Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Is Plastic Surgery Right For You?

Cosmetic changes can help you feel better about yourself if there are physical features that make you unhappy. There are a number of procedures that can severely alter or moderately change body parts you have lived with, and hated, your entire life. This can change your life and leave you feeling like a brand new person, finally happy with how you look. However, if you are not a good candidate for cosmetic surgery, you may find yourself feeling just as dissatisfied after the after the cosmetic surgery procedure, if not more, than you were before. Prior to determining if a procedure is right for you, you and your doctor will discuss a variety of factors. This ensures that you will be satisfied and go on to lead a happy and fulfilling life.

Prior to any type of invasive procedure, your doctor needs to determine whether or not you are in good health. If you are suffering from an illness of any kind, the procedure will need to be postponed until things have cleared up. Even if you have a temporary injury that does not seem like a big deal, you will have to wait. This is because your body needs all the energy it can muster to heal following a procedure. If it is focused on two different problems, it will be taxing and recovery time will be lengthened for both instances.

Just as important as your physical health is your emotional health. If you have reached middle age and you are feeling blue about your body, an appearance tune-up may be in order. However, if your aging has brought on a severe depression, there is no amount of physical change that is going to stop how you are feeling. It is important to get yourself emotional healthy before considering a procedure of any kind. You need to be on firm ground emotionally or the process will bring on more heartache and you will be worse off than you were before.

Coupled with emotional health, it is important for patients to have realistic expectations of their procedure. If you are well-adjusted and do not connect your personal worth with your physical appearance, you are likely to be a better candidate. People who can look at themselves and think they are a good person, but they just do not like something about their nose or their tummy will get a lot out of a procedure. If you think an operation is going to change your entire life and make all of your problems disappear, you are likely to be disappointed. Placing your self-worth on the outcome of a procedure is always a big risk and usually does not work out for the best.

Finally, in this goes back to being in good physical health, it is better if a patient is not a smoker. The body views smoke as something it needs to protect itself against, so much of its energy is going to combating the invasion of smoke. If you are thinking about an operation or procedure, kick your smoking habit first.