For anyone who spends time with Gil Altman, MD, it’s immediately clear that he genuinely cares about his patients’ happiness and their goals for plastic surgery.
“I’m not particularly fond of physicians advertising,” Altman says. “I especially don’t like ads that prey on the insecurities of women. When a patient comes into my office and asks me what to change, I routinely and equivocally answer, ‘Nothing. If there’s something that bothers you and I can help to change it, then I will.’ You never want a patient to leave your office feeling worse than they did when they arrived.”
Altman’s holistic patient-centered practice includes partnerships with a personal trainer, a psychologist, a nutritionist, and an aesthetician. “The mirror should not be the sole source of one’s opinion about their worth,”he says.
Since the age of 7, when a plastic surgeon repaired his upper lip after a bicycle accident, Altman has been fascinated with plastic surgery. As he grew older, the more he learned of the art and practice of plastic surgery, the more it became his life’s ambition and passion.
Today, Altman’s successful Englewood Cliffs, NJ, practice specializes in aesthetic injectables, such as Dysport, breast augmentation, VASER-based liposuction, abdominoplasty, blepharoplasty, and facial rejuvenation. Still fascinated and passionate about the craft and science, he enjoys working with the latest technologies and trends that deliver good results.
Altman not only wants his patients to feel great about his aesthetic results, but has designed his practice’s office as a friendly, warm, place to visit. It’s part of a holistic patient-centered philosophy, he says.
“As plastic surgeons, we have a tremendous power and obligation to do the right thing,” he adds. “It’s a huge honor to be trusted by someone in this fashion, an honor that should never by taken lightly or for granted.”
Tor Valenza is associate editor of PSP. He can be reached at [email protected].
