Why would I toy with perfection??
OK, seriously, no. Not only because I’ve had to have surgery for non-cosmetic reasons and it’s not fun, but because I have no problem with me as I am. I know my teeth aren’t perfect, I know gravity is taking its toll, I know the lines and wrinkles will show up sooner than later. But that’s just me.
Being perfect would require too much effort. I just wanna be me.
Been there, done that. I lost 100 pounds a few years ago and because my weight had been very centered on my abdomen, I was left with lots of excess skin. I had a tummy tuck and then a year later, a bilateral thigh lift to take care of the same problem there.
Yes, the scars are big (hip to hip and practically 2/3 of the way around the inner sides of my thighs) but they have lightened considerably and are not at all raised or lumpy. They look miles better than I did before.
I have also had other surgeries and the plastic surgery I had was a piece of cake compared to those. With the plastic surgeries I had, the MD was essentially just cutting skin, as opposed to more deep and involved other surgeries. Despite the sizeo f the incisions, healing time was minimal and the pain wasn’t bad at all. After being in the hospital overnight, I never even took more than one or two of the painkillers they sent me home with. Extra strenght Tylenol was enough to handle any discomfort I had.
Would I ? Absolutely. I’d have liposuction, and here’s why.
I’m obese. So says my Dr. So says me. I’m 6 foot 2 inches tall and 258 lbs. Just 7 years ago, I dieted and became interested in martial arts. I lost 47 lbs, and kept it off for a few years ( give or take 5 lbs ). I never was able to drop the tire around my waist. Sure, it went from a Freuhauf 18 wheeler spare to a Toyota Corolla donut spare but damn…there it sits. And has, since I was roughly 7.
Now I diet again, knowing I’ll lose elsewhere but knowing as well that my pants will never fit properly, because the tire ( or, La Radial Gigormous, as I like to call it ) stops them from resting properly on my hips.
I’d have all of the tire and manboobs fat removed and be glad of it. Does it mean it could come back? Sure. Would it be a serious incentive to never become so heavy again that it CAME back? You betcha.
I read an interview once with someone who had fairly extensive liposuction surgery. I consider mine to be fairly extensive- I cannot even imagine how I’d sleep, since the suction would be 360 around my body. The patient said that he wanted to kill his surgeon for the first three days due to the incredibly pain, then wanted to than his surgeon for the remainder of his life- because he looked like he wanted to, and knew in his heart he’d never let himself get there again.
I’d endure that. Losing the weight will also reduce spinal pain, although I do realize that losing it through diet and careful exercise would do the same thing. I just know that it’d never go away totally.
Cartooniverse
Yep, I would, if I had the spare cash.
I have lost 35 pounds with diet and kept it off, which is lovely. But that pooch on my belly isn’t going anywhere, and the only true method of targeted fat loss is lipo, so I would hit that, and probably do a little off my hips while he was in there.
Oh, and my breasts? They used to be lovely, stunning in fact. The children enjoyed them as well, and now I feel like they’ve spoiled 'em for everyone else. Not to be gross, but thay have shrunk in a bad way, like partially deflated balloons. Lift and augment, please.
Yes, in a heart beat.
I’d like to have a stronger chin, with a dimple ala’ Kirk Douglas.
One of my eyes are lower and different shaped than the other.
Id opt for a more symmetrical face if I could afford it.
What I’d do would be pretty subtle and probably not worth the trouble:
Center my nose. My septum’s pretty seriously deviated, but not enough to affect my sinuses (meaning, I’d have to pay for this myself). I like its shape, though.
Raise my left ear, so both ears are on the same plane.
Redo my teeth. Wisdom teeth undid part of the many thousands of dollars worth of work my dad paid for when I was a teenager. So now they’re off center, too. And I’ve never liked the bridge I got - the dentist didn’t really know what he was doing. Oh, bleach too.
I looooove my plastic surgeon. I had dermabrasion done exactly two months ago. The difference is about 100% but I still have bad scarring on my face. I can wear makeup now though that hides the worst of it. I could not do that before surgery.
When I went to see her yesterday, we made some decisions on the course for the rest of my treatment. The laser portion of the next step of the treatment, she will do at no charge for the purpose of getting before and after pictures.
She is on time for her surgeries - the staff at the surgical center love her because of this. And I have never had to wait for more than 10 minutes for a scheduled appointment. If the appointment is for 9 am, she is there at 9. I love that about her.
When I get down to my goal weight, I will be back in her office for some tucks.
Now, to know me really, is to know that I am not a vain person, and before the dermabrasion I would not have considered anything beyond the dermabrasion itself, but my surgeon is great, I trust her and she has made me feel really good about the direction we are going. Sooo, any of you Chicago area people with these thoughts in your head, if you want her name, just send me an e-mail. And I will gladly go into more specifics about her bedside manner and other things that just make me feel like I am the luckiest person in the world for having her as my doctor.
I don’t see anybody else owning up to the sort of cosmetic surgery that would be necessary to fix cosmetic issue. Let me share - and I can’t believe I am doing this.
I have what can only be called a birth defect - there is probably a PC name for it nowadays but that is what it is. The visibility of it increased markedly as I grew up and bulked up. There is a medical name for it but I cannot recall what now - but even in the class of people that have it I have it bad.
Basically though it is that my breastbone curves the other way to the rest of you - concave rather than slightly convex. So my ribs get a a couple of inches inside my nipples then start curving strongly inwards - producing a hole in the centre of my chest that I could insert my closed fist into up the third knuckle.
Obviously growing up I was pretty freaked out by it and had a complex in the changing rooms etc but when grown up it lessoned - you learn to live with it and ignore the glances. But I still avoid beach holidays, going barechested in public and recreational swimming so guess it was still an issue.
Anyway a few years back I thought I would check out the options for fixing it and was seriously put off!! Apparently it would be a major operation involving opening up my chest wall, breaking my ribcage and rebuilding it with mixture of bone, pins and other junk. Leaving major scaring and not a straightforward op. It seemed far worse than continuing to live with it so I didn’t bite.
But I would like to have. In any case the UK the our National Health would only have paid for it if I could show it had significant psychological effect on my life. Whereas I think it would have show something more significant about my mental health if I HAD elected to get it done. 
Anyway I passed on the option.
I guess I can continue to live with it as it is not obvious in everyday life, and does not effect my health or sporting ability - continue to rock climb, row, skydive. And girlfriends by the time they discover my appearance are hopefully beyond the stage of backing out 
Credit to women to being not just focused on looks - not sure us men are so open at that stage in relationships! Well, at least I have never got the impression it was a reason for any of them not working out - but there again I am still single… hmmm :dubious:
The only serious downside was a warning was that due to it I am vulnerable to getting snuffed if I am in a serious auto wreck or something like. There is not much room in the space for all the organs in there if I get serious crushing injuries.
Not sure what this says about me - but maybe gives a different perspective on what is too easily dismissed as vanity, elective procedures. Any other dopers with real deformities - that were fixed or stayed unfixed?
I’d like a new nose. Mine has some acne scarring from my teens, when I was told not to mess with zits, because they might leave a scar. I took the advice, left them alone.
And they got huge–the biggest zits I’ve ever had, right on my nose. They eventually opened on their own, and left a couple of deep scars behind. I should have nipped them in the bud.
I’d also like to have breast reduction.