Frequently Asked Questions
Dr. Tim Sayed features a selection of photos on this website as a preview to the kinds of results he has been able to achieve as a plastic surgeon in South Florida and Southern California. Additional photos can be viewed during a private in-office consultation. We do not email, text or otherwise distribute patient photos, except as permitted in an anonymous way in a limited capacity through our internet and social media sites. Additionally, we try to refrain from publishing highly sensitive photos of certain procedures, and we make every effort to pixelate or otherwise crop identifiable tattoos, jewelry and other adornments in order to preserve anonymity.
Yes, and the real question you need to ask is, “Are you board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, the only American Board of Medical Specialties board that certifies competency in cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery of the face and body?” The answer is Yes. In addition, Dr. Sayed is also certified by the American Board of Surgery, representing a deep commitment to honing his skills at a wide array of surgical procedures. Dr. Sayed successfully passed his recertifications in both plastic surgery and general surgery and participates in both the ABPS and ABS Maintenance of Certification (MOC) processes.
Dr. Sayed enjoys the diversity of plastic surgery procedures. He is particularly experienced in body contouring, liposuction, BBL, breast augmentation, facial injectables, and facelifting. If Dr. Sayed feels you need to be referred out to another specialist, he will discuss this with you during your consultation.
Yes, we offer CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit financing programs and can help you complete your application materials to get approved, if you qualify.
During his long career, Dr. Sayed has participated in a variety of health insurance programs. As his career has progressed, he has focused increasingly on cosmetic (aesthetic) surgery, which is not covered by insurance. We may be able to work with you if you are seeking insurance reimbursement for certain procedures.
Cosmetic (or aesthetic) surgery is elective surgery designed for enhancement of a patient’s appearance. It is not performed for medically necessary reasons, and is therefore not eligible for insurance coverage. Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed for a medically indicated reason like repair after trauma, rebuilding of tissues after cancer or other loss, treatment of skin and soft tissue conditions like burns, skin cancer, and benign skin lesions, repair for congenital skull and hand deformities, surgery for hand and upper extremity conditions, and complex wound management. Dr. Sayed has experience with these many techniques but is focusing Tim Sayed MD Plastic Surgery on cosmetic procedures.
Some cosmetic procedures may be done at the same time as reconstructive procedures but cosmetic components are never covered by insurance and we will not submit a bill to your insurance for cosmetic surgery.
Here’s the deal: all human beings (except in the womb early in pregnancy) heal with scars. A scar is nature’s way of sealing a wound or cut. However, as plastic surgeons we are trained in highly sophisticated ways try to minimize scarring, through design and planning of incision locations, handling of tissues, suture techniques, aftercare, and other approaches. This does NOT mean you will have scarless surgery. However, sometimes we are able to put incisions in a place where optimal healing results in a very difficult to detect scar, which is the objective. For example, if the incision is behind the hairline, it may remain well concealed as long as the hairline does not significantly recede. If it is at the edge of the nipple, it may blend in nicely with the areola/nipple border and be hard to see. if it is a tummy tuck scar, we will try to place it is such a way that swimwear of certain styles can mostly hide it. We can also apply laser therapy and other anti-scarring techniques to further reduce visibility in many patients.
Dr. Sayed is your surgeon. Like any busy, experienced and in-demand plastic surgeon, Dr. Sayed wants his patients to have excellent results achieved though safe and time-efficient surgery. This means having good surgical plans up front, refined technical skills, and good help. It is commonplace for plastic surgeons to employ assistants in the operating room who may help with certain components. Dr. Sayed shares your goal of getting a great result and anybody working with him in the OR is highly selected for their capabilities to help him maintain an environment that promotes optimal patient safety, comfort, and good outcomes.
Most surgical procedures are done with general anesthesia or deep sedation in an accredited surgicenter or hospital operating facility. Some minor procedures, as well as cosmetic injectables and most laser procedures, are done in the office.
A full, formal quote for surgery, valid for 60 days from the time of quote, can only be issued after a formal video consultation or in-person examination. Patients having remote consultation may have adjustments made to the quote after in-person examination in the office, if we identify significant changes from the initial evaluation that might impact the surgical plan. Please note we do charge a $100 fee for all consultations. If a surgery is booked, that fee will be applied towards the surgeon fee. If a consultation is canceled less than 24 hours from the appointment time, the fee will still be applied and is non-refundable.
On the phone or via email we are able to provide limited ranges of pricing to give you a ballpark estimate. As there are many components — surgeon’s fee, anesthesia fee (which depends on the length of surgery), and facility charges, as well as optional elements — we want to make sure a full evaluation is performed in order to give you an official quote and potentially to help you arrange financing, if necessary.
We recognize that the best advertisement for our practice is the word-of-mouth of satisfied patients. We appreciate and welcome your reviews on RealSelf, Yelp!, Google, HealthGrades, and other sites. We offer word-of-mouth referral discounts and also have promotional pricing for special events and for patients undergoing combined procedures.
We have been in discussions with colleagues and facilities in the cities listed above regarding bringing Dr. Sayed’s services to additional locales. As we ramp up our Southern California clientele, we expect to have opportunities to expand our team! Stay tuned!
Look, we know there are great plastic surgeons all around the world. We are privileged to practice in locales like Newport Beach and San Diego where there are some of the most high profile plastic surgeons, and Beverly Hills with its famous (and infamous) plastic surgery industry is just up the coast. You may be shopping around and might have several good options from which to choose. Likewise, we don’t operate on just anyone. There has to be a good fit between patient and surgeon expectations, surgeon capabilities, timing, and other factors. This is a courtship of sorts – you gotta like Dr. Sayed, and vice-versa. You have to believe in our philosophies, and have to be motivated to work with us through the whole journey. Dr. Sayed is not in the business of bad-mouthing other plastic surgeons or other practitioners of aesthetic services (although he will be candid at helping you understand what kind of training background and credentials different specialties typically possess, to assist you in embracing the value of selecting an experienced, board-certified plastic surgeon for your surgical procedures). He hopes his colleagues are equally diplomatic. It is a competitive market out there and some doctors will say or do almost anything for your business. We’d rather be selected and be selective at the same time. That’s a hallmark of Aesthetics Done Right™.
Our surgical policies and procedures documents outline our patient financial responsibilities. You will receive a copy of these before you consent to or pay for any initial surgery, and they will be furnished again at any time you or Dr. Sayed contemplate a revision. Dr. Sayed is not interested in profiting off doing revisions of his own work — it takes time out of your schedule and his, as well as his team’s, and means your final outcome may take longer to be realized — but all surgeons have to do revisions, and there are costs involved in revision surgery. Dr. Sayed has discretion to waive or reduce certain fees but generally does not have control over facility and anesthesia charges, which are the patient’s financial responsibility if revision surgery is required. Doing a revision, by the way, is something every experienced plastic surgeon does from time to time on his or her own patients, and of course, we are often asked to perform revision of results that were received after surgery done by others. The body is a highly complex machine, and everyone is different in anatomy, physiology and expectations. Our revision rate is well within commonly accepted standards and we have a high patient satisfaction rate even among those patients we’ve had to revise! Some of them are even among our most devoted sources of new patient referrals!
We do perform second opinion cosmetic consultations for a fee. We are also happy to work with patients, attorneys and work comp carriers where appropriate and have a fee schedule for legal services. These are typically evaluations of scars received from injuries, and sometimes include performance of surgical procedures or laser treatments. Occasionally, Dr. Sayed is called on as an expert witness — for instance, he has done patient litigation work for cosmetic medical device companies and advocated for patients injured on the job. But he is happiest in the operating room and the office seeing and treating patients with compassion and careful skill. He is proud that this has helped him build a reputation as an ethical and trustworthy plastic surgeon. Thanks for reading!
