Consultation
Cosmetic Surgery - Plastic Surgery - Aesthetic Medicine - Reconstructive Surgery
The consultation is the time when the unique and special relationship
between patient and physician is established. This consultation is
called "the one to one dialogue." During the consultation the patient
will expect technical advice from the doctor as well as moral support. A
well-known adage reflects what often happens during a consultation:
"Cure sometimes, relieve often, comfort always”. What happens during a
consultation is a human encounter, a true dual relationship.
The dialogue between surgeon and patient in aesthetic plastic surgery
is essential to try to identify the genuine will of the patient,
his/her deep desire to match the image of his/her body with what he/she
feels deeply. Caution is always advised before any transformative
surgery.
Key questions to ask are: Does the deformity exist? Does the
deformity affects the patient's psychology or not? Is there a safe and
effective surgical method of correcting this deformity? After this flaw
is corrected, will the patient experience a psychological benefit? The
purpose of all these questions is to give the patient full information
so that he/she can think about strategy, risks and outcomes that are
proposed and then take the decision to undergo the surgery or refuse
it.
Like all surgical procedures, aesthetic plastic or reconstructive or
surgery carries, risks and the law requires the practitioner to inform
the patient about all of them. There are therapeutic and anaesthetic
risks, the risk of bleeding, infection and scarring and risks
associated with different implants which are specific to each of them.
In the case of plastic and aesthetic surgery there are also risks
linked with the potential outcome, with the possibility that the
patient may be disappointed with the surgery (unsightly, too visible,
or unnatural result, etc). The origin of a bad result is, in most cases
an incorrect diagnosis, or a strategic mistake, or a combination of
both.
The final risk in the aesthetic surgery is directly related to
patient motivation and personality. This risk exists in cases where the
dialogue between surgeon and patient shows an initial demand which
does not involve the search for harmony or repair of a defect causing
visible suffering.
This may arise in the case of a request by an adolescent where the
adolescent personality is not fully formed or in children who do not
want anything but are taken to a consultation by the parents. It also
arises in other cases where the patient may consider a change of life
will be achieved by the mere intervention of aesthetic surgery.
The surgeon, through the consultation (it takes more than one to
allow the patient to make a decision in full knowledge of the facts)
and informed consent, will guide the patient in his/her decision on
whether or not to undergo surgery.