How I avoid leaving noticeable plastic surgery scars [Brannon Claytor, MD, Philadelphia]

Eva Sheie (00:04):
Welcome to the podcast Where Before Meets After. Submit your questions for our experts at wherebeforemeetsafter.com. I'm your host, Eva Sheie.

Dr. Claytor (00:16):
Dr. Brannon Claytor. My specialty is plastic surgery and I am in the suburbs of Philadelphia. If anybody knows Villanova basketball, it's right near Villanova.

Eva Sheie (00:27):
What do your patients say to you in the moment where they realize that they're different and they look different and they feel different? What kinds of things do they say?

Dr. Claytor (00:36):
In what regard do you mean different? Do you mean that healing pathway is not trending towards that near perfect result or?

Eva Sheie (00:45):
Sure.

Dr. Claytor (00:46):
Okay. Well, that's all a matter of keeping a close eye on the patients because somebody could look really great at a month and then you could dismiss them and say, okay, come back and see me whenever, and they may resurface nine months later and look terrible. And so it's a constant challenge that I have with my staff that I am constantly bringing patients back in and they're like, well, you have a lot of post-op follow-up with these patients. And my attitude is if they can't make it in, they can send pictures. And we have a lot of ways of doing this now that are HIPAA compliant, but keeping an eye on an incision as it's going through that sort of one month to three to four month period of time, a lot can actually happen.

Dr. Claytor (01:30):
People think the wound is closed and we're all done, but there's a lot going on. And I'm very emphatic with my patients that they need to treat these scars for a total of a year and that I don't joke about that. I really want them massaging, putting on some sort of scar cream, and there are a lot of 'em out there, and it's a whole nother topic of conversation that we can go into, but I'd rather they just use something, and then good sun avoidance. And those three pillars, if they're working on that and they come back and see me at three months and I start to see something changing, then I may pivot and say, okay, you know what? Now you're a microneedling candidate. Now we need to get you going on microneedling. Now we need to start another modality because the basics are not achieving that optimal result for you. And so we have another tool in our toolbox. And so I'm very reluctant to say to patients, I'll see you in a year and we'll look at that scar. Then you're looking at a scar revision. There's nothing going on. That wound is very quiescent, but a scar is very biologically active in those first couple of months, and that's where that microneedling can actually give you an opportunity for maximization of optimal results.

Eva Sheie (02:47):
Give us your Instagram and your website.

Dr. Claytor (02:50):
So the Instagram is @ClaytorPlasticSurgery, and my website is ClaytorNoonePlasticSurgery and Noone is spelled N-O-O-N-E. And it's a legacy to my partner who's retired, but Barry Noon,e who is a giant in the world of plastic surgery.

Eva Sheie (03:07):
Thank you, Dr. Claytor.

Dr. Claytor (03:09):
Thank you so much.

Eva Sheie (03:12):
On this podcast, we bring you directly to the doctors who are, where before meets after. Links to our guest's website and contact info are in your show notes. Follow us on Instagram @wherebeforemeetsafter. If you're a board certified plastic surgeon and would like to be a guest or a sponsor of the show, go to wherebeforemeetsafter.com for more information. Where Before Meets After is a production of The Axis, the podcast agency for aesthetics, theaxis.io.