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Walter Yeo was injured during World War I and one of the first to undergo modern plastic surgery.
Changing your appearance is nothing new. For thousands of years, humans have been changing and improving their bodies and appearance in various ways to attract or compete with others. Ideals have varied over time and depending on culture, just like today's society.
Plastic surgery has existed for hundreds of years but developed rapidly during the 1st and 2nd World Wars when the need to save soldiers and civilians who were injured and maimed became great. Warplanes and more powerful weapons with major injuries and burns drove the development. New techniques in plastic surgery continue to be developed, both within the reconstructive part of plastic surgery but also within the aesthetic part. In the reconstructive part, injuries and deformities are operated on, in Sweden this is mainly done at university hospitals. In aesthetic plastic surgery, most procedures are about improving or rejuvenating a normal appearance but also restoring after pregnancy or weight loss.
The line between reconstructive and aesthetic plastic surgery is often unclear as we always strive for good aesthetics, for example by reducing the size of scars, placing them in places where they are not so visible and creating good symmetry. At the same time, function or appearance is normalized in aesthetic plastic surgery.
If you or someone you know is considering undergoing plastic surgery, it is important to find out what risks or disadvantages come with the procedure. Even if it does not involve any major risks, you should weigh the positive and negative against each other. A simple way is to see two scales in front of you and fill each with advantages and disadvantages and weigh them against each other. In one scale, the benefit, i.e. the existing problems, should be placed, in the other, the expected change and risk should be placed. All of this then weighs differently depending on the procedure in question, the conditions that exist, costs in the form of money, convalescence and scars.
Perhaps the most important factor in whether you will be satisfied is of course your expectations. If your surgeon gives you an honest picture of what to expect, the chances that you will be satisfied are very high!
The fact that plastic surgery has become so popular in recent years is of course due to the fact that the risks of the procedures have decreased. Health, beauty and well-being have also become an increasingly important part of life for most people. This means that the scale of advantages increasingly weighs heavier than the scale of disadvantages.
All surgical procedures involve a certain risk, we tell you and explain to help you but only you can decide if it is worth it for you!
Dr. Richard Lewin
Dr. Carolina Borén
