For those individuals who are currently considering plastic surgery in Las Vegas, the decision on which physician to choose may be a bit confusing. Many Plastic Surgeons will market themselves as experts in certain procedures so it can be difficult to select the best plastic surgeon for your procedure.

Las Vegas has grown to be an outstanding city for medical care. In the past, it was not uncommon for patients to travel to other cities that may have had more “prestige” in the world of plastic surgery, such as Beverly Hills or Miami. However, this is not the case anymore, as the level of skill, experience, and care is available here in Las Vegas.

What Should You Look For When Choosing a Plastic Surgeon In Las Vegas?

There are several key areas that patients should consider when going through the process of identifying the best plastic surgeon for their procedure. So, let’s take a look at each one right now:

Training, Residency & Fellowships

Having the proper training is critical to knowing that your surgeon is highly skilled in the procedure you are considering. We suggest you always research where the physician has performed their training, how many years they trained, and who they trained under.

If you have your eye on a certain physician, or if you are considering several physicians and aren’t sure who to meet with for your initial consultation, take a look at their training and background, including their Residency and Fellowships (if they have any), which should be available on their website. This is a good indication of their background and their level of advanced training.

Dr. Lane Smith served his Residency in Plastic Surgery at the Mayo Clinic, and his Fellowship at Stanford University. This type of advanced training and experience from the highest medical educational institutions in the health care field should provide you immediate insight as to the level of skill, knowledge and understanding that Dr. Lane Smith possess, and what you should be seeking when having your plastic surgical procedure performed here in Las Vegas.

Surgical Residency & Fellowships

  • Internship: General Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston Texas, 1988-1989
  • Residency: Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston Texas 1989-1993
  • Fellowship: Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Stanford University, Palo Alto California, 1993-1994
  • Residency: Plastic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester Minnesota, 1999-2001

Board Certifications

By far one of the most critical things to examine and consider when researching your plastic surgeon is their board certification(s). We highly recommend that any patient take the time to learn more about the importance of being Board Certified and make sure to only consider a plastic surgeon who has this certification.

Over the past several years there have been multiple reports of negative outcomes, even death, from procedures performed by physicians, most of these occurring from physicians who were not Board Certified, and often had not gone through or completed their surgical residencies. They did not qualify to become Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery or other boards, such as the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery or American Board of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery.

Complications can happen with any type of surgery, however the decision to use only a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon in Las Vegas will help assure you of the advanced training your surgeon has received, as well as the examinations they needed to successfully pass, to become certified.

Certifications

  • American Board of Plastic Surgery 2003-Current
  • American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 1994-Current
  • American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 1995 -Current
  • American Board of Cosmetic Surgery 2004 Current

It is very rare to see a physician who holds multiple Board Certifications, as they require dedication, commitment and time to earn. Dr. Lane Smith holds 4 current Board Certifications related to Plastic Surgery, something that is virtually unheard of in this industry.

Experience

Experience truly does matter! With most things in life, having years of experience in performing in your line of work truly does help you become an expert, no matter what field you are in. For example, a plumber who has successfully fixed thousands of water heaters over a 20 year period has the skill set and knowledge to fix your broken heater, and can more easily assess issues that maybe a newer plumber might not recognize, costing you either less money or money, depending on the outcome.

With your health, choosing an experienced plastic surgeon is even more critical. As a plastic surgery patient, you want confidence in your surgeon, and selecting one that his highly experienced in performing your procedure is imperative. Would you rather have a physician who has performed only hundreds of breast augmentation procedures for example, or a plastic surgeon who has performed thousands! The answer is clear, however many patients do not consider this issue enough when researching plastic surgeons.

Dr. Lane Smith has performed over 5,000+ Breast Augmentation surgeries, as well as 22,000 other types of plastic surgeries, including Tummy Tucks, Mommy Makeovers, Rhinoplasty/Nose Reshaping, Liposuction and Body Contouring procedures, and many more.

Before & After Images

It may sound simple, but actually seeing past work by plastic surgeons sometimes can be challenging. If a plastic surgeon is hesitant to share with you their past work this should be a red flag for you. All plastic surgeons should be willing to not only share images of their work, but should be actively promoting them. When you are proud of your work and you have consistently provided wonderful results, you want potential patients to be able to view them.

Some things to consider when viewing Before and After images:

When you are evaluating the preoperative and postoperative images you want to make sure that you are seeing similar things in each image, such as a similar or the same background, with the same lighting, with images being taken from approximately the same distance and with the images showing about the same amount of the patient in each view. It also helps to make sure you can easily tell that the patient is the same person. You may want to avoid a physician who attempts to mislead you with their images.

Before and After images allow potential patients to view your work, which helps them imagine their potential results from seeing others. It is important in the field of plastic surgery to be able to show your work, and nothing is more impressive than seeing a plastic surgeon who has a thousands of Before and After images to share with you (and not hundreds). This not only demonstrates history and experience, as we discussed earlier, but it also shows that the physician is consistent in their work with outstanding results.

There are currently over 6,400 images on the Smith Surgery website. No other plastic surgeon in Las Vegas, or anywhere in the country that we know of, has this many images for your review.

Recognition & Awards

When you are considering a plastic surgeon in Las Vegas it can also help to check their awards and recognition in the community. Being a good “community partner” does not necessarily make you a good plastic surgeon, however when you see physicians who are regularly featured in magazines, television shows, and on the local media for their success as a plastic surgeon, and if they are consistently being awarded (often voted by their peers) for their work, this can help assure you this surgeon has a certain level of success.

Dr. Lane Smith has been recognized for many years with numerous awards, including his Breast Augmentation work, where he was recently awarded 2021 Gold – Voted a Best Breast Augmentation and has been Voted a Best of Las Vegas 6 years in a row in Breast Augmentation, Surgery Center, Cosmetic Surgery and Reconstructive Surgery. His Medical Spa has been Voted a Best of Las Vegas, as an establishment and Laser Treatments. He has also been nominated by his peers two years in a row for Greatest Medical Minds.

In addition, Dr. Smith is also recognized as having a world-class and state-of-the-art surgical center here in Las Vegas! In addition to his skills in the plastic surgery field, Dr. Smith also owns and operates the top Medical Spa in Las Vegas, Chic la Vie, where he has also been Voted a Best Facial and Voted a Best Med Spa!

A man in a suit posing for a photo.

Check The Reviews

Don’t listen to what a business says about themselves, listen to what their customers (in this case, patients) say! We all know that these days you have to be able to sift through the world of reviews, especially with inability to manage some people and their desire to properly voice concerns and issues when using a review platform. We all have seen a negative review or two for a restaurant that we know provides great service and food for example. Usually you can tell by reading a handful of reviews if the business is concerned with their customers and if they generally do a great job or if they aren’t and do not.

So, how do you sift through this process? Here are some things to look for:

  • Does the company respond back to all reviews, good or bad?
  • Are the vast majority of the reviews positive?
  • When you read a negative review can you tell that this is a legitimate claim or review, or is it a competitor leaving it?

There are a lot of things to consider when looking at reviews for plastic surgeons in Las Vegas. Where are the reviews being left, Google, Yelp, etc. You will want to make sure that the plastic surgeon you are considering not only responds back to reviews, but also does not shy away from presenting them for you to easily read yourself.

A confident and successful plastic surgeon will work with patients to correct any issues they may have had. They also will share their reviews on their website because they have nothing to hide. Make sure to visit the plastic surgeons website, as they should have a link to their reviews. If not, there may be a reason and you will want to take that into consideration during your research and selection process.

Dr. Lane Smith uses Real Patient Ratings, which is a review software that uses only real patients, with verified and trustworthy responses from surveys they take following their procedures. There are no false reviews, and this allows future patients to comfortably take into consideration verified comments and experiences from the physician’s actual patients.

Dr. Lane Smith has this link prominently in the main menu of his website, and we invite you to check out his reviews by clicking HERE

Selecting a Plastic Surgeon in Las Vegas is understandably a very important decision and we hope that this summary of the basic things to research and examine will help you when comparing one plastic surgeon from another.

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