Heidi Montag's cover story, from People, January 15, 2010 Let's take a slight diversion from the usual Friday Figure Fix posts and address a topic that has been on the minds of many folks out there. Being a plastic surgeon always stimulates a lot of interesting small talk, and after this story took over the gossip headlines a few weeks ago, the ensuing conversations about this dramatic figure fix were no exception.
Most of the folks who brought up Ms. Montag's transformation were frankly a bit horrified, and were curious if that's an example of what most plastic surgeons - specifically, me - do.
As a disclaimer, I have never met nor taken care of Ms. Montag, so all the information that I have regarding her surgeries is the same as what you've got - from People, Us Weekly, and the vast Interwebs. It seems like she had 10 separate procedures under one anesthetic on one day, performed by one plastic surgeon, uneventfully.
Honestly, as a medical professional, I can't judge this particular case, since I don't know the patient, surgeon, or specific circumstances.
But in general? I do judge - that's part of my responsibility as a plastic surgeon. Even if it's a "cosmetic" procedure - or rather, especially if it is - I need to make sure that my patient needs whatever surgery they initially came to see me for. Sometimes what someone wants isn't what they need; sometimes, for a variety of reasons, they don't need anything. As much as I love operating, I have to be honest with myself and my patient - there should be no moral dilemma there at all.
Beyond determining whether a patient needs a particular surgical procedure and which procedures are appropriate, a plastic surgeon also needs to use judgment as to what is safe, in terms of number of procedures performed and the combination of surgeries. It's more than a simple matter of safety under general anesthesia or during the recovery period for the patient; it's also a matter of surgeon fatigue during the operation. Believe me, no one wants a tired, cranky surgeon.
Luckily for me, I have a fantastic partner in Dr. Weintraub at Duet. Having a second pair of highly skilled hands to help is wonderful, for both our patients and for us. But that doesn't mean that we're wild advocates of the "extreme makeover" philosophy; to the contrary, I think it makes us both a little more circumspect when we're discussing figure fixes, which makes and keeps our patients happy.
