Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Articles

In my recent post, I highlighted a few things to help guide your search for a plastic surgeon and ensure that you find one you can trust. Things like asking friends and family for recommendations, reading as many reviews as you can stomach—but digesting them with a grain of salt, and checking the surgeon’s credentials.

All of that should serve as preparation for your initial consultation with a plastic surgeon, a critical part of the process. Here are a few more tips for what you should be looking for in a plastic surgeon. These are intended to provide you with a framework for the consultation itself and the moments that will follow it, right up to your decision.

Treat the consultation like a job interview.

If you walk into your consultation thinking, It’s the doctor’s responsibility to sell me on his ability to do this procedure, you’re going to miss a prime opportunity to gain some valuable insight into both the procedure and the doctor. Not to mention, those pitches are going to begin to become indistinguishable.

So, just like you would for a job interview, come prepared with a list of questions to ask the plastic surgeon. Go in with the aim of trying to resolve any uncertainty you may have about the procedure and the surgeon. Here are some examples:

• What’s your experience with this procedure?
• Can I see photos of some of your patients who’ve had this procedure, specifically those with my body type?
• Where will the procedure be done?
• I know this procedure is routine and safe, but just in case there’s a complication, are you affiliated with a hospital?
• What can I realistically expect from the recovery, and can I avoid the use of opioids?
• What’s the total cost of the procedure, with all the fees included?

The consultation is also the time when you should express your impetus for the procedure and your goals for it. The former is just as important as the latter because the surgeon may be able to suggest an alternative, less-invasive way to resolve the concern, or a complementary procedure that could provide a more comprehensive solution.

Take note of the doctor’s demeanor, too.

There can be so much emphasis on a doctor’s technical ability and experience that their bedside manner is overlooked. But that’s an important factor to consider for what you should be looking for in a plastic surgeon. Plastic surgery is equal parts science and art, so you should be weary of any doctor who treats this process as formulaic, or who pressures you to undergo a particular procedure.

No matter how often they’ve performed this procedure, they should treat you uniquely, asking lots of questions of their own and openly discussing realistic outcomes. And then they should be willing to give you your space to digest all of that information and decide on your own—and even meet again, if you feel it’s necessary.

Take your time and trust your instincts.

The relationship between you and your plastic surgeon is a personal one. You’re sharing concerns with them, some that you may not even have expressed to your spouse or partner. So, take your time and be patient. If you’ve met with a few doctors and you didn’t connect like you’d hoped you would, keep looking. You didn’t begin this process by settling. Don’t start now.

There’s no disputing that women seek plastic surgery more often than men. But there have been subtle shifts in the year-end data that indicate men are more interested than they’re letting on and a Growing Number of Men are Turning to Noninvasive Procedures to Remain Relevant at Work.

Two of the largest segments of growth are wrinkle reducers and facial fillers. While men made up just 6% of the noninvasive, wrinkle-reducing procedures performed in 2017, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, that number is a 347% increase over 2000. Certain invasive procedures, like liposuction, have also been showing small but steady growth among men.

One of the biggest reasons for the new interest, according to industry experts: a rapidly evolving workplace that, more and more, values youth over experience. We may be living in an increasingly woke culture, but ageism remains a very real thing. Men, in turn, aren’t so much interested in completely erasing their ages as they are adding a bit of credibility by appearing distinguished and, at the same time, young enough not to be irrelevant.

‘We’d be kidding ourselves if we thought looks don’t matter’

Men are Turning to Noninvasive Procedures

Refinery29 recently profiled five such men, ranging in age from mid-thirties to fifties. Speaking from behind false names to protect their identities, they describe a simple, universal desire to look like better versions of themselves.

Steve, a media executive in his late thirties, got Kybella because he’d long been self-conscious about his double chin. Once he realized how quickly it could be resolved, he wasted little time. “In my job, I don’t have the luxury to take five days off. I can’t even take one day off,” he says. “I saw my best friend 72 hours after the procedure, and he still has no clue I had it done.”

Though his motivation wasn’t necessarily tied to his career, Steve says his performance soared. “We’d be kidding ourselves if we thought looks don’t matter,” he says. “No one gets a promotion because of plastic surgery unless they’re in porn. But, does it provide you with additional confidence to do your job every day? Emphatically, yes.”

‘I’m a slightly younger version of myself’

Chris, an advertising executive on the cusp of his 40th birthday, started getting injectable wrinkle reducers and Aquagold facials (a microneedle-type device delivers a small amount of dermal fillers and neurotoxins) to stay competitive in a youth-crazed industry. Valued as experience may be, looking like you earned it is a detriment.

“The perfect balance is somewhere between 35 and 50,” he says. Which is why he didn’t want to erase every line on his face. “I’m OK with maintaining a little bit of wrinkles, just enough so that it looks like I’m a slightly younger version of myself.”

‘I’m able to walk into a room and own it’

Derrick, a 35-year-old freelance stylist, has been getting injectable wrinkle reducers since he was 29 and filler for about three years. “I didn’t have one line on my face, and I still don’t all these years later,” he says.

Recently, he decided to get liposuction, too. Despite a rigorous workout regimen, Derrick felt he was lacking the definition he wanted. After his procedure, his confidence jumped, and his career’s benefitted. “Now I’m able to walk into a room and own it,” he says. “It’s allowed me to land bigger jobs, not because my work is better, but because I’m able to sell myself better.”