Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Laverson
Hi Steve, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up, I was without direction or ambition, but artistic ability and creativity came naturally. Also, I enjoyed social life, was interested in the sciences, and was attracted by physical and conceptual beauty, by elegance, and enjoyed problem solving. Most of my high school friends were motivated toward higher education and a dependable career, so I felt some pressure to plan a conventional future. This had to be reconciled with Samuel Clemens’ (Mark Twain’s) advice, “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” During the years of my introspective search and effort against insecurity, I bounced around between schools and majors, but as Richard Davies and Roger Hodgson wrote in Supertramp’s “The Logical Song,” eventually I found myself in Medical School as a respectable start. Becoming a physician was not an easy choice because of the long difficult training involved which goes against the dictum, “you will never have to work a day in your life.” Still, I entered the profession before it was corporatized and commoditized as it has become, and was attracted by the freedom of multiple possible specialties and work situations.
Surgery also came naturally because it is very three dimensional. The most powerful allure of surgery at that time was my observation that surgeons can actually cure disease whereas most medicines only control disease. When I learned about the specialty of plastic surgery, which is creative and artistic, solves problems, applies to all genders and ages, both pediatric and adult, I found a passionate pursuit, and so I did.
My formal post graduate training lasted ten years and was arduous and spartan, before resident work hours and the scope of training became limited. There were no short cuts. Today, I’m profoundly grateful to the many exceptional mentors and patients who trained and influenced me in Los Angeles, Baltimore, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Georgia, and elsewhere in an amazing variety of settings and circumstances. The value of that demanding training is now appreciated, and established my foundation of professional confidence, love of learning, and deep compassion for patients who trust me with their face and/or body.
Clinically practicing in North San Diego County since 1993, we still serve aesthetic (cosmetic) and reconstructive patients. No matter how many procedures we complete or success we enjoy, every new situation is a new beginning, an opportunity to excel, to exceed expectations, to safely push the envelope of what nature and technology allow. That opportunity motivates us. The measure of our success is the improvement in confidence and quality of life our care provides for others.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth? No way, never. Ours is a world of perpetual challenge, innovation, and improvement, not routine. Breadth and depth of focus are necessary. Every single person is unique. No two individuals in cosmic history are alike, except perhaps identical twins. Even the identical twins I’ve operated on wanted different procedures. The service and outcomes we provide are far from perfect, but that is the standard against which we measure. We struggle against natural, technological, temporal, and information limitations. We are confined by established systems within which we must work. The regulatory state, licensing and accreditation requirements, heavy taxation and insurance, and finite time, energy, and information are barriers that impose struggle and reconciliation among competing demands. Ours is an extremely inefficient business model. If standards for your own performance are high, our career is to be chosen by only the most altruistic of souls.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Surgical training is a pre-requisite for plastic surgical training, but surgical training selects against creativity. Many if not most plastic surgeons learn how to accomplish a procedure and then perform each procedure as learned. This works OK for removing an appendix or gall bladder, but not for rhinoplasty, facelift, breast augmentation, tummy tuck, or other aesthetic procedures. Beauty is diverse and difficult to define, although we know it when we see it. Artistic sense is an important attribute for plastic surgeons, but rare. Academic plastic surgery algorithmizes clinical approaches, but a flexible approach based on anatomic presentation, the patient’s desired outcome, innate aesthetic vision, and a solid foundation of knowledge, experience, and judgment are more important to beautiful results than a formulaic approach.
Also, many in the aesthetic services marketplace fail to differentiate between a business and a profession. Businesses seek profit, and their success is judged by their profit. Professionals cannot mass produce, and are judged by integrity, results, and quality of service. Patients may seek celebrity or status practitioners, are influenced by marketing, and are induced toward services and procedures that are “for sale,” but may or may not be indicated in their situation. We don’t sell procedures. Procedures and treatments exist only in service of results. We’re not the most important people in our practice, our patients are. We often say “no” to business because the cost, risk, and recovery involved with the procedure a patient is requesting cannot be justified by the expected result.
On the other hand, we listen to patients and do not impose our aesthetic unilaterally upon them. We do not judge, we serve. If patients wish for larger breasts, lips, or buttocks than we would normally offer, we accommodate provided we’ve properly informed them of expected risks and possible disadvantages.
We’re also differentiated by both the quality and diversity of our aesthetic results. We avoid procedures that we cannot offer the best possible results available anywhere. We believe it difficult or impossible to find a single practice, even with multiple surgeons, that can match the quality of nose, eye, lip, facial rejuvenation, neck lift, breast aesthetic procedures, and body contouring we produce. We accomplish this by caring. Because we deeply and personally care about our patients, we want to provide for them the best care. Every individual is treated as we ourselves would want to be treated.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Joanne, my wife of almost forty years. She has endured the role of secondary importance to our patients for the duration of our marriage. She sacrificed vacations and possessions in order that I could invest in equipment and furnishings to better care for patients. We eschewed celebrations, gatherings, events, weekends, days, nights, holidays, and enjoyment in service to others.
Numerous mentors have taught and trained me, and served as examples both positive and negative, both in person and by their published work.
Eternally blessed by countless spectacular patients who inspire me, teach me, and work with me daily toward our own mutual growth and improvement.
Pricing:
- Variable and individualized, depending mostly on duration of procedure, special equipment, supplies, and/or implants required.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://feelbeautiful.com
- Instagram: @feelbeautifulplasticsurgery
Image Credits
Photo of Dr. Laverson by Douglas Gates of Gates Photography: https://www.gatesphotography.com/
Professional photos of Dr. Laverson’s Mommy Makeover patients by Britany Star and Skylar Star of Studio92037: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skylar-star-35592218a
Remaining photographs by Steve Laverson MD
