The Process of Plastic Surgery

Surgery is well known throughout the globe as it has become a necessity to most people. Nowadays, having a great appearance has become a major factor that influence people take a risk to undergo plastic surgery. Hunter, Savin & Dahl (2003) stated that “the distinction between traditional dermatological and cosmetic surgery is blurring” (p. 321). However, surgeries are not only for beauty purpose but for those who are having irregularities appearance. For instance, some people will looking for surgeon after facing a problem with their skin or having a birth marks on their body. American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (2010) stated that 11.7 million cosmetic surgeries were performed in the United States alone. This has proven that plastic surgery has become wild throughout the years. Plastic surgery is “the process of forming new body structures to replace missing parts” (Lusted, 2010, p.18). There are six major phases in a cosmetic surgery process which are making a wise decision in choosing a surgeon, go through evaluation, discussion of expectation, physical examination, instructed by the surgeon to prepare for surgery and admitted into a recovery room (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).

Firstly, before the procedure for surgery, patient needs to make a wise decision in choosing a suitable surgeon. Surgeries are considered as elective surgery and most the time the operation are not emergencies, so they still have time to choose and learn about the operation (Agency for Healthcare Researcher and Quality, 2005). They need to know that they have the legal right to choose any surgeon. The most important is the patient needs to make sure whether the surgeon is licensed or not. Besides that, patient can collect information as mu...

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... surgery that has been performed. However, patients for mammoplasties, breast reconstruction and facial surgery usually stay in the hospital much longer after the surgery is done. In order to prevent any infections, antibiotics are given to the patient. When the patient undergoes surgery, especially western society, sometimes it’s not easy for them to accept the result of the surgery which does not follow patients’ expectation. This problem might lead the patient to do the surgery for a second time because the result does not meet the patient’s expectation. Going for too many surgeries might affect the patient’s health. As mentioned by Lite and Dillon (2007) in the Daily News, the famous rapper Kanye West’s mother, Donna West was found dead in her home after she went for the surgery of breast reduction and tummy tuck the removal of excess flesh from the abdomen.