March 19, 2024

Decades of Face: The Sixties, the Renovation Decade

For people in their 60’s, Dr. Bass reports that this is the time for big beauty projects. Even with a legacy of good preventive and restorative treatments,  surgical rejuvenation is almost always needed to avoid looking worn out and tired.  Dr. Bass shares the options in this fifth episode of our mini series “Decades of Face.” 

In this prime decade of business success and social events,  the improvements from facelift and necklift will be seen by more of your friends and colleagues than when you are older.  

Non-surgical prevention, restoration, and maintenance treatments continue to be an important part of your beauty plan, but the treatments selected and the parameters used in performing them are modified based on changes in skin biology as you’ve aged.  

At this stage, Dr. Bass recommends addressing the most prominent aging changes at the same time as a facelift. Many people pair facelifts with eyelid surgery, brow lifts, skin resurfacing for wrinkles or facial fat grafting in their 60’s.

Hear Dr. Bass’s advice on which procedures, both surgical and non-surgical, to consider in your 60’s to age beautifully and avoid obvious aging signs.

 

Links

Learn more about facelift at Bass Plastic Surgery

Learn more about neck lift

 

About Dr. Lawrence Bass

Innovator. Industry veteran. In-demand Park Avenue board certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Lawrence Bass is a true master of his craft, not only in the OR but as an industry pioneer in the development and evaluation of new aesthetic technologies. With locations in both Manhattan (on Park Avenue between 62nd and 63rd Streets) and in Great Neck, Long Island, Dr. Bass has earned his reputation as the plastic surgeon for the most discerning patients in NYC and beyond.

To learn more, visit the Bass Plastic Surgery website or follow the team on Instagram @drbassnyc

Subscribe to the Park Avenue Plastic Surgery Class newsletter to be notified of new episodes & receive exclusive invitations, offers, and information from Dr. Bass. 

 

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Welcome to Park Avenue
Plastic Surgery Class,

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a podcast where we explore controversies
and breaking issues in plastic surgery.

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I'm your co-host Doreen Wu,

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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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The title of today's episode is
"Decades of Face: The Sixties,

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the Renovation Decade." Okay, Dr. Bass.
Now we're talking about the sixties.

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Is it finally go time? What do
you mean by the renovation decade?

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You're in your sixties,

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you've now had four decades
of accumulated facial aging.

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There's at least a moderate degree
of all aging changes in virtually

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everyone.

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Just like a house that hasn't
been redecorated or had appliances

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replaced in decades, your face
is ready for a renovation.

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This is the decade where most people
need surgical procedures to restore their

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face. No rule says you
have to do anything,

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especially a big project like a facelift.

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But I get the feeling that
there is a "but" coming.

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Absolutely. Of course,

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it's okay to decide you'll
just age gracefully or maybe
you're focused on other

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life priorities. That's totally okay,

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but time marches on and
it's written on our faces.

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I always say I take a realist
approach and this is an example.

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You will look worn out and tired if
you don't include a few judicious

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procedures when you get to
this stage of facial aging.

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This is the main decade for facelift
surgery or even a little bit before.

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Lots of people at this point
choose to have a facelift.

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The American Society of Plastic
Surgeons statistics showed the

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55 to 69 year old age group,

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and that's the group that they break
it down into as the age group getting

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the most facelift surgery.

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And when you take a little
bit of a deeper dive on that,

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it's really the second half of the
fifties and the first half of the sixties

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where most of the facelifts
are taking place. As I said,

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you may choose not to,

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but many others who think
they're going to do it are

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dragging their feet or put another way,

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they're burying their heads
in the sand figuratively.

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But since we can't do that,

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literally everyone sees
our aging face all day

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every day.

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So it's to those foot draggers that
I say think hard about going ahead

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with your face renovation
at this stage and not later.

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Why is that? What is
unique about this stage?

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We're often at the peak of our
business or work success also

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typically have a busy social life.

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At this time in 10 or 20 years,

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we'll still enjoy the
benefits of a surgery,

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but we won't put it to as
much public use as we will in

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our sixties. Also,

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healing ability general
health to undergo a

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small procedure.

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The degree of correction we can
obtain while tissues are still

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somewhat resilient provides
an overall favorable profile

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for proceedings sooner, not later.

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But I'm still not sure I'm ready.

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Am I making a big mistake by
waiting and putting it off?

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No, not at all.

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One of the nice things about aesthetic
plastic surgery and medicine is you don't

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need any of it for survival.
It's not an emergency.

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If you're in a car crash
and bleeding to death,

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the trauma surgeons just have
to jump in and try to save you.

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Not a lot to think about. An
immediate action is required.

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Aesthetic medicine and plastic surgery
is at the other end of the spectrum.

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So you can take your time deciding.

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Don't go ahead unless you
know it's the right decision.

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Now that doesn't mean
a hundred percent sure.

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We're never a hundred percent sure on any
decision we make medical or otherwise,

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and it's natural to have
some doubts and anxieties.

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But if you know the feature is really
bugging you and you're going to do it

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sooner or later,

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you may as well do it now and enjoy the
benefits that much longer rather than

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walking around unhappy
with your appearance.

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The flip side of waiting is that
there are real consequences since

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time and aging never stop. As long as
you know this and accept that flip side,

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you're okay to wait.

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Tell me if I get a facelift,

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will that be the end of my Botox
fillers and laser treatments?

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Well, nonsurgical prevention,

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restoration and maintenance will
continue, but they're adjusted.

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Some items continue pretty
much the way they were before.

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You're still going to use skin products,
you're still going to get Botox,

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but some items are
going to be scaled back.

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Laxity treatments certainly will go
to a minimum for a number of years

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or be withheld altogether.
And again, fillers,

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because often some volume restoration
and some shaping take place with

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laxity surgery, like a facelift neck lift,

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fillers are likely to
be scaled back as well.

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Some things may be added if you
haven't worked very much on skin

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rejuvenation or skin quality.

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If you didn't include that in your
surgical plan with something like a

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laser peel or laser resurfacing,

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then you may start adding those
things in after the facelift.

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We already mentioned the facelift.

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What are some other typical big ticket
items for people in their sixties?

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So facelift neck lift
is the principle item.

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Eyelid surgery, blepharoplasty,

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if you haven't had that done already.

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Depending on the degree of wrinkling,

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laser peels are often done
either as a standalone or

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at the same time as
facelift and general facial

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rejuvenation. And for some individuals
brow lifting is appropriate.

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The other thing that we start to
chase is the neck and chest skin

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for skin quality because we
want to keep those areas matched

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up with all of the nice
things we've done on the face.

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That brings me to my next question.
Which of these should I choose?

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So I like to choose whichever
features are prominent or

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aging faster than the others.

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Anything you see that bugs you
should probably put on the list

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because you hate to have a facelift and
then come back in three or six months

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and do your eyelids at that time.

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That's kind of silly when they could
have been done at the same time.

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So it's good to take a
look over everything,

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look at how you're showing in pictures,
decide what's really bugging you.

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And usually at this stage of the game,

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plastic surgeons will suggest the
features that they see as prominent

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and that's a suggestion.
So I tell my patients,

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I'll tell you what I see. If you say,

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"I don't care about that," then
you don't chase it. But if you say,

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"yeah,

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that bugs me too," then this
is a good chance to clean that

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up at the same time.

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Before we wrap up,

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what are some key takeaways for
our listeners from today's episode?

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I talked about making a reassessment
in the fifties and as aging

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speeds up, it's perfectly
reasonable to make another general

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reassessment in your sixties.

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As we were just discussing,

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identify the most prominent features
you want to chase or correct.

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Let your plastic surgeon tell
you the best way to do it.

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The plastic surgeon is the
expert on how to get the result.

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You are the expert on what bugs you.

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Also let the plastic surgeon advise
you on how much recovery might be

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involved. Don't assume you know.

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Figure where your beauty
thermostat is set.

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How far are you willing to let
the features go before chasing?

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That's a personal decision. You know,

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some people want to be as
close to perfect as possible,

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and even a little bit of aging change
has to be run down and other people

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recognize, you know, okay, they're
not a 30 something any longer.

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That's okay. They just don't
want to look really worn out.

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And so if a feature is
minimal, it's not a bother,

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but when it gets worse than that,
then it's time to get going.

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Your plastic surgeon will tell you if
you have enough aging change to get a

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meaningful benefit from having
a treatment or procedure.

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In other words, if the procedure
is medically indicated,

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depending where your beauty thermostat
is set, you might be ready to chase it.

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Know that you'll chase it soon and you'll
start thinking about when that might

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be or that the feature's not bothersome
and you don't want to worry about it.

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Once you know these things,

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you'll be able to time
when you can work them,

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the procedures, into
your life and schedule.

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My big rule of thumb is if the feature
bugs you all the time and you know you'll

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fix it eventually, it's worth chasing now.

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The sixties are the decade to put plastic
surgery to use for the renovation of

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your facial appearance to keep an
adult indeterminate sort of look.

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Everybody knows you're not
a kid in in their twenties,

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but they can't really put their finger
on how old you are. Most important,

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you don't look worn out or tired because
that doesn't play well in business.

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It doesn't play well
in your personal life.

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If you're not psychologically
ready for surgery,

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you can still benefit
from various treatments,

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but use them in proper measure rather
than trying to make them do something

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they're not designed to do
and end up looking unnatural.

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Those are great points.

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I think it's important to keep in mind
that everyone's beauty thermostat is set

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to something different. Like you said,

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what may seem like a big
deal to one person may not
bug someone else. Thank you,

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Dr. Bass. As much as I'm not looking
forward to the surgical options,

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I really enjoyed hearing your
perspective on how to think about this.

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Thank you, Doreen.

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

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Follow us on Apple
Podcasts, write a review,

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Be sure to join us next time to avoid
missing all the great content that's

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coming your way. If you want to
contact us with comments or questions,

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we'd love to hear from you,

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send us an email at podcast@drbass.net
or DM us on Instagram

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