Click on the following links for excerpts from the book "Beauty in Balance"
CHAPTER 2 - MAKE-BETTER INSTEAD OF MAKE-OVER: WHAT'S NOT REAL IN THE REALITY SHOWS
The proliferation of popular cosmetic surgery reality television shows has changed how the public thinks about the field of cosmetic medicine. Indeed, plastic surgery has become a hot topic around water coolers and in many households today, but not all the talk has been positive. In its first season, Extreme Makeover (ABC) captured tremendous ratings and helped fuel the public interest in cosmetic procedures, but some of the programs that followed, including The Swan (Fox), were considered to be very exploitative. The Swan finale featured 16 women who were transformed from "ugly ducklings" into "swans" after undergoing multiple procedures. For several months during the healing process, these women were forbidden to look in a mirror or to see their families. They were then paraded around and judged against the other participants for the grand prize.
Many of these reality shows about cosmetic surgery create the wrong impression about what we do. They foster the myth that plastic surgery is a quick and easy fix. The extreme aspect of the "makeover" involves performing lots of procedures in one stage and making drastic changes that alter peoples' appearances to the point that they are almost unrecognizable to family and friends. We feel it is far better to take the "extreme" out of cosmetic surgery changes, and to focus on what we call the "make-better" rather than makeover. Balanced, realistic, and reasonable changes are our goal.
The ever expanding laundry list of options that exist today becomes a temptation for people to have cosmetic enhancements without enough thought. On many cosmetic surgery reality programs, plastic surgeons can be seen telling people what they need or should have done, and the audience is not shown a "realistic" interaction between the doctor and the patient. Although the current media blitz on cosmetic surgery has made viewers much more savvy about plastic surgery compared to years past, the fact remains that many consumers are not even aware of what is available, what changes can be made, and what is a reasonable and prudent amount of surgery to have at one time.
These programs give viewers an incomplete and unbalanced view of the benefits and risks of cosmetic surgery and treatments. Since the objective of many producers is to showcase people who make the most drastic changes in appearance, consumers get false and dangerous impressions that all cosmetic surgical procedures are simple adjustments that will prepare them for a walk down the red carpet. Performing as many procedures as possible in one sitting ignores safety, psychological issues, and the correct way to combine specific procedures in order to have the maximum benefit.
The "extreme makeover" concept involves people undergoing several lengthy procedures simultaneously over the face, trunk, and extremities, leaving them wrapped like a mummy from head to toe, and making it impossible for them to return to "a normal life" for many weeks.
Although "extreme makeovers" remain a fascination for the television viewing public, the reality is that it is not normal to remain in seclusion and to have around-the-clock private nursing care for several weeks after cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgery should not become a contest to see how many different procedures can be performed in one day.
Aside from the financial burden of having plastic surgery, there is a social cost in terms of time away from work, family and friends. Most people are unable or unwilling to be secluded for two to three weeks after surgery. A very common question for many of our patients is "When can I go back to work?" and there are very few procedures or combinations of procedures that we perform that require more than a week or ten days out of work.
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