Making Good Decisions

Having been in practice as a cosmetic as well as reconstructive surgeon for 27 years, I decided to share some of my feelings about plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery, and medicine as a whole. There are so many sites dealing with the technical aspects of various plastic surgery, I decided to talk about my personal feelings as a doctor and a plastic surgeon.

Everyday we are bombarded by images of beautiful people. The American male is obessed with the American female breast. Everyday I see beautiful women who want to look even better. I have to not only help these women achieve their goals but I also have to help them stay healthy and make good decisions. For example, Mary D, a recent patient of mine, came in to see me for breast implants. She was tall and beautiful, with long flowing shining black hair and an athletic build. Her only problem was a -A cup size. She essentially had only nipples!

Because she was tall she wanted to be as big as she could be. She wanted DDD implants. Now, most guys would say what's wrong with that? Well my job was to help her, not hurt her by placing huge heavy implants on this beautiful girl. We spent several consultation sessions discussing the pros and cons of DDD implants. She continued to insist upon this size. I finally decided not to do her surgery and she went somewhere else. I could not get her to realize how heavy these implants would be and the effect they would have with gravity over time.

I am a doctor first of all, and the health and welfare of my patient is what is ultimately important. When a plastic surgeon becomes simply a technican or a pitchman for TV ads or a reality show star he is no longer behaving as a professional — he is a salesman. The customer then is always right. More later.