Why Should Plastic Surgery be Considered Art?
Plastic or cosmetic surgeons who see a day's work as an assembly line of patients to "fix" are probably not the best choice for a patient undergoing a cosmetic procedure, even if the surgeon promises to match competitor's prices. Every face is unique and every body is unique, and plastic surgery can never really be a "one size fits all" situation.
The skilled plastic surgeon looks at each patient as a unique human being and takes into account a lot of information before proceeding with surgery. If a patient is having a rhinoplasty (nose job), his or her facial shape, cheekbone structure and chin will all need to be considered when choosing exactly how to proceed. The years when a plastic surgeon gave every young woman who crossed his doorway a pert little ski-jump nose are long gone. Fortunately, most of the "conventional wisdom" that thought the same "perfect" nose would look good on any face has died out. The best plastic surgeons do not use rhinoplasty as an excuse to rid a person's face of all character or racial traits, but rather strives to make an existing nose a little more refined.
The same is true of bodily surgery. A fine-boned, petite Asian woman is not going to look right if she receives the same breast implants as a strapping northern European woman of 5 foot 10. A surgeon who is obsessed with a "right" way that he or she thinks everyone's particular characteristics should look is one you should stay away from.
Patients are far better off with the plastic surgeon who realizes he doesn't know everything and takes the time to study a patient's face or body before deciding - with input from the patient - upon the best way to address the patient's concerns and wants. A plastic surgeon who is certain that he knows exactly how to make a patient look better - and it happens to be very similar to how he wants to make most of his other patients look better - is someone to be wary of. There is a fine line between confidence and overconfidence.
If you are a patient who considers plastic surgery to be an art form, it is particularly vital to shop around for a surgeon with whom you can communicate, meaning that he or she listens to you as much as you listen to them.
