“After the operation, the surgeon and the patient live for a while in a very close ‘marriage’. I always tell patients: if you have questions after the operation, it’s better to contact me directly than to look for answers online. Every person heals differently, so other people’s experiences can cause unnecessary anxiety,” says the doctor.
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G. Stundžaitė-Baršauskienė has been working at “Vitkus Clinic” since 2015, and she deepened her knowledge of plastic and reconstructive surgery by interning in France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the USA, and other countries. When talking about her profession, she first mentions not the technique. What fascinates her most about this profession is the opportunity to restore a person’s self-confidence.
When the change should not be visible
Over the years of the doctor’s practice, patient expectations have also changed – the desire for naturalness is increasingly replacing drastic changes. “If plastic surgery was once associated with distorted, overstretched faces or unnatural bodies, now the aim is for the intervention to be unnoticeable. It’s better if others only suspect that something has happened, but don’t understand what exactly has changed,” says the surgeon.
This approach has deep roots at “Vitkus Clinic”. G. Stundžaitė-Baršauskienė is one of Professor Kęstutis Vitkus’s students. From him, she says, she inherited not only surgical technique but also the most important principle – to do no harm and “not to overdo it”. Therefore, sometimes the surgeon’s job is not to operate, but to dissuade the patient from surgery.
“Surgery is ‘heavy artillery’, resorted to when nothing else will help. If we are talking about illness, surgery may be necessary, but in the context of beauty, there is no word ‘must’ – there is ‘want’. Only when this desire becomes stronger than fear can we move forward. This is always a joint decision between the doctor and the patient,” she emphasizes.
Surgery – only part of the journey
It is no less important to prepare the patient for what awaits after the operation. The final result does not appear immediately: one person feels perfectly fine after a week, while another still has traces of the operation even after several months.
“The result depends 50 percent on the surgeon and 50 percent on the patient’s body. Healing is influenced by diet, immunity, and individual scarring characteristics. When both sides – the doctor and the patient – play on the same team, the result is the best,” says G. Stundžaitė-Baršauskienė.
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For example, facial scars change for about three months, body scar maturation can last up to a year and a half, and the chest forms for about six months after surgery. So, when the operating room doors close, the patient’s journey does not end – another stage begins.
Healing culture: care does not end in the operating room
After more complex operations, the doctor and patient meet after a week, a month, six months, and a year, and communicate more often if necessary. At “Vitkus Clinic”, some postoperative procedures begin on the very first day: a free manual lymphatic drainage massage is performed, and if needed, an “Indiba” device is also used.
“These procedures are not mandatory, but they help the person return to life faster: bruises resorb faster, lymph drains, and the patient starts to see the result sooner,” explains the doctor.
The environment where the patient spends the first day is also important. The clinic is located in a natural setting, away from the city center.
“The forest visible through the windows truly has a healing effect. Patients often say that they feel like they are in a sanatorium with us. That escape from the city center impresses many and aids healing,” says G. Stundžaitė-Baršauskienė.
However, the culture of healing is not just about procedures or environment. It is also a sense of security, when the patient knows that they will not be alone with questions or anxiety after the operation. This is precisely why the surgeon speaks of a kind of “marriage” between the doctor and the patient – the operation lasts a few hours, but the common path to the final result can last much longer.
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