Picture by kevin laminto on Unsplash
In our series of articles “The pitfalls of aesthetics” we deal with all relevant criteria that should be considered before deciding on an aesthetic treatment. The first part was about the correct diagnosis, the second part about choosing the right therapy. Here we will now deal with the expectation and the result of the therapy.
Results and expectation
Surely it makes sense to you that your expectations and the final result of the treatment should be as close as possible. However, it is not uncommon for both to be extremely far apart. Here we are approaching one of the biggest pitfalls. It is therefore extremely important that the doctors treating you get to know your expectations exactly. And vice versa, it is equally important that your expectations are realistic and that you are willing to give up unrealistic expectations. A seventy-year-old patient who wants the skin of a twenty-year-old is simply not realistic.
There is another pitfall in this topic and this is to be sought in our perception. To give you an example: Fat pads can be reduced with injection lipolysis, for example. However, it takes 2-4 months until the treatment results are visible. Let us assume that we are talking about the reduction of a double chin. You look at yourself in the mirror every morning and every evening and for this reason it is difficult to notice the slow change. There are patients who visit the practice after 2 months and then say: “It didn’t work for me at all. I still look the same as before the treatment. But if these patients then see a picture of their condition before the treatment, they notice that quite a lot has changed.
The result should be appropriate in any case. Appropriate means that it should correspond to the procedure. A full facelift is a major surgical procedure that results in a strong tightening of the facial skin. However, it is one of the last measures that can be taken, not one of the first. Therefore, one will start with less invasive treatments first and not immediately apply a facelift or similar invasive procedure. Conversely, a less invasive procedure should not be expected to produce a result that resembles a facelift.
Read in our fourth and last part about the time you should plan for a treatment.