Welcome to The Own Your Health Podcast,
I'm Cyndi Lynne, and I can't wait to
help you step into your health power.
So today's topic is ask me how.
How to think about plastic surgery.
This, like so many of the topics we've
talked about already, can be very polarizing.
There's people who think it's absolutely the worst thing in
the world, and I would never, and those who think
it's the best thing since sliced bread and sign up
for as much as they possibly can have.
So where do you fall and how do you make that decision?
Because even if it's your own opinions, sometimes it's
more valuable to know how to think about something
than just what you think about it.
Because, hey, life happens.
So how do you think about plastic surgery?
Owning our health is as much about our physical
health as it is about our mental health.
And plastic surgery can have huge impacts on
our mental health, both positive and negative.
Usually we're shooting for something positive.
Owning your health also means
making use of valuable resources.
For some people, owning their health means doing it
all on their own, not using doctors or not
using clinics or not using other resources.
But these are all tools we have at our disposal.
And if we want to own our health and live
our best life by our own definition, then plastic surgery
may be a tool that you wish to use.
So how do we think about that?
I'm going to give you four questions that
you're going to want to ask yourself.
One, what do I want have done?
Do I want something very specific?
Because that's what you should be wanting.
If you're going to expect a specific outcome, you
need a specific desire for your plastic surgery.
So if you're thinking, I just want my
face to look better, that's pretty vague.
It's hard to communicate to a practitioner, to
a surgeon, and it may not produce an
outcome that you're specifically looking for, because better
is kind of a tricky word.
If instead you're very specific and
you say, you know what?
My ears stick out.
I can't wear short hair or even with my long hair.
My ears stick out of my hair.
I would really love the flexibility in the hairstyles if
my ears stayed back. And that would be an otoplasty.
And it's minimally invasive, not necessarily without
risk, but a fairly common plastic surgery.
It's a very specific one with
a very specific desired outcome.
Or I'm really not happy with my nose because my
nose droops at the end and I would really like
it not to do that, again, a very specific request.
Knowing what you want is halfway there, because when
you go in and to see even a super
proficient, professional plastic surgeon, he needs to know what's
in your mind for your body.
Even when it comes to things like breast
reductions, we need to be very specific.
You know, I would like to be no larger than 36B
or whatever it is that you want, because you don't
want to just go in and say, I want smaller breasts.
It's very, very tricky to know what
one person's definition is versus another.
So if you're going to use this tool, be
very specific in how you ask for help.
Another one that's,
that I hear commonly is, oh, I just hate my hips.
I just want my hips fixed.
Well, your hips are actually your bones.
The muscles and the tissue around them
are what you may want alterations in.
But even that, be really sure that it's your body
that you're unhappy with and not just the clothing you're
wearing or the way that you are presenting yourself.
Second question, why do I want this?
And this overlaps a little bit with the very specifics.
So if I wanted that ear plastic surgery to have
my ears pinned back, the why is so that I
can wear hairstyles without my ears sticking out, being self
conscious about that, and just kind of messing up the
look of what I'm trying to go for.
If I want a breast reduction to a
specific size, it's because I want to be
able to exercise without being sore.
I want to be able to have that movement
without all of that weight moving around and pulling
on my shoulders and my back, for example.
If you want this plastic surgery, just because
you believe you will be happier after, that's
where we get a little suspect.
That's where we say, okay, how can we
think about this a little bit deeper?
How can we go a little bit further?
I will be happier with my nose
if it is not pointing downward, okay.
You can be satisfied.
You can be happy with your nose.
If you're looking to just be happier with your
body, that, again, gets a little bit vague.
And I would encourage you to dig a little
bit deeper and look for those specifics, not just
in terms of justifying what you want, what you
want, but because your ability to communicate what you
want to your surgeon is going to be huge
in how you actually get those results you want.
So first, know very specifically what you want done.
Second, know why you want it done.
And third, who are you doing it for?
And I'll be very blunt here.
Excuse me, if this is for anyone but yourself
I'd really encourage you to think about it some more.
We do a lot of things for other people in our lives.
We do a lot of things because we
think we're going to get different outcomes and
we're going to get different interactions from people.
But we have to question whether we want to
actually start altering our bodies for someone else.
We probably all know situations like this probably not
happening in the examples that I gave with ears
sticking out, breast reduction, those kinds of things.
But there are times when spouses, when family members
can put pressure on you to change your body.
And you really need to know deep inside
yourself if that's what you actually want.
One, what do you want done?
Two, why do you want it done?
And three, who are you doing it for?
And then the fourth one is probably a
little bit less philosophical and absolutely downright practical.
And that is, are you willing to do the
work to make the plastic surgery a success?
Are you willing to do what it takes on
your part to own your health in that, to
own your healing, to own your recovery in that?
Because every surgery has a risk, and with every risk we
look at what is the reward, what is the benefit?
And we can choose a really good clinic or
hospital, we can choose and research a really good
surgeon for the type of surgery that we want.
The variable piece in there, the piece that ties into
owning our health, and this is our physical health as
well as our mental health around plastic surgery, is are
you willing to do the work, are you willing to
do the work to get ready for surgery, to get
super healthy, to stop smoking, if that's what you're doing?
I'm not guessing.
I have a whole lot of smokers on this group.
But you might. To really cut out the sugar before
and after surgery because that impacts healing a huge amount.
Are you willing to restrict your activity for the
period of time that they ask you to?
And this is really hard for some
people, especially if they're looking to, they're
looking to improve their body.
They don't want to give up their
exercise, they don't want to stop doing.
But for many healing areas, many fine healing areas, you
really need to avoid getting your blood pressure up.
You need to avoid getting your heart rate
up for a certain amount of time.
Are you willing to follow those post op instructions?
Are you willing to do what's asked of you?
Because if you're not, then you can't
expect to get the results you're after.
So even when we outsource something like a surgery
and thank goodness we can, because I don't know
too many people who can do surgery on themselves.
We really want to take our part and our responsibility
in the healing before and after and our overall health
as it surrounds this activity.
So, to recap, how do we think about plastic surgery?
Very specifically, what do you want done?
Two, why do I want this?
Dig deep, find out the real why,
and even if you label it vanity.
Great! As long as you know why.
Number three, who are you doing it for.
Again, if you can't get to a place where you're
doing it for yourself, I'd go back and I'd
look at those other questions and really be comfortable
with the answers before I moved forward.
And then finally be ready, be active and
proactive to take on your part in the
healing and the preparation for plastic surgery.
Now, if you want any help going into a surgery. If
you want some health coaching around that. If you want some
aftercare coaching to ensure that you get the best results, there's
a link for you to book a time with me and
I'd be happy to answer any of your questions.
You can also drop questions below or
reach out via my email address.
And if there's any other topics you
like, by all means let me know.
Now, if you found this helpful, by all means
hit subscribe so that you always get these episodes.
And if there's someone you know who
needs this information, absolutely share. Until next
week, let's go out and own it.
