Hi, my name is Stefan Moorman, and I am from Telluride, Colorado. This is my second week working with Dr. Moorman in his private practice, local hospital, and at the Plessen Healthcare Center.
On Tuesday, July 6th, Dr. Moorman took us to his private practice, The Moorman Aesthetic Center. He had scheduled patients in 20 minute rotations. Many had been past patients who had come in for postoperative checkups, or known him from past procedures. Dr. Moorman also introduced us to the platform Practice Fusion, which he uses to update charts and his schedule online. We observed Dr. Moorman perform various examinations on patients who needed consultations. Myself and the other interns watched as he gave a patient a test for carpal tunnel syndrome; in which, he began constantly tapping on their wrist asking if they felt any sort of pain. This patient had been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome by a physician’s assistant, but Dr. Moorman disagreed with this diagnosis, believing it was arthritis at the base of their thumb. Dr. Moorman also allowed us to observe various skin lesions and tags, such as melanoma and basal cell skin cancers (Melanoma is more aggressive than basal skin cancer). During the time in between patients, Dr. Moorman instructed us on how to take notes and bill people on Practice Fusion. He began informing us of the various medical codes for different procedures, and how to enter them while taking notes.
On Wednesday, July 7th, Dr. Moorman took us back to his office. Unlike Tuesday, Dr. Moorman had scheduled procedures rather than checkups and consultations. Dr. Moorman allowed us to observe him removing skin lesions, tags, warts, performing liposuction, and injecting fillers and botox. The procedure that intrigued me the most was the liposuction of subcutaneous fat above the festoons (just under the lower eyelid). Dr. Moorman used a small needle and syringe to extract fat cells from the patient’s face. Many of his other procedures consisted of removing skin cancer lesions and tags that were later sent to pathology. Avery and I were instructed to prepare the specimens for the pathologist by labeling the specimen containers. We also helped Dr. Moorman write more notes and update the patient charts.
On Thursday, July 8th, another intern, Anna Smith from Telluride, joined our program. Dr. Moorman brought us back to the operating room at the Plessen Healthcare center, and we watched two carpal tunnel correction procedures. During the operation, the patients were fully awake, numbed with local anesthesia. Dr. Moorman tried his best to teach and provide explanations as he performed the operation. He showed us the exposed transverse carpal ligament and median nerve at the wrist. A carpal tunnel operation is usually done to relieve pressure on the median nerve, to decrease pain, and improve sensation and grip strength. After the carpal tunnel, we were supposed to observe a breast augmentation. Unfortunately, the patient asked there be no student observers. Each carpal tunnel operation took less than an hour, and so we had a short day.
On Friday, July 9th, Dr. Moorman brought us to Plessen again. The only operation planned for Friday was a rhytidectomy (SMAS lift/facelift). A facelift is usually done to improve the contour of the patient’s face and neck. This patient in particular had already had a facelift 20 years ago. Dr. Moorman began the operation by adding tumescent fluid, which included normal saline and local anesthetic lidocaine, to the patient’s neck and cheeks. After allowing the medication to take effect, Dr. Moorman began doing liposuction in the neck and cheeks. Dr. Moorman made incisions to the sides of the face, just near the ear, and used surgical scissors to carefully spread the soft tissue from the tunnels made by liposuction. After removing a balanced amount of fat from each side, Dr. Moorman tightened the SMAS muscle and removed a flap of skin to tighten the face. After the operation, we went to Shoys beach and watched Black Widow in the movie theater.
On Saturday, July 10th, we slept in and had a relaxing day at the beach. Later that day, we went on a bioluminescence tour in Salt River Bay. On Sunday, July 11th, we plan on going back to Buck Island to get some sunshine. If you would like to hear more, tune in for next week’s blog.
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