It’s been a while since we last sat down with Dr. Thomas Pane, Chief Medical Officer and founder of Atlantic Coast Aesthetics. With prospective patients eager to get the scoop on when ACA expects to reopen, we were excited to hear what he had to say—and find out where he’s been!
Dr. Pane says it all started with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s executive order of March 20th, which prohibited, among other things, elective medical procedures retroactively from March 9th to May 9th. “[The order] also went for dentists, people in cosmetic surgery and even regular hernia and mole removal. Only emergency [surgeries] were allowed to go, so we’ve kind of been chilling out during that time.”
Apparently, the doctor isn’t having any trouble filling his hours. “I do some consulting work in the medical field that’s not clinical care, so I do a little of that. We’ve also been continuing to take care of our post-op patients that had surgery either in the West Palm Beach area or sometimes down in Miami, because I do have the office in West Palm. We were able to get people through any minor care issues, and that took place during that time…As for me, I’ve been doing my thing. I’ve got old medical records to go through, and blog, and things from previous offices to deal with. So there’s always something to do and we’re keeping busy.”
Dr. Pane notes he’s received a lot of interest and some concern about the future of ACA. “I’m fielding a lot more inquiries from people asking what’s up, and I said, ‘We’re not going anywhere. We’re doing our thing, but we had to put everything on hold temporarily in order to comply with the rules and for everyone’s safety.”
As far as special access to inside information about the latest on the restrictions, Dr. Pane says he doesn’t have any. “We’re following the news just like you are. As of now, the latest information we have is May 11th should be when we are back, and I will be doing surgeries in Miami as early as May 12th from what we have right now. If that changes, we will let you know. My advice is to follow the news in Florida, because it’s not like the governor calls me, you know? I read the news like you do. So, if there’s any changes to that one way or the other, we would know from there.”
Dr. Pane is cautiously optimistic about the next steps forward. “I don’t think it’s going to move up,” he stressed. “I doubt that, although the Florida Medical Association did send a letter asking for the restrictions to be lifted, but I have no indication that that will happen.”
He points out that due to the backlog of patients awaiting surgery imposed by the order, he will be changing some of his office hours and locations. “I will also be down in Miami some Fridays, more than I usually am, because we want to work through the backlog of people that want to get their surgeries done. I get everyone’s schedules have been disrupted, airlines, this, that and the other thing, and we’re trying to work with people as much as we can. So, I know it sounds like May 15th and May 22nd we will be there in Miami, and you’ll have to talk to your [surgical] coordinator there as to what the exact specifics are.
“For people in the West Palm area awaiting surgeries, right now we don’t have any dates because the ambulatory surgical center has not told us when they’ll be back up and running. So we’re continuing to follow this and we’ll update you with more information as time goes on…I hope everyone’s doing well on their end as well.”
If you have a question related to cosmetic surgery, Dr. Pane and the staff of ACA are always happy to take some time and answer questions. Just call us at (561) 513-4763, follow us on Twitter and Facebook or contact us at https://acplasticsurg.com. Your question could even be answered in a live Youtube Video by Dr. Pane personally as our next Question of the Week, and help out other patients who share the same questions and concerns you have! Remember, at ACA we believe in patient education as the first step to a more beautiful you. The only bad question is the one you don’t ask!