Consultation

"His ultimate goal for you is to create a natural and youthful appearance with minimal detectability and risk."

Thank you for choosing Dr. Henry Mentz as your personal plastic surgeon. We welcome you to either of our clinics, one in the Galleria/Post Oak area and in Memorial near Town and Country Mall on Kimberly. Dr. Mentz will provide comprehensive assessment and recommendations for virtually all aspects of aesthetic surgery. We want your first visit to be pleasant and informative. Please call us if you have any special concerns or requests.

You may preregister on the internet at www.drmentz.com .

First Visit Preparation Below are some tips to help you
on this visit:

Set aside two hours for your first visit. Normally the first visit will entail registration, nursing interview, and physician assessment possibly with photographs or computer imaging, pricing and scheduling.

Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment. This is especially helpful if you are unfamiliar with our office location. It will also give you time to fill out your patient information sheet and be ready to see the physician at your scheduled time. You may preregister through this web site in order to reduce time in the waiting room.

Be sure to have handy all of your medical history and hospital information, names of doctors previously seen, and all other medical facts or conditions. Our physicians need to know all of these details to best help you.

For cosmetic facial consultations, wear little or no makeup so that a true assessment of your facial skin and contours are possible.
For body contouring, liposculpture or abdominal etching procedures, we provide robes and packaged undergarments for your convenience. You may bring a bathing suit if you are modest.

For breast surgery, you may decide to try several implant sizes and darker tight fitting tops will provide a better view of your new silhouette. You may bring pictures from magazines that simulate your specific goals.

Nursing Interview

A nurse or patient coordinator (see patient coordinator) will meet with you in private consultation, review your medical history, ask what procedures you are interested in, and answer your initial questions. You will have the opportunity to view procedure albums to see the "Before and After" pictures. Also, a computer imaging session may give you some additional insight as to what your own "Before and After" would look like. Imaging is especially useful for facial and body contouring surgery, it is typically less useful for breast surgery.

Computer Imaging and Tests Using our computer imaging camera, your patient coordinator will take your picture. Please describe as best you can your "vision" of what changes you desire. She will redraw your nose or chin, for instance, or remove baggy lower fat pads under the eyes to show you potential "After Surgery" images. Afterwards, your doctor may modify this goal if there are some technical restraints.

Physician Assessment

Your plastic surgeon will review your medical history and your goals. He will also review the desired image changes and talk with you about the procedures in more detail. Body fat percentages and any laboratory data necessary to determine the best course of action for your individual case will be analyzed. He will discuss the options of the different procedures offered, with the pros and cons and applicability of each procedure to your specific needs. He will review with you the preoperative and postoperative treatment plans.

Feel free to write down any questions prior to the visit so that you can address each one with the physician at this time. Body measurements and medical photography will probably be taken for preoperative and postoperative comparison. Do your best to ask all questions that come to mind. Generally, most patients will require a second visit for review of the surgery, informed consent, photos and a second round of questions.

Pricing and Scheduling

After you and your physician have thoroughly discussed the procedures best for you, the patient coordinator can give you an accurate quote for surgical fees, anesthesia costs, and hospital or outpatient facility price estimates, along with payment options. Since we are one of the only plastic surgery groups in Texas with a surgery center we can quote a specific fee that is all inclusive.

Usually, patients schedule surgery more than one week in advance in order to make arrangements for home care, travel to the clinic, child care, time off work, etc. You also will be given preoperative information, which includes a listing of certain over-the-counter medicines to avoid, to help you best prepare for your procedures.

We hope that your first visit will be pleasant as well as educational. We are excited that you have chosen Dr. Mentz at the Aesthetic Center for Plastic Surgery for your care and look forward to meeting you. If you have any other questions, please call us. You may ask for Dr. Mentz's patient coordinator, Lupe Elizondo.