The perfect case.
Thankfully, because of my great team and my fantastic patients, all of the operations we do at The Cosmetic Surgery Clinic are great. But every now and then, the cases are not great, they are PERFECT. We did one of those today.
For a surgeon like me, who has been working in an operating room since 1997, a perfect case means something very specific. It means the patient was beaming with enthusiasm and excitement as they walked in to the OR. It means they went off to sleep on time and with a smile on their lips.
It means that every move my hands made were mirrored by a perfect move by the scrub nurse: two brains and four hands acting in perfect unison and harmony. No extra moves. No dropped instruments. No broken stitches. No move repeated. No uncertainty. Speaking kept to a minimum, because the scrub nurse was so in- tune with the procedure, she knew what was next without being asked or told.
It means the patient’s tissues responded exactly as predicted. No bleeding. No scar tissue. No surprises.
It means the breast implant sizes pre selected matched perfectly with the tissue dynamics at the time of implantation, and, technical factors aside, they just looked plain perfect!
In a perfect case the anesthesiologist measures the drug doses so precisely that the patients eyes flutter open seconds after the last stitch and dressings are done.
And finally, in a perfect case, the patient opens her eyes, looks at her new self, thanks the team, and fails unabashedly to hold back tears of joy.
A perfect case doesn’t happen every day, but when it does, it is a joy to behold.
