Well-meant comments

Critical, well-meant comments expressed shortly after surgery can have substantial impact and cause anxiety and worry.

Comments from family and friends

Shortly after plastic surgery you are vulnerable and slightly out of balance, that is normal, especially if it involves surgery to the face, but in fact it concerns all corrective treatments. You are insecure about the results and therefore extra sensitive for remarks from others. What you especially need is positive support, such as assurance that surgery went well, that it will be beautiful, that swelling is temporary and will disappear, etc.

However, it is not uncommon that patients see me during their first consult after surgery and express their concern about the result of the treatment. It then appears that a friend said: “your nose is still a bit crooked”, “Am I imagining it, or is your left breast larger than the right?”, or “I think your right nipple is a bit lower”, or after an eyelid correction: “your eyelids are puffier now than they already were”.
Critical, probably well-meant remarks, but so soon after surgery they cause anxiety and worry. You are not resilient against those comments and it is difficult to put things into perspective.

In the days after the surgery it does not make sense to make judgements about the final result. Still friends and family will be inclined to comment. It is good to realise that and you could ask them to restrain their remarks. Shortly after surgery limit the amount of people in your close environment.

Dr. Erik J.F. Timmenga