Is plastic surgery a right choice for you?
As I said earlier, there is a price you pay for plastic surgery. The price is scar, time off work and exercise, healing, getting someone to watch your kids for a week so you can do this, and the risks of surgery. What price are you willing to pay? How much are you bothered? How easy is it to fix?
Some people scar well. For these women, when they have a scar, it will start as a red scar, then turn purple, and then fade away into nothingness. I have seen some of my patients come back, and I can’t find their scar. I know where it is, but it faded away. They pay a lower price than someone who may hyperpigment (fancy way of saying scar turns darker, black, or brown) or keloid (fancy term for a condition where you form an elevated, itchy, ropey scar).
Some surgeries have small scars and potentially large changes. Breast augmentation, eyelifts, and liposuction tend to have big changes with small scars. Small price. But now let’s say you come in, you were a 34D prior to kids and now you are more like a B, and your breasts droop. Hmmmm. Tougher choice. Breast lift with an implant is a bigger surgery, more scar, more potential for sensory change, etc etc. What price are you willing to pay? Would you rather have a small scar and the ideal sized breast implant for you, but still be a little droopy? Would you rather go to a larger volume breast implant if it meant you could be perkier and avoid doing a lift? How much larger? If you think, “no way! If I am going to go through surgery and get a breast implant, I want them to look perky and fantastic. I need the breasts up!”, then you might need a breast augmentation with a lift, with the larger length of surgery, recovery, and scar it entails.
Most of my photos I show are women 6 to 8 weeks after surgery. I am reprimanded for it a lot. Why do you show red scars? Why don’t you show scars when they are farther out? Why don’t you put underwear on your tummy tuck patients so we don’t see the scar?
I have photos of patients a year out with beautiful scars. Most have beautiful scars. I don’t think that is helpful. You will see the scar the photos hide under the underwear. Anyone can look at a photo of a wrinkled, strech marked, hanging belly and think “of course they should do a tummy tuck.” But you, the patient, will need to do the surgery. You will feel the changes. You will see the scar while you heal.
So, find an honest surgeon. I don’t candy coat. I show my large surgery scars on purpose when they are new. Red. Raw. Visible. New. I discuss the risks and complications in detail. When you do surgery there are elements we can’t control as plastic surgeons. How will you heal? How will you scar? When we say there is a 1% chance of something, will you be that person? Education can be scary. When choosing to do elective cosmetic surgery, you need to know what you are choosing. I do hundreds of surgeries a year. For these women, the “price” of surgery was worth it. Only you can make the decision of what is right for you.