Cosmetic plastic surgery can consistently and reliably make a person look younger, more attractive, thinner, and beautiful. But occasionally we see on the Internet, TV, or social media a person who is fake, weird, or bizarre looking. It’s an extremely common worry for almost all patients asking for cosmetic improvement. They want to have the benefit and added youth, but they are scared of the overdone and bad results. The truth is overdone, weird, and freaky results are extremely rare and not common. This educational writing will review this important topic so we can have a better understanding of realistic expectations and unnatural results. This writing was done at the request of a patient from Philadelphia, PA.
Unnatural appearances and results are feared with all plastic surgery operations but mostly with cosmetic facial rejuvenation. One only has to think of Michael Jackson, Joan Rivers, or “The Cat Lady” to instill anxiety and concerns about looking freaky. Patients are scared of having a windswept appearance, pixie ears, big cheeks, fake mouths, and poor scars. But these results actually are infrequent and not common. The vast majority of people having a facelift, eye tuck, or neck lift look younger, healthier, and very natural. So how do these bad results happen? What goes wrong? It takes three major factors to get the unnatural and fake result. These three factors are:
- – A weird or unusual patient
- – A weird or unusual doctor
- – Weird or unusual surgical goals
The Three Factors:
You typically need all three of these factors combined to get the bad result. Just one or two won’t do it. You need all three. It’s a disastrous grouping that works in combination to make the unnatural or fake look happen. The good news for most patients is the chance of it happening to you is essentially zero with me. If you aren’t weird or unusual, then your odds of some weird result is essentially zero. If your doctor and your goals are normal, then weird results are exceedingly unlikely. It takes the combination of all three to get this outcome.
If we take the case of Michael Jackson as an example, we will understand how this grouping of problems is necessary. First, Michael was an unusual man. He was a great musician, but he was very unusual and weird. His doctor also was weird and unusual too. He might have been motivated by money or some other negative reason, but trust me, he was not a normal doctor. Finally, the surgical goals were unusual. Maybe Michael had body dysmorphia or some other mental handicap, but his surgical goals weren’t normal. All three of these factors combined to give him the bad look and appearances we became used to seeing. If any one of the factors wasn’t present, he wouldn’t have looked weird. The doctor could have stopped it. Michael had to want it. And his goals were wrong or off.
Another example of these three characteristics being necessary can be seen in the TV show “Dr 90210.” The doctor acted bizarre most of the time. He would do karate or yoga moves in the corner of the operating room. What normal surgeon does karate moves in the operating room? If you were a fly on the wall during his consultations, you would have listened and said, “She is going to get a weird result!” You don’t have to be a genius to sit back and figure this out. Weird and unusual patients, doctors, and goals all are necessary to get the bad result. I continuously reassure my patients that this type of complication or bizarre appearance almost never happens. In my hands and with my experience, the odds are essentially zero.
Excessive Fat Transfer:
Excessive fat transfer is an additional way (to the above rules) to get bad results. Fat transfer is the harvesting of fat from an area of excess fat and infecting it into the face to help with rejuvenation. It’s injected into areas like the cheek or nasolabial folds that might be hollow or deficient. Artistic and creative injection is critical. Doctors or nurse injectors that inject too much can and will get bizarre and unnatural results. Injecting too much fat is the critical way to get a bed result. For example, 4-6 cc of fat injected into a cheek that is hollow or deficient will almost never look weird. However, injections of excessive volumes almost guarantee a bad job. With the meticulous techniques I use, fat injections will not give you a crazy and bad look. It is always best to come back and do a bit more if necessary, than to inject too much do begin with.
Also, I believe fat transfer to the face is also overused and not always needed. With my LAVVNDR Face lift, I suture the existing cheek and jowls that have descended to a low area to where they used to be. The volume is still there; it just has dropped down low. By using appropriate vector lifting of the descended jowl, we can get the volume in the cheek that is attractive and natural. Sometime fat is still desired and recommended by me. This would be discussed with you before surgery, so you get the result and youthful appearance desired. It’s critical to use natural amounts and to not over inject.
An additional way to understand natural results is to have a good and complete understanding of realistic expectations. You can almost think of them as opposites to a degree. “Realistic expectations” is understanding how cosmetic surgery improves us. It makes us thinner, younger, prettier, and more attractive, but it doesn’t make us perfect. There are limitations to all cosmetic surgery. It only does so much. I have described this in other educational writings in detail as it is a critical or keystone concept for understanding results. You can link to this writing now.
If you think of rejuvenation on a scale of 1-10. A rejuvenation of 1 is very little. A rejuvenation of 10 is the maximum. Most operations make us look younger, but they don’t make us look like a movie star or a 25 year old person. Getting 10 out of 10 rejuvenation is wanted and desired, but it is often expecting more than surgery really can deliver. They don’t turn us into a movie star. Most cosmetic surgery results will be approximately 8 out of 10. This means a lot of benefit and rejuvenation but a realistic and natural result. Overdone or unusual results, like Michael Jackson that we have been discussing, are 14 out of 10. They have gone overboard. They have gone way past the normal range. As I have elaborated on in this writing, this is rare. You honestly should not worry about this result. It takes the three factors described above to get this kind of problem.
Complications:
This educational writing has outlined in detail how these weird problems or results happen. It is frequently asked by patients seeking cosmetic rejuvenation. But this does not mean that no complications can happen. I review complications in detail with you during a thorough consultation. Minor asymmetry, problems, or differences can happen after cosmetic surgery, but these are minor! This is completely different from the results we have been reviewing and demonstrated in the pictures. I believe my facial surgery techniques are the latest and most meticulous to give you the highest chances of a successful operation and recovery.
Please call and schedule a consultation to see what the best options are for you.
