Online horror stories and lawsuits surround the surgery chain and its “cheaper” facelift — and prove why you need to check a plastic surgeon’s credentials before having surgery
In our previous blog post, we talked about the importance of selecting a plastic surgeon who is board-certified and the peace of mind that a board-certified plastic surgeon can provide you.
The number of people getting plastic surgery today is skyrocketing — and as these numbers increase, unfortunately, so do the number of doctors and companies who are trying to take advantage of this demand — even when they are not licensed to do so. This is why it’s important for you as a patient to weed out the questionable doctors from reputable ones when you’ve decided to have a plastic surgery procedure done. And this is where checking to see if the doctor is board certified becomes so very important.
Recently, a controversial company known for doing fast, “cheaper” facelifts suddenly closed its doors at one of its North Carolina locations, leaving all of its surprised patients scrambling to resolve their related medical issues.
The company is The Lifestyle Lift. You’ve more than likely seen their commercials on TV featuring ‘70s singer Debbie Boone. The cosmetic surgery chain makes some pretty bold claims regarding their ability to offer a less invasive, cheaper facelift with a shorter recovery time. But you know the old adage … “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Without any warning, the practice closed its doors to its Huntersville, North Carolina office in early March. It sounds shocking. And it is shocking that any kind of “medical provider” would act in such a manner. But what’s perhaps more shocking is that patients actually chose this company and these doctors in the first place. Not only should you not treat a medical procedure as serious as plastic surgery as a commodity that you price-shop until you find the cheapest price and then go with that medical provider — but remember what we said about checking for credentials and board certification! A quick Google search of “The Lifestyle Lift” produces page after page filled with articles about lawsuits filed against the company … posts from patients who were improperly cared for … and gruesome photos of botched procedures.
The Lifestyle Lift was in the wrong for trying to convince the uninformed general public that facelifts are a one-size-fits-all operation that can be performed for a bargain-basement price. But people seeing this much-maligned messaging and advertising need to have enough sense to question such remarkable claims. And do some background checks on the company and/or doctors making these offers BEFORE selecting them to conduct their surgery.