Myths
Since cosmetic surgery is almost always elective and it is run as for-profit business by surgeons, aggressive marketing is part of the game. Therefore, it is no surprise to see all kinds of misleading statements coming out of plastic surgeons so that they can push their services. Eleanor Jane Barone, M.D., is a widely respected surgeon and expert on plastic surgery procedures for both face and body and here are five common misconceptions about plastic surgery that she clarifies:
1. You won’t get scars. In any type of surgery, Dr. Barone says, scarring takes place. “When a surgeon cuts through the skin, the body will create scar tissue in that spot as it heals.” Of course, scarring varies widely, depending on the procedure as well as the patient’s skin type. It also can be affected by the way the patient takes care of her skin post-op. “Your doctor can give you specific advice on how to minimize scarring,” Dr. Barone says. “But anyone who tells you that you won’t get any scar at all after a surgical procedure isn’t telling you the truth.”
2. After plastic surgery, your face will look perfect. Realistically, you can expect a cosmetic surgery procedure to make you look younger. But you can’t ask your surgeon to make you look like a completely different person. “We caution patients against looking for huge changes,” says Dr. Barone. “You certainly can expect improvements, and those improvements can do a lot for your self-confidence,” she says. “But plastic surgery can’t restore your youth or turn you into a movie star.” I wish that were true because I do want to look like Brad Pitt and then marry a woman like Angelina Jolie.
3. The correction will last forever. Again, results vary among different procedures — and different patients, Dr. Barone says. But the truth is that your face and body will continue to age after you have plastic surgery, just as it did before you saw your surgeon. “No operation can stop the aging process,” says Dr. Barone. But what it can do, essentially, is to ‘turn back the clock’ by improving the most visible signs of aging. For example, a facelift involves removing excess skin, tightening the underlying muscles and fat, and repositioning the skin of your face and neck to resemble the way it looked when you were younger.
Today’s facelift procedures produce even better results than a few years ago, she adds. In fact, there’s new evidence that facial aging is not uniform, the simple result of gravity, as was earlier believed. “A study that was published this year found that the human face is made up of distinct fat compartments around our eyes, cheeks and forehead, each of which change individually to affect the way our faces age.” These compartments gain and lose fat at different rates, she explains, creating sagging and wrinkling.
4. A mini facelift gives the same results as full facelift. Sorry — this one is also untrue, says Dr. Barone. “Some people might tell you that you can achieve the results of a facelift — technically called rhytidectomy surgery — with a “mini facelift” or S-Lift (which describes the type of incision that is used). A mini facelift rejuvenates the lower third of the face, including the jowls and neck, and can be appropriate for some patients. But it can’t do as much for drooping skin as a full facelift can,” Dr. Barone explains. Full facelifts also provide more lasting results, she says.
You also can’t expect the same results with non-invasive procedures such as lasers and injectables, Dr. Barone says.
As we get older, expression lines, jowls and wrinkles become too deep to be smoothed out this way. At that point, she says, aesthetic surgery is your best option.
5. All aesthetic or cosmetic surgeons are plastic surgeons. Not true, says Dr. Barone.
Any licensed physician can call himself or herself a cosmetic surgeon, she says, regardless of his or her training and experience in plastic surgery. “That’s why it’s so important to find a properly trained and certified provider,” she says. Your first step should be to choose a doctor who’s a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. ASPS Member Surgeons are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, which is the only board dedicated to plastic surgery of the face and entire body. Unlike other specialty organizations, ASPS requires each member surgeon to have a minimum of five years of surgical training, with at least two of those years specifically in plastic surgery.
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