As I considered plastic surgeons, I was nervous about the process of the surgery, the results and recovery. While I had to come to terms with the length of surgery, anesthesia and recovery process; the results portion is based on the talent and skills of the surgeon. As a busy person being a wife/mother working outside the home I wanted to have one surgery, recover and move on with life.
Talent and skills are difficult to assess unless you go through the process in the first place, but two things happened during the consultation process with Dr. Berardi impressed me enough that I was more than comfortable moving forward. The first, is he listened to my goals and questions between having a bilateral mastoplexy or breast augmentation. My primary concern was having the mastoplexy only to have wished I had the augmentation and having to go back into surgery, which I did not want to do. He convinced me that based on my goals and my existing breasts, he could achieve my goals with a mastoplexy procedure which also would be slightly easier of a recovery as well. Recovery was a concern for me as I also was getting a abdominalplasty procedure at the same time.
Next, the day of my consultation Dr. Berardi’s computer system went down. His appointment schedule was not available and he was managing patients as they came in and basically working in the dark. However, he never lost focused and I didn’t even know anything was going on until I left the exam room and was told they would have to email me the surgery costs when the computers get fixed. Other than raw talent, in my opinion, I believe the skills of a surgeon show in how they can manage what they don’t know until they get into the operating room. I felt that Dr. Berardi could handle something unexpected without skipping a beat.
Coincidentally, I had to go back into a brief second surgery; Dr. Berardi was as calm as ever. He answered all my questions and took as long as I needed to be comfortable.
The best part is that the results are incredible. When I went for my first bra fitting, the sales person was amazed at how even my breasts were and raved about how impressed she was with the surgery.
My abdominalplasty results are equally as impressive. I have to say that my abdominal area looks better now than before I had kids. My main concern with the abdominalplasty was managing the pain. Dr. Berardi prescribed me the appropriate pain medicine for the recovery. However, I did not even use it all. While my wonderful husband took care of everything so I could recuperate, I did not experience a lot of the pain that was described as I read and researched prior to the surgery.
Thank you to Dr. Berardi and his wonderful staff for making my successful plastic surgery experience.
Yours Truly,
Bilateral mastoplexy and abdominalplasty patient 37 years old Wife & Mom of two wonderful children
