The Tales We Tell To Hide Our Plastic Surgery

We live in a society obsessed with looks and yet we go to great lengths to keep it a secret. With so many Americans getting plastic surgery, why are we still so hesitant to tell the truth about our procedures? 

By Carolynn Grimes
The Plastic Surgery Channel

Brad Calobrace MD, a board certified plastic surgeon from Louisville, Kentucky tells us of one patient who came in for breast augmentation but told her husband something quite different. When she had her husband drop her off, she told him she was having her pancreas removed and that he could pick her up after.  “I don’t know what was worse, her saying it or her husband believing it,” says Calobrace laughingly.

All the excuses and tall tales can be quite funny…  Here’s a few examples of some of the best and most outlandish excuses we heard after interviewing doctors from The Plastic Surgery Channel:

“Often with facial procedures, people will say they had their wisdom teeth removed… for the twelfth time!”

“If they are having abdominal surgery, many will say they had a hernia repair.”

“When facial bruising is evident, they will say they ran into a wall, which I’m not sure is better than saying I had plastic surgery.”

“We have patients that often will say they had female surgery – which means they had a breast augmentation.”

“I had a deviated septum that had to be fixed.” (translation – nose job)

And it’s not just women telling tall tales…

“Men will often grow a beard to disguise the fact they’ve had a facelift.”

If you want to make sure no one will question you about your recent procedure, Pat McGuire MD, a board certified plastic surgeon in St. Louis, Missouri says, tell them you’re having “female surgery”, they will not go any further!

When Revealing  the Truth Requires a More Delicate Approach

All joking aside, there are times when explaining your procedure can be a more serious matter. A lot of women have real concerns about what to tell their kids, or what to say to their daughter who is sure to notice Mom’s new breasts. Many moms struggle with this, says Ashley Gordon MD, a board certified plastic surgeon from Austin, Texas. “I think a really good answer is, ‘I’ve had three kids and it really took a toll on my body. I just want to be me, like I was before.”

Isn’t it time we take ownership of our procedures? 

What makes us so embarrassed or hesitant to tell the truth about doing something that makes us feel better ourselves or get our bodies back after childbirth? Shouldn’t we be past this? I mean it is the 21st century.  We are seeing some people being more open about certain procedures.  Breast augmentation for example, is becoming so popular that it’s almost a given for many women after pregnancy and breast feeding.  “Pregnancy puts a lot of stress on your body and I wanted to do something that made me feel more confident.  It’s hard to look at yourself everyday in a body you don’t recognize,” says Cheryl Stransky, a recent breast augmentation patient.

“People don’t have surgery to impress others, they do it to impress themselves,” says William P. Adams, Jr., MD, a board certified plastic surgeon in Dallas, Texas. “For many people, it’s about getting their confidence back.”  And from the looks of recent plastic surgery statistics, millions of people will face this dilemma in their lifetime… To tell or not to tell.

What do you think?  Give us your opinion.