Mistake No. 7: You don't tell your doc about the supplements you're taking
Many women don't realize dietary supplements can affect the way their body reacts to anesthesia, and that a bad drug/supplement interaction can kill them. Diet pills and over-the-counter stimulants like metabolic enhancers and fat burners make the heart muscle irritable and can cause cardiac arrest, says Bayati. She says women often don't report taking them before an operation because they don't consider them medication, as most are non-prescription. This can be a fatal mistake.
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Mistake No. 8: Skimping on the price tag
According to Miami board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Salzhauer, it's a case of "buyer beware" when a potential patient sees plastic surgery procedures in monetary terms. "There is a reason plastic surgery usually has high costs associated with it," says Salzhauer. "Sometimes when economic times are bad, surgeons will cut their fees for the sake of acquiring new patients. However, if you hear a dramatically reduced price from a surgeon, you should ask yourself 'what corners are they cutting to offer surgery at such a low price?'"
Tachmes agrees. With the economy the way it is, people "shop their bodies around" the way they would parts for a car. And there are plenty of non-plastic surgeons ready to take advantage of that fact. "There are doctors out there that go get a one day training or attend a three day seminar in Vegas on how to do liposuction, get a little diploma, frame it their wall, and just like that -- they are off and running," says Tachmes. "They are out there like cowboys doing whatever they want," she says, and reaping the monetary rewards at the patient's expense.
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Mistake No. 9: Not realizing the risks of "fixing" a bad plastic surgery job
So, say you do get a botched nose job, a facelift too tight, or lumpy lipo from a doctor who was offering a great deal. The cost of fixing that bad procedure (which insurance will not cover) far exceeds paying a legitimate doctor's fee the first time around. And, that second surgery will likely be much more painful. "The plastic surgeon fixing the botched procedure is assuming a new level of risk when taking on this patient," says Tachmes. "They are re-operating on scarred tissue with poor blood supply -- it basically becomes advanced reconstructive surgery," which explains the price jump.
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Mistake No. 10: Letting your dentist (or gyno) give you Botox
Women treat Botox and other injectables fairly flippantly, but plastic surgeons agree that it takes a highly trained and skilled hand to inject the face properly. Read: Botox from your gyno is not the best idea. "A lot of these doctors are not familiar with the anatomy of the face, and the muscles of facial expression -- they are just out to make cash," says Tachmes. "They do a course for a few days and off they go injecting patients, but it takes more than just learning how to inject," he says.
Still not convinced? Tachmes says some women suffer blindness for up to four months due to faulty injections near the crows feet of their eyes. "If the product gets injected too close to the eyeball and the product migrates, it can effect the little muscles that control the focusing of the eyeball inside its bony orbit," says Tachmes, and this can cause temporary blindness.
We all know about the plastic surgery horror stories of fatal blood clots or heart attacks, and have gasped at the pictures of notoriously butchered celebs like Michael Jackson and Courtney Love. But more often than not, we never find out about the other ways plastic surgery can go wrong -- ways that in some cases, aren't the doctor's fault.
"Plastic surgery is major surgery," says Semira Bayati, a board certified plastic surgeon in Newport Beach, Calif. -- and a lot of times, no matter how skilled the doctor, crazy side effects can happen.
Knowing about these less-talked about ways that plastic surgery can go wrong is more important than ever, considering the growing number of people in the U.S. who are opting for cosmetic procedures. According to a recent survey, 51 percent of the population approves of cosmetic and plastic surgery. "As the numbers suggest, people in every income bracket, single or married, male or female, view plastic surgery as a reasonable option today,� says Felmont F. Eaves III, MD, President of The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
So, before you sign up for a Botox session at your next dentist appointment or lust after a nose job when "Us Weekly" runs enviable before and after shots of Ashlee Simpson, read on. You'll want to know about these shocking ways that plastic surgery can leave you with less than stellar results. They happen more frequently than you might expect.
