The motivation behind facelifts is most often to improve self esteem, according to Adelaide plastic surgeon Dr James Katsaros.
Four out of five plastic surgery patients reported an improvement in their self esteem, in a new study released in the latest edition of US journal Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery.
Dr Katsaros said most people’s expectations are reasonable in that they desire an improvement rather than a dramatic rejuvenation.
“The motivation hasn’t changed over time, it’s usually just to improve self esteem and improve the appearance of the face; perhaps they don’t want wrinkles to show as much or skin folds to be as pronounced,” Dr Katsaros told Neos Kosmos.
People surveyed in the study also rated themselves as looking an average of 12 years younger after having surgery.
“It would be very uncommon for a patient to be made worse in a physical sense or more aged looking,” Dr Katsaros said. “It’s unusual not to get some improvement in the aged appearance.”
The plastic surgeon, who has been practising in Adelaide for 25 years, said there’s a wider range of facial cosmetic procedures available now than 25 years ago.
He listed skin facelift, muscle tightening, mid-face procedure and a lower eyelid/anterior facelift as some of the options available.
Physical risks involved in undergoing a cosmetic procedure are minimal, Dr Katsaros said. “You can die getting into a car; anaesthesia is not a high risk compared with driving on motorways,” he said.
While patients can experience both physical and psychological complications, generally psychological complications are a result of unrealistic expectations, Dr Katsaros said.
“Dealing with psychological complications of being unhappy with the outcome where it’s not what you expect is like visiting a holiday destination for the first time and finding it doesn’t meet your expectation,” he said.”The uncertainty is similar. Ultimately you have to go through the experience to determine unequivocally whether it’s going to be favorable for you”.