Week 5 - Clinic

I spent a lot of time in the clinic this week and was excited to see many of the patients that I had seen for pre-op visits and surgeries come in for post-op visits. I think that the length of the summer immersion program is great because it has allowed me to have some continuity with patients and see the whole process from initial visit to final consultation.

After everything that I have seen (from neurosurgery, to breast reconstruction, to mole removal), I have come to realize that the most difficult procedures for me to watch are removing sebaceous cysts from patients. I never realized how long some people will let things go before seeing a physician. Although the cysts are normally not a problem, they can get very large over time, especially if they become infected. Luckily, for the patients, they are straightforward to remove and the procedure can be performed under local anesthetic in the office. Unfortunately, by the time many patients finally get them removed, they are large, odorous, and fluid-filled. I must say that I will not be sad if I never have to watch another cyst excision.

On a better note, I was able to watch my first liposuction case to revise a contour deformatity on a woman who had a previous abdominoplasty. I was surprised at how rudimentary the procedure is: a probe is inserted subcutaneously and moved around to loosen the adipose tissue and then the suction is turned on to remove the agitated fat. The most surprising aspect, however, was that the woman laughed during most of the procedure. Dr. Grant said that it was the first time he has ever had a patient laugh during an procedure but she definitely put us in a good mood for the rest of the day!