Plastic Surgery-
Doesn't Have To Be Extreme.

Did you know that you can go to a plastic surgeon and have the small wrinkles around your lips removed with a simple office procedure done under local anesthesia? Did you know that you can have your lips permanently enlarged without using an implant and it can also be done as an office procedure under local anesthesia? Despite the impression one gets from television, plastic surgery is not just about the extreme changes.

The field of plastic surgery has grown over the last few years and the techniques have markedly improved but the one thing that remains consistent is that cosmetic surgery improvements still come down to "trade offs". If you decide that you want to improve something about your appearance and you schedule a consult with a plastic surgeon you should learn that for every improvement there are negatives that you have to accept. I call these negatives "trade offs". One of the most obvious "trade offs" is down time. Down time is the time necessary to recover from the procedure. It is the time that this recovery takes you away from your normal daily activities. It may be the time you will have to miss from work or simply how long before you can go back to wearing your make up. Understanding this aspect of your surgery is extremely important and the amount of down time that you can accept will determine what types of procedures are right for you.

It is safe to say that the more extreme the makeover that you are seeking the greater the down time and other "trade offs". Most of the extremes with multiple procedures and dramatic, "looks like a different person", changes require many weeks and sometimes many months of recovery. If that is what you are seeking and you are willing to go through all that is required the surgery can be a wonderful life changing experience. But, those types of changes are not what most people are looking for. Most people have job and family responsibilities that don't allow for the extremes and most people don't want to look like someone else. Cosmetic surgery offers many opportunities for improvements where the down time can vary from a few hours to a long weekend. As an example most people are able to have liposuction on a Wednesday or Thursday and return to work on Monday. A breast enlargement can frequently be done on the same "down time" schedule. Laser treatments can remove unsightly-pigmented areas and improve both texture and appearance of the skin with, in many cases, only requiring a few hours without makeup.

I went to the pool with my family and my youngest immediately dove in the deep cold water without hesitation. My teenager sat on the side of the pool dangling her legs in the water. My wife went to a lounge chair to lie in the sun and I sat in the shade relaxing. Everyone got what they wanted out of the trip but not everyone wanted to dive into the deep end. Call for a consult and find out if you can get what you want from cosmetic surgery without having to dive in the deep water.

Michael A. Tolson, M.D., F.A.C.S

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