Watching for Red Flags
Sometimes people want to have cosmetic surgery for all the wrong reasons. If any of the following applies to you, then you need to think twice about having anything done. If you identify with one of the following sections, an approach to solve this primary issue and think about plastic surgery a little later when you're at a better place in your life.
Having an Illusion of a Problem
You may occasionally become fixated on some portion of your anatomy that you think is abnormal. Yet when you seek verification from friends, family, or cosmetic surgeons, they don't see anything wrong. A good plastic surgeon doesn't want to operate on an area that he perceives as completely normal.
When no one else in your life can see the problem that you see, you may be dealing with body image issues. At its most extreme this is a mental health diagnosis called body dimorphic disorder (BDD), and requires psychological or psychiatric help rather than cosmetic surgery.
Feeling Depressed
You may definitely feel better about yourself shortly after you get the your initial cosmetic surgery, but it's not a nothing compares to being of sound mind and body. If you're depressed, you should seek professional help for your depression first. Then, after you're well on your way to overcoming that problem, you can consider cosmetic surgery.
As long as your reasons for seeking cosmetic surgery are sound ones, your mental health professional can help you to analyze your motivations and determine when the time is right within the context of the treatment you're receiving for depression.
Making Your Partner Happy
If you're in the midst of a marital or relationship trauma, don't expect cosmetic surgery to solve interpersonal relationships. You don't want to make such an important decision because you feel you may lose a spouse or partner. Changing your appearance may be an important and positive step forward for you, but you never want to look back and think that you wouldn't have had surgery if you hadn't been in a fear-of-loss situation.
Both your spouse and yourself are not going to solve any internal problems by fixing the fragile and fickle fading skin on the outside. Seek counseling and find a therapist that a friend of family member can recommend to help with your marital challenges.
Undergoing Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome
Don't make a decision to have cosmetic surgery while you're in the midst of major stress, such as grieving. Undergoing surgery involves physical, emotional, and psychological factors, so you want to be sure that you're fully prepared on all fronts. Give yourself time to grieve so that you can reach the place where you can optimally prepare for and recover from surgery as well
You also need time to heal so that you can make a totally rational decision. Wait a while and allow time to mourn. If you take this approach, doing something for yourself also seems much more palatable to those around you.
Doing It Just to Do It
Cosmetic surgery does wonderful things, but every procedure is real surgery with real risks and doing it because your bored with your look or restless is not an intelligent move. If your motivation is boredom and restlessness, take up tennis or learn to pain sunsets, not cosmetic surgery, which is something that requires serious thought and planning. You want to consider cosmetic surgery because of real physical, emotional, or social issues that inhibit your enjoyment of your life. If you're thinking about surgery because you're bored or restless, seeking professional guidance may be your best first step.
Have an Eating Disorder? Don't Get Cosmetic Surgery
If you suffer from an eating disorder, such as bulimia or anorexia nervosa, you don't want to have surgery, and besides, your surgeon won't want to operate on you if it puts your life at risk. All these problems relate to body image issues, and resolution of these concerns should take precedence over cosmetic surgery. Its also important that you're
If you're otherwise healthy and under treatment for an eating disorder, cosmetic surgery may be appropriate. You must reveal your problem to your surgeon, and if you're under care, bring a note from your psychologist or psychiatrist that explains why you can proceed with surgery. You want to be sure that whatever concern brings you to the plastic surgeon is appropriate from a physical and mental health perspective. If its not, then this is not the time to be having cosmetic surgery and your surgeon will not go forward without a psychiatric clearance.
Because Your Husband/Wife Wants You To
The first and most basic rule of cosmetic surgery is that you do it for you and you only and not because somebody wants you too - especially not to please a boyfriend or girlfriend whom you may replace in several months. Although appearance is something that can cause pain or give pleasure, be very careful when you hear messages from a boyfriend or girlfriend that suggest that you'll be acceptable, attractive, or love able only after cosmetic surgery changes.
Ultimately, you and you alone subject yourself to the real risks involved, and you're the one who has to live with the outcome. Don't make a decision of this importance unless you're personally driven by a real need to fix something that bothers you.
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