My Experience at #OH2015 Conference
January 24, 2016It was my first year attending this important event, and I felt happy looking forward to the #OH2015 National Conference with great expectations.
My Public Relations and Marketing Director, Joyce Palau, and Patient Specialist, Fatimeh Rosales, and I traveled from San Diego to the conference in North Carolina. After arriving, we set up our exhibit table, and most important, our private consultation room where I was going to have the opportunity to do full consultations and complete evaluations with each attendee on an individual basis.
33 Free Plastic Surgery Consultations in Two Days!
I was scheduled to see 22 attendees during the Conference. Once at the Conference, more attendees wanted consultations so I was fortunate enough to provide 33 free plastic surgeon consultations with all types of patients, some ready, others not ready yet, happy, excited, decided and undecided about having plastic surgery. It was wonderful and so meaningful to be able to have consultations with so many attendees.
For many years, I've worked with weight loss surgery post-ops to have plastic surgery. In addition, I'm a weight loss surgery post-op myself so it saddened me when I had to disappoint a few attendees who were not yet candidates for plastic surgery. A couple of them needed a healthier, safe BMI level, which is under 30. Unfortunately, there were a few others that had pre-existing medical conditions that didn't allow for plastic surgery at this time. Safety is my first priority, and I was pleased they understood. I was very touched by their stories of their weight loss surgery journey. As a post-op and plastic surgeon, I love talking with other WLS patients about their own journeys.
Speakers and Exhibitors at #OH2015
I spent the majority of my time at the Conference providing plastic surgery consultations and talking with those attendees. Joyce and Fatimeh were able to visit some of the speaker presentations and check out the exhibits. They were impressed with the quality of information and testimonials presented in the Conference, as well as the amount of products, free samples and services offered by the exhibitors.
Professional Q & A Panel
I had the pleasure of joining the Professional Q & A Panel as the Plastic Surgeon on the panel along with Bariatric Surgeons, Ranjan Sudan, MD, FACS and Ryan Heider, MD, FACS; Psychologist, Dr. Sarah Galloway; Dietitian; and, Patrick Mahaney, RD, LDN. As my contribution to the panel, I shared the importance of safety, preparing a patient's body for plastic surgery, which is a major transformation by healthy eating, exercise and feeding their mind and spirit with positive thoughts. At the end of the panel discussion we received a warm applause from the attendees. It was a wonderful exchange between professionals and attendees.
The After Party, Fashion Show and Walking the Red Carpet
The After Party, Fashion Show, Red Carpet with patients sharing their transformations and inspiring goals was absolutely heartwarming and beautiful! Many of the patients that we consulted with were among those who shared their life experiences. I felt so connected with them, having had many of the same experiences as a post-op bariatric and plastic surgery patient myself.
My whole experience at the ObesityHelp Conference confirmed once again that the real purpose of what I do is “SERVING OTHERS”. I left the Conference very happy and grateful for my connection to the bariatric community.
The conference was very well organized, offered a wealth of information covering all areas of a patients needs, along with being inspiring and fun.
We totally enjoyed our experience, and are proud to have been a small part of the 2015 ObesityHelp Conference in North Carolina. We are already preparing and looking forward to participating in the 2016 ObesityHelp National Conference in Anaheim.
 | ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Carmina Cardenas is a Board Certified Aesthetic, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon. She completed her residency and graduated with honors from the Mexican Institute of Social Security, at the Hospital of Specialties in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. She is owner of Beauty Enhance Plastic Surgery.Read more articles from Dr. Cardenas! |
