| Most women realistic
about their appearance
By DR. CARL KRASNIAK
QUESTION: In your experience, how realistic are women about their appearance? Do they judge themselves realistically, harshly or kindly? Do they hold themselves to attainable standards?
ANSWER: We always would like to look our best. For the most part, women are realistic.
A small minority are very critical about minor irregularities. These women (and men) tend to be chronically unhappy, and may be blaming and transposing their inner unhappiness on their external features.
For these patients, no amount of aesthetic improvement will truly make them happy. Luckily, the vast majority are realistic, and experience happy outcomes with their plastic surgery.
Q: What are the most common complaints you hear from women about their appearance? What are the most common cosmetic procedures?
A: Young women are unhappy with body shapes — breasts too small, hips too large. As middle-age approaches, skin wrinkles and frown lines become more of a concern.
Because of these age-related concerns, breast augmentation and liposuction are very popular with young women while eyelid and facial procedures are more likely in middle-aged and older women.
Q: What can plastic surgery do to help women who aren’t happy with their appearance?
A: Plastic surgery can do a lot. Making sure a patient’s concerns are physically present sounds silly, but it’s important that the patient and plastic surgeon first agree on the area of concern.
The next most important question is: Can surgery possibly improve this concern? Presenting options available to the patient and selecting from these options based on the patient’s goals and individual situation are the surgeon’s number-one concern.
Q: From the perspective of attitude and expectations, who is an appropriate candidate for cosmetic surgery and who is not?
A: From a surgeon’s standpoint, a positive patient attitude and realistic goals and expectations are mandatory before agreeing to offer surgery.
Equally important is the patient’s overall health condition. Serious medical problems, certain medications and smoking history may make surgery too risky or unpredictable. As each patient is unique, each plan must be unique.
Q: Are your experiences with men seeking cosmetic surgery similar to your experiences with women?
A: The great majority of cosmetic surgery patients are women.
One important note: men who seek cosmetic surgery are, as a rule, more critical of their appearance and their results than women.
A careful understanding of a patient’s psychological motivation for seeking cosmetic improvement is especially important in men, in whom driving factors may not revolve around ideas of beauty and aesthetic appeal, but may include career advancement or other job concerns.
Dr. Carl Krasniak is a plastic and
reconstructive surgeon at Slocum-Dickson Medical Group in New Hartford.
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