Beauty Series #6: Beauty Lens

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Welcome to Park Avenue
Plastic Surgery Class,

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the podcast where we explore controversies
and breaking issues in plastic

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surgery. I'm your co-host, Summer Hardy,

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a clinical assistant at Bass
Plastic Surgery in New York City.

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I'm excited to be here with Dr. Lawrence
Bass, Park Avenue plastic surgeon,

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educator and technology innovator.

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This is another episode
in our beauty series,

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the series where we present and discuss
Dr. Bass's advice and philosophy about

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your beauty and how to put
together your beauty program.

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The title of today's episode
is Beauty Lens. Okay. Dr. Bass,

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I understand the idea of focusing
on beauty, the lens, right?

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So what specifically are we focusing on?

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Well, when we think about how
different patients think about their

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appearance and how they decide
about which treatments to do,

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we can develop a couple of principles and

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more than just a principle,

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we can actually use those
concepts as analytical tools to

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understand and channel our thoughts,

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making it easier to choose what
to do and feel confident in that

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decision,

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and also to avoid pitfalls and
understand our motivations to

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some extent in deciding about treatments.

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So beauty lens is a concept
that I think about that's

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mated with beauty thermostat,

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which we'll discuss in a sister
podcast that's coming soon.

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The two principles
together embody a critical

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paradigm in understanding
how people identify

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features in their appearance that
they're dissatisfied with and

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choose to pursue them with
plastic surgery treatments.

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Patients focus on what
features bother them.

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I can always see a dozen different
things in any patient that are

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medically reasonable to chase.

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And that's true in young patients
and in patients who are aging.

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It's true in faces and
it's true in bodies,

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but what bothers the
patient is what matters,

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the aesthetic issues that the
patient is aware of and is

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concerned about.

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That's what defines where
the beauty lens is focused.

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Got it.

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So what advice do you have for patients
about how they should go about focusing

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their lens?

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Well, there are all kinds
of things that bother us.

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There are all kinds of
pictures and images and selfies

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nowadays where you see
something that you may not like,

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but all of those one-offs are not really

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important. What's important are
features you dislike all the time

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repetitively.

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So every time you're going out of the
house and you glance in the mirror,

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you see it and it bothers you. Or every
time you see yourself in a picture,

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it bothers you. Things
that bother you in a clear,

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definable way, you look at them,

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you know exactly what you're
seeing that you don't like.

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If you chase a feature like that,

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you're much more likely to
end up satisfied than if
you have a vague notion that

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you just don't think you look your best.

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Things that you know you're going
to deal with sooner or later,

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you know you don't like them and you
know you want to do something about

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it, those are definitely things to chase,

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and if you do that
sooner rather than later,

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you'll have more time to
benefit from the improvement.

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Things that continue to bother you
over time are always better things

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to chase.

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And I advise patients to
avoid the impulse buy. Again,

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there's always something, oh, if I
treated that, that might be better.

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But it's always better to reflect
a little bit and try to decide if

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that's really a
significant beauty concern.

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Okay. All that makes a lot of sense.

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How does this factor into the
consultation with the plastic surgeon?

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Well, it's going to end up
being about patient issues,

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not what the surgeon sees.
That's the final bottom line.

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So the surgeon is there to provide an

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objective degree of the
severity of the findings

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and express professional opinion about the

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options that would be useful
in correcting those features.

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But we can't substitute the
surgeon's subjective opinion

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for patient feelings about
the appearance and what

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features are undesirable.

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Just because it bothers me
doesn't mean you should treat it.

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You should only chase
it if it bothers you.

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I think I'm getting the idea,
but can you give an example?

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So I'm certain I
understand how this works?

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Sure.

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So sometimes a patient will walk in and

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they'll be really bothered by
one feature and they have another

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feature that I can see that's just as bad.

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The typical example on
the face is loose skin

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and wrinkles.

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So they've got some hanging skin and
they have some wrinkles in maybe one or

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maybe more areas of the face. Some
patients will walk in and say,

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I don't mind a few crow's feet.
I've earned those wrinkles.

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I've got some experience,
but I hate the loose skin.

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And other patients will walk in
and say, I hate the loose skin

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and I hate the wrinkles. And other
patients will say, I hate the wrinkles,

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but you can leave the loose skin.

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And there are some patients that walk
in basically and say, fix everything.

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I see all kinds of things
and I want you to fix them.

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And then there's some
people that walk in and say,

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I'm kind of having a good time
in life. Everything's going well.

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I'm not really worried about
my appearance that much.

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Now when that's how you're
going through life, that's fine.

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When that's what I'm being
told in a consultation,

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it's a little different because then it
makes me wonder why someone came into

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the plastic surgeon's office if
they're not really worried about their

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appearance.

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But I sometimes hear that from
patients when they walk in for a

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consultation.

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Okay, thanks for explaining. Then that
brings up an interesting question.

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Should people focus on a single
feature or multiple features at once?

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Well, of course the
answer to that depends.

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Sometimes you repaint the house and

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sometimes everything has lapsed
for a while and it's time

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to consider a big makeover, redecorating
the whole house, new carpet, new paint,

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new furniture, new fixtures.

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So sometimes you just work on a
room or two and sometimes you need a

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bigger project.

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So it really depends on your stage
of aging and what you've been doing

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up until now in terms of
prevention and maintenance

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and any previous restoration
treatments or surgery you might've

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done.

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That makes a lot of sense.
I like that analogy.

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And what about friends and family?

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Should people listen to or ignore
what they're telling them about their

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appearance?

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That's really a loaded question, Summer,

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and just as a

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philosophical issue,

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we're probably never
following a wise course if

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we're totally swayed by what
others tell us or if we totally

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ignore what others tell us. So
it's always good to factor it in,

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but it probably should not be controlling.

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Your surgeon, on the other hand,

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is probably a great gatekeeper
and will tell you if a

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feature is insignificant and you
shouldn't be worried about it

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or if it's too minor to chase
yet. And if you think about it,

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when the surgeon is telling
you, don't do surgery. Well,

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we like surgery, we like doing surgery.

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So if they're telling you no,

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that's probably very good advice.

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So this serves as a real reality check for

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folks to make sure you're not making
yourself crazy over something that's

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really minor. In addition,

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it can give you a heads up about
something that you may not have looked at

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very much or worried about,

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but it is a big significant
part of how you project to the

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outside world. So you can at least
look at that and decide if it

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bothers you or not.

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Friends and family have
all kinds of motivations,

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jealousy, competition,

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dislike of plastic surgery,

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desire of a fellow family member
to avoid spending money on

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plastic surgery.

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All of this can lead to
gaslighting or negativity

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about proceeding with something
either surgical or non-surgical.

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Even with good intentions
by friends and family,

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they're not experts and they're
basing their advice on their

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experiences,

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their image of who you
are and what they think

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you should look like,

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and that does not necessarily agree
with your self image or the image you're

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trying to project to the outside world.

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That all makes a lot of sense.
Time for your takeaways. Dr. Bass.

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Will you share them with
our listeners please?

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At the end of the day,

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the only beauty lens that matters
is your personal individual

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beauty lens, the beauty
features that you're focused on,

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not the ones you don't care about.

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Use your plastic surgeon as a
reality check to make sure you're not

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overreacting or alternatively overlooking

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something.

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Focus on features that have been
significant to you over time that

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consistently bother you
and focus on features where

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the surgeon advises you that
there is a reliable treatment that

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can give you significant
improvement. In other words,

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don't do a big treatment just
to get a tiny bit of benefit.

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So this is an issue in how patients
choose what plastic surgery to

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move forward with.

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But a bigger problem is what
I call the beauty thermostat,

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which we'll discuss in a separate episode.

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It's these two episodes of
self-assessment when it comes to our

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appearance that are
key to decision-making.

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So stay tuned for the beauty
thermostat in the follow-up episode.

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Thank you Dr. Bass for sharing
your fascinating analysis
about how we benchmark

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our appearance.

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Thank you for listening to the Park
Avenue Plastic Surgery Class podcast.

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