I have heard an old plastic surgery joke that says….the most dangerous time to consult with a plastic surgeon is right after he/she has just come from their annual plastic surgery meeting. The purported reason being is that new operations are learned at the meeting or variations on how to do the old ones. Presumably, the plastic surgeon is anxious to do these new operations and may be enthusiastically looking for patients to ‘try’ them on.
This, of course, is not really true but this old joke does hint at a basic plastic surgery axiom….Select the suitable operation for the patient’s problem, don’t try and make the patient’s problem suit any particular type of operation.
Dr Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana