"The
AW Center Defines Cosmetic Surgery"
...As plastic surgeons specializing
in cosmetic surgery, we have often wondered how our specialty
fits into traditional medicine. We have concluded that it doesn't
- at least not easily. Traditional medicine asks the question "What's wrong?" and "How do I fix it?" But these questions are inappropriate for cosmetic surgery. The patient is not sick. One doesn't need cosmetic surgery like one might need an appendectomy. Cosmetic surgery addresses something else. Although we know what it is, we don't have a word for it...
1. "The
Lie of the Mirror"
...Cosmetic surgery is in its
infancy. Medicine itself is thousands of years old but cosmetic
surgery only began in the mid-twentieth century - perhaps fifty
years ago. It is still evolving - so we need to continually ask
what role it plays in people's lives...
2. "The
Con of the Birthday"
...The con of the birthday, which
can be equally damaging, for we use birthdays as the sole
measurements of how old we are. But birthdays don't tell our true
age...
3. "Our
Faces Age Three Ways. How Does Yours Age? Drooping"
...Our lineage determines whether we
are in a family line of droopers, wrinklers or gaunters. Cosmetic
surgery can minimize these aging effects and have us look more
like we feel inside. Drooping is the most common type of aging
and it usually shows up earliest. It is also the type of aging
cosmetic surgery corrects best...
4. "Wrinkling"
...If your grandparents were
wrinklers, you probably will be too. Cosmetic surgical techniques
are getting better for wrinklers...
5. "Gaunting"
..."My face used to have baby
fat, but now it has no padding at all. It's all angles!",
said Mary, 70. "What can you do about it"...
6. "Does
your face look the way it should?"
...We want to look good! Our patients
say they want to look attractive. And it's true. Deeper down,
though, they often admit, "When I look in the mirror, I just
don't look right. I want to look more like me"...
7. "What
symbols live on your face?"
...Our faces are full of features.
and these features are symbols. some features, like large eyes,
are symbols of attractiveness. Other features, like bags under
the eyes, may symbolize unattractiveness...
8. "Time and Beauty"
...Over time, facial beauty peaks - for
most women between 20 and 35, for men a little older. Our face
clock runs faster the older we get...
9. "Healing
- the Three 'Phases' of Eve"
...At the end of the operation, your face
is new and the stitches and "cosmetic clips" hold
everything in place for healing to begin. Nature's healing glues
is called scar tissue. And, like all glue, the "drying
process" passes through phases...
10. "Choosing
a Plastic Surgeon"
...You will want to choose your plastic
surgeon differently from how you choose other doctors. You need
to see the results. Though credentials are important, they are
not as crucial as the surgeon's art work...
11. "The
Questions We Hear Most"
...Responses to some of the questions that
we hear the most from patients...
12. "Healing"
...They say people get crazy around three
things - money, sex, and politics. I would add a fourth - healing
after cosmetic surgery....
13. "Cosmetic
Surgery of the Body"
...The rest of the body is no less
important. Man of us are happy the way our face looks but suffer
over the way our body looks. These next columns about cosmetic
surgery of the body will be the views of our patients....
14. "Breast
Augmentation"
...Breast augmentation can help women who
feel their breasts are too small, too flat after breast-feeding,
or just misshapen...breast augmentation is not as much about
vanity as it is about feeling normal....
15. "Liposuction"
...Liposuction sculpts the body to "fit" harmoniously by removing pockets of fat in the neck, arms, abdomen, flanks, inner or outer thighs, calves -- often more than one place at a time.....
16. "Tummy Tucks"
..."I worked out, watched my diet. I wasn't overweight, but I never liked the way my belly looked after Josh was born. I just couldn't tighten back up. The tummy tuck was really amazing. I could see the result immediately." .....
17. "Breast
Reduction"
...After listening to women speak about the burden of extremely large breasts, it is no surprize to also hear them say that breast reduction surgery changed their lives.....
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