During the course of my workweek, I usually run across a couple of patients in consultation who feel guilty about consulting me to change some aspect of their appearance. They feel almost like they are betraying themselves because they have this aspect of their appearance that they would like improved. It seems wrong to them that they should not be happy with the features they have or content with the changes that have occurred over the passage of time and having a child or two…or three.

It is very interesting to me how these consultations go. Some patients are comforted when I share with them that plastic surgery isn’t supposed to make you “funny looking”; it’s just supposed to minimize certain distractions the patient (and probably no one else!) sees in themselves. I tell them that they walk by people every day on the street that have had plastic surgery operations and they are unaware of this because these people look perfectly normal. And that’s the point. Not to make a bizarre, attention-attracting look, but to make a perfectly normal appearance that inspires increased self-confidence and doesn’t convert one aesthetic problem into another one!

As I discuss possible surgical options with other patients, they become certain that indeed plastic surgery is not for them, and this is OK too. The whole purpose of the consultation is to help the patient come to a decision that is right for them and not for anyone else. As practitioners of the art of plastic surgery, it is not right for us to sell people operations. We need to listen carefully to each individual and come to a plan together and sometimes this plan does not involve surgery.

Even if you’re not sure if plastic surgery is for you, you should give yourself permission to have a consultation and here you may find that you are comforted by the safety and skill with which modern plastic surgery is practiced or you, with the help of the surgeon, may come to the conclusion that it is not for you. Either way, you win.

David Luethcke, MD, FACS