“There are two aspects that worry me a lot: both the social pressure placed on women to look fantastically feminine throughout our lives as if activity of plastic surgery can collaborate in perpetuating these clichés and obligations. So,how to do it ethically to really help and not delve into this supposed need to adapt to a specific image as a key pillar to develop or maintain adequate self-esteem?”
With more than 20 years dedicated to plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, the Dr. Maritina Martínez Lara, At the head of her own team in her clinic in Granada, she tries to answer these questions and many more in her book ‘Confessions of a Plastic Surgeon’ (Cúpula). Full of testimonies and data – did you know that In Spain, more than 200,000 aesthetic interventions are performed per yearand going up, and that Spaniards spent more than 2.6 billion euros in 2020 on aesthetic treatments in the midst of the health and economic crisis?, for example-, the author opts for “a healthier relationship with our body, accepting its diversity and individualities”, and also asks for “respect” for those who choose to go under the knife.
Why do we have surgery, doctor?
To improve or help us with our insecurities, first of all, seeking greater satisfaction with our appearance and even, why not, to be more attractive.
How much beauty does it take to have calm self-esteem?
Depends. You don’t need much beauty or even any if you appreciate and value yourself, because self-esteem is not only based on physical appearance. For those people who value their appearance above all else, I would say that it can be an impossible goal, one that is never achieved.
“We should not encourage radical changes,” he says in the book about the ‘red lines’ of his profession.
There are many red lines. Do not operate on those who do not have health conditions. Do not operate on someone who has unrealistic expectations. Do not operate on someone who has the problem elsewhere and intends to solve it with physical changes. Do not operate on very young people if they are not yet sufficiently mature to understand surgery…
Did you know that in Spain more than 200,000 aesthetic interventions are performed a year, and counting; And that Spaniards spent more than 2.6 billion euros in 2020 on aesthetic treatments in the midst of the health and economic crisis?
Where is the limit?
Plastic surgery is not a merchant’s trade, it is not a consumer product. It is a medical act, indeed, surgical. And irreversible. And it can have its complications. Nor can the population be encouraged to undergo it without indication or clear objectives, nor can it perpetuate clichés especially for women, nor can it target vulnerable people by encouraging and showing as essential images or patterns of thinness or artificial normative aspects as keys to success. success. It must be treated seriously and responsibly as the doctors that we are.
To what extent is it a whim or a necessity?
It is almost never a whim, this is something exceptional. The vast majority of patients have been thinking about it for a long time, and for many it has been a difficult decision. The surgeon’s task is to evaluate whether or not it is indicated, if the desired result can be achieved or at least a good result, if good health conditions exist…
“You should not operate on someone who has the problem elsewhere and tries to solve it with physical changes”
Has Instagram and TikTok brought many young people to the consultation?
It is not the most frequently operated strip. They usually start more with aesthetic medicine treatments, such as lip or cheekbone augmentation with hyaluronic acid.
What do you expect from cosmetic surgery?
Many look for that ‘normality’ that they think they do not have; Some believe that they have traits that are very far from the normative and even feel them as a malformation (for example, a malformed tuberous breast), and others, on the other hand, are aware that they do not have abnormal traits but their desire is to improve them to feel more satisfied. with his appearance.
“Plastic surgery is not a trade of merchants, it is not a consumer product. It is a medical act, in fact, surgical. And irreversible”
Those in this age range, what do they ask of you?
Far ahead of the others, without a doubt, breast augmentation and increasingly also breast lift, liposuction and rhinoplasty.
Do patients come to you with Instagram photos?
Of course, and many times those photos are of friends or acquaintances, and also of ‘influencers’, models, actresses…
What is better, a face full of wrinkles and bags or a face with exaggerated cheekbones and lips?
Faced with such a grotesque appearance, it is clear that it would have been better not to do anything. But this is usually the result of some complication with some filling material or some surgery.
Any operation that is no longer used so much?
Perhaps fewer facelift-type facial surgeries are performed due to the rise and incredible evolution of non-surgical treatments.
“Young people are asking for more breast augmentation surgeries and increasingly also breast lifts, liposuctions and rhinoplasties”
And the ones that are made the most?
Apart from the usual and most frequent ones such as breast augmentation, there are liposuctions with different degrees of definition, rhinoplasty or blepharoplasties. [extirpación del exceso de piel de los párpados].
In recent years, many cosmetic surgery centers have appeared that are sold at quite affordable prices.
They respond to a commercial use of plastic surgery, which they show as an object of consumption and not as a medical act. They trivialize surgery, they lower prices by cutting everywhere, professional fees, materials…
“As Susan Sontag said: ‘It is not wrong to want to be beautiful, what is wrong is that it is an obligation to be beautiful, or to want to be beautiful.’ There are more values”
What do you think of famous women who give birth and look great a few days later in magazines?
No matter what you do, diet, exercise…, the muscles will not be the same, nor the ribs, nor the skin, although it does not affect them all in the same way.
But women must look fantastic throughout their lives.
I am very concerned about the social pressure that is placed on women in this regard, and it is one of the reasons why I wrote this book. As Susan Sontag said: ‘It is not wrong to want to be beautiful, what is wrong is that it is an obligation to be beautiful, or to want to be beautiful.’ There are more values.
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