My Role As Your Cosmetic Dr

I’m wondering what’s actually going on in our world.

Just today, I had a gorgeous mid 30’s lady come in to see me. We had already performed some enhancement to her nose because she wanted it to be a little straighter.

I always discuss my patients’ good aesthetic points whenever I discuss what they don’t like. Another thing I make a point of doing, is talking about how making changes is very unlikely to have lasting impact on how our lives are lived. The main reason being, no-one else cares how anyone else looks! We all tend to fuss over how we look in photos….yet when we look at photos of other people, we spend less than a second looking at THEM and immediately focus on how WE look. This is universal and we all do it!

Another important fact- beauty is so much more than big lips or full cheeks. Although we only look at ourselves front on via selfies or mirror, others see us from angles. We need to make sure we look aesthetically correct from ALL angles and that the lips/chin/cheeks fit the rest of the face.

Back to my lady……she wanted a much higher bridge of the nose. I explained to her that where the nose starts should be more or less in line with the inner corners of the eyes and, already, hers was above that.

“But I like it like that”. What I know, is that there are many people spending a lot of money to look ridiculous and awful. And their friends are NOT telling them to their faces, but, most likely, talk about them behind their backs. And although most of my patients are having injectable treatments for their own benefit, not someone else’s, I doubt that anyone wants others to criticise them behind their backs! So it DOES matter what others think, to a certain extent.

I spent a good 30 minutes explaining why I wouldn’t cater to her wishes and that I work according to scientific parameters and ensure that my work is to a very high standard. Yes, I was talking her OUT of doing something. Put another way, I was discouraging her from spending more money.

I am regularly surprised when my patients don’t think about this and question WHY I am discouraging them from earning me a living! Surely the answer must be because I care about them. And if that’s the case, it makes sense to follow, or at least, give some serious consideration, to why I am depriving myself from making a quick buck?!

Why then are so many injectors indulging people’s WANTS and doing whatever they request?

Our role, as nurses and doctors, is to guide our patients to best practise, not to blindly follow their requests.

We tell our children, “You can’t have everything you want”.

Do we, as adults, need to consider some sort of education to remind us of this?

What do you think? Am I right? Do you disagree?