Unsure of What Plastic Surgery Procedure You Want?

Many patients seeking plastic surgery have specific areas they wish to address. For example, they may want fuller lips or smaller breasts or a different nose.

If you’re just feeling a general dissatisfaction with your appearance and can’t pinpoint the issue, however, you may not know what plastic surgery procedure you want.

That’s okay. There are plenty of others just like you. As such, you’d benefit from a consultation with a plastic surgeon to help you determine this. The consultation will be more effective if you’re able to go in with some ideas though. So where can you get inspiration?

Is AI the Best Way to Go?

Artificial intelligence is a good starting point. With AI, you can generate images of how you might look with certain tweaks. It’s important to remember though that these are made-up images and may not be obtainable in reality.

AI is, at this point, unable to take into account your unique structural and anatomical features to give a fair assessment of how you could change these. It’s also unaware of your skin type and age and the challenges involved with that. So it should be only used for very baseline inspiration.

Are Fashion Magazines, Television, and Social Media More on the Mark?

Fashion magazines were once the gold standard for plastic surgery inspiration. Patients would show up at the plastic surgeon’s office, flash a picture of their favorite celebrity, and insist upon his or her lips/breasts/butt/skin, etc. Of course, movies and television were also great sources for inspiration.

Today, patients will still turn to television, film, and print to get inspired. Yet, they’re also turning to social media in hopes of looking like the latest influencer. In both cases, these images are usually not an accurate representation of what these folks look like. Celebrities have hair and make-up artists, the best lighting, amazing photographers, and the magic of Photoshop to make them look great. And anyone on social media can alter their photos with apps and filters.

So what’s a confused potential plastic surgery patient to do?

To Decide What Plastic Surgery Procedure You Want, Stick with Reality

Many plastic surgeons recommend that you look to your past for inspiration. How? For example, if you want to rejuvenate your look or focus on anti-aging treatments, pour through old photos of yourself from a decade or so ago. Did you have fewer wrinkles, fuller lips, less sagging in your eyebrows?

By looking at these pictures of yourself from a decade or so ago, you’ll get a better idea of what you may want and how your potential results will look. It just creates a more realistic vision for you and your surgeon.

Another recommendation from surgeons is to find images of REAL people you find visually appealing with whom you share common physical traits (age, skin type, body type, etc.). Showing the surgeon such an image will help him or her to assess your expectations and determine how realistic they are.

Ready to Speak to a Surgeon?

When trying to decide what plastic surgery procedure you want, AI, television, film, social media, celebrity photographs, apps, and websites are good starting points.

But at the end of the day, you have to remember that you are not made of wood and clay that can be easily sculpted. What’s possible will depend on your skin laxity, anatomy, and other structural features.

So contact us today to set up a free consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon. And prepare to engage in an honest and transparent discussion about your aesthetic goals, whether they’re realistic, and the most effective procedures to get you the best results.