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Do you want to change something about your appearance? If you do, you’re in good company. Millions of people undergo elective cosmetic procedures each year to correct or improve deformities, enhance features, or minimize a characteristic they don’t like. The social stigma around plastic surgery seems to have dissolved considerably, with more people feeling proud to flaunt their alterations.

The way we look affects our confidence. That’s an unavoidable fact for most people. Time for a nip and tuck? Or not yet? That’s a complicated question without a straightforward answer. The truth is, visiting a facial cosmetic surgeon can be incredibly empowering and positive. However, people sometimes have unrealistic or unhealthy ideas about what surgery can do for them.

If you’re struggling a little with the idea of an operation or you’re not sure what you want and you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a breath. You don’t need to rush ahead. We can help guide you through some important questions to ask yourself. Highlighting a few of the wrong reasons to make permanent, physical changes could help clarify your situation and ensure confident decision making.

Facial cosmetic surgeons can transform your appearance

There’s plenty of skin-smoothing, wrinkle-fighting, and glow-inducing treatment available without scalpels or stitches. At the Torgerson Clinic in Yorkville, some of our most popular facial services are non-surgical. Combined with practitioner expertise, they offer gentle and gradual improvements to skin texture and tone. We also provide non-invasive laser treatments that we just rave about (that’s for another blog post, another day). But when it comes to sagging tissue or structural concerns related to bone, fat, and muscle, facial surgery techniques can make significant permanent changes.

Aesthetic surgery like facelifts can dramatically reverse a person’s apparent age, harmonize proportions, impart symmetry, and allow a patient to feel less embarrassed or self-conscious. In cases of a deviated septum leading to occluded breathing or severe eyelid ptosis, functional benefits are key motivators.

People often underestimate just how psychologically impactful physical change is, yet these benefits are intangible and are linked to a multitude of other mental and emotional processes. Even the best of the best facial cosmetic surgeons can’t guarantee how you will “feel” after your procedure. There’s risky reasoning that can raise a red flag for you and will do so for your surgeon. When planning, consider these as potential problems:

Have you heard of revenge plastic surgery?

A sad concept, this type of rationale for plastic surgery could also be classified as “grief” cosmetic surgery. It refers to someone, male or female, who feels compelled to “improve” their appearance in direct response to a breakup. In particular, if a person’s partner leaves them for a younger mate, the compulsion to prove their worth with youthful enhancements may be a strong motivator for surgery.

Some studies have highlighted relatively high numbers of patients who were recently divorced. While wanting to appear more youthful is not problematic in itself, wanting to do so just to prove what someone else is missing out on is a negative and self-destructive place to start from.

One of the issues with this is that heartbroken, angry, and jealous feelings pass eventually. As hurtful to one’s self-esteem as a breakup can be, the intense feelings usually resolve, and people gradually build their confidence and optimism back up again. Deciding to change your appearance permanently during that brief phase runs the risk of being more about someone else than about you.

Here’s a good safety measure to ensure that your intentions are in the right place: Ask yourself, can you wait a while? Say, a year? First, work on some other areas of your mental and emotional health. If your spouse’s actions made you feel less valued and appreciated, how could therapy, positive reinforcement, and healthy choices help restore your confidence again? When you feel great about who you are, then you’ll be emotionally ready to consider any physical changes.

Is someone else more interested in your cosmetic surgery than you are?

Visiting a facial cosmetic surgeon at the urging of someone else is not recommended. The influencing person could be a romantic partner, friend, sibling, or even a parent.

This can be a sticky subject. Here’s why: people like to help and support the person they love. They may rationalize that cosmetic surgery will make you feel better. Therefore, they encourage you to do it, offer to pay for it, or try to convince you.

We can’t emphasize it enough: your consultation with a cosmetic surgeon should be scheduled when and if you want one. No one else should pressure you to make aesthetic changes to your body. There is no harm in asking a person whose opinion or good taste you respect for input, but only once you’ve decided all by yourself that that is a decision you feel good about. Remember, cosmetic surgery is designed to make permanent changes to the appearance. Unlike fashion, hairstyles, and other choices you can make on a whim due to peer pressure, this one lasts a lifetime, so the decision is entirely yours.

Don’t rush to choose your facial surgeon

A bad reason to do something permanent is time restraint. Typically, rushing into something important is ill-advised, and this is one of those situations. Our culture does tend to make light of cosmetic procedures sometimes, giving the impression to appearance-conscious people that facial surgery is as easy as a chemical peel. Though the best facial cosmetic surgeons ensure superior safety protocols and expert-level results, surgery comes with risks and considerations inherent to all operations and should not be taken lightly.

Your choice of cosmetic surgeon, the cost of facial cosmetic surgery, and the details of your procedure require research and homework on your part. It’s challenging to ensure that you’ve chosen the right practitioner and method when you’re in a rush.

Here are some essential items for your pre-planning checklist that you’ll want to take your time for:

If you want a surgeon who is extensively and specifically trained in your chosen procedure area (you do), then look for certification in plastic, facial plastic, or reconstructive surgery by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. You should further ensure that your surgeon practices extensively in the procedure area you want. For example, you may find a renowned plastic surgeon whose specialty is breast augmentation, but if you’re seeking a rhinoplasty, that surgeon will not be your top choice. Instead, a facial plastic surgeon who performs many rhinoplasties each year and is specialized in advanced techniques for nose jobs will have plenty of photo examples for you to review, related credentials, reviews from rhinoplasty patients, and customizable treatment options.

Choose a qualified surgeon

We feel it’s vital that you take the time to review your surgeon’s credentials. The various terms can be confusing. Surgeons sometimes advertise that they are board-certified or certified as cosmetic surgeons, but in Canada, only the Royal College can certify physicians and surgeons. You should select a plastic surgeon with in-depth cosmetic facial experience.

A surgeon like Dr. Cory Torgerson who has completed 18 years of post-secondary education, including extensive head and neck surgery and facial plastic surgery, has the knowledge and practice experience to deliver a high level of cosmetic facial rejuvenation. As he devotes his entire practice to facial and neck procedures, Dr. Torgerson is able to deepen and advance his knowledge while developing leading-edge techniques and innovations in his field. His approach to cosmetic improvements is to align artistry, facial harmony, and your desired goals with long-lasting improvements that will allow you to age naturally, bringing satisfaction for many years to come.

Dr. Torgerson believes in empowering all his clients with ample understanding of the procedure and plenty of time to ask questions or share concerns. At the Torgerson Clinic, we feel that beautiful surgical outcomes start with open, honest, and pressure-free consultations. When you visit us to discuss what you’d like to change, we’ll listen to you and offer the expert advice and tools you need to make the best decision for yourself. At our consultations, and we strive to help each client choose the right procedure at the right time and for the right reasons. If you’re ready to learn more, let’s talk.

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