La Jolla has grown from a quiet beach town into a combination of a college town, beach town and residential choice of the highly affluent. The city has its own version of Rodeo Drive; La Jolla is not the first choice in San Diego County for bargain shoppers. The University of California at San Diego is located in La Jolla and has grown into one of the premier campuses in the UC system.

1.UC San Diego's Medical School operates a large Medical Center that not only serves La Jolla and surrounding communities, but also engages in research. The most recent development there is a series of techniques utilizing minimal invasive procedures that has come to be known as "scarless surgery." What that will mean for aesthetic plastic surgery procedures remains to be seen but medical research in La Jolla is on the "cutting edge," so to speak.

2.Scripps Medical Center also has a large presence in La Jolla. The hospital and its staff surgeons offer aesthetic surgery procedures including breast augmentations and breast lifts; liposuctions; eye and other facial lifts; tucks; etc. Plastic surgeons in La Jolla who wish to affiliate with a hospital have the option of working through Scripps, which operates four acute care hospitals throughout the county and a number of clinics. It was founded in 1924 by Ellen Browning Scripps and is considered a prestigious institution.

3.We've all heard the real estate phrase "paying for the address." In the case of La Jolla's plastic surgeons, it pays to pay for the address. Patients seeking out quality health care are going to gravitate to physicians practicing in an affluent area. People in search of plastic surgery may well gravitate to La Jolla, knowing that cosmetic surgery specialists there are likely to be well trained, board certified plastic surgeons.

4.One of the important jobs that any cosmetic plastic surgeon has is acting as counselor to each potential patient. Everybody who seeks out an aesthetic surgical procedure wants to change the way they look and believe that the change will make them happier. It is up to the surgeon to establish what the limits of a surgical procedure are. Patients seeking breast augmentations need to understand what impact the implants may have ten years hence.

People who want facial injections need to understand that Botox is going to dissipate and the procedure repeated on an ongoing basis. Aesthetic plastic surgeons practicing in a high-end and established community such as La Jolla are not going to be the high-volume operators who provide whatever the patient wants without discussion.