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Dallas doctor offers 24-hour recovery breast augmentation

Dr. Khan is one of a handful of plastic surgeons in Dallas who offers 24-hour recovery breast augmentation.

Time is our most precious resource. We're rushed for time; we waste time, lose track of time and race against time.

"Definitely never a dull moment," said Stacey Grote-LeMay, who works full-time as a nurse.

"Being a nurse, I'm a hard patient," Grote-LeMay said. "I have high standards and I have a lot of questions."

So when she decided it was time for a breast augmentation, she wanted the best possible turnaround time.

"The recovery time is the thing that always scared me," Grote-LeMay said.

Her doctor, Farah Khan, is a cosmetic surgeon in Dallas.

"Our patients typically will go back to work the day after," Dr. Khan said. "The majority of our patients -- 15 minutes after surgery -- are able to fully extend their arms."

Dr. Farah Khan

Dr. Khan is one of a handful of plastic surgeons in Dallas who offers 24-hour recovery breast augmentation.

"They can come in on a Friday, we can operate on them; Typically that night they're out shopping, they can go out to dinner. The next day, they're back to work," Khan explained.

What about the bandages, the pain meds, the recovery time? Times have changed.

"This is almost routinely done as an outpatient procedure," said Dr. Bardia Amirlak, assistant professor of Plastic Surgery at UT Southwestern. "The breast augmentation procedure takes one to two hours, and the patient can leave the same day."

Stacey Grote-LeMay speaks with Dr. Farah Khan

Dr. Amirlak pointed to three factors that have helped surgeons like Khan to speed up their process: advancements in technology, modern surgical techniques, and better recovery methods when it comes to anesthesia.

"We do a precise dissection the day of surgery," Dr. Khan said. "We don't tear the tissues. we don't cause a lot of inflammation or a lot of trauma to the tissues."

Grote-LeMay described her experience as a piece of cake.

"I arrived at the center by 7 a.m., was done by 9:30 a.m., and was out shopping and eating at four o'clock in the afternoon."

Not so fast. There is one piece of important advice from surgeons.

"One has to be careful not to push too much," Dr. Amirlak said. "I think that anything that raises your blood pressure over normal after the augmentation surgery may be harmful."

Time for the fine print:

Ideal patients for 24-hour recovery breast augmentation are: Healthy, young, and want relatively small implants. Going too big or too complicated of a procedure requires more downtime.

After the surgery, there should be no driving under anesthesia. No exercising or heavy lifting for two weeks. No swimming or hot tubbing for six weeks.

Risks include excessive bleeding under the skin and infection.

"I was only off work for three days," said Grote-LeMay, who, months following her successful procedure, said it was worth the time.

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