The Appearance of Cosmetic Surgery
The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery has issued the following press release: New Psychological screening for plastic surgery patients in the UK (http://www.surgery.org/consumers/plastic-surgery-news-briefs/psychological-screening-plastic-surgery-patients-uk-1037010?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter).The Press Release is on the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery website but it was scientists, Nichola Rumsey and Dr Alex Clarke in Bristol who developed the screening process. I have already written about psychological screening and the use of the term ‘dysmorphia’ in a previous blog so I wont go into that again. If you want to read what I said, please scroll up this page. The fact that the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons released this information by Twitter is a subject that requires its own individual blog.
In the light of the recent PIP Implant scandals, many plastic surgeons are now calling for change. I must admit I am confused. If the call for change is as a result of the PIP Implants, then why not just call for change in the category of breast augmentation? Calling for change throughout the field of plastic surgery may create chaos. Plastic Surgery covers so many different procedures (and sub-procedures) that surely each individual procedure needs to be considered on its own merits?
Recently I made a video about manufacturers of silicone gel breast implants (http://www.cosmeticsupport.com/info.asp?p=70) and raised the question about why so many women with so many different sizes and shapes were coming out of particular clinics with the same size simplants and the same type of surgery (sub-mammary as opposed to sub-pectoral). So far, I have not seen this question raised even as a soundbite. Although this finding was more to do with commercial clinics than particular surgeons, it was still prevalent even with independent highly trained plastic surgeons. Could the answer be something to do with buying in bulk as opposed to stocking a large range of implants to suit individual body frames? In my video, I show that one particular implant manufacturer has 600 different implants to choose from and yet the majority of women come out of hospital wearing something like a 310 or 340 cc implant.
There is no doubt that the recent PIP Implant scandal has highlighted the need just one question within one procedure within plastic surgery. This one single problem has caused many surgeons to call for change within the entire field. Creating change in plastic surgery, to a certain extent, means looking at the problems that patients currently experience within each individual type of elective aesthetic plastic surgery. For example, the problems I note on my discussion boards about breast augmentation are quite radically different from the problems I note on my discussion boards about either rhinoplasty, liposuction or blepharoplasty. Calling for change in the category of breast augmentation alone is large enough of a mission without lumping all aesthetic surgeries together in one great big call for change. What about the patients? Where is their voice? Not all patients are breast augmentation patients? Have other patients been heard?
With all these recent calls for change, and at the risk of repeating myself, I ask myself again why nobody has bothered to ask the people (few and far between though they are) who run plastic surgery patient support sites what they have learned about the ‘field’ over the last decade or so. I have learned so much that I would need to write a book instead of a blog. Perhaps it is difficult for surgeons to find anyone who is both a psychotherapist and a body image sufferer who runs a patient support site voluntarily and with an independent mind-set about the subject. Hello - here I am!
The advent of Twitter and Facebook helps to dole out some delicious sounding bites of information, but nothing beats a good old Discussion Board and Chat Room dedicated to the discussion of plastic surgery, especially one that is hosted by psychotherapists and psychologists with experience of plastic surgery. Discussion Boards, such as my own, which have run for over 12 years have an amazing amount of information to offer. Not having been contacted by any surgeons to find out what I have learned from listening to patients of plastic surgery, makes me fearful that patients will not benefit from any of the potential upcoming changes. Currently, with the advent of the psychological screening, patients might even be in a worse position than they were before (see my comments in previous blog).
Probably the most startling thing to come out of running a patient support site for 12 years is how little information the patient actually receives from the surgeons who pride themselves the most on their experience and training. These surgeons are quick to point out that they are very busy and have huge case loads and perform elective surgery as a sideline to the more important NHS work they do. As a result of their heavy work commitments, they claim that bedside manner is not high on their list of priorities. It is hardly surprising that an elective patient feels more charmed and at ease when going to a less extensively trained surgeon who prefers to charm his patients with champagne evenings and sales people introducing themselves as ‘advisors’ and ‘counsellors’. Hardly surprising at all. If I did not know better myself, I would feel exactly the same. I have spent hours explaining why champagne and chocolate must not be part of the consideration but chocolate is a subtle art!
As a consumer myself, I am not suggesting that the more extensively trained and highly skilled surgeons ought to be wooing my business with champagne and chocolate (I don’t drink and I am at war with sugar) but I would like to see more emphasis being put on the consultation process. I would prefer that my £250.00 consultation take place in calm settings where the surgeon is not being interrupted by phone calls, tweets or secretarial requests. For my £250 (approx) consultation fee, I would like all the attention on me, thank you very much. Oh and by the way, can you install some mirrors and better lighting so I can see what we are talking about. £250 ought to cover that.
A consultation is a very important part of the whole surgical process as it is this period of time which will set the tone for my understanding of what is to come should I decide to go ahead with surgery. I want to leave my consultation feeling as if the surgeon and I are on the same page even if the surgeon has had to revise what I originally had on that page when I walked in the door. I want to walk out that door believing that I have been heard and have respectfully offered the same back in return. Oh .. and I would like to hope that my £250 is redeemable should I choose to book a surgery once I have had time to consider what was said at my consultation.
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