviously I’m a physician, I’m a doctor first, but we also are a business where other patients want to get in. And so Danielle has figured through the years what makes the most sense to keep you safe and also make a commitment so that we can proceed as a business. And so I know a lot of these things, if you’re not in the world of owning a business, it’s probably sometimes confusing. Why are you keeping money? Why is there a fee for this? But it really is in order to continue to run the way we run successfully. And we do find that when patients take it seriously again, they are more likely to do well. And so if someone does refuse to do a deposit or doesn’t want to put a deposit down or whatever it is, it’s probably for the best on both ends because you’re probably not quite ready or serious enough to do the surgery yet. And then that doesn’t put you at risk down the road for doing something that you don’t want to do mean. So anyway, so like she said, it’s rare that we have to do anything with that, but there is indeed there’s a deposit. And then how about if they’re just not sure, let’s say they came in and they don’t really know what they want to do. Can they come back? How does that work?
Danielle (21:34):
Yeah, because sometimes it is overwhelming if somebody comes in say for one thing and they need something else. So say they thought maybe they just needed liposuction, but they need something more, a tummy tuck or extended tummy tuck. Sometimes that can be a lot. And I’ll go through all of that and I always encourage them to come back because I always tell people it is normal to be nervous. Of course, even when we all have surgery here, you get nervous definitely.
Dr. Houssock (22:01):
Yeah.
Danielle (22:01):
But you don’t want to be, I always say you should be more excited than nervous. So if you’re not more excited than nervous, then you really should think about it just for a little bit longer and make sure, because we want you going into it more excited with a little bit of nerves.
Dr. Houssock (22:15):
Yes. Yeah, a hundred percent.
Danielle (22:16):
And I can usually tell if based on questions people ask and things, if they’re asking questions leading up to it that I feel maybe are a little bit too much, then I usually do have them either come back and meet with you again. I’ll say, maybe you just need another consultation, just another conversation about it.
Dr. Houssock (22:33):
We encourage that for sure.
Danielle (22:34):
We do not mind that at all. We’d rather that.
Dr. Houssock (22:36):
No, no.
Danielle (22:38):
Then find out after the fact that you weren’t really prepared already.
Dr. Houssock (22:40):
Something else we really don’t mind, and I genuinely mean this is, we don’t mind you going to another consultation. No, quite frankly, I love what you do because I know how we do it here and I’m so proud of it and I am so proud of my team and my staff that I absolutely encourage anyone to go out and see other practitioners. And if by some chance when you go to someone else, you feel a better connection there, then that again is great for both of us. We want to make sure that our patients who come here and have surgery are excited and eager to have work done by us. And so we never get insulted by that. If you find that we don’t work out for you, that is truly okay. And it is no hard feelings because we really are very upfront with how we are. Whether if you go on our social media or if you’re now listening to these podcasts or you come to see us in consultation, you’re seeing who we are. There’s not going to be any surprises and we are either your vibe or we’re not. And I think we love our vibe here.
Danielle (23:43):
Yeah. They will too. They will too when they come in.
Dr. Houssock (23:44):
Yeah. So anyway, so I mean that’s basically how it works. And the only other thing I could think of is the pandemic really opened up the ability to do virtual consultations. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
Danielle (23:59):
Yeah. Whenever patients ask about a virtual, if they live within an hour or two, we really encourage them to come in person because there is something about you being able to look at somebody and put their hands on somebody, but if somebody really can’t, their schedule is really tight and they want to schedule a virtual happy to do that. We have them email me some photos ahead of time so that you’re not asking them to unchange on camera.
Dr. Houssock (24:21):
That’s big. I really don’t like doing that. Probably a lot of virtuals will do that and it’s just, I don’t know. I feel a certain type of way about it. It’s not that you can’t, but I would highly prefer,
Danielle (24:33):
Especially the first meeting.
Dr. Houssock (24:34):
Yeah, that you’re not undressing on a video. So we do ask for naked photos that are sent secured so that I can get a feel for how you might look in front of me with the understanding that we may do a virtual and I may still say, I’m really going to have a better idea with you in person. So we may many times we can make a surgical plan and we can go ahead with it. Sometimes I ask that you might come in person and if you’re international, which we do get since the pandemic and since social media, we do get international visitors to have surgery. The minimum I ask is that we meet each other the day before surgery. I have a certain feeling about you and I connecting in person the day I’m about to operate on you. It just doesn’t feel quite right for me. I’d like us to have a relationship that stems beyond that day. So when a patient does come from out of state, if I’ve never met them in person, I do ask that you come and visit me then the day before if it’s possible so that we just can do that thing. There’s just something about it. I don’t think anyone really, I don’t think that’s ever been an issue. And don’t you think they probably appreciate that?
Danielle (25:45):
Yeah, I think they like to see the office and where they’re going to be the day of surgery. I haven’t had anyone. I can’t think of anyone. Like I said in the beginning, I do charge a little bit more for those consultations because it generally is a little bit more involved, but we’re happy to do it in all of those visits. So even if they come in the day before, even if you do a virtual and then require them to come in for an actual consult, all of that’s still included.
Dr. Houssock (26:07):
And it works great. I mean, it is surgery, like Danielle said, there’s nothing like putting my hands on you and seeing things as physically, but the pandemic taught us we could really do quite a bit doing it virtually to a certain extent, obviously.
Danielle (26:19):
And all those patients, we end up doing virtual that that’s easy for us. The follow up part of it, as long as they’re in town for depends a week to two weeks for post-op care.
Dr. Houssock (26:32):
Yeah, we do require some time to stay here. And then obviously it’s an understanding if you are consulting from far away, that if you have a complication, I mean it will be your responsibility to get back here to me or to someone local. And that’s just the downside I would say to doing something with a surgeon that doesn’t live close. And I don’t necessarily love that because I love always having my hands on you. That part of it is probably the part that I like the least. But if there is a complication or an issue where you need to come back to see me, you just always have to remember that it’s going to be a little bit more complicated if you’re from farther away. But we still stay on you, get you care, help you out. So again, so rare for it to happen, but if it happens when you leave me, even if you live across the world, you’re still my patient forever. So we do follow-ups and I stay on you and I make sure you’re doing everything that you need to do because once I lay my hands in you, you’re forever mine.
Danielle (27:32):
Yep. We love seeing our patients too. We just do.
Dr. Houssock (27:35):
Yeah, so we hate at the end where I’m like, I’ve got nothing else. I guess I have to let you go.
Danielle (27:41):
That is the hard part. I’m like, do you want to come back for, I dunno, something?
Dr. Houssock (27:46):
Yeah, you want to come just hang.
Danielle (27:49):
Yeah. A lot of people too, a lot of patients, because you know them so personally, they get to know a lot about your personal life as well. So yeah, they’ll come in and ask about my daughter or things I have going on. And how was your trip? Because you talk about things.
Dr. Houssock (28:02):
You become family.
Danielle (28:02):
You do. You do.
Dr. Houssock (28:03):
You do. It’s so cliche, but it’s so true.
Danielle (28:06):
I know. It really is. It is.
Dr. Houssock (28:07):
I mean, the ultimate thing is that consultation should feel very comfortable and ultimately, it doesn’t also, last thing I’ll say is I jokingly say there is no scalpel in the consultation room. So if you’re not sure and you’re not sure if you’re ready to commit to an operation, there is nothing wrong with coming in and spending some time with Danielle and I to get the education about it. And it’s not a commitment to have an operation. It is not. So you’re welcome to come in and consult and get educated and figure out if it works for you. And it’s so low pressure we’re not going to, there’s no forcing you.
Danielle (28:45):
No, it’s none of that. We want to educate the patient. We want you to want come here and when you’re ready, we want to help you. Because we love to.
Dr. Houssock (28:55):
Yep. We’re ready. Exactly. So, alright, that’s it. So come and see us. Come visit Danielle. Alright, carry on. Danielle.
(29:03):
Perfectly imperfect is the authentically human podcast navigating the realities of aesthetic medicine. JEV Plastic Surgery is located in Owings Mills, Maryland. To learn more about us, go to JEVplasticsurgery.com or follow us on Instagram @drcarehoussock, or just look in the show notes for links. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it and subscribe to Perfectly Imperfect on YouTube, apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you’d like to listen to podcasts.