“Enough, is enough !”



With the general public beginning to accept aesthetic treatment as a way to enhance a person’s appearance, just as cosmetics do, more and more patients come for treatment to improve the facial aging sign.

Belle, a mother of two teenage children first came to my clinic feeling uncertain about aesthetic procedures. She is a stay-home mum for her kids. Now that her kids are grown up, she wanted a new lease of life.

A consultation was carried out. We focused our discussion on the problem areas that she is concerned the most, and as usual, I asked her to go home to think about it and come back when she is mentally prepared for the treatment.
She appeared two weeks later. A procedure was carried out. She went home happily.

As she came for her follow up, I noticed that she was wearing brighter coloured clothes and she was happy. I was happy for her too. I felt that I have helped her improved her quality of life.

A month later, she came back for more enhancement treatment. She was wanted to add volume to plush up her lips. Two months later, she wanted more fillers on the lips.  “Doctor Hoo, I want to have even fuller lips,” she said. “But you look absolutely fabulous right now!”, I replied.  I assessed her face again, with the current ratio of the thickness of the upper and lower lips, it’s considered fulfilling the golden ratio of the face, and instituting more hyaluronic acid treatment would over do her face. I politely declined.

As one sees results in the treatment, it encourages the person to seek more treatment to perfect the treatment area. Just as all other good things in life, it is never enough because when a patient looks at the problem area, he/she will magnify the problem. Instead, we should look not only at the problematic part, but how to optimize it so that the treated area matches well with the rest of the face, and in the same time, reserves one’s signature feature. This is the challenging part of aesthetics. And it’s never easy. The patient and doctor will need to have the same aim.

Though it is tempting for more, we constantly need to remind ourselves the purpose of the treatment - to improve our image and quality of life. Over treatment may jeopardise one’s beauty; I have seen people’s lives turned dysfunctional or their beauty being jeopardised during his/her overly enthusiast quest to beautify themselves. Then, the whole purpose of aesthetic treatment has already swayed. It should help to improve lives rather than ruining them.

The wisdom now lies in finding the balance; finding the grey between the black and white, and the centre between the extremes. Once balance is struck, take a deep breath, and say to ourselves, enough is enough.   

说“不,够了”




符医生,我觉得还是不够呢! 嘴角边可以再多加一点玻尿酸吗?贝丽照着镜子,一边不满意的说。

法令纹,是一直困扰着贝丽的问题。两道深深的法令纹让她不笑的时候好像很严肃的板着脸,当她笑脸的时候法令纹更深地陷入脸颊,看起来比实际年龄苍老。偶尔身边有朋友表达善意的关心反而令她更在意。贝丽今年才28岁。

贝丽做了两次玻尿酸注射,今天过来复诊。

“现在应该是刚刚好了。我把疗程之前和之后的照片放在左右,让贝丽自己做比较。
没有笑的时候效果很好,可是当我一笑,讨厌的法令纹又跑出来了。贝丽一边说,一边扯着嘴角做出笑的表情。

每个人笑的时候,脸部的肌肉都会牵动表层的皮肤,留下一点点法令纹,效果才自然啊!要把法令纹完全消除不是不可以,不过看起来也许会很怪和不自然。你不是很担心别人知道你做过医学美容而指指点点,甚至带着有色的眼光看你吗?

“可是,法令纹很讨厌呢!”
来,我画给你看。我一边解释一边在白纸上描绘脸部肌肉在笑的时候牵动皮肤出现的效果。
说的也是,那好吧!贝丽对着桌子上镜子里的自己点点头说。

有些时候,当我们当局者迷对于疗程效果有不现实的期望,寻找一位会对你说不的医生替你把关是非常重要的。许多寻求医学美容帮助的病人,看到自己的“大”缺点慢慢的退为“小”缺点,就会有把缺点完全消除、力求完美的心态。却不知道,保留一点小缺点,一点的个人特色,不把自己改变成真人版芭比娃娃,才是比较明智的做法。你没有看到很多成名演员就算进行疗程,也从不改变自己的脸部特征,如嘴角痣、鹰勾鼻、薄唇等等吗?
过犹不及,适可而止也是一门学问。
有一句格言是这么说的:“少,既是多。”不止是美容,生活中哪一件事又不是如此呢?太多宠爱造就草莓族小孩、太多管教引来叛逆反抗、太多金钱造使得挥霍浪费、太多工作造成精神压力、太多游玩成了不务正业、太多自由造就目无法纪。

如何不多不少刚刚好,在适当的时候,对自己说:“不,够了”就是最大的智慧。



By
William Hoo @ 符气廉
刊登于红番茄周报周末专栏
医生看人生