Plastic surgery – A risky journey

Plastic surgery is a well known specialty with the potential to change people's lives in many significant ways. Reconstructive plastic surgery can make the difference in the patient's quality of life and certainly can bring undoubtful benefits in the scenario where functional ability has been lost or reduced. On the other hand, esthetic procedures do not seem to share the same understanding. Differently from reconstructive surgery, the risks related to esthetic procedures might not be safely overcome by the potential benefits. The issue is controversial and that is probably the problem when dealing with something not as straightforward as beauty. Someone who decides for an esthetic surgical procedure should be aware of the associated risks and be absolutely sure on what to expect from the surgery and its results.

            The question of the risk associated with medical procedures is quite biased and most of the time not clearly spoken by the doctors, especially among us in Brazil. Most of the risk has been measured as relative risk and as such may not reflect a real-world scenario. In a recent survey in Denmark it was demonstrated that up to 16.7 percent of the women undergoing breast augmentation countrywise were registered with an adverse event and 4.8 percent of the women were registered with a surgery-requiring complication. That could mash the false idea that the procedure is almost risk-free and should be undertaken by anyone who wants it. If the risk is shown as absolute risk we would find that two patients will face adverse events every 1000 procedures performed. When the adverse event related to medical procedures happens close to you or personalizes itself in the figure of the loved ones, the awareness of the risk becomes a lot clearer. Taken together these data suggest that plastic surgery benefits ought to be balanced against the harm the procedure might cause.

            Another important point to consider is the real need for esthetic procedures and the motivation that has led to them. Many men and women turn to plastic surgery yearning for better looks in order to feel loved and desired. Victims of heavy marketing that sells the image of perfection and satisfaction these individuals are able to do any potential sacrifice (physical, financial and moral) aiming to become younger or beautiful. In a society the values instant beauty, extreme makeovers and celebrities, people want to be famous or look like someone famous. In the struggle to appear young and fresh forever, we are forgetting the basics in terms of getting old: the increasing ability to feel happy about your accomplishments and experience at the time that you also acknowledge your own limitations. Getting old is not the process of hiding your body and its frailties. It has to do with getting rid of the anxiety that used to be a constant companion at younger ages and being able to just enjoy life and whatever good you´ve been able to cultivate.

            Plastic surgery is certainly an excellent therapeutic tool when used with caution and respecting basic recommendations. As with any medicine, all plastic surgery procedures carry significant side effects. Surgeons should stick to their ethics and reserve this tool specifically for those who could really benefit from it. For their part, patients should seek for information regarding the procedure risks, what to expect from them in terms of results and potential complications and then share the decision whether to undergo this risky journey.          

Warming up the soul with food

I´ve always remembered myself as a very skinny incredibly shy boy not very much fond of my mom´s cooking. To be completely honest, I really disliked most of the food I was forced to eat as far as I can recall. At school I was known as spaghetti and that never has been a problem for me. Actually, I used to think that eating was nothing but wasting of time and energy. Even during adolescence when most of us wish to become big and muscular, I was quite happy weighing less than average and not paying much attention to food. Exceptions were to be made to birthday parties, when I would turn myself into an ant and fight for every piece of candy and cake I could put my fingers on.  This blasé attitude towards food came to change only later in life and it was very peculiar the way it happened.

            A couple of years ago I moved to the USA due to professional reasons. I did not plan moving there. It happened that I had an academic work accepted for presentation in one scientific meeting in the USA and then got invited to continue the research there. In less than 6 months I moved to Saint Louis and had my life completely changed.  I still remember the day I got there and my surprise to see that the studio I had rented through the internet had none of the facilities announced. I only knew my future boss, who I was to see only 2 days after (I arrived on a Saturday) and had no bed to sleep on. Worse than that, I had no idea on how to get one. To complicate matters, my knowledge in their language at that time would not allow me to buy a sandwich in Disneyland, as had said my Brazilian advisor a few days before my departure from here.  She was not mistaken.

            After this small ordeal, I was introduced to people at the hospital and shortly after that I was invited to many dinner parties with the colleagues. For the first time in my life, the food I was given together with the potential friendship made me happy.  I would look forward for the next invitation and that went on for a couple of weeks when suddenly it stopped. I could not understand why people suddenly stopped inviting me over for dinner. Had I done anything wrong? Had I said anything unacceptable? Probably someone got offended by the joke I tried to tell the last dinner about Argentineans.  That was one of the top 5 explanations I found for the situation. I was deeply hurt and then decided to investigate what happened with a friend, a very loud Italian guy named Frederico. Much simpler than I thought, he told me that I had been invited to dinner party with a circle of friends and that now I was expected to invited all of them over to return the favor. As I did not ask them over, they just gave up on me for that matter. They were anxious for trying some Brazilian food and I was to provide that if I wanted to keep inside the circle.

            I didn´t know how to make an egg. Out of despair I looked up for Brazilian recipes at Ana Maria Braga´s web site. That saved me. The recipes were easy to follow and after a few tries I was an expert on many Brazilian dishes: fish moqueca, shrimp bobó and obviously feijoada. Back to the circle, I started valuing food and the company it attracts. We would relax a bit from the hard work having a meal prepared by a friend. Sharing the food around a table with friends is the most precious memory I brought from my experience living abroad. And now, when we meet somewhere it is always like old times: the food comes first and the dinner is a mandatory sacred event.