Patient Stories: Keri

OK, how did I come to choose Dr. Mobley*? I am a nurse at the county hospital, and this practice is known as the gold standard in town. It is the practice that all the other surgeons hold themselves up to. Their reputations, their board certifications – they are stellar performers as surgeons, and it is well known in the medical community, and that is why I chose. I did not visit with any other practices.

Actually, the morning of my facelift I felt very nervous, and it’s my face and I have had other plastic surgery before, but this is my face, and I got very nervous, almost a little bit like, “Can I really do this?” And I just happened to sit down in front of the computer and look at Facebook, and I saw a picture of someone I am good friends with who looked 20 years younger but did not look like she had a facelift and I thought, “She probably did have a facelift, but she had a good one,” and all of a sudden I felt like, “OK, I can do this. I trust Dr. Mobley*, and I’m in good hands and it’s a good team, and I’ll be OK.” And I was more than OK.

The day of surgery is a little bit nerve-racking. You are going to be put to sleep for a few hours, and you’re not really going to know how you’re going to look when you wake up! You hope you’re going to look as great as you had discussed in the office, but it’s very discreet. There’s a separate entrance for surgical patients. You’re taken right upstairs. The nurses are amazing. They are very well credentialed. They are highly skilled, and they’ve done it a lot. They have a routine and they take you through it, and it feels very calm because they are very sure of what they’re doing because they’ve done it so often.

I have not a single scar that you could find now. I was amazed at how fast I healed. I did have scars in the immediate post-op month or 2. They were not all that visible, as I said, they’re behind my hair, and my eyes were healed. I was amazed. I was truly amazed at how fast the incision line healed. I think it was within 2 weeks, you could not tell I had eyelid surgery. Even now, I think my hair dresser would be very hard pressed to find those scars. I don’t even feel them, and you could never find them. I wear a pony tail all the time.

I think if you’ve had a friend who’s gone through it, they’re very helpful and can help you prepare for it a little bit more and tell you what worked for them or found what worked for them in the recovery period when you’re isolated in the house, and I think, for me, that was the hardest part – just staying in the house because I’m a very busy person and I love to be outside, and so staying inside and not seeing people and not visiting and going out to dine was a little bit hard, but because I was ready for it, I was ready for it. So find what you’re passionate about that you can do for a few days while you’re isolated, and it was nice to get out and come for your post-op visits because you got to see people who obviously expect you to look the way you do.

Well Dr. Mobley* is exceptionally well trained. He is a *board certified plastic surgeon. When I made the decision, I did not do it lightly. This is my face, and I get one shot at it, and I’m only going to trust it to someone who’s exceptionally well trained, whose credentials and his reputation in this medical community are beyond good, and he’s had extensive residency and training and of course the board certification in plastic surgery. He’s a quite a personable man and he is very patient and he entertains all your questions. Sometimes doctors talk to you with their hand on the doorknob and one foot in the hall. He’s not like that. When the door is closed and he’s with in the room with you, he acts like he has all the time in the world to be with you. He’s very patient. He has a sense of humor, and he is a perfectionist. I definitely know that now having had surgery with him and the way he looks at his work and what he can do, and the way the nurses speak of him in the O.R. He’s a perfectionist, and it just solidifies my decision that I made the right choice. OK, final thoughts about the whole experience? It was great. Again, I was amazed at how fast I recovered. It exceeded my expectations. This was better than we discussed, than I could’ve imagined. And would I do it again? Absolutely, in a heartbeat, but I won’t have to because he did it right the first time.