Cosmetic Surgery
According to The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), minimally invasive cosmetic procedures grew 66% from 2000-2006, and there is a growing market among men and younger patients, especially in metropolitan areas.
In a recent survey of dermatologists in the Epocrates network, the majority of participants reported an increase in patients’ requests for cosmetic procedures in the past 5 years, and 3 in 4 expect to see more patients for cosmetic enhancements.
Epocrates member Doris Day, MD, a New York-based dermatologist and author of “Forget the Facelift,” says that in 2008 “the cosmetic/aesthetic market will grow at an exponential rate thanks to newer, better, less invasive treatments. The patient dialogue is changing to not just lifting and tightening, but also to rejuvenating, enhancing and maintaining.”
We’d like to hear your opinions of and experiences with cosmetic procedures, such as:
- Would you undergo surgery to change your appearance?
- How do you advise patients who are unhappy with their looks?
- Do you think teenagers should be getting cosmetic surgery?
- Are we aging gracefully?
Please share your unique insights with the Epocrates community below.
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Plastic surgery to inhance one’s looks and make a women more competitive in the workforce are a personal choice. I feel our society does not respect mature people in the workplace and the fact that someone would consider drastic alterations of appearance to make one more competitive is a sad commentary of our society as a whole. I do alot of breast exams on female who have had saline implants and I wonder what could possibly be sexy to have hard “icecream cone “shaped objects on your chest.
This comment is offensive!I thought I would age gracefully, and undergoing surgery still seems too risky. I would consider enhancements, maybe around my smile lines, and between my eyebrows. My niece who is 15 years younger than me has has that done with good results. Now that I am turning 50, “aging gracefully” has a new definintion.
This comment is offensive!If I were to advise a patient, I would tell them to carefully weigh the risks and benefits. After watching “Extreme Makeover”, I don’t think I would do it. I wonder what they look like without the makeup?
I would consider cosmetic surgery for myself but would be mopre hesitant to recommend it to someone elase. Cost vs benefit not worth surgery risks & better to improve self image through other realms than the body
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This comment is offensive!In the comments I’m reading there seems to be come confusion between cosmetic procedures and plastic surgery for medical reasons. I think these are two distinct issues and the point of the Epocrates survey. And yeah Anne - nursing student at 64! You go girl!!
This comment is offensive!Would you undergo surgery to change your appearance? Yes
This comment is offensive!How do you advise patients who are unhappy with their looks? Lookup on Wikipedia, consider all the negatives and whether you would like to have the procedure, get on a makeover TV show OR a substantial numbers of dinners out with your partner.
Do you think teenagers should be getting cosmetic surgery? If they have a good relationship with parents and their personal primary physician they could consider surgery. Please do not let GW sign it in as a ‘freedom’ of being an American.
Are we aging gracefully? Each is different, most look good, if they would change clothes and wear a tie without gravy on it.
No, personaly I won’t consider cosmetic surgery but i am a male and 65 years old
This comment is offensive!But I have had female patients become less depressed after a face lift, so I do admit there is a need.
Interesting, and sad, to read. Plastics is an amazing and wonderful field when repairing cleft palates, reconstructing breasts ravaged by cancer…but “I want to look young enough to get hired in my field”? “It’s always been with me even when I was anorexic”? Does anyone see anything distressing in these statements? They suggest that America’s obsession with youth is correct not only in terms of beauty but in our worth as health-care providers, and that if one has tried an eating disorder and it hasn’t worked, let’s try going under the knife. Let’s throw out our medical journals and resubscribe to Vogue.
This comment is offensive!I had breast augmentation 4 years ago and I couldn’t be more happier. But I did it for my self, not for my husband or anyone else for that matter. I have always been very athletic and very tone. I am 5′9″ and weigh 132lbs. I tried everything including bust increasing exercises before making my decision. I remained “flat chested” despite my efforts. Since I had the procedure I have felt so much better about myself. I am a mother of three and have extra skin around the abdomen. I am now considering having a tummy tuck because no matter haw much I work out, I can’t loose the look of having belly fat because of the skin. I would highly recommend anyone who has issues with there body to consider plastic surgery to help with their self esteem. However, I would not recommend it to teenagers because their body is still developing and the results they get from surgery will not be the same if they wait until they are in their 20’s. I would also be against anyone to have sugery to impress others or the please someone else.
This comment is offensive!Realistic expectations up front and doing research beforehand are vital before making a decision of whether to proceed with any cosmetic surgery. I find that many Plastic Surgeons are not “up front” with potential patients of a realistic outcome.
This comment is offensive!I recommend anyone considering PS to head to http://www.makemeheal.com where many PS also answer questions in regard to expectations and complications as well as real patient experiences to help.
Dr Balhuizen’s comment suggests an outdated outlook and I appreciate the balance Alanna Smiths comment brings.
I have researched and helped support literally thousands of men and women on their quest of whether to have PS or not and then helped guide them to useful resources before making these decisions.
A teenagers body is still changing and developing and in 99% of cases it is best to hold off until their 20’s before having any PS.
I started doing laser hair removal, vein treatments and tattoo removals 3 1/2 years ago. I also do botox and fillers. I have had all the procedures before I perform them on my patients and feel that I was appropriately trained before starting to do them. I personally do all my procedures, not office staff or estheticians. I do have some patients with unrealisyic expectations and try to be clear on what my procedures can and can’t do. These minimally invasive treatments are enhancements like make-up or hair color. I have done a few facial vein treatments on children and some hair removal on teenagers, however overall I would balk at more than this. I get a great opportunity to discuss sun exposure, diet and exercise, hormone replacement, and tobacco abuse with my patients and try to help them make healthier lifestyle changes.
This comment is offensive!Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Today, we are fortunate to have many options be it surgical or non-surgical to choose from that will enhance or reconstruct the features we were born with, or have neglected. Self esteem and ones mental health are additional ‘parts’ of a whole being. I feel that as a plastic surgeon you have to consider the ‘whole’ person before committing to a procedure. As an adult, if having a procedure makes someone feel better about themselves then a conscious decision between the provider and the patient should be made. I do feel children should not have any enhancements until over age 18.
This comment is offensive!As a women’s health provider, I see many breast implants, liposuction and minor work results. Sometimes patients ask my opinion before. I think it is fine if someone wants to have something done to enhance their appearance. However, especially with breast implants, the results may not be natural looking and the psychological need may have been more for poor self esteem or a desire to look like an unrealistic ideal. I think we should especially be cautious with teens. My 15 y.o. asks about liposuction! The emphasis should be on health and good personal choices and not just on appearance.
This comment is offensive!I think Plastic Surgery/Cosmetic surgery is a wonderful thing. I believe everyone has their own definition of beauty and the right to look by what they define. For some people that may be something simple like fuller lips, others want body contouring … its all relevant to each person’s opinion. I myself would love to get work done someday. Maybe make the nose a little more defined, remove a lil’ fat from certain areas where the gym doesn’t help. But that’s because to me that is what I think would make myself beautiful, not to say I think I am ugly now, but if I believe I can correct what I believe are my little errors then why not. Plastic surgery is actually the field I want to go into one day, and I am beyond excited to my plastic surgery elective this summer.
This comment is offensive!I personally approve something that makes you feel better physically or mentally or spiritually if it doesn’t take money away from basic needs and doesn’t impinge negatively on others.
This comment is offensive!I’m also glad that I live in a country where we can have discussions like this and everybody is right.
Do what makes you happy! It’s your money and if you want to get cosmetic procedures done, why not? There is a minimal risk, but the benefits of increased confidence, are well worth it.
This comment is offensive!As a female physician I have lived with excessive stress, poor diet, and lack of consistent exercise for most of my life starting with medical school. Tanned skin was an almost universal requirement in my age group to be considered beautiful so I sunbathed and used tanning beds for about 35 years. All this damaged my skin, so in my early 40’s I could see clear signs of aging. “Not fair!” I said. “I just now reached a point in my life where I can relax and enjoy myself. I do not want to look too old to be doing the things I postponed all those early years in school and starting a practice.” I researched all the available options and found skin rejuvination and tightening with laser to be safe, effective for early signs of aging, and with minimal discomfort and recovery time. I got alittle braver and tried botox to smooth lines between my brows and smile lines around my eyes. Worked well with the added bonus of relieving my frequent tension headaches! I do not use botox in areas that would interfere with my usual expressions my friends and family consider part of my “character.” Most recently I used alittle juvederm to define the edges of my lips where tiny lipstick lines were starting to pop up. No regrets there, either. All this seems about the same as coloring or perming my hair. People have been enhancing their appearance for thousands of years. We just happen to have better stuff in the last 8 years.
This comment is offensive!Health is physical, mental, spiritual well being. As a doctor i do not encourage the patient in his/her mental or spiritual misperception when there is no gross deformity. Instead, I work to heal them within so that the outward perception is corrected- in their minds. This not only corrects their deformity but their other somatic , social, and personal problems.
This comment is offensive!re: Dr. Balhuizen:
The study you’re referring to studied 24000 women who specifically had breast implants. The study went on for 15 years. “…A total of 480 women with breast implants died during this period. Compared with the control group, the scientists calculated the mortality rate was 26 percent lower in the women with breast implants. The discrepancy can be accounted for, they said, by the fewer deaths from cancer, notably breast cancer, and heart disease for the women with breast implants….”. If you calculate the mortality rate compared to the total number of women, it’s really not that high for any one cause.
The study suggests that it wasn’t really able to quantify how many of the women in the study had major or minor depressive problems before or after the surgery. This would be a vital number in figuring anything valid about the study.
Basically, some number of 480 women died of suicide; a number possible around 50 but possibly not. That’s not really not a statistically significant number. The lives were important, of course, but the stats are not.
This comment is offensive!re: Dr. Franks:
I had a mole removed on my shoulder last year, because it was getting abraded every time I put my bra on. If I went out with a sleeveless shirt in the summer, it looked like some bubo or other. =) Not all moles are equal, I guess.
This comment is offensive!