1 - Willingness to be Operated

                There are seven types of physical abnormalities that might bother someone to the extent of making him look for a plastic surgeon:

Those that come with birth (harelip, protruding ears, hands deformities)

Those that were not apparent after birth but developed later (deviated nose, obesity)

Those resulting from trauma (accidents, burns)

Those resulting from the environment (skin tumors)

Those that come with age (wrinkles, lines)

Those resulting from big variances in weight,  pregnancy and breast-feeding

Those that are signals of systematic diseases (leg ulcers)

                These physical defects may or may not cause loss in the patient’s productivity at work or affect his relationship with other people.  The need for correction is according to each individual’s necessity, and then plastic surgery takes place with a great variety of procedures, which it’s final goal is to allow the patient to return to normal life or closest to it  as possible.

                When the abnormality is identified, a mechanism is created that will result in the search for correction.

                These causes may be social, professional , search for healing of a disease or  search for  solution for esthetic or functional problems.

                The professional causes are those that appear with the knowledge that a deformation problem interferes with the person’s performance at work, for instance, a model that has protruding ears or an craftsman that has a functional problem with his hands.

                Personal causes are those that interfere with the person’s well being such as age, enlarged breast, localized deposited fat and visible scars.

                All the causes described above produce and emotional problems that are basically the main cause for the willingness to be operated.  

2 - Choosing a Surgeon 

           One of the most difficult steps of the plastic surgery process is to choose a surgeon.   Therefore, there are some concerns that must be evaluated when choosing a surgeon:

1.     If the patient has a good friend that is a doctor or has been seeing a doctor long enough to trust him/her, then it is very advisable  to ask him/her for help him/her choosing a surgeon;

2.      If the patient knows someone that has already been through a plastic surgery with a given surgeon and the results are visibly good,  he/she can then make the decision of choosing the same doctor.  It is not advisable however that this decision be taken based only on a possible friendship  between the patient’s friend and the surgeon.

3.     The influence of the media is strong. Take care about this.

4.     Random choice, when the patient selects a doctor from a telephone directory or a TV program.  That is totally irrational.

Choosing a surgeon must therefore be the result of thorough research with the opinion of well-known doctors, of friends that have been through plastic surgery, local medical societies and interviews with selected doctors must all be considered.  Considering the interviews, it is important that the doctor makes the patient feel completely confident and safe.  The doctor must also be very objective, patient in answering all the questions regarding the surgery, have empathy, be kind and honest when considering the possibilities offered by the chosen technique, etc... .  This will then be what we consider a Conscious Choice, when the chosen surgeon is experienced, capable, ethic, technically prepared and has strong  moral concerns and makes the patient feel safe.