Too Much of a Good Thing – Two to Tango
Patients choose whether to have cosmetic surgery or not. It is purely an elective and usually non-essential surgery. Some patients end up having so many cosmetic surgery operations that their physical appearance becomes distorted, as I have discussed in prior blogs. Obviously the responsibility of having multiple cosmetic surgery procedures rests with the patient. However, without a surgeon or injectionist doing each treatment, excessive surgery would never occur. It takes two to tango, except of course when patients do surgery or injections on themselves.
I often see patients during consultations that have had multiple surgeries. Most often they have had their surgical procedures over a number of years and performed for specific physical sensitivities. Most results are natural in appearance and they are generally accepting of results, which may not always be perfect. In my opinion, these individuals are not obsessed with cosmetic surgery and I will consider them as patients.
There happen to be a few patients that present having had multiple surgeries on a single body part in quick succession, done by different surgeons. Some have so much scarring; it is impossible to make any further corrections. I advise these patients not to have more surgery. My professional ethics do not allow me to accept them as patients. Sadly this is not acceptable to everyone and unfortunately they will continue to seek out other physicians either locally or in other cities, until they find a surgeon to do what they want. Rest assured, you can most always find a surgeon to operate on you. Understand that surgeons make their living by operating, so when a surgeon recommends not having surgery, there must be a very good reason because they are losing income. Nonetheless it is difficult to disappoint a patient and turn them away. Fortunately, here in Minneapolis, most of my patients have reasonable expectations and seem to be conservative in their desire for unnecessary or repetitive cosmetic surgeries.
