 You and everyone Doctors from finesse about the mental benefits of plastic surgery Some people think that plastic surgery are for those people who don't want to get old but for others the psychological benefits outweigh Any other reason today? We have dr. Justin West and his partner dr. Gown from finesse to tell us about the psychological benefits of plastic surgery so Dr. West yes, there are some obvious reasons why some women might want to get plastic surgery But what would be some other things in plastic surgery that people can get that aren't so obvious? That's a good question. I think that you know people often focus on The the physical results that you're gonna get but a huge part of what we do in plastic surgery is focusing on the emotional And psychological components behind it So for example people will come in and they're self-conscious about a feature And they'll they'll come in talking about their nose or their face or their body And inevitably during the course of the conversation in determining what they want to do it comes back to that I don't feel comfortable when I go out looking like this They don't like looking at a feature in the mirror, right? So when you have a client that comes to you like that and they're considering plastic surgery Do you have them go through a type of? Testing or do you have them fill out a questionnaire? How do you determine if it's? Gonna be beneficial to them our process is a lot more informal than that There are certainly practices that I'm aware of that do something a bit more formal But it's it's absolutely one of the most important parts of the assessment of plastic surgery is to determine is somebody Psychologically a good candidate for surgery you want to make sure that the person is stable that they don't have issues with depression So it's absolutely a big part of the screen that we do but we don't have a formalized process for a day So if someone let's say is depressed do you ever look on? Do you help when they fill out a form? Do you look for medications that they might be on is that kind of big signal? Well, it's certainly something that we look at You know plastic surgery is just like any other type of medicine in which when somebody comes into practice for the first time We do a general medical assessment We ask there we take a very thorough medical history because we're trying to determine is it is the person a safe candidate Ultimately for some sort of surgical procedure or non-surgical procedure So safety is always the top priority Have you had anyone come into your practice that you thought might have had a great change after a procedure? Absolutely, you know patients They tend to be very straightforward with their response and people come in and whether it's the day after or a month later or a year later People are usually very they love to share their experience with a plastic surgeon Just the beginning of their journey They share their their disappointment in a facial feature or their lack of confidence because of a certain feature And they're they're usually Overwhelming in terms of the amount of information that they'll share they like to share their joy associated with this transformation We've got all kinds of examples that we could share with you about that So right from the beginning you have people people you've never met before You don't know come in and then they will just open it all out on the table Just lay it out on you and go I am unhappy with this Well a big part of our job is to create an environment of comfort people It's a very personal thing people are coming in and they're sharing their thoughts They're they're sharing their concerns. They're sharing themselves without clothes on and it's a it's a very intimate relationship and A really important part of our job is to create an environment in which they the patient can feel very secure and confident in themselves Otherwise, they don't have that ability to share their concerns fully and we can't really establish what their true desires are Okay, well, what would you consider a really big success story? I do have an experience with someone where they came back six months or a year later And they weren't not just physically the same person that walked in the door But really on a on a psychological level We have stories like that every day. I'll relate a young patient just from last week It was a woman that came in she was very self-conscious about her breasts Not only for breast size, but the fact that they had dropped and she didn't feel like she had the fullness to Look good in clothing to look out as she came in with her shoulders hunched forward We take before and after picture so you can see it in her face When we take the initial shots we take the picture of the patient's face looking forward and then the rest of the body So eyes were averted looking down hunched over like this and only one week later after a lift and an augmentation It's entirely new person bright I had looking straight out big smile shoulders put back in a nice posture and That part was also demonstrated not only by her the way she physically presented but the way she interacted with other people around us or her friends that came in with Her for the consultation. Wow. She brought a whole entourage. She brought her family She brought her friends and she wanted to share her story with every single one of my Office staff members. So it's it's a definite experience that happens over and over again It's not an uncommon thing to to to occur on a daily basis. And how does that make you feel? Taking someone through that transformation. That's I mean, that's that's one of the best parts about what we do It's not just taking a and going to be in creating something It's getting that response and transforming that person's entire psyche. Not just their body It's definitely the most rewarding part of what we do. I mean the letters that we get from patients are really touching You realize that the impact you have isn't just a physical one, but a psychological one You know, we have story after story of patient coming in saying I used to hate going out in public I used to hate going out to bars. I used to feel like people were looking at me and laughing at me And then the confidence they describe afterwards I'm finally able to date or I'm finally able to go out and put a bathing suit on You know, it's really touching we have letters that will bring a tear to your eye They're just it's a really powerful experience to go through all right Well, thank you very much doctor just in west and dr. Gal and plastic surgery is something we all have thought about at one point Another we may have thought about it in a physical psychological way And I want to thank you for being here and showing us what some of the psychological benefits are