They’ve Gotta Learn Somehow

If you got a $500 quote for an upper blepharoplasty, would you say yes? When given the option, there was only one answer for 32-year-old Megan: “Book it. Book it right now.”

The catch? Rather than with a board-certified doctor with years of experience, the procedure was performed by a plastic surgery resident. For reference, residents are medical school graduates who have completed their academic prerequisites and exams to become an official M.D. but are in a supervised, hands-on training program to become a specialist and earn their board certification. In a nutshell, they’re rookies.

But, contrary to what you might assume about going under the knife of a fledgling doctor, Megan says her experience at Lenox Hill Hospital’s residency clinic in New York City was practically flawless, from the moment she reached out to the second her last follow-up appointment was finished.

In fact, she tells Bustle, she has nothing but praise for the then-resident who performed her surgery, Dr. Joseph Tarr, M.D., who is now a microvascular reconstructive surgery fellow at Penn Medicine. “The whole process was really quick, and Dr. Tarr was awesome and so helpful,” she says. “His supervising surgeon watched over every step of the way, and they were always in conversation together, making sure they were aligned throughout the whole process. It was an incredible experience, totally seamless. I have no complaints.”

Along with the hospital staff’s kind bedside manner and swift timeline — just two weeks between consultation and surgery day — Megan believes her final results are as impeccable as if she had gone to a private practice on the Upper East Side, with not a visible error in sight for even the biggest skeptics to clock. “I’m so incredibly happy with [the results],” she says. “If I’m showing somebody a scar, I have to pull my eyelid down and stretch it to see any line at all. You really have to dig to see it.”

Just remember that what you’re not paying for in cash, you’re paying for in time — and, sometimes, hospitality.

Although her results were exceptional, she still made a sacrifice, forgoing general anesthesia. “During my consultation with Dr. Tarr, he gave me two different quotes: one with anesthesia, which was around $3,000, and one without it, which was $500,” she said. The idea of being operated on (on your eyelids, no less) while being wide awake may rattle most people, but Megan wasn’t turned off by it. After all, some gore is a small price to pay for an upper bleph at nearly 85% off, right?

Previously, the workaround for people desperately seeking face perfection at a bargain price was through med spas — and even better, those with a Groupon discount. Meanwhile, other deal-seekers opted for the international route, traveling to countries like Turkey or Korea to save a few bucks on their work. Now, the student-doctor option is increasingly front and center, buoyed by social media personalities who share their experiences and results on TikTok and Reddit.

If the idea of being operated on by a newbie surgeon frightens you, consider who’s looking over their shoulder. “The supervising doctor discusses the plan with residents and then provides them with guidance and support throughout the entire procedure,” says Dr. Aleksandra Krajewski, M.D., a board-certified plastic surgeon and program director of Stony Brook University Hospital’s Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency. The idea is that, God forbid something goes wrong, a credentialed doctor with likely decades of experience can step in at any moment.

“In a resident clinic, you may wait two to three hours for your consultation, and you’re going to be seen just by the resident doctor.”

But can student-run surgeries truly be as safe and efficient as their more accomplished superiors? Long story short: The jury’s still out. Multiple board-certified plastic surgeons informed me that most reputable residency clinics benefit both patients and practicing residents, and numerous success stories, like Megan’s, can be found on the internet. However, some, such as 33-year-old Deanna, who agreed to speak about her surgery experience under a pseudonym, have a different take.

Earlier this year, Brianna became entranced by a TikTok video about the now-viral plastic surgery residency clinic trend; the next thing she knew, she was contacting one for a breast augmentation consultation. But once she stepped inside the clinic, things quickly went sour. “The attitude they had, to be quite frank, made me want to turn around,” she says.

In the hustle and bustle of the spread-thin facility, she says she felt overlooked, was given minimal information about what to expect, and felt pressured to schedule a surgery date right then and there. She also says that there were hidden fees not discussed during her initial consultation, such as the aforementioned upcharge for general anesthesia that Megan avoided. She deemed these red flags, and before she got on the table, she walked.

Megan’s and Deanna’s cases are both representative of the mixed bag of online discourse among patients. Something that all parties can agree on? A resident-performed surgery is unlikely to be the kind of super-private, roll-out-the-red-carpet, white-glove experience you might find at a private Upper East Side clinic.

Dr. Douglas M. Monasebian, M.D., D.M.D., F.A.C.S., a board-certified plastic surgeon and professor of plastic surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, lays it out plainly. “In a resident clinic, you may wait two to three hours for your consultation, and you’re going to be seen just by the resident doctor,” he says. “Whereas in my private practice, we don’t like patients waiting at all, so it’s going to take, at most, 10 minutes to see me.”

So, if you’re open to a no-frills facility, are student doctors a good bet? To put it simply, reputable residency clinics can be a solid avenue for lower-cost procedures. Just remember that what you’re not paying for in cash, you’re paying for in time — and, sometimes, hospitality. “Be an informed consumer,” says Krajewski, “and make sure that where you go is a reputable academic institution where you know that the care is being delivered by plastic surgeons who are in an accredited training program.” Every surgeon needs a starting point — but whether it’s your face or body is your call.