Shelby Stockton speaks with otolaryngologist and facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Jennifer Harb about her background and what inspired her to specialize in facial plastics. Learn how she assesses a patient's needs and expectations, and what you can expect during the consultation process.
Shelby Stockton (00:00):
Welcome to the South Florida ENT Audio Blog. I'm your host, Shelby Stockton. November is facial plastics month, and to celebrate, I spoke with otolaryngologist and facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Jennifer Harb.
Dr. Harb tells us a little bit about her background and what inspired her to specialize in facial plastics. She explains her process, how she assesses a patient's needs and expectations, and what you can expect during the consultation process.
You'll also learn about different tools and technologies that help improve patient outcomes and what you can do to ensure a successful outcome yourself. Have you toyed with the idea of facial plastics? If so, this is an episode you do not want to miss.
Dr. Harb, how are you today?
Dr. Jennifer Harb (00:44):
Hi Shelby, thanks for having me. I'm good.
Shelby Stockton (00:47):
I'm very excited to have you today. I have a lot of questions, but before I get started, I want to know a little bit more about you. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and experience in facial plastic surgery?
Dr. Jennifer Harb (00:59):
Sure, yeah. So I am an otolaryngologist and a facial plastic surgeon, I do both. So, my background and my training started in Boston where I did my residency at Tufts. We had a pretty strong experience in cranial facial plastic surgery there, so a lot of that entails managing children that have cleft palates, cleft lips. We also had a very strong rhinoplasty experience and reconstruction experience in terms of patients that had had skin cancers removed, or who had head and neck cancer and needed a reconstruction after that as well.
So, that's where my interest in facial plastics really kind of blossomed. Then after that I did additional training in facial plastic surgery, specifically at the University of Miami. So that experience included lots of rhinoplasty, and again, more reconstruction after head and neck cancers and skin cancers, as well as facial nerve reanimation. So that has been my background and training, and then after that I joined private practice where I do a lot of these procedures.
Shelby Stockton (02:13):
So, what inspired you to specialize in facial plastics?
Dr. Jennifer Harb (02:16):
I always just thought it was really interesting and there was a level of creativity that I felt I could really kind of dive into, so I really loved that. I really like not always having a set algorithm by which I always have to adhere, in terms of everyone's interests and everyone's hopes for their cosmetic surgery or for their reconstruction might be a little bit different.
So, I think it's fun to look at the problem and try to figure out different creative ways to solve that problem. So, I just really like the creativity aspect of it, and yeah.
Shelby Stockton (02:59):
Yeah, I guess it's kind of like marrying science with art in a way.
Dr. Jennifer Harb (03:02):
Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
Shelby Stockton (03:04):
Yeah. How do you assess a patient's needs and expectations during the consultation process?
Dr. Jennifer Harb (03:10):
So I first listen to exactly what the patient is telling me, 'cause they will start off with pretty much what's bothering them, and so I really seek to address that first. Some patients will come in and they're not exactly sure what it is that they need or what they want, and they just kind of want to hear what my opinions are.
So my typical approach is to start with the more conservative ways, go less invasive up to the more invasive. So depending on what their needs are, maybe starting off with something like an in-office procedure, an injectable, Botox, maybe some medications depending on what the concern is, and then moving on up to maybe more invasive procedures or even surgeries. So, that's part of my assessment process.
Shelby Stockton (03:56):
Wonderful. Are there any specific tools or technologies that have significantly improved outcomes for your patients?
Dr. Jennifer Harb (04:04):
I think one of the really cool things that's started to evolve in plastic surgery are a lot of these less invasive procedures that can be done even in the office, which is great. Saves a lot of downtime for the patient as well. So one of those things, fillers have been around for a while at this point, but I'm not sure how many people may already be aware of this, but there's lots and lots of different types of fillers that are used for different indications and different parts of the face, and it really is a field that continuously is growing and evolving.
So, initially maybe there weren't great fillers for the jawline to accentuate the jawline or maybe augment the chin, and now we have those. So I think in that less invasive plastic surgery sphere, there's a lot of innovation, and so it's just giving my patients more options to address whatever their concerns are.
Shelby Stockton (04:59):
Definitely. With fillers, I guess also patients can see what it could look like before they decide if they wanted to go in and have something more invasive?
Dr. Jennifer Harb (05:09):
Yeah, they can do that too. So the nice thing about most fillers are that they are temporary, they will go away. It depends on what area of the face you're doing it, but generally three to six months or so. So, it is a nice way to kind of see what could be done within reason.
There's a lot of things that are great for fillers that won't necessarily translate to surgery and vice versa, but if you want to do a soft launch into the world of cosmetic and plastic surgery, it's a good way to get started.
Shelby Stockton (05:42):
Interesting, okay. How can patients best prepare themselves for a successful outcome?
Dr. Jennifer Harb (05:48):
I guess it sort of depends what they're interested in, but it's always helpful to me if they come in with a clean face, so I can really assess exactly what those problem areas are in terms of maybe wrinkles or areas that might need filler.
Then other things that they can do to just prepare for maybe surgeries are try to get a good night's sleep, eat healthy, take care of yourself, because all those things are going to be really important in the post-op period as well to just reduce inflammation, make sure you heal properly, reduce the risk of infection, et cetera. So obviously the sort of lifestyle things and general hygiene, always very good.
Then the other part of that would be just making sure all of your questions are answered. This is more for the surgical aspect, 'cause there's always going to be some sort of lag time between the consultation and surgery, and so in that time, you're going to think of questions, you're going to want to know what prescriptions you're going to have, you're going to want to know what the post-op period looks like.
So really just making sure that you're educated, you get all your questions out, so by the time that surgery day comes around, you are just relaxed, ready to go, you have all your medications and you're happy, and you've just kind of prepared yourself in the most fulfilling way.
Shelby Stockton (07:11):
Any advice before I let you go on someone who has seriously been thinking about facial plastics, whether it be filler, Botox, surgery, but they're on the fence and they're a little scared, what would you say to them?
Dr. Jennifer Harb (07:25):
I would say that there's no harm in a consultation. Consultation never binds you to doing anything. It never hurts to learn your options, learn how much things may cost, what the downtime is, what you can expect, because some of those maybe preconceived notions may be accurate and maybe some are not. So it's always helpful just get information, kind of know what you're looking into.
It's also helpful, because you may come in thinking like, "Hey, I really want a nose job. I need a nose job, 'cause I don't like this aspect of my face." After we talk, maybe that's true, but maybe there's other things that we can augment or think about that may achieve your goal maybe more effectively, more quickly. So it's always just helpful to have consultation, that's basically my bottom line with that, just to learn your options.
Shelby Stockton (08:21):
Awesome advice. Dr. Harb, thank you so much for your time, I really do appreciate it.
Dr. Jennifer Harb (08:26):
No problem. Thanks for having me.
