Q: What would you say is the average downtime for everyday life?

A: Between three to five days depending on the type of job they want to return to. An office job might be three to four days. Many patients who have surgery on a Friday can be back to work on the following Monday or Tuesday.

Q: Are there any other procedures that are on the rise or up-and coming?

A: Fat-Grafting. Fat-Grafting is something that is [becoming] popular mostly for reconstructive surgery, for example patients who have had radiation for breast cancer. It can be done to help with ripples from radiation and a mastectomy; or even ripples from an old saline implant [a patient] doesn’t want changed out. It’s also very good in facial surgery. After 40, your face loses fat; several cc’s of fat a year. Fat grafting in the temples, cheeks, brows, lips and nasal labial fold, is an up-and-coming procedure that is not given enough attention. Fat is what you lose in middle age- and we’re going in and replacing it. It is something that’s new and very, very useful.

Q: How is that type of procedure done?

A: If you needed a small amount of fat- say for filling in a temple hollow, that procedure is done in the office, with a syringe, as an outpatient. Somebody who had a facelift years ago and wants fullness- we might need surgery to harvest the fat from a larger area. The question of whether you need to go to the operating room depends on the amount of fat you need to take- that impacts the size of the operation we’re doing. [Fat-Grafting] has a very wide range of uses. Facelift surgery is often combined with fat-grafting to restore the fullness lost in the temple, cheek, nasal labial fold and lip region. The fat is thought to have stem cells- we’ve had wonderful luck fixing irregularities on people’s noses, we’ve had luck fixing radiation damage to the armpit from breast cancer. It’s exciting.

Q: How do people visualize how they’ll look with Fat-Grafting?

A: You can show them what they’d look like with fuller cheeks- I can inject saline into the spot to show exactly what it would look like- then we can duplicate [with Fat Grafting].

Q: How long does Fat-Grafting last?

A: About half of the fat lasts forever. And has the feeling and fullness of your own tissue. It’s unparalleled for someone who’s lost fat from an accident or trauma.

Q: What else do our readers need to know about you, Dr. Pavese?

A: We try to give people good value. If they’re going into surgery, they have a financial expenditure. We want to give them value for the expenditure and value for the healing process they’ll go through. Also, honesty- if something won’t help you, we won’t sign you up.