Recently, a Washington Post blog by plastic surgeon Ayman Hakki, MD, was circulated. It got me thinking about my own personal philosophy. First, here is an excerpt from Dr. Hakki's articlet:

How can I be an artist at heart, someone who celebrates the human form, and be in the business of changing it? I thought for a long time that a plastic surgeon’s job was to make you look better. A plastic surgeon’s job is to make you feel better. The only way I can make you feel better is by making you look like you think you look. My first year at Georgetown , an NIH psychologist presented a study on plastic [surgery]. She found that people with the most confidence are those whose body image, what they see in the mirror, is very close to their self-image — what they see when they close their eyes at night. If I can achieve an approximation of these two things, then I’m going to make you feel better, and making you look better is secondary. Women want to control their own destiny — that’s all. The last thing they want is another man telling them how to look.

I say no every day. When a woman says, “My husband likes big boobs,” or “I want to save my marriage,” I will not do it. If you are changing who you are for someone else, I will not help. When a patient says she woke up with a bad feeling in her gut, I’ll cancel the surgery. I’m still superstitious; the artist always controls the scientist.

I, too, see our profession in terms of artistry. Interestingly, I originally came to plastic surgery after studying sculpture as a college undergraduate. But unlike sculpture, there is more to the art of the human body than just its form! We have to take into account the non-physical form in front of us: What is the psychological state of the patient? why are they here? do they have realistic expectations? can they afford this or will this procedure cause undo financial stress on themselves and put their relationships at home at risk? At the Plastic Surgery Center's free cosmetic seminars, my partners and I always stress that we, too, turn people down all the time. We are experienced at what we do--as both artists and scientists--and yes, discovering people's motivations for procedures makes us often experienced as psychologists as well!