About Our Practice

Dr. John Q. Cook is well known for his naturalistic approach to all aspects of facial rejuvenation surgery. He has developed techniques that address the four major aspects of facial aging: structural descent, volume loss, altered expression, and surface changes. His work derives from a lifelong study of art and aesthetics.

A detailed evaluation is the heart of Dr. Cook’s process of facial rejuvenation. He carefully analyzes each face in order to understand its unique beauty and expressive qualities. He encourages patients to bring pictures to the consultation that show the face at different intervals of time, so he can appreciate the specifics of each person’s aging process.

Dr. Cook has performed fat transfer as part of facial rejuvenation for 20 years. He has carried out several thousand facial fat transfers, either as independent procedures or in combination with facelift or eyelid surgery. A proper restoration of facial volume is essential to a natural-appearing face lift and helps to avoid an over-pulled look that is still too commonly seen with facial surgery.

The brow, upper eyelid, and lower eyelid form a key expressive zone, and their motion and position can send messages about our character and emotions. With the passage of time, changes in the eyelid region can send confusing messages to others about our inner sense of vitality. Dr. Cook offers his patients a wide portfolio of techniques of brow lift, upper eyelid surgery (upper blepharoplasty), and lower eyelid surgery (lower blepharoplasty) that allow for restoration of each patient’s unique expressive identity. Many of these techniques allow for surgery under local anesthesia in our Chicago and Winnetka offices.

Dr. Cook is passionate about the need for naturalism and precision in facelift surgery. He has developed techniques that address each of the three key zones of structural descent in the face and neck: the cheek, the jaw border, and the neck.

“When properly performed,” Dr. Cook says, “a facelift should make you look more like yourself rather than less so. Much of this comes from a detailed understanding of how the facial structures change over time, so that the surgery can be a work of restoration, rather than alteration.”

Almost all of Dr. Cook’s face and neck lifts are combined with fat transfer, since in most patients a loss of natural fat volume is a key component of the facial aging process. The combination of lifting and volume restoration is synergistic.

A significant percentage of the cheek lifts, jaw border lifts, and neck lifts in our practice can be carried out under local anesthesia in our offices. If IV sedation or light general anesthesia is required, we make use of a high-quality surgical center near the Chicago office.

Dr. Cook is also a leader in minimally invasive facial rejuvenation. During your consultation, he will let you know if these techniques are appropriate for you. For the right patient, the combination of FaceTite (which tightens the neck and jaw border), minimally invasive cheek lift, fat transfer, and resurfacing can provide significant rejuvenation without the incisions associated with a surgical lift.

Patients who undergo surgery with Dr. Cook to rejuvenate the brow, eyelids, face, and neck can access the benefits of our non-surgical practice. Our team of the Whole Beauty^® Institute offers a wide range of treatments that can further enhance the benefits of your surgery.

Patients who come to Dr. Cook for rhinoplasty (nasal surgery) benefit from the same natural aesthetic that inspires his facial rejuvenation surgery. Dr. Cook carefully studies your facial proportions and breathing efficiency to formulate a plan that will enhance the appearance of the nose and optimize your breathing mechanics. The nose that he creates will respect your intrinsic facial structure and will adhere to principles of artistic balance.

Patients who consult with Dr. Cook for breast surgery benefit from his highly developed sense of naturalism and proportion, as well as from his array of sophisticated techniques.

Early in his practice, Dr. Cook focused much of his energy on breast reconstruction surgery at Rush University Medical Center. The skills he developed in this challenging field benefit patients who come to him for all forms of breast surgery, whether aesthetic or reconstructive.

Your consultation for breast surgery will be highly individualized and comprehensive. In order for us to achieve a result that matches your goals, we need to consider your lifestyle, your pattern of activity, and your personal aesthetic, as well as the fundamental structure of your breasts.

We help our patients to visualize the potential results of surgery in several ways. During your consultation, you will have access to an extensive library of before-and-after photographs of all types of breast surgery, a small portion of which is available on this website. For patients who are considering breast implants, we make use of 3-D imaging and custom implant sizers, so that you can have an idea of how a particular implant choice will enhance your breasts.

At the Whole Beauty^® Institute, you will find a team that strives to optimize every aspect of your breast surgery experience.

In recent years, a good amount of Dr. Cook’s activity has focused on the area of structural breast surgery. This is an advanced technique that benefits many patients who are interested in breast lift (mastopexy), breast reduction, and combined augmentation and lift (augmentation-mastopexy). The technique offers three specific advantages: reduced scars when compared to classical techniques, deep anchoring of breast tissues so that the breast is held in place by more than tightened skin, and a rearrangement of breast tissue that restores fullness to the upper breast without implants. During your consultation, Dr. Cook will determine if the structural technique is a good choice for you.

In preparation for your consultation, please visit the breast surgery overview page. We also provide detailed information about breast implants, breast augmentation, breast augmentation with lift, breast lift, breast reduction, revisional breast surgery, and breast reconstruction for your specific area of interest.

At the Whole Beauty^® Institute we offer our patients a comprehensive array of body contour options, from non-invasive to minimally invasive to surgical.

Our patients benefit from our significant experience in non-invasive fat reduction. We were the first practice in the Midwest to offer SculpSure^®, a laser method of fat reduction that works best on trim patients with isolated fat deposits. We have extensive experience with non-invasive radiofrequency technology for skin tightening (Forma^™) and fat reduction (BodyFX^®), which enhance the power of fat reduction. We are leaders in the use of Evolve, a cutting-edge treatment that tightens skin, reduces fat, and tones muscle.

Dr. John Q. Cook has more than 20 years of experience with all major techniques of liposuction and surgical fat reduction. These techniques include classical liposuction, Vaser^® lipoplasty, SlimLipo^® and SmartLipo^® laser liposuction, and BodyTite^®. The majority of liposuction surgery is carried out under local anesthesia in our Chicago and Winnetka offices. Patients consistently remark upon the quality of their results and the ease of recovery. Dr. Cook’s highly developed sense of form and proportion helps us to produce sophisticated results on a consistent basis.

For patients who have significant looseness of the abdomen, Dr. Cook makes use of the high lateral tension abdominoplasty technique. In Dr. Cook’s opinion, this three-layer repair of abdominal support combined with liposuction remains the most powerful technique to create a beautiful abdominal form. He has several variations of this technique that he can use for specific patient needs. For some patients, it is possible to obtain a nice improvement with laser liposuction combined with a reduction of lower abdominal skin. This has a quicker recovery than a more extensive abdominoplasty.

Dr. Cook often combines abdominoplasty with breast surgery in order to restore visual harmony to the central portion of the body. Frequent options include breast augmentation, structural breast lift, and breast reduction. This combination of surgeries is frequently referred to as a “Mommy Makeover.” In Dr. Cook’s opinion, surgery of this nature is best performed in a surgical center, rather than an office. Our patients recover in a five-star hotel that is connected to the surgical center and receive one-on-one attention from an experienced nurse. A variety of measures—including leg compression devices (that minimize risk of blood clots) and access for IV fluids—are part of our routine and provide an extra measure of safety.

Dr. Cook is well known for his work in arm contour surgery. The SlimLipo^® technology provides significant tightening as well as fat reduction and is often an excellent solution for arms that are heavy and have a mild to moderate reduction in skin tone. The power of arm tightening can be enhanced when Dr. Cook adds the BodyTite^® technology. For patients with a greater amount of looseness in the arms, Dr. Cook uses a modification of the brachioplasty operation that places the scar in a less conspicuous location than traditional techniques.

For select patients, Dr. Cook carries out other body contour surgeries, such as the back lift, the inner thigh lift, and the posterior body lift. The correction that is obtained from these procedures can be a powerful motivator to maintain healthy habits of nutrition and exercise.

Cellulaze^® is a minimally invasive laser technology for cellulite reduction that is best suited to patients with a moderate degree of cellulite and good skin tone. Our latest protocols often combine this treatment with other radiofrequency technologies in order to amplify the result.