June 28, 2026 | Uncategorized
I am seeing a kind of patient more and more often. They come in for a consultation without any intention of booking, but rather to learn about the procedure, the recovery times, and the cost of the surgery, so that they can start saving up for it. Patients in their early twenties and thirties do this. So do patients in their forties and fifties who are thinking about a facelift or facial rejuvenation procedure in three to five years.
It surprises me, honestly. Before, patients used to come in ready to book and asking for the next available date, using credit for the payments or financing. It has definitely changed over the last five years.
Why Patients Are Planning Instead of Booking
Some of it is simply about avoiding debt. I see patients who want to avoid credit debt, so they bypass financing or paying with their credit cards. Even when they may have an earlier timeline for their procedure, maybe within a year, they prefer to save once they learn the cost and pay it off before surgery. Some of them actually start making payments directly here at the clinic, without any interest, before they have their procedure.
The planning actually makes sense, because aesthetic treatments fall into two buckets.
The Two Buckets of Aesthetic Cost
The first bucket is the treatments that are performed routinely, like botulinum toxin every four months, fillers every year or every two years, facials every one or two months, and skin tightening procedures once or twice a year. These are expenses that patients have already learned and can foresee.
The other bucket is the surgical procedures, which obviously have a larger sticker price, and they do require financial planning, whether it’s done beforehand or by budgeting for payments afterwards. A facelift sits in this bucket. So does a breast lift, a tummy tuck, or a body contouring procedure.
The Patients Who Plan Make Better Choices
What I do see is that the patients who are planning ahead are actually making better decisions and choices, rather than looking for the latest bargain or deal. They’re looking for the most qualified surgeons for their procedures. They’re looking for board-certified plastic surgeons. They’re doing their research. And although many times these providers are on the more expensive side, they’re planning for that expense and that quality.
Patients who haven’t planned for these financial expenses tend, a lot of times, to look for the least expensive option, which sometimes is a non-board-certified provider, or they choose to travel abroad. And these are the patients who usually run into trouble or complications. The planning is not just about the money. It is about the quality of the decision.
The GLP-1 Effect
This trend has become more evident with the GLP-1s, like Ozempic, or semaglutide-like treatments. These patients see a quick weight loss, which a lot of times transforms into accelerated aging and changes in their body contour. And as they’re seeing this, they’re starting to plan ahead toward when they will achieve their weight loss goal.
While they’re getting some treatments to slow the changes and restore some of the lost volume, they are planning toward more long-lasting and effective solutions like facelifts, breast lifts or augmentations, tummy tucks, buttock lifts, or even Brazilian butt lifts. And these patients really stem from twenty-year-olds to patients in their sixties and seventies. There is not one age-specific sector in the GLP-1 population.
How I Run a Planning Consultation
If you come in to plan rather than to book, that is a completely normal and welcome reason to be here. We will go through the procedure, the recovery time, and the real cost, so you leave with the numbers you need to plan around. If your timeline is sooner, we can talk about interest-free payments here at the clinic. If it is years out, we can map a sequence of the routine maintenance that keeps you comfortable in the meantime and the surgical step that actually solves the concern.
Why Choose Dr. Agullo
Double board-certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery and American Board of Surgery. American College of Surgeons Fellow. Mayo Clinic plastic surgery fellowship. Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. Affiliate Professor at UTEP. Castle Connolly Top Doctor for thirteen consecutive years. The patients who plan ahead for a board-certified surgeon are, in my experience, the ones who avoid the trouble that sends people back to fix a bargain procedure.
Ready to Talk?
Come in to plan. There is no pressure to book. The most useful thing you can do before any surgery is understand the procedure, the recovery, and the cost, and a planning consultation gives you all three.
For the surgeon’s editorial take on how patient behavior has shifted, see the companion essay on drworldwide.com. For the practice’s planning and financing resources, see the version on swplasticsurgery.com.
Call (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book online at agulloplasticsurgery.com. #StayBeautiful.
@RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook.
