Aesthetic surgery
Cosmetic Surgery - Plastic Surgery - Aesthetic Medicine - Reconstructive Surgery
Aesthetic surgery is a surgical discipline which has the power to
shape, repair or beautify the human body. Plastic and aesthetic surgery
offers temporary (facelifts, liposuction, wrinkle treatment with
Botox®) or permanent (breast surgery, nose surgery, sex change, etc.)
body modification.
Aesthetic surgery has been a recognised discipline since 1989 with
specific formal training resulting in a qualification issued by the
National Council of the College of Physicians. This qualification is
the result of specific and precise education and training, backed up by
examinations and diplomas. Aesthetic surgery is officially included in
the qualifications of reconstructive plastic surgery. Plastic surgery
has become: plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery.
Advertising of aesthetic surgery is becoming so widespread and
anarchic, that it is essential the patient is very attentive to the
qualifications of the plastic surgeon that will be treating him/her.
The Act of March 4, 2002 was a key step in regulating the practice of
plastic surgery within the health system. It strengthened the
obligations on doctors and regulated aesthetic surgery clinics. For the
purposes of securing informed consent from the patient, advertising is
prohibited and an estimate is required as is the most complete
information possible on the surgical procedure or procedures to be
performed.
Unlike plastic and reconstructive surgery in which the body is
repaired and rebuilt after illness or injury, aesthetic surgery as such
takes care of patients who seek a consultation with a view to
modifying healthy parties of their bodies.
These patients feel some parts of their anatomy are very unpleasant
and have a need to modify their bodies for strictly personal reasons.
In such cases, we must not neglect the social pressure behind this
desire to change the body so that it seems more consistent with the
canons of beauty that appear in contemporary society through the media,
fashion and advertising . Aesthetic surgery is a patient’s search to
harmonise him or herself with the image he/she wants to show others.
Aesthetic surgery not dictated by any medical justification and is not covered by Social Security.
In aesthetic surgery, dialogue between surgeon and patient is
essential to try to identify the genuine desire of the patient: his/her
deep desire to match the image of his/her body with what he or she
feels deep-down. Caution is always advisable before any transformative
surgery goes ahead:
Key questions to ask include: Does a defect exist? Does the defect
affect the patient's psychological state or not? Is there a safe and
effective surgical method for correcting this defect? Will the patient
gain any psychological benefit from the correction of this defect? The
purpose of all these questions is to provide the patient with full
information so that he/she can think about strategy, risks and outcomes
that are put to him and then take the decision to go ahead with the
surgery or refuse it.
The main procedures are: surgery to the eyelids (blepharoplasty),
nose, ears, breasts, localized excess fat, the abdomen and facelifts.
Like all surgical procedures, aesthetic surgery carries risks, and the
law requires the practitioner to inform the patient of all of them.
There are therapeutic and anaesthetic risks, there is the risk of
bleeding, infection and scarring and risks associated with various
implants which are specific to each of them.
There are also risks associated with results, with the potential for
the patient to be disappointed by the surgery (unsightly, too visible
or unnatural result etc.). A poor result is, in most cases, due to an
inappropriate diagnosis, a strategic error, or a combination of both.
The last risk that exists with any aesthetic surgery is directly
related to patient motivation and personality. This risk exists in
cases where the discussion between the surgeon and the patient
discloses an initial demand which different from the search for harmony
or repair of a visible defect causing suffering. This may be the case
where the request comes from an adolescent whose personality is not
developed or from a child who does want anything done but is taken to a
consultation by the parents. . It also arises in other cases, however,
where the patient may hope for a change of life merely as a result of
the aesthetic surgery procedure.
The surgeon, through consultation and informed consent will guide the patient in his/her desire to have surgery or not.
Well performed aesthetic surgery, undertaken wisely and skilfully by
skilled surgeons may be one way to help people find physical and
psychological balance.