Surgeons and Social Media - with Diana Ponsky MD

In Dr. Ponsky's current practice, approximately 80% of cases are cosmetic and 20% involve functional insurance issues.

Dr. Ponsky completed her fellowship training with Bahman Guyuron.

Approximately 75% of Dr. Ponsky's surgeries are rhinoplasties, with 15-20% facelifts and the remainder blepharoplasty and brow lifts.

Dr. Ponsky splits her time evenly between non-surgical and surgical days.

Under Ohio law, a nurse injector can inject with the physician in proximity, but an NP has more latitude to work independently with the physician as collaborating or overseeing physician.

Dr. Ponsky has trained her current RN (soon to be NP) for over one year, including taking her into the OR to learn anatomy rather than sending her to external courses.

Dr. Ponsky uses multiple pre-operative visits (consultation, additional discussion, and pre-op visit with nurse) to assess patient personality and motivation, typically requiring two or three meetings before surgery.

Dr. Ponsky has turned away two rhinoplasty patients after red flags emerged between the second and third visits indicating unrealistic expectations.

Morphing software is described as the biggest leveling field for managing rhinoplasty patient expectations, superior to the drawing overlays used by previous generations of surgeons.

Dr. Ponsky follows rhinoplasty patients for up to one year post-operatively with at least five office visits during that period.

One patient did not disclose having a chin implant until the second discussion, which would have affected the rhinoplasty morphing and surgical planning.

Dr. Ponsky reports that patients now bring celebrity photos less frequently than in the past, which she attributes to her practice's emphasis on creating a version of the patient's own features rather than replicating another person's appearance.

Dr. Ponsky tells patients that when a nose is balanced in the face, it is no longer noticed as the leading feature, and patients consistently report this outcome post-operatively.

The best surgeon can be outperformed in patient acquisition by the best marketer, at least in the short run.