Quick blog, as I know you are all tired of hearing about virus virus virus! 
But I am going to continue to do virtual meetings with patients well into the future. I wish it weren’t so. I love meeting with patients face to face. One of my favorite things is hugs from my patients and time spent together. I am a very hands-on-kind-of-girl. But for the foreseeable future, part of every new patient consultation and every preoperative visit (which used to be an hour face to face directly with me in the office) will be two parts- the first virtual, the second in office.
So why continue virtual meetings when the ban lifts? Because as we are learning more of who had the virus and then who got it and how sick they were, we study those patterns, and new recommendations occur. Science is trying to catch up with this. When I went to pubmed to find published articles, they just aren’t out there yet- it hasn’t been enough time. But trends are clearly emerging.
- More virus is transmitted inside, not outside. (this is a duh kind of statement at this point, but important to state again)
- Small enclosed spaces (like a doctor’s office, where there are no windows to open) are worse.
- The amount of time you spend in close proximity to someone increases your risk of catching it.
- They estimate 44% of people are spreading the virus when they are asymptomatic
- Both people wearing masks is the best way to decrease transmission.
As one site explained: EXPOSURE TO VIRUS x TIME = RISK. “Anyone you spend greater than 10 minutes with in a face-to-face situation is potentially infected.” Coughs and sneezes are the worst. They estimate coughs or sneezes cause 200,000,000 viral particles go everywhere. A single breath releases 50 – 5000 droplets. Speaking increases the droplet release by 10x. I really liked an article summary HERE.
I would also add that though I love meeting in person, when my first interaction with you is both of us wearing masks and protective gear and trying to make sure we are six feet apart, I appreciate the freedom we have on a Zoom consultation. I can see your eyes and your smile. We don’t need to worry if you *heaven forbid* cough. So much of what I do is talking- meeting you, learning your history, talking about the options for procedures, discussing the recovery and risks and complications.
I still need to see you in the office. But what virtual visits has done is shorten that time. So when you come in, I do measurements, take photos, check skin quality and tone, have you try on sizing implants if doing an augmentation. It also gives you time between the consultation and the in office visit to think of questions you forgot to ask.
I have found this system works really well.
We need to reduce the risk of transmission to anyone- new patients, botox patients, the staff, people who are older, or who have high blood pressure, and — and of particular importance- patients going into or just recovering from surgery. We must protect them.