I have finally finished my book

It has been to the editors and we have made some last minute changes, I have now just got to finalise the cover design and get it all to the publishers.
It has taken me 18 months to write and it is about something that I have been championing for many years.

It is called ‘Never Accept A Lift From Strangers
“ How to Choose the Best Plastic Surgeon for your Cosmetic Breast Surgery’

It is about providing information so that you can make sure you are treated by a fully trained professional. Having worked in the industry for many years, I am very aware that the majority of cosmetic surgery is performed by surgeons who are not trained in plastic surgery and sometimes by surgeons who are not trained in any speciality at all. Unfortunately, since there is no law preventing untrained doctors performing surgery, the onus falls on us to make the public aware of what is involved in surgical training and how to tell what training your doctor may have.

The PIP scandal

Where a French manufacturer was using non-medical grade silicone in breast implants, was a tragedy for many patients and I was only recently talking on the radio about the European Commission’s decision to investigate the potential harmful effects of these implants. If any good can come out of this, it is that it has raised awareness among the public of the need to ask questions and not to just assume that your doctor necessarily knows best. I think the time has passed when people will blindly accept what a doctor says, particularly with the advent of the internet. However, it is surprising the number of patients who were shocked to hear that they had some of the cheapest and poorest quality implants available when they had paid for what they thought was a quality surgeon performing a quality procedure.
I see similarities with the MP’s expenses scandal a few years ago. When this came to light, the public were horrified at what was going on but the MP’s who were involved in it felt that there was nothing wrong in what they were doing as it was the accepted norm within the government and everybody knew what was going on. In the case of PIP implants, very few fully trained plastic surgeons ever used the implants as we knew that they were of poor quality and were significantly cheaper than the premium brands of implants that most of us used. I have to stress that none of us knew that there were illegal activities in the factory and that they were using non-medical grade silicone but we did know that they were not good quality.

Cheap Implants

My first thought when I heard patients say that they were devastated to hear that they had cheap implants, was did they not know about the type of implants they were getting? But a few years ago no one ever asked what type of implants we were using and on reflection, I wonder if we as an industry are to blame for not educating patients and informing them of the different qualities of implants available and the different standards of manufacturer and warranty.

In the hospital setting…

Plastic surgeons often think of themselves as being an elite group as our numbers are limited and we are often called in to help in complex cases and in situations where surgery may have gone wrong. However, among the general public, we have not been good at promoting ourselves and letting people know the difference in training and qualifications between a fully trained plastic surgeon and other types of doctors and surgeons. For a long time, advertising was banned and although it is no longer banned, it is still frowned upon amongst many plastic surgeons and there are calls that it should be banned again. However, given that it is not banned, I feel that we are doing ourselves a disservice in not promoting ourselves more because we are allowing others to promote themselves and so we can hardly be surprised when we discover that the majority of cosmetic surgery in the country is performed by non-plastic surgeons.

Educating

I stress in the book that there is nothing wrong in itself with other surgeons performing cosmetic surgery as they may well have appropriate training and experience in the procedure that they are performing. It is all about educating the public to look at the training and experience of their surgeon to make sure that what they are doing is appropriate.
I will continue to campaign for cosmetic surgery standards to be upheld and the book is my way of helping to get the message out there so that people can do their own research and go into any procedure with the knowledge that they will be in safe hands.

If you would like to order a copy of my book

Go to www.neveracceptaliftfromstrangers.co.uk and grab a FREE copy.
Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing.