When considering traveling for surgery, the first consideration is whether this is a surgery that needs to be done very soon or whether it can wait for scheduling of travel plans, etc. It is important to not risk your health or well being by delaying surgery in order to travel. Your local primary care or treating physician should be able to assist you in determining the timing of your surgery.

Of course, prior to any surgery you will want to meet with the physician to learn about the procedure you are considering and about the physician himself. That first consultation involves an office visit that is typically an hour in length or more as we want you to have as much time as necessary to ask questions. Some patients choose to schedule a mid-day appointment so they can fly in and out on the same day for this consultation. Because it is often difficult for patients to make multiple trips, many will call or email with questions before and after this consultation in addition to what is discussed at the appointment.

After that initial consultation and a decision about the type of surgery, the actual scheduling of the surgery can be done. Depending on the type of surgery and the day-of-the-week that surgery is scheduled, you will need to arrive typically 1-2 days prior to your surgery for preoperative appointments and testing. The length of stay in the hospital also varies with the type of surgery. Patients will need to stay in town after being discharged from the hospital until Dr. Duffy has determined them to be ready for travel and has seen the early postoperative results. The length of stay after being discharged from the hospital varies with the type of surgery and with each individual. However, as a very general guideline most patients should expect to be in Dallas for approximately 2-4 weeks.

It is important to remember that no one can predict exactly how quickly an individual patient will heal from surgery, and complications sometimes develop, although rarely. Therefore only an estimate of the length of stay can be provided and you should be prepared for a longer stay.

Once you are home you will still need to be followed by a physician throughout the healing process. This is typically done by your local primary care physician or a plastic and reconstructive surgeon in your home town. If appropriate, Dr. Duffy can speak with that physician prior to your leaving Dallas to update him or her on your surgery and how you are doing at that time so they are prepared to take on your care. Of course, we will want you to continue to update our office on how you are doing after you are home!

Dr. Duffy will need to see you again postoperatively. Typically this is at 6 months postop and a year postop, although it may vary depending on the patient and the type of surgery. Ideally he likes to see patients regularly postoperatively but we realize travel makes this difficult so we try to keep the number of trips to a minimum and to structure them at times that are as easy as possible for the patients.

Again, depending on the type of surgery being done there may be more than one stage of surgery needed. At your initial consultation if your surgery would require multiple stages, Dr. Duffy would discuss that with you.

If you will be driving to Dallas, you can contact our office with what interstate you will be driving in on and we will be happy to provide you directions specific to your needs. In addition, general directions are on our Practice Location page.