Explore Plastic Surgery

While it is true that the overall number of plastic surgery procedures performed in the past few years is up, and the number of men as a percentage of this total is increased, women still far outnumber male patients by about 10:1 for most practices. While male plastic surgery procedures are somewhat different from woman’s, their motivations for undergoing plastic surgery are also different.
While both men and women undergo plastic surgery to look physically better, you have to dig beyond this obvious level to understand what their true motivations are. The desired physical concerns or desired changes are just a reflection of their unspoken concerns. As a general statement, most women’s motivations for plastic surgery are true self-image issues. They want to fell better about themselves. Correcting a physical flaw is one approach to self-improvement. (and perhaps the easiest?) Whether it is to have a breast augmentation to look better in clothes or to have a facelift to not look old, women seem to be much more concerned about doing the surgery truly for themselves. I hear this over and over…’my husband doesn’t think I need it…or…’my friends say I look fine’. But yet, women want to have the surgery anyway…becasue they want to fell better about themselves. Men, conversely, often undergo plastic surgery because they want things. Whether it be to have more women, sex, money or power…it most always deep down is motivated by a desire for external or more tangible things. As a plastic surgerycorollary to ‘Men are Venus, Women are from Mars’…Women do things for themselves, Men usually do things for somebody else.
Men undergoing plastic surgery also are different from women in other ways as well. They usually are not interested in complex procedures that involve any significant recovery, they are usually less compliant than women, their response and tolerance to pain is often more pronounced, and they often are more critical of the results. (or they are at least more vocal) Much of this has to do with the general greater impatience of men who want to get to the final result quickly…and usually more discretely. This is why smaller more subtle procedures for men are often better, even if the result is not as significant. Men get no accolades, and certainly little sympathy, in society for suffering through a plastic surgery recovery. Women, conversely, garner more empathy if they are suffering to look more ‘beautiful’. In fact, our society expects them to do so.
The handling of the male plastic surgery patient, I have found, is quite different from a female patient. And not all plastic surgeons can work well with men. They often require more time and patience than most female patients. And the demands of the younger male patient are higher than that of an older man. The young ‘narcisistic’ male patient can be the most demanding and the most likely to require revisional surgery to achieve a mutually satisfactory result.

Dr Barry Eppley
http://www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com
http://www.ologyspa.com
Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Indiana
Clarian West Medical Center, Avon, Indiana
Indianapolis

A single day doesn’t go by in the office where a new patient doesn’t say in an initial consultation….”You might think I am vain….” or “You might think I am crazy…..” and then they go on to describe what bothers them or why they are there. I, of course, go on to reassure them they are not vain or crazy…….and that they realize they are talking to the choir, so to speak…..as this is what I do for a living……and I have heard it all.
Essentially, what the patient is doing is justifying why they want a cosmetic change and often are still convincing themselves that this is acceptable to do. The deep seated ‘guilt’ of desiring a cosmetic procedure comes out even when talking to their plastic surgeon. The source of this guilt and the justification to express it may be internal or often comes from others (spouse, friends) whom have told them that they look just fine and they don’t see the problem.This is particularly true, and sometimes causes some familial strife, when it comes from the spouse (almost always husband to the wife, wifes are almost always very supportive of the husband having cosmetic surgery) who may even be significantly opposed to any consideration of cosmetic surgery. And yet, the wife still comes in and pursues information about the procedure(s). The biggest illustration of this marital scenario is with Botox, a simple office-based procedure in which there is no visible sign that it was done immediately afterward. I have noticed that a significant number of women pay cash or pay with their ‘own’ credit card or checking account. They clearly want to keep their spouses from knowing their discretionary spending habits.
The question begs….why do people want cosmetic changes? The simple answer is…because they are unhappy with their appearance. Contrary to popular perception, it is the rare patient whose motivation for change is truly driven by another. When I first started in practice in town, I noticed a yellow pages ad for a plastic surgeon (now retired) that used the slogan…’If it bugs you….fix it!’ I used to think that was such a crude and unsophisticated method of advertising. Over the years, I have learned that that slogan is very accurate….albeit simplistic. While I still wouldn’t use that phrase for my practice advertising, the core of it rings true………something won’t stop bothering you until you do an action step. No amount of thinking, convincing of others, or logic can change how you feel about something so emotional (your appearance). Only an action step, in this case, palstic surgery can affect that emotional feeling.
So when a patient asks me….”Dr., do you think I need this….”…..my answer always is.. it is not whether I see the problem, but whether you do. If the patient sees it, then it is real. My job as a plastic surgeon is to determine whether an operation can improve that perceived problem…and at what risk.

Dr Barry Eppley
www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com
www.ologyspa.com
Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Indiana
Clarian West Medical Center, Avon, Indiana
Indianapolis