"I Got Quoted $33,000": How to Avoid Price Shock in Plastic Surgery

A creator posted about going in for a plastic surgery consultation and walking out with a $33,000 quote, wildly outside what they were expecting or could afford. It's a genuinely deflating experience, and I felt for them.

Here's my honest opinion: this really should never happen. Let's talk about how price quotes work and how to make sure you're never blindsided like that.

The single best thing you can do as a patient is find out the average price range for the procedure you want before you ever sit down for a consultation.

In my practice, this is built into the process. You cannot be put on my schedule for a consultation until you've talked to my coordinator first. My coordinator will:

• Talk through what your wishes are and what you're hoping to achieve
• Based on that information, give you a price range you can expect at my practice

Is that range always perfectly accurate? Of course not. There will always be situations where something gets missed and the final quote differs from what the coordinator estimated. But it is a really good place to start, and it prevents exactly the kind of shock that creator experienced.

My coordinator works with so many patients alongside me. She knows what I do, she usually knows the type of surgery I tend to recommend for a given concern, and she can often give a pretty accurate range before you ever walk in the door.

So: call in and talk to a coordinator first. It costs you nothing and it saves you from falling in love with a plan you can't afford. (It also pairs well with understanding what actually goes into a quote, so the number makes sense when you see it.)

The creator also mentioned how that surgeon handles scheduling, and this is where I have a strong opinion of my own.

I won't see patients in my office for a consultation unless they're planning to have surgery within the next couple of months. That sounds restrictive, but there are two good reasons.

If I see you today and you're having surgery a year or two from now, so much can change in between:

• Your body changes
• You can develop new health concerns

Any of that requires a whole new consultation, a whole new plan, and potentially a whole new price quote. The work we did together becomes outdated. That's why I don't like consulting with people whose surgery is far off, it isn't useful to either of us.

This is the part patients are most often surprised by:

So a quote you get today could look very different a year to a year and a half from now. That's not a bait-and-switch, it's just normal business, but you need to understand it going in so an expired quote doesn't feel like a betrayal later.

Putting it together, here's how to avoid ever being shocked by a number:

1. Call the practice and speak with a coordinator before booking, get a realistic price range for what you want.
2. Plan your consultation and your surgery within a couple months of each other.
3. Understand your quote has an expiration date, and confirm how long it's valid.

Consulting and operating in a tight window means you're far more likely to get the appropriate surgery with no changes, and the appropriate price with no changes. Your body and health will be essentially the same, so nothing has to be re-planned or re-priced. (If you're specifically pricing a lift, I go deeper on that here, and these consultation tips will help you make the visit count.)

Getting hit with a $33,000 quote you weren't prepared for is a terrible experience, and it's preventable. I hate when this happens, and I structure my practice specifically to avoid it.

• Talk to a coordinator first and get a price range before you book.
• Have your consultation within a couple months of your planned surgery, because bodies, health, and plans change.
• Know that quotes expire and prices rise over time.

Do those three things and your consultation becomes a conversation about whether the plan is right, not an ambush about what it costs. I'm sorry to the original poster, that shouldn't have happened to you.