Fourteen Hours With Dr. Bernadette Ashraf
"At 7:00 am, I start my first surgery which takes about 3 hours (ends 10:00 am). A few minutes after my first surgery, I mark my second patient (abdominoplasty)"
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO SHADOW DR. BERNADETTE WANG ASHRAF. PLASTIC SURGEON. ARTISAN PLASTIC SURGERY. MANAGING PARTNER
At 5:30 am, my iPhone alarm jars me out of my peaceful sleep. After hitting the snooze button at least 3 times (yes that’s an extra 27 minutes of sleep!), I get up and head straight to the shower. In the morning, I throw on either my royal dark blue or pale light blue scrubs. I usually choose the dark ones because of their slimmer appearance 🤣. Even knowing that I’ll almost be late to work, I never forget to do my morning facial regimen of amazing French line of Biologique Recherche products. I quickly pop into my daughters’ rooms to say, “good morning” and “have a nice day,” and then I rush downstairs into the kitchen to make myself a morning Nespresso in a to go cup. I reach into the refrigerator and throw a Fage yogurt, some clementines, a hard-boiled egg, and a kombucha drink into my lunch bag. I hop into my Cayenne hybrid SUV and drive to work at Northside Hospital. I arrive at the Northside Hospital Tower building at about 6:50 am. and mark my first surgical patient (mommy makeover breast implants, breast lift and abdominoplasty) with my usual purple marker.
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At 7:00 am, I start my first surgery which takes about 3 hours (ends 10:00 am). A few minutes after my first surgery, I mark my second patient (abdominoplasty) and then talk to the first surgery patient’s family to inform them that we are finished and that everything went well. After realizing the time, I run through a maze-like pathway to get from the Northside Tower building to the Northside Main Hospital to see my surgical patients from the day before. I run back to my office.
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At 10:35 am, I see a postoperative patient in my office a few minutes before I start a second surgery. The second surgery takes about an hour and a half to finish and ends around 12:15 pm. Afterwards, I mark my third surgery patient (breast augmentation) and talk to the second surgery patient’s family to inform them on how the surgery went. I hop over to my office which is just right next to the Northside Tower Surgery Suite to see a postoperative patient.
At around 12:35, I quickly see a patient and inject Botox for her. I have a 10-minute break before I start my next surgery, so I quickly eat the yogurt I packed and drink some kombucha. I then start my third surgery and finish my surgery at around 1:45 pm. Again, I then talk to the third surgery patient’s family. At 2:00 pm, I run to Northside Hospital Women’s Center which is also connected to the Northside Tower building by maze-like pathways, and I mark my fourth surgery patient (bilateral mastectomies and implant reconstruction for breast cancer).
At 2:15 pm, I run back to my office because it takes about 1.5-2 hours for the breast surgeon to finish doing the mastectomies before I can start the reconstruction. I use that time to talk with our nurses and see other patients. Afterwards, I usually make myself a Nespresso while checking office emails. At 3:00 pm, I dictate notes, and at 3:30 pm, I get notice that the mastectomies will be finished in 20 minutes, so I run back to Northside Women’s Center.
“At around 8:00 pm, I drive to my parents’ house in Virginia Highland. There, I usually have my favorite Tieguanyin tea, eat some Chinese snacks, ”
By 4:00 pm, I start my fourth surgery and finish at around 5:30 pm. I then talk with the fourth surgery patient’s family. I run back to the office and check for any urgent messages and call patients. I then stay at my office to sign a bunch of paperwork. At around 6:30 pm, I grab my half-eaten lunch bag (usually forget to eat hardboiled egg) and drive home. On the way home, I call my husband to say that I’m coming home, then call each daughter to get one entertaining school story from each daughter and then call my mom to get sympathy.
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At around 7:10 pm, I arrive home and find dinner already cooked by our amazing nanny, and all 3 daughters are in kitchen doing homework. My husband is usually in the garage working on his car. After freshening up, I grab a plate and eat everything in sight while talking to my daughters. I then check my personal email and scroll through Instagram and Facebook.
At around 8:00 pm, I drive to my parents’ house in Virginia Highland. There, I usually have my favorite Tieguanyin tea, eat some Chinese snacks, and chat with my parents. I usually stay there for about an hour and then head back home. When I get home, I talk with my daughters and just hang out with them before they get ready to go to sleep. I then head to my bathroom and do my evening facial regimen of Biologique Recherche products and brush my teeth. I then spend some time with my husband to make sure there are no fires to put out :)
At around 11:30 pm, I climb into bed, and as my head hits my memory foam pillow, I immediately fall asleep.
Interviewed by Maryan Aiken. Publisher. CityBox Media. Prepared by Lila Ashraf. CityBox Co CEO Intern. Atlanta International School
At Artisan Plastic Surgery in Atlanta, we believe in beauty. When you come to one of our offices, you will be surrounded by beautiful artwork, jewelry, flowers, lingerie and people. The patients and staff that you will see have a natural glow — not too tight, too pulled, too big, or too fake.