Obsession with aesthetics, borderline problem

[TheMightyAngus]

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I was just wondering if plastic surgeons tend to have problems with obsessing over aesthetics. If much of your practice revolves around cosmetic surgery, i.e. correcting unpleasing features, could you be striving for perfection to such a point that you are unable to appreciate natural beauty with all its flaws? Would you constantly be analyzing people's faces and bodies and calculating how you could improve their imperfections? I've heard the stories of patients becoming addicted to receiving cosmetic surgery, but wondering if there are cases of surgeons becoming addicted to performing it. Given that OCD is not a factor, I think pursuing plastic surgery may negatively impact my ability to appreciate life's imperfections. Anyone else feel this way?

 

[toofache32]

It's just a job...like everything else.

 

[jdubya]

I was just wondering if plastic surgeons tend to have problems with obsessing over aesthetics. If much of your practice revolves around cosmetic surgery, i.e. correcting unpleasing features, could you be striving for perfection to such a point that you are unable to appreciate natural beauty with all its flaws? Would you constantly be analyzing people's faces and bodies and calculating how you could improve their imperfections? I've heard the stories of patients becoming addicted to receiving cosmetic surgery, but wondering if there are cases of surgeons becoming addicted to performing it. Given that OCD is not a factor, I think pursuing plastic surgery may negatively impact my ability to appreciate life's imperfections. Anyone else feel this way?

Is it rule #6: The patient is the one with the disease

 

[TheMightyAngus]

Is it rule #6: The patient is the one with the disease

Good point!!!

 

[Will Hunting]

Is it rule #6: The patient is the one with the disease

haha.

 

[RajMahal]

i agree with you. if by the grace of god and a wing and a prayer i end up getting into plastics somehow, i think i would really limit the amount of cosmetic procedures because of precisely what you said. but who am i kidding, like i'm going to get a 260 anyway.
that said, i think the best plastics guys are probably borderline OCD and total perfectionists. people don't want half-assed cosmetic surgery

 

[blu]

I'm not sure if the original poster has worked with plastic surgeons significantly, but I think if you have, you would see that most plastic surgeons are surprisingly well-balanced in that respect. First of all, most of the surgeons I worked with are butt ugly and seem pretty content with that -- no, no, the former is not true, but the latter is. While they are very meticulous, I think that in order to survive, they've learned where to draw lines. After all, the enemy of good is better, right?

As far as the cosmetic surgeons, I see the same thing. They come to know that postop results are *never* as good as the long term results, and in fact are typically worse (swollen eyes aren't very pretty). They also come to know limitations -- again, for survival, they need to be able to temper their patients' expectations preop, lest they be subject to lawsuits from disgruntled customers.

Lastly, I had the same worries about myself before I did my PRS rotation. Once I got into it, it just wasn't a problem. There is great satisfaction in making things better, even if you can't make it "best". At the same time, the goal of "best" results drives me and I suspect most plastic surgeons to research and pushing the envelope in terms of innovations.

b

 

[residentx2]

3 months of ob/gyn rotations did not affect my appreciation of the finer things in life.....

 

[MSc44]

I was just wondering if plastic surgeons tend to have problems with obsessing over aesthetics. If much of your practice revolves around cosmetic surgery, i.e. correcting unpleasing features, could you be striving for perfection to such a point that you are unable to appreciate natural beauty with all its flaws? Would you constantly be analyzing people's faces and bodies and calculating how you could improve their imperfections? I've heard the stories of patients becoming addicted to receiving cosmetic surgery, but wondering if there are cases of surgeons becoming addicted to performing it. Given that OCD is not a factor, I think pursuing plastic surgery may negatively impact my ability to appreciate life's imperfections. Anyone else feel this way?

I agree very much so!!

 

[Apollyon]

3 months of ob/gyn rotations did not affect my appreciation of the finer things in life.....

I had always wondered about that - how a straight guy could be an Ob/Gyn and still be able to love the wife without it being all messed up. A resident (in rads) where I'm at told me his dad is an Ob, and it's "like a banker with money".