Top 5 Regrets Of Plastic Surgery Patients
The market size of the plastic surgery industry in USA is going to be a whopping $17.9 billion (based on revenue) by the end of 2019. And this is only the beginning.
Cosmetic procedures are more accessible than ever before and inspired by our changing social environment and popularity of selfie media. People are more willing now to go under the knife to look and feel better.
But that said, there is still a knowledge gap born from the legacy of bias and judgement that plastic surgery has always suffered. People who experience plastic surgery first-hand fully realize this.
At Dr.Bryan McIntosh’s clinic in Bellevue, WA, we have a lot of post-op patients telling us how mistaken they were in their decision-making phase because they believed in myths and half-truths or simply didn’t have the facts.
To help men and women who are still considering plastic surgery, we’re listing the top 5 regrets our patients have personally expressed after undergoing procedures in our clinic.
Regret # 1: I Wish I’d Done It Sooner
There are two reasons for this:
• People often worry about taking the big step. Overwhelmed by the idea of looking fake or facing ridicule, they sit on the fence with this decision for months or even years. Post-op, however, these patients realize how exaggerated their fears were, how satisfactory and natural the results are, and therefore wish they had done it sooner.
• Not many people know that you don’t have to be in your 40s or 50s to undergo plastic surgery. The sooner you do it, when the first signs of aging appear, the better the results will be because the skin and tissues are younger and more resilient.
Regret # 2: I Wish I’d Done More
This post-op regret comes from not trusting the best judgement of the surgeon. Often, patients are given a holistic view of the procedures they will need to get the best possible results. But overriding these expert opinions, they pick and choose the ones theythink will do the trick and berate themselves afterwards for not heeding to professional advice.
Regret # 3: I Don’t Know Why I Was So Scared
This is a very understandable regret, especially among people who are afraid of needles or think they have a low pain threshold. The idea of going under the knife terrified them, and they didn’t believe how modern pain management has made discomfort far less intimidating than they imagined it would be.
Regret # 4: I Wish I’d Gone To A Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon
When surgeons are board-certified—in other words, rigorously tested and certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS), the only board the American Board of Medical Specialties recognizes to certify doctors in the full range of plastic and reconstructive procedures—they are recognized as experts in their field.
Board-certified plastic surgeons are extensively trained in both cosmetic and reconstructive facial and body procedures. They know how to prevent complications and handle emergencies with the highest technical skill and aesthetic judgment.
Unfortunately, there are many doctors working in cosmetic and plastic surgery clinics who have received some training in another specialty or even taken a three-day course. When they transfer into plastics, they don’t have the necessary knowledge or experience and put patients at risk.
Victims of botched procedures, who either didn’t bother to find out if their surgeon was board-certified or didn’t care because he/she offered a cheaper price, learn this lesson the hard way.
Regret # 5: I Wish I Had Known All My Options
Plastic surgery is making progress every day, and there is a variety of procedures that must be evaluated and considered because each patient presents his/her unique set of circumstances.
Not all surgeons take the time to educate patients about their full range of choices—both surgical and non-surgical—during the initial consultation. Patients find out too late that there may have been a more suitable procedure they could have opted for to get better results if only they had known about it.