Plastic Fantastic

Created on 25th February 2009

In this extract from his book Plastic Fantastic, top cosmetic surgeon Dr Dai Davies explains what you should consider before embarking on cosmetic surgery

Taking the plunge?
The decision to have cosmetic surgery is a personal one. It should never be made at the suggestion of others, not well meaning friends and relatives and certainly not partners. In fact, most people don't want their partner to have cosmetic surgery but, sadly, some people do consult a surgeon because their partner has teased them or intimated, ‘I might love you more if you looked different'. Of course, this is the wrong reason for having surgery.

We live in a ruthlessly competitive era in which we're fighting for work. The old and the ugly are the first to be rejected. So there are going to be more and more of us willing to take advantage of whatever the surgeon can offer to improve and maintain our looks. During the 1980s in the US, the number of people who had surgery to remove excess skin and bags around the eyes went up by over a third and face lifts by a quarter.

What are the risks?
New techniques mean we don't always need to have a general anaesthetic, stay in hospital or even submit to the scalpel. We can have thin lips enlarged with injections or have our frown lines temporarily frozen. We can have the fat sucked out be liposuction or use lasers to eradicate wrinkles.

On the other hand, there have been many scare stories connected to, for example, the safety of collagen, liposuction and silicone breast implants. We also know the results of cosmetic surgery can be variable, as we've all heard stories of operations that have gone horribly wrong, leaving people scarred, with major loss of sensation or even deformed.

Provided it's carried out by a reputable surgeon and anaesthetist, cosmetic surgery is safe. Of course, there's the general anaesthetic, though the risk of dying under it is extremely rare.

Nevertheless, having cosmetic surgery is still a risky business. Every time a surgeon picks up a scalpel there is a possibility of complications. Surgery is an invasive procedure and it can cause severe pain, appalling bruising and permanent scars. Recovery takes a long time.

The pain will ease and the bruises disappear with time, but how well the scars heal and fade cannot be predicted with any accuracy. How completely scars are hidden depends not only on the skill of the surgeon but also on the type of the operation.

More importantly, satisfaction cannot be guaranteed. Surgery may not fulfill expectations. There may be unexpectedly bad scarring. The patient may be dissatisfied with his or her new appearance, or even feel that he or she hardly looks any different after the operation. Or there may be grave disappointment if a person still doesn’t get that top job after having had surgery, or the marriage still breaks up.

Should you tell?

If you do decide to have cosmetic surgery, you have to consider whether or not you want other people to know. Most people who have had a cosmetic operation are extremely reluctant to let the world know what they’ve done. They don’t want to be condemned for vanity. They don’t want friends to be horrified at how much money they’ve spent, neither do they want to be told that they should grow old gracefully.

You should certainly discuss your decision with your partner, who may well feel anxious about all the risks of surgery. It’s probably worth telling a trusted friend to see how he or she reacts but otherwise you may find it easiest, in general, to keep your plans to yourself. It’s surprising how often someone undergoes cosmetic surgery and no one spots the change – except to express general admiration for how well they look, or what nice clothes they’re wearing.

Refinements in technique and new technology are being developed all the time. A good cosmetic surgeon can do incredible things for your looks but you have to find that surgeon. Even then, it’s still a case of sitting down and working out whether the benefits of having a particular operation really outweigh all the risks involved.

Cosmetic surgery is a life event, so it’s vital that you think long and hard about why you want to have it. Equally important is finding a surgeon you trust who understands exactly what you want and can tell you whether or not that’s possible.

Finding a surgeon is not easy, unless you simply respond to one of the many advertisements at the back of magazines and supplements. However, you don’t want to end up looking worse that you did to start with. Surgical mistakes aredistressing and costly to put right – if that’s possible – so it’s well worth making every effort to make sure you’ve got the right one.

Remember, though, cosmetic surgery is not a magic wand. It may alter your appearance, and this may change the way you feel about yourself, but it cannot be guaranteed to change your life. That is up to you, not a cosmetic surgeon. CSMUK