When Months of Planning Come Together
By Dr. Juris Bunkis
Honorary Consul, Republic of Latvia in Southern California
Orange County Plastic Surgery, Corona del Mar/Newport Beach
There are busy weeks—and then there are weeks like the one Dr. Ekstrom and I just experienced!
In addition to our usual responsibilities of running Orange County Plastic Surgery, operating and seeing patients, we spent much of the week wearing very different hats.
As Honorary Consul of Latvia in Southern California, I had been preparing for months for the visit of Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs, who arrived in Los Angeles accompanied by a large delegation of Latvian business leaders. Dr. Ekstrom was very much my partner throughout the preparations.
We were particularly involved with a delegation of Latvian film producers. We arranged three days of meetings with major Southern California studios and entertainment companies to introduce Latvia as an attractive location for international film production. And to make the week even more interesting, five of the Latvian film producers stayed with us at our home!
On Thursday, Dr. Ekstrom and I joined Latvia’s Ambassador to the United States, Elita Kuzma, and U.S. Secret Service personnel in welcoming President Edgars Rinkēvičs upon his arrival at LAX. Several days later, we returned to bid him farewell on Sunday evening.
Thursday evening brought another memorable occasion—a dinner at the Nixon Library attended by 300 guests and hosted by U.S. Ambassador to Latvia, Orange County native, Melissa Argyros.
Ambassador Argyros has particularly strong Orange County roots. Her family has longstanding ties to Costa Mesa and Chapman University, her alma mater.
Diplomacy also runs in the family: her father, George Argyros, served as U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Andorra from 2001 to 2004. Ambassador Melissa Argyros presented her credentials as America’s Ambassador to Latvia earlier this year.
The President’s visit concluded Sunday with another meaningful event—the 75th anniversary celebration of the Los Angeles Latvian School.
Looking back, the week produced a fascinating mixture of excitement, tension, exhaustion and, ultimately, tremendous satisfaction. Events like these don’t simply happen. They require months of phone calls, emails, Zoom meetings, schedules, transportation arrangements and coordination among people who may never even meet one another.
Then suddenly the President’s motorcade arrives, the guests are seated, the meetings begin—and all those individual pieces come together.
Perhaps that was my lesson from this extraordinary week: great results rarely come from one person doing one thing. They come from putting the right pieces together at the right time.
And, as Dr. Ekstrom explains below, the same principle can sometimes apply to plastic surgery.
President Rinkēvičs and 55th Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy discussing the partnership in prosperity, trade and friendship between the USA and Latvia, during the Nixon Library dinner.
Drs Ekstrom and Bunkis with Ieva Jagere, Director of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA)
One Recovery, A More Complete Result
By Dr. Deborah Ekstrom
Orange County Plastic Surgery, Corona del Mar/Newport Beach
This Week's Plastic Surgery Quiz
When is combining multiple plastic surgery procedures generally most appropriate?
Just as Dr. Bunkis described how many separate pieces had to come together during this week’s presidential visit, plastic surgery sometimes benefits from carefully coordinating several procedures to accomplish one overall goal.
Consider a patient concerned about aging of the face. She may have bags beneath her eyes, drooping brows and significant laxity of her neck and jawline.
We certainly could correct those concerns separately—a lower blepharoplasty this year, brow lift next year and facelift later.
But if the patient is healthy, genuinely wants all three corrections and is an appropriate surgical candidate, performing complementary procedures together can have significant advantages.
First is balance. Correcting the neck while ignoring significantly aging eyelids or brows may improve one area while leaving another looking disproportionately older. Addressing related areas simultaneously can produce a more harmonious overall rejuvenation.
Second is recovery time. Each facial procedure may produce approximately ten days of noticeable swelling or bruising before many patients feel comfortable returning to normal social activities. Three separate operations can therefore mean three separate recovery periods. Combining appropriate procedures can consolidate much of that recovery into one period.
There can also be financial efficiencies because the patient isn’t repeatedly paying certain facility, anesthesia and other expenses associated with separate operations.
The same principle applies to a Mommy Makeover. Changes following pregnancy may involve both the abdomen and breasts. Depending upon the patient’s needs, abdominal treatment might include a tummy tuck, liposuction or both, while breast surgery might involve augmentation, reduction, lifting—or a combination. Treating complementary areas together can produce a more balanced transformation with one principal recovery period.
Another classic example is rhinoplasty combined with chin augmentation.
Sometimes improving the nose alone isn’t the entire answer because facial harmony depends upon the relationship between the nose, chin and overall facial profile.
But there is an important limit: more is not always better.
Patients who have experienced massive weight loss may have concerns involving their abdomen, breasts, arms, thighs and other areas. Trying to correct everything during one operation can create unnecessary risk. In our practice, we generally stage extensive procedures when the anticipated operative time would become excessive, commonly keeping an individual operative session within approximately six hours based on the patient’s circumstances and procedures involved.
This is also where team surgery can be advantageous. Because Dr. Bunkis and I frequently operate together, two experienced plastic surgeons can accomplish complementary portions of an operation efficiently while still respecting appropriate operative-time and safety considerations.
The objective is never to see how much surgery we can do at once.
It is to determine which procedures belong together, which should remain separate, and how we can achieve the patient’s goals as safely and efficiently as possible.
As Dr. Bunkis also demonstrated this week, when the right pieces are thoughtfully coordinated, the whole can sometimes be greater than the sum of its parts.
This female in her 60’s wished to rejuvenate her body and sought consultation with Dr. Deborah Ekstrom of Orange County Plastic Surgery in Corona del Mar/Newport Beach. Dr. Ekstrom reviewed all of their options and she chose to have a tummy tuck, breast lift and insertion of small silicone breast implants. She was thrilled with her results. (Actual patient of Dr. Deborah Ekstrom, team surgery with Dr. Bunkis.)
This 60 year old, vibrant male, presented to Orange County Plastic Surgery with a complaint of facial imbalance and signs of aging. He underwent a four hour procedure in which he had a brow lift with Endotines inserted through an upper eyelid incision, an upper and lower eyelid blepharoplasty, a rhinoplasty, a chin augmentation and a facelift………and was back at work, thrilled, two weeks later. Note the absence of visible scars, even with his lack of hair coverage of the region around his ears. (Actual patient of Dr. Juris Bunkis of Orange County Plastic Surgery in Corona del Mar/Newport Beach.)
Interested in achieving your dreams? CLICK HERE to set up an appointment with Dr. Ekstrom to explore your options.
Orange County Plastic Surgery at CosmetiCare
1101 Bayside Drive, Suite 200
Corona del Mar, CA 92625
Take the elevator to the second floor (Suite 200) and check in with the front desk for your consultation or follow-up.
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