They have spent countless days and weeks and months staring into that mirror, silently cursing that one feature on their face or body that they cannot learn to love. But today, they are ready to take back their lives and their confidence, simply by making the initial phone call to the offices of Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Michael A. Epstein, at MAE Plastic Surgery in Northbrook.
The only problem is…
They are scared.
They are nervous.
And most of all, they are worried that any decisions that they make regarding treating this insecurity might not be the right one.
“I try to impress upon my front office staff that the very first phone call is one of the most important aspects of our work,” Dr. Epstein tells us in a recent interview with Sheridan Road Magazine. “It’s all about that first impression,” he adds. “You have to treat people the way you would want to be treated. That’s why I have filled our front office and our entire facility with down to earth, good people who really care about what we do here.”
Specializing in an array of services from surgical and nonsurgical rejuvenation of aging facial features to procedures that can reshape a nose and re-contour the breasts and other body parts, the team at MAE Plastic Surgery has become known as one of the most caring group of people in the business since first opening their Northbrook location over 18 years ago.
“It starts by someone greeting them in a warm and friendly way and letting them know what today’s experience will entail,” says Dr. Epstein, still somewhat out of breath from a fierce tennis game on this particular sunny Saturday afternoon. “We do our best to eliminate the fear that comes with seeking out a plastic surgery consultation and we do this when a patient first walks in our doors.”
“Our patient care coordinator, who will usually be the one to escort the patient into a private consultation room, is especially good at putting the patient at ease,” he continues. “By the time I walk in and greet them they are usually feeling much better about their decision to pursue their quest for change. I intentionally spend time to learn about them and not even talk about the procedure at first. I have found that if I let them do the talking, I can find out what is truly bothering them, and then we can move forward on identifying the physical problem and educating them on the best treatment plan, whether that means surgery or not.”
It’s this patient-doctor relationship that Dr. Epstein says is so important to building trust.
“Of course, while I enjoy the actual work in the operating room, the most gratifying part of what I do is when I have met or exceeded a patient’s expectations,” says Dr. Epstein, a self- proclaimed perfectionist who was recently named one of the top doctors in the country by US News and World Report Magazine. “We are not saving lives here, but what we are doing is changing the attitudes of our patients, and helping them feel much better about themselves or that body or facial feature that they seem to be self-conscious about.”
And thanks to the loving and caring staff at MAE Plastic Surgery, many of whom have worked alongside Dr. Epstein in excess of ten years, patients quickly realize that they no longer have to silently stress about their faces or bodies anymore.
“There is a sense of warmth within this office that I feel sets us apart from other plastic surgery practices,” Dr. Epstein concludes. “I really feel like we have built a full service operation when it comes to the work that we do and how we care for each and every patient.”
