Welcome

Hi! First and foremost welcome to my blog! I am the Practice Manager & Patient Coordinator for Dr. Gregory D. Lewen.  I am also a skin care enthusiast!  I will provide some insight from the perspective of a Patient Coordinator in a Plastic Surgery practice, as well as a girly patient who will be honest and less technical then Dr. Lewen!  Dr. Lewen will also post on this blog, for more technical and/or clinical answer(s) to those questions involving procedures and surgeries.  I too, will answer any questions from existing patients, potential patients, and just curious minds.  Let me also include my friends that I have convinced to read my blog and ask a question.

Dr. Lewen once described me as being the “most challenging patient to date.”  I accept that title with a smile and honor, especially since Dr. Lewen spent two years during his dual fellowship in OculoPlastic & Reconstructive Surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, one of the largest and the busiest trauma centers in the country.

Why am I such a difficult patient you ask?  Well it is not the pain really…I have to admit that the anticipation is what is the most painful.  I get Botox and Filler (JUVEDERM Ultra Plus) in my lips. Does it hurt?  No.  I cannot with a clear conscience describe either treatment as painful; I would honestly say it is more uncomfortable.  Actually, Botox is not even uncomfortable.  When it comes to placing filler in my lips, Dr. Lewen uses a dental block, which makes my lips completely numb.  After the dental block is completed I cannot feel anything at all.  The dental block is not so much painful as it feels like a stick and some pressure.  It’s really just the same thing as if I were getting a cavity filled at the dentist.  Dr. Lewen also uses products that have Lidocaine (that’s a numbing medicine) mixed in with the product, or sometimes he will mix it in himself.  Once he starts the injections the mixed in numbing medicine takes any edge of that I can still feel at all.  A recent patient just asked me during her procedure why it was so mentally challenging versus physically challenging.  If she were not in the middle of a procedure, I would have hugged her neck at that very moment. (I did before she left!)  As a patient that completely understands this exact feeling, I answered from my perspective by saying that to me, it is more the mental anticipation then the physical pain that causes me anxiety.  After this patient’s procedure and my embrace, she admitted with a smile the exact same thing that I do every single time I have a treatment. “It was not nearly as bad as I thought!”

I have, without a doubt, cried, gasped, and pulled away from the needle all because of my anticipation of the “pain.”  Mere minutes after the procedure is complete, it is all I can do not to wreck my car while driving because I am so excited with my new, fuller lips that I am starting at them incessantly in my review mirror.  Many people ask me about the pain associated with treatments and I always tell them honestly by saying that with any procedure, each person is different, as is our individual pain thresholds.  But, without a doubt, 95% of patients forget about any pain almost immediately after the procedure and smile on their way out, complete with an “ice pack on their face to reduce the swelling!” (Dr. Lewen found his way into my blog somehow—can you tell?)

Thanks for reading…if you have any questions about Botox, Fillers, and what to expect please free to email me at morgan@lewencosmetic.com!

**DISCLAIMER** Please remember that this blog is from MY perspective.  It is for me to share about my personal experience and opinion(s) and is in no way does any information provided represent a guarantee of medical experience or medical advice!  Each patient will have his or her own unique experience when deciding on and/or having a treatment.  This blog does not guarantee a similar experience to my own!