Health, Wealth or Happiness?

Hopes and Aspirations.

I was taking the dog for a walk one morning after dropping my children off at school. It was the end of term and they were looking forward to moving on next year. I have three small children aged 6, 9 and 11. I see them grow up with hope and expectation for the future, mainly along the lines of I hope there will be some new girls next year or when is the iPhone 7 coming out and I think about my hopes and aspirations for my children. It is really quite simple and can be boiled down to one thing: I hope that they are happy. As long as they are happy, anything else is a bonus. People talk about health, wealth and happiness but health and wealth are no good without happiness. If you have happiness then health and wealth would be an advantage, but happiness is the key.

Benefits of Plastic Surgery.

This led me to think about cosmetic surgery because I am promoting my new book at the moment and it is quite common for people to suggest that cosmetic surgery is not worthy and for patients to feel guilty for having it. It upsets me to hear this view because I know the tremendous benefits it can bring. Admittedly the benefits are psychological rather than physical. Of course there are physical changes, but the real benefit comes in the improvement in quality of life and self-esteem.

Cosmetic Surgery is not about the unnatural enhancement of people.

The people I see in clinic are not the people you may see on the television or in the newspapers. Cosmetic surgery is not about the unnatural enhancement of people. It is not about putting overly sized breast implants into patients or too much Botox giving a frozen or startled look or too much lip filler creating a trout pout. These are the images portrayed in the media but people walking out of a good plastic surgeon’s clinic will look normal and if you did not know what they looked like before, then you would have no idea that they had any surgery done. That is the majority of my patients.

It is about improving and enhancing…

natural features and it can bring tremendous benefits. I am always touched by the length patients go to with thank you notes and gifts. Perhaps the most rewarding thing is when a patient who has had an arm reduction comes in wearing a vest top on a hot sunny day and tells me she would never have been able to wear this before. Or the patient with a prominent ear correction comes with her hair tied up when she would have always had it down in public. Or the patient who had a breast enlargement who has just been on holiday at the beach with her daughter and had an amazing time because she for once felt confident with her body.
There is no doubt that this surgery can bring happiness and after all, is that not the most important thing?

Cosmetic surgery has no less value than other types of surgery.

It is just as worthy to improve a patient’s psychological well-being as it is to improve their physical well-being; although for some reason our society does not see things this way. On a wider level, mental health issues are not given the attention or the investment that is required because it is not seen as important as cancer treatment or heart disease, yet it is a major cause of mortality and morbidity. More worryingly, it tends to affect younger people.

Mental illness is silent killer that pervades our society.

I am very happy with the course that I have chosen.

I spent years performing cancer reconstruction and I have perfected some of the most complicated and intricate microsurgical operations during my time as a reconstructive surgeon. However, now that I focus on cosmetic breast surgery, I do not feel that my time is any less well spent because I see the outcomes and I see the changes in people’s lives and I know that what I am doing is worthwhile. It is not unnecessary, it is not vanity and it is nothing to feel guilty about. The patients having this surgery know this and I just wish the public at large would accept it and the media would start to portray a more positive image of cosmetic surgery.