Over the years I have had many patients ask me what I thought about their plastic surgical result. Because most everything we do in plastic surgery is so visible, our results are easy to judge. When I first started practice, I would almost always answer by saying it was good (provided I thought that was true) but I wish that this little area or this little problem would be better. In many ways, I was criticing my own results with the patient as an audience.
Now that I am older in my plastic surgery practice, I understand the question better. What most patients want is reassurance, from the expert, that it looks good and they are doing well. Criticisms of the aesthetic outcome is best reserved for asking the patient…what do you think? If there is a problem or concern, I have found out that they will tell you. Don’t point out or raise up issues that the patients has not even considered. You may suddenly find out that it has now become a concern….because the plastic surgeon has said it. This is as true for one’s own surgery as it is in evaluating other plastic surgeon’s results.
‘The Critique Of A Plastic Surgery Result Is Always Best Left To The Patient…For It Is Them That Must Wear It’
Dr. Barry Eppley