A Moment with...Dr. Karl O. Wustrack

Dr. Karl Wustrack is one of the most genuinely humorous surgeons we have interviewed. Not a caustic wit, but the gentle manner of an old friend. He's been in private practice since 1978 and has performed thousands of breast augmentations. He's well known and highly respected throughout Oregon, and if you're serious about local surgeons, chances are you've already come across his name.

BI411: What originally drew you to plastic surgery?

Dr. Wustrack: When I was at Yale in medical school, the surgery professor showed a movie about trauma. Looking back, it wasn't a big deal, it was some minor to medium size auto accident, with a person with facial lacerations, but for a first year medical student, it was pretty impressive. When I was a junior, we had finally hired the first plastic surgery professor in the school. He was like a pied piper, he'd give lectures at 6:00 in the morning because he wanted us to come before everybody did their rounds. He sucked us into surgery in general. Four of five of us went into plastic surgery. He was probably my biggest influence.

BI411: How many augmentations have you performed in your career?

Dr. Wustrack: I think about 2,000. I've been in practice for about 23 years, but at first, it wasn't that frequent a procedure, not like lately. Right when the problem with silicone implants hit and the media made hay over that, I was luckily operating on a lot of exotic dancers, and they didn't really care! They sustained me for awhile; they're a very picky group. If you can make them happy, you can make anybody happy. In the early 90's, when the silicone implant scare happened, some of my colleagues were doing an augmentation once every couple of months, while I was doing 1 or 2 a week! It's also surprising that housewives will go to those clubs and ask the women who they'd recommend, of course, I can't picture my wife going there!

BI411: What are the main reactions a woman has after breast augmentation?

Dr. Wustrack: After they have done this, they'll volunteer, for example, the fact that they feel so much better about themselves, that it's easy to get clothes now. " I don't have to search for one size on the top and one on the bottom." One funny comment a while ago was, "I finally won an argument with my ex-husband", after the operation, she had that much more confidence!

BI411: Some women go through a broad range of emotions before, during and after the surgery. Do you prepare women for the different emotional surprises they might go through or do you play it by ear?

Dr. Wustrack: I did my residency training at UCLA, I was associated clinically with a husband and wife team. He was a plastic surgeon, she was a psychiatrist. They did a lot of studies, where he'd do the surgery and the woman would come back every three of four days, everything going fine. The psychiatrist would see the woman every day, and documented that by around the third day post-op, the woman would suffer a little buyer's remorse. When the surgeon would see the patient again, she'd be in pretty good shape and he'd never see it. It's a pretty normal depression some women have. We tell them not to worry about what you think other people are going to say about size, or what mom will say when you see her over the holidays, because they come back three of four months later and say "I wish they were bigger!" We really don't see too many women who have emotional problems over this operation.

BI411: That says a lot for you and your staff. You must instill your patients with a lot of confidence.

Dr. Wustrack: I do have a great staff. The nurse will call and talk to the patient the night before, since everyone's a little nervous to go to the surgeon. They'll answer any questions for them. They'll also call them the day after surgery. I think all that helps.

BI411: What should a woman be leery of in a plastic surgeon?

Dr. Wustrack: That's a good question. Someone who's overpromoting, I'd be a little suspicious of, personally. In this business, most people are looking for referrals from patients who are happy. You can get your name out there a little bit, that's fine, but taking out large ads... There are ads in the movie theaters before the shows start, that's pretty tacky.

BI411: One of the fastest growing demographics doing research on the Internet is women. How do you feel about women using the Internet as a form of referral instead of the more traditional word of mouth?

Dr. Wustrack: It's certainly a big source of information, and not all of it good information. When I see a consult now for breast augmentation, they've usually spent a lot of time on the Internet. No doubt about it, they know a lot more about the operation, but they also get to know things that are confusing: the type of implant, texture versus smooth, sub-muscle versus sub-pectoral, etc.

BI411: Do you find in your practice that some women become obsessed with constantly trying to change their outward appearance?

Dr. Wustrack: There's a few of those. A two or three procedure person is a pretty reasonable person. They may have a breast reduction and a tummy tuck, or an augmentation and a liposuction. That's okay. Some people do get addictive, and you're worried they're going to show up on the cover of People magazine looking like a tiger. You don't really know until you're down the line a little bit. Then I try to back off a little bit, and tell her I don't think it's going to do her too much good.

BI411: What myth about plastic surgery would you like to debunk?

Dr. Wustrack: The myth that the teardrop shaped implant is superior to the round, smooth implant. A study was done that took x-rays of a teardrop shaped implant sideview, as well as a round implant, and under the muscle they both looked teardrop shaped. The point is, all implants under the muscle look teardrop shaped, or anatomical shape, because the muscle is thicker and works with gravity. It's been marketed to the consumer and not to the doctor, with ads in Cosmo and all that, trying to say their product is different, and it isn't. There's thinner muscle on the bottom and you're assuming surgeons are putting saline under the muscle- the muscle is thicker on top and this forces the implant down where it fills out.

BI411: What would you say are the biggest challenges facing plastic surgeons going forward?

Dr. Wustrack: One of them is certainly everybody trying to get in on the act. On the one hand, it looks good to a lot of specialties and a lot of areas where they're not really well trained before getting into it. Some specialists are trying to be plastic surgeons without going through the usual hoops. It used to be that we were concerned about ENT; now we don't worry about them at all, they're surgeons. We're worried about dermatologists, about dentists, for Pete's sake! In Oregon, you can do a face lift if you're a dentist! The governor of the state is a doctor and he signed the enabling legislation a few years ago If he was a plaintiff's attorney, he probably would have not signed it!

Dr. Wustrack wins you over immediately with a warm humor that engenders the patient's trust and confidence. Set an appointment today by calling (503) 692-4550. He has a long history of improving people's lives.

Visit Dr. Karl O. Wustrack's profile on Breast Implants 411