Our Center

We are located in Okemos, Michigan, which is in the Lansing Area. Other towns within a 50-mile radius which we service include: East Lansing, Haslett, Williamston, St. John's, Grand Ledge, Mason, Charlotte, Brighton, Jackson, and Howell. Our 4400 square foot office is equipped with 3 exam rooms, a comfortable waiting/reception area, a secluded area for patient counseling and scheduling, 2 aesthetic skin care rooms, an IPL treatment and hair removal treatment room, a pre-operative and recovery room, office surgical suite and several staff rooms. A confidential entrance and exit is available for post-operative patients and those patients wishing to preserve their anonymity.

Our Staff

Our employees have been selected for their skill, compassion, good humor, and familiarity with the needs and concerns of our patients. Melody, our office manager, is a specialist in insurance reimbursement, and has over 20 years combined in ophthalmology and cosmetic surgery patient relations. Michele is our surgical technician, who joined us in August of 2006 with over 7 years of experience in the health care and dentistry fields. Darlene is our registered nurse with over 18 years of nursing and cosmetic surgery experience, joined Trillium in November of 2006. Lynnie is our superb receptionist who greets patients on the phone and in the office. She also handles front desk responsibilities with a smile. Season is a very knowledgeable and skilled licensed aesthetician, who joined Trillium in Sept. 2007 with 8 years previous experience.

Safety

All of our cosmetic procedures are performed in the office. With the exception of breast augmentation, fat transfer injection (FAMI) and some laser skin resurfacing procedures (all of which require intravenous sedation) all of our procedures are performed under local anesthesia. With oral sedation, local anesthesia and tumescent anesthesia administered by Dr. Ehrlich, patients are relaxed, comfortable and responsive, without being "fully awake". Statistically, the procedures are 2000-10,000 times safer when general anesthesia is not used. This creates much more work for the surgeon; many fewer cases can be done in a day, and a responsive patient demands interaction and gentleness. The method of anesthesia chosen, though, should be in the patients' best interests, not the surgeon's. In addition, effective, minimally invasive surgery and avoidance of general anesthesia allow patients to leave the office within 30 minutes after surgery, alert, able to drink and eat almost immediately, without "anesthetic hangover". Additional time in our recovery room is avoided.

Mission Statement

Although mission statements are now de rigueur, too many of them are not taken seriously by their authors. Trillium has only one fundamental mission; to improve the quality of life of our patients (whether cosmetic or functional) skillfully and compassionately, and return them to their everyday lives somehow better for their contact with us. This is our only mission. We are dedicated to our patients, to their individual concerns and goals, and consider their trust in us to be both a profound responsibility and a rare privilege.

Philosophy of Care

Your body and your health belong to you. We are here to help when, and if, you need us. Each patient is unique, with a unique set of problems, needs, desires, concerns, emotions and history. Whenever possible, we will inform you of your options for treatment, and allow you to make informed choices for your care. We cannot, and will not, make unilateral decisions for you concerning your own body and how it is treated.

This is sometimes troubling to patients, and sounds passive, until they understand our fundamental philosophy of care. We do not wish to "fix something that is not broken", but we will make every possible effort to allow you to choose the avenue of medical or surgical treatment which is most likely to provide the improvement you seek, or which is indicated for your health or cosmetic desires.

When a problem is anatomic and effects normal functioning of the eye (i.e. possibly covered by insurance), we will make every effort to assist you in obtaining approval for insurance payment. When a concern is cosmetic, we will discuss the options for improvement and give appropriate price quotes.

Not every patient can, or will, benefit from our services. When this is the case, we will be exceedingly and respectfully frank, believing that sometimes no treatment is better than a treatment which will produce minimal results, and/or unwarranted expense and inconvenience. If your problem is outside our area of expertise, we will offer a referral to another expert physician who has earned our respect, and who has the skills which may help you. For some patients with certain conditions, "tincture of time" is a variable option.

We will always do our best to guide you and participate with you in deciding upon the treatment and/or surgical option which is best suited to your individual needs, your specific condition, your desires for improvement and your lifestyle.