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So the question is, that there was an old slogan in the Clairol ads that went "only
your hairdresser should know for sure," and how does that relate to plastic surgery? And
it really raises the question as to whether plastic surgery in its ideal form is something
which screams across the auditorium or stage or whether it is more subtle and in fact,
the work of the plastic surgeon can't be seen but the patient looks fantastic.
Now, I can't lie, there are too many instances, watching television, particularly reality
television, where I find myself staring at the screen blatantly at what I call extreme
plastic surgery. Where the plastic surgery is written all over the patient's face, or
their body, and their body is exaggerated and totally out of bounds and missing the
harmony that I would ideally like to see. I can't lie, I look at these patients and
i think to myself do they like what they see in the mirror, does that make them happy?
And I honestly don't know the answer to that question. Whether it's a philosophical difference
between different plastic surgeons.
There are some very successful plastic surgeons, who their work is very extreme and it's very
easy to spot. And I think there are other plastic surgeons that you have no idea that
it's there. And in fact, I somewhat regret the fact that the very obvious plastic surgery
is what we see and the subtle, what I call elegant, idealized in my mind, plastic surgery
is not so noticeable. So you see where I am on this, it's pretty clear, I think our work
should enhance but I do not feel that we should be putting facing out of harmony, and I do
not feel that we should be totally redefining what an aesthetic face is, you know, over
exaggerated lips always are the easy one that comes to mind.
The second that comes to mind is where patients have these super tight necks and their heads
sit there like one of those bobble dolls. You know, that doesn't work for me and I'm
very upfront with it and when my patients come in to see me I'm very upfront with them,
I can't pretend that I want to do that. I'm very clear that if that's what they're looking
for then I'm really not the right person to be doing their surgery because I don't consider
that aesthetic. So I don't have an answer, I find it fascinating, you know perhaps in
parts of our society, certainly we can name Los Angeles, Texas and Miami where over exaggerated
*** are in hot demand. And one could have a philosophical discussion about why that
is as well. In the East, North East, *** tend to be much smaller by a significant amount,
and so there are cultural differences there which exist. And that's pretty clear. Again,
I think it comes down to communication and choosing your plastic surgeon.
I do find looking around that certain groups in certain actual geographical areas tend
to keep going to the same surgeons and there is a similarity to what their friends at the
club have and their neighbors have. And again, I can't help but ask the question do they
like that or is that just that's what everybody does and so they continue to do it? I don't
have the answer to that question, I find it rather fascinating and I think that I find
it particularly fascinating as a female because I find that an awful lot of the facial cosmetic
surgeons tend to be male, and it's interesting, it's almost like sometimes I wonder if it's
a pygmalion response that women go to males to have this done and maybe they need that
affirmation, I'm honestly not sure. It's a puzzlement to me, I think it's a really interesting
question.
But my feelings aside, I think from a patient's' standpoint, that whoever they choose it should
segway closely with what their desires are and I will confess that in my own practice
I have an awful lot of women who have come to me and they want facial cosmetic surgery
but their biggest concern is that they don't want to look like a freak, and they don't
want to look over exaggerated and so part of my consultations tends to be, " no, I'm
not going to do that to you. That's not my aesthetic." So the communication in making
sure that you're getting what you want is always at the heart of all of this. And I
would certainly encourage any patient, having any type of surgery, to explore that carefully.