Top Ten Tough Questions before Plastic Surgery

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Before any cosmetic plastic surgery procedure, make sure you are in the hands of a capable surgeon. To be positive your surgeon knows his or her stuff, here are ten tough questions to ask.

1. Doctor, do you do this procedure regularly?

If you want rhinoplasty, (nose surgery) choose a surgeon who does it two or three times weekly. Super specialists save time, money and discomfort in the long run.

2. Is your board certification in the specialty in which you now practice?

Get straight answers. If your surgeon is board certified in gynecology but offers to lift your eyelids or your forehead, don’t you have things backwards?

3. Doctor, do you have any health problems that may interfere with your proficiency in doing the procedure?

If the doctor has a hook on his left arm where a hand used to be, you might want to think about having surgery there. Likewise, if the doctor is using Braille to read, maybe shop around a little.

4. What is your rate of positive outcomes and safety record, doctor? How did you handle your last complication?

Watch for an honest answer. No plastic surgery procedure turns out perfectly each and every time. In rhinoplasty, about five percent of operations go south even in the best of hands for reasons that have nothing to do with the doctor’s skill.

5. Will I be involved in marking the surgical site?

A plastic or cosmetic surgeon marks your body or face with surgical ink before the procedure. It shows him or her where to operate once you are prone and covered. Ask to go over the markings while you’re awake and alert.



6. After the procedure, ask: Did anything unexpected happen during the operation, doctor?

Ninety nine times out of 100 everything goes smoothly --
provided you’ve done your homework and selected a capable,
trained surgeon. (Read more on how to select a qualified plastic surgeon in the first place.)

7. Anything different about my post-op care?

You may need to baby yourself a little more afterwards because every patient is different. Some are good to go sooner; others should take it easy a few more days.

8. Did anything happen that could complicate my recovery?

A trained, experienced plastic surgeon will have a good idea when those bruises and swelling, if any, will go away and when you can go back to work and start exercising again.

9. Anything special I need to know in case of bleeding or other post-op complications?

10. When am I supposed to see you next, doctor?

Most surgeons want to take a quick look at your surgical site(s) and general health the very next day. After that, you’ll usually get another follow-up visit soon to remove bandages or stitches. Depending on the procedure, your after pictures could be taken two months after surgery.

What tough question would you ask a plastic surgeon? Before and after the operation?

Koreans Put Plastic Surgery into their Movies

While American, British and Australians are fascinated with T.V. plastic surgery programs, Koreans like to go to the movies for their plastic surgery entertainment.

If you’ve followed our blog, you already know about 200 Pounds of Love, a Korean rock ‘n’ roll movie that used plastic surgery as a plot device.

Three Hankies

Now, for a three-hanky review! Star-crossed lovers deal with, not demanding families and feuding gangs, but plastic surgery and appearance.

The latest is Time, now playing on the Sundance Channel. The flick has a Korean sound track with English subtitles. Read more about the film.

While it’s a touching love story, it shows something American, British and Australian plastic surgeons (and probably many others, worldwide) would, and should, not do: provide plastic surgery to a person who wants it for all the wrong reasons. In this case, a patient is afraid her boyfriend will tire of her looks.


Take a knife to this face? Are you kidding?

Here’s what happens:

She-hee, the already gorgeous young woman above, becomes insecure about her appearance two years into a serious love affair. Her solution? Plastic surgery.

While a surgeon tells Seh-hee he can not make her any more pretty, she insists on having a surgical makeover. Afterwards, she splits on her lover, Ji-woo, while her face heals. The poor guy is heartbroken and searches everywhere for her. After six months, Seh-hee returns to him with a new name and is unrecognized. They start seeing each other again.

Another Plastic Surgery

Eventually, the boyfriend catches on and goes in for a total surgical facial makeover, too. Now it’s Seh-hee’s turn to go searching. Because she knows Ji-woo has a new face, she stops many handsome guys but the only way she can tell if a guy is really Ji-woo is by how the guy’s hand fits into hers.

I won’t give away the ending but it involves one more plastic surgery by one of the main characters, again for all the wrong reasons.


Seh-hee and Ji-woo before plastic
surgery.


The 98-minute movie is also worth seeing because South Korea looks modern, clean, uncrowded and with delicate Asian touches everywhere. As you might have guessed, the nation is also becoming a plastic surgery hot spot.

To read more about the right reasons for having plastic surgery, try the following article about choosing a plastic surgeon -- and why a plastic surgeon just might send you on your merry way.