On Extreme Makeover patients are getting several procedures done during a single session. Sessions such as these occurred in rare numbers before the show aired, but now more and more patients are walking into their plastic surgeons with a wish list, wanting three or more procedures at a time. Another new trend; they know the name of the procedures they want performed. Before they knew the problem they wanted corrected, they had bags under their eyes and wanted that fixed, now they come in asking for blepharoplasty (eye lid surgery).
For the most part, surgeons are willing to perform more than one procedure at a given time, but the general consensus is that more than six hours under general anesthesia is too great a risk. In the July/August issue of Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Dr. W. Grant Stevens and two colleagues published the results of a study comparing abdominoplasty surgery performed with no other surgeries with the same procedure in conjunction with one or two others. The results showed no significant difference in adverse effects. Many surgeons agree that multiple surgeries are a viable possibility if the patient's health warrants it; after all, safety is the main concern. Skeptics like Dr. Charles E. Hughes III, who wrote a rebuttal to Stevens' study in the same issue, are fearful that others might not have similar success, as more time on the operating table equals increased risk.
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