Does It Matter Where Your Surgeon Gained His Experience?
Choosing the right surgeon for your procedure will likely be a journey with many bumps on the way. However, people tend to choose surgeons based on the number of patients that they have worked with in the past, and the reviews that they have gotten from those patients. But there is a lot more to choosing the right doctor than just relying on what other people have said about him, especially if the other people do not share your cultural background. Every surgery is always designed to fit the specific needs of the patient, so if your doctor isn’t familiar with the structure of your body and the features that specifically represent you and your culture, you may not be in the experienced hands that you think you are.
YOUR SURGEONS BACKGROUND AFFECTS THEIR STYLE AND PERFORMANCE
Every profession requires a certain amount of knowledge about the country and the culture that the practitioner will end up working in, and this may be especially true when it comes to plastic surgery. Depending on where a surgeon has received their education and how familiar they are with the prospect of their future patients, the results of their procedure will follow accordingly. As an Asian patient hoping to receive any kind of plastic surgery done right, you will need to focus on how well your potential surgeon is familiar with your own cultural background.
There are many wonderful universities and specialty programs all over the world when it comes to training and educating future plastic surgeons. But each one of them has their own curriculum of education, which has been specifically adapted to fit the area of the world where the patients will mostly come from. This doesn’t mean that surgeons are automatically categorized into those who are good are those who are bad, but more on the lines of how well they are equipped to handle specific patients.
Take the Korean eyelid surgery as an example. Suppose that you want to have a plastic surgery done on your eyelids that will create a bigger look to your eyes. Because you are already starting out with an Asian eye style, the procedure will also need to be planned out to reshape your particular style of eyes into a bigger look that will still remain true to your own culture and national background. This means that your surgeon must have the adequate knowledge to not only know how to make your eyes look bigger, but also the detail of what your eyes are like in their natural state. What this mostly has an effect on are the incisions that will be made on your eyelids in order to create the extra crease. If a surgeon does not posses this previous knowledge, they will not know how to plan the surgery properly. Even worse, they may use the style that they would usually use on a Caucasian eye for example, which would instantly give you very different results, and in many cases, not the result that you were hoping for.
Now imagine how important this difference is for more complex procedures if so much though must be placed into something as relatively simple as a double eyelid surgery. Each bigger and more complex procedure would, in the hands of someone who does not have enough experience in your cultural background, start with many smaller mistakes which would build up to a procedure that was actually meant to be made on someone else. This is true for everything from facial augmentation, to dental surgeries and liposuction. You may think that the human body is composed of very universal features, but the truth is that each body is entirely dependent on the part of world that it was born in, and the genes that have been passed on to it from previous generations. So when you embark on finding the right surgeon, think of all these things before you make your final choice.
SURGEONS TAUGHT IN KOREA ARE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR ASIAN PATIENTS
This does not mean that every surgeon that is trained in Korea will automatically be the best one, because there are of course still other variables that must be taken into account, but it does mean that they will likely be especially well-suited for patients who are Asian. With its worldwide popularity as the top destination for plastic surgeries, Korea has focused a lot of attention, and a lot of financial support, into training the best surgeons possible. And if you happen to be Asian, then you have an abundance of great surgeons to pick from. Because plastic surgery is a very open topic in Korea, and one that people are in no way ashamed to talk about, doctors have the freedom to be very open with their patients, and to explore ways in which to structure surgeries to specifically fit the needs of people from Asia. Korea is also well-known for its fantastic medical tourism opportunities, which are supported by a large number of travel agencies who specialize specifically in organizing plastic surgery travels plans for patients who are coming to Korea to have something done. However, patients aren't the only ones who benefit from such well-designed travel plans. Doctors also benefit from these options because they are able to get in touch both with the patient and the travel agency if needed, and to set up the perfect time for a procedure to take place. This is very different from having to travel to other countries that do not offer these options, because patients are often left to plan everything on their own, and they do not have a support system to fall back on, or ask anyone else to organize it for them.
WHAT IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD A TRIP TO KOREA?
Regardless of how well designed and planned Korean plastic surgery is, the bottom line is that it still requires a certain budget in order to be used to its full potential, and this is something that may people simply cannot afford. Luckily, just because you cannot afford a trip to Korea doesn't mean that you cannot enjoy an experience that is very similar to it. What is does mean, however, is that you will need to do an additional amount of research in order to ensure that you find the best doctor possible as close to where you currently live as you can.
The first thing to look for is of course someone who has received all, or the majority of their training in a Korean institution, because they will likely have the best techniques specifically for Asian patients. Additionally, it is also a good idea to look for a surgeon who is also Asian, because they have an understand of your culture better than any foreigner ever could, regardless of how much thought and effort they would put into such a feat. Someone who is as close to your own background as possible will be able to complete a plastic surgery in a way that will not change you for who you are, but that will only remove your insecurities and make you better. Many patients overlook the importance of national identity when it comes to changing their appearance. But while this may not seem like something that you think would affect you in the beginning, in the long run, it could cause a lot of emotional pain and confusion.
Looking for a doctor close to where you live should be done in the same way as you would if you were actually going to Korea. Additionally, try to find someone whose patients are mainly from Asia, or even better, someone who hasn't spent a lot of time working outside of Asian countries. The longer they work in a Western environment, the more likely they are to be influenced by the new culture, and the style of their procedures may also change accordingly. While these may all seem likely very high requirements for a doctor, and ones that can never really be achieved to perfection, remember that plastic surgery is not something that is done frequently. Ideally, one great procedure could be enough for the rest of your life.
