Evaluation of Live Surgery Meetings: Our Experience with the “Live Makeover Aesthetic Surgery Symposium”

Live Surgery Meetings have been established as a vey effective means to demonstrate certain surgical techniques and intraoperative decision-making. However, many authors still question the ethics of this approach. We present our experience as organizers of the Live Makeover Aesthetic Surgery Symposium, an annual international live surgery meeting taking place in Athens, Greece. METHODS: Throughout the course of our meetings, 2 surveys were performed, 1 after Live Makeover Aesthetic Surgery Symposium 3, comparing the educational value between live surgery and pre-recorded videos, and the second after LMASS 6, re-evaluating the educational value of live surgery, as well as the ethics of this educational method and the patient safety. In addition, we studied the results of the patients operated on in all of our meetings, and their level of satisfaction. RESULTS: Based on the results of the first survey, the superior educational value of live surgery was obvious. The second survey confirmed those valuable educational benefits. In addition, the concerns on both surgical outcomes and patient safety were minimal. The patients showed a very high level of satisfaction through their answers. The complications encountered were only 2 of the 49 live surgical demonstrations and were not directly related to the live demonstration. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our study, live surgery is an effective, safe educational tool. However, strict guidelines have to be followed to ensure high educational value and patient safety. Based on our 9-year experience with our live surgery meeting, we provide detailed guidelines for optimal outcomes.