Auburn Memorial Hospital just got a little better looking.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Plastic surgeon Dr. Guillermo Quetell stands in his office at Community General Hospital in Syracuse. Dr. Quetell is opening an office in Auburn and will be performing surgeries at Auburn Memorial Hospital.
Plastic surgeon Dr. Guillermo Quetell stands in his office at Community General Hospital in Syracuse. Dr. Quetell is opening an office in Auburn and will be performing surgeries at Auburn Memorial Hospital.
By adding the services of plastic surgeon Dr. Guillermo Quetell, the hospital is now able to offer reconstructive and cosmetic surgery procedures to patients in the area.
Quetell will alternate between Wednesday and Friday sessions in Cayuga County every week, with Wednesdays devoted to consultations and Fridays devoted to surgical procedures.
His Auburn schedule is subject to expansion if the demand for his services exceeds it.
“It sort of expands the spectrum of things we're able to offer the community,” said bariatric surgeon Carl Weiss.
Weiss asked Quetell, a former colleague, to bring his services to Auburn Memorial Hospital. Operations like gastric bypass surgery are often followed up by body contouring, a plastic surgery procedure in which excess skin is removed in order to refit it to a patient's smaller body.
But Quetell will soon offer Auburn patients the full gamut of plastic surgery services, from facial reconstruction to liposuction.
“Plastic surgeons are trained to operate from head to feet,” Quetell said.
He specializes in aesthetic breast reconstruction, a category of plastic surgery that ranges from reduction procedures for women who experience back pain as a result of their breast size and reconstructive work for victims of breast cancer.
“Now we can offer the standard of care, which is one stage of reconstruction following a mastectomy,” Weiss said. “It's awfully helpful for our breast surgeons.”
Quetell has practiced plastic surgery in the Syracuse area since 2002, first at SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital and then at his own private practice at Community General Hospital in Onondaga, which he started in 2004.
He traces his ambition for the plastic surgery field to seeing fellow children with cleft palates in his youth.
“It's very rewarding to see how you can help and improve an individual with reconstructive surgery,” Quetell.
Quetell completed his plastic and reconstructive surgery studies at University Hospital in 1989. He also completed a hand and microsurgery fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh and trained at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he specialized in breast reconstruction procedures.
However important surgical skill is to Quetell's work, he places equal emphasis on the pre-operation stage. When patients present their request for a smaller nose or larger breasts to Quetell, he judiciously evaluates the need for the procedure.
“It's the only surgical field where the doctor can say no,” Quetell said.
While seeing prospective patients, he keeps an eye out for body dysmorphic disorder, which can warp a person's perception of their physical features.
Quetell estimates he rejects about five percent of all patient requests he hears. If that happens, he seeks to prevent them from “doctor shopping” and receiving their surgery at the hands of an unqualified surgeon. Quetell often sees patients who didn't heed this advice and return to his office asking him to correct a botched operation. To prevent this, he suggests checking their credentials with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and looking at before-and-after pictures of their past surgeries.
“If you're going to have someone cut into your face, make sure you do your homework first,” he said.
Quetell traces many of the pitfalls of plastic surgery to the practice itself and its presentation - typically on TV - as a sure-fire solution to unhappiness with one's body.
“People come in not realizing that this is real surgery with benefits, but also risks,” he said. “One surgery is not always a fit for all.”
If Quetell hears a patient's request and agrees to perform their operation, he shows them his own before-and-after pictures. He then offers the patient a three-in-one price quote that includes the operation, facility and anesthesia fees.
For Auburn patients, those procedures will take place within the walls of Auburn Memorial Hospital. Quetell has already scheduled his first appointments with people from the area after seeing them at his Community General office. With this new wave of patients, Quetell hopes to continue relishing the rewards of his practice.
“There's nothing more gratifying than when someone lost or had something destroyed and you're able to reform or shape it,” he said. “Sometimes they'll come back and say, 'You gave my life back.'”
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
Quetell will alternate between Wednesday and Friday sessions in Cayuga County every week, with Wednesdays devoted to consultations and Fridays devoted to surgical procedures.
His Auburn schedule is subject to expansion if the demand for his services exceeds it.
“It sort of expands the spectrum of things we're able to offer the community,” said bariatric surgeon Carl Weiss.
Weiss asked Quetell, a former colleague, to bring his services to Auburn Memorial Hospital. Operations like gastric bypass surgery are often followed up by body contouring, a plastic surgery procedure in which excess skin is removed in order to refit it to a patient's smaller body.
But Quetell will soon offer Auburn patients the full gamut of plastic surgery services, from facial reconstruction to liposuction.
“Plastic surgeons are trained to operate from head to feet,” Quetell said.
He specializes in aesthetic breast reconstruction, a category of plastic surgery that ranges from reduction procedures for women who experience back pain as a result of their breast size and reconstructive work for victims of breast cancer.
“Now we can offer the standard of care, which is one stage of reconstruction following a mastectomy,” Weiss said. “It's awfully helpful for our breast surgeons.”
Quetell has practiced plastic surgery in the Syracuse area since 2002, first at SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital and then at his own private practice at Community General Hospital in Onondaga, which he started in 2004.
He traces his ambition for the plastic surgery field to seeing fellow children with cleft palates in his youth.
“It's very rewarding to see how you can help and improve an individual with reconstructive surgery,” Quetell.
Quetell completed his plastic and reconstructive surgery studies at University Hospital in 1989. He also completed a hand and microsurgery fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh and trained at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he specialized in breast reconstruction procedures.
However important surgical skill is to Quetell's work, he places equal emphasis on the pre-operation stage. When patients present their request for a smaller nose or larger breasts to Quetell, he judiciously evaluates the need for the procedure.
“It's the only surgical field where the doctor can say no,” Quetell said.
While seeing prospective patients, he keeps an eye out for body dysmorphic disorder, which can warp a person's perception of their physical features.
Quetell estimates he rejects about five percent of all patient requests he hears. If that happens, he seeks to prevent them from “doctor shopping” and receiving their surgery at the hands of an unqualified surgeon. Quetell often sees patients who didn't heed this advice and return to his office asking him to correct a botched operation. To prevent this, he suggests checking their credentials with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and looking at before-and-after pictures of their past surgeries.
“If you're going to have someone cut into your face, make sure you do your homework first,” he said.
Quetell traces many of the pitfalls of plastic surgery to the practice itself and its presentation - typically on TV - as a sure-fire solution to unhappiness with one's body.
“People come in not realizing that this is real surgery with benefits, but also risks,” he said. “One surgery is not always a fit for all.”
If Quetell hears a patient's request and agrees to perform their operation, he shows them his own before-and-after pictures. He then offers the patient a three-in-one price quote that includes the operation, facility and anesthesia fees.
For Auburn patients, those procedures will take place within the walls of Auburn Memorial Hospital. Quetell has already scheduled his first appointments with people from the area after seeing them at his Community General office. With this new wave of patients, Quetell hopes to continue relishing the rewards of his practice.
“There's nothing more gratifying than when someone lost or had something destroyed and you're able to reform or shape it,” he said. “Sometimes they'll come back and say, 'You gave my life back.'”
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
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