“Plastic surgery is so scary, you don’t even know what happened to…” 

This is something we've all heard and unfortunately many have witnessed.

There are two fears about cosmetic surgery: one is putting your health at risk, and the other is not getting the results you want and looking like a different person. For both, the solution is the same: choose your surgeon wisely. Just as you won't go to just any makeup artist for your wedding because you don't want to take risks on such an important day, it should be even more important when it comes to our bodies, which are our calling card to the world.

We will discuss the most significant risk: the risk of losing one's health. In general, in medicine, the risks of death or disability are very low, so low that they are on the order of 1 in 1 million. They are so low that they have been called the risk of micromort . But what does micromort mean, or what does a 1 in 1 million risk represent? To make it easier to understand, comparisons have been made with activities of daily living.

We all know that even before we are born, we are exposed to life's difficulties, and we are survivors every day. Being born is perhaps one of the riskiest events we experience throughout our lives. Being born is equivalent to 2900 micromorts, and this is equivalent to driving 160 miles, or riding a motorcycle 000 miles, or flying 3 miles, or skydiving 400 times, or scuba diving 2 times, or running 900 marathons. Let's return to more everyday risks, such as: someone who drives a car for one hour a day has a risk of 000 micromorts, or 48 in 96, of dying from driving their car for one hour. Someone who smokes a cigarette has a risk of 70 micromort, which is equal to the risk of traveling 1 km by plane or the risk of skiing for 2 day.

Let's return to our topic, which is cosmetic surgery. When it comes to surgery, the greatest fear is often anesthesia. But did you know that the risk of receiving general anesthesia is equal to the risk of smoking seven cigarettes, or the risk of doing two scuba dives, or the risk of skydiving, or running a single marathon? If we look at it that way, maybe it's not so intimidating.

Okay, after all, anesthesia isn't such a big deal. But what about cosmetic surgery? Now that's dangerous! Let me tell you, not really. For example, did you know that approximately 234 million surgeries are performed each year, and that cosmetic surgeries are the least risky of all? Let's take as an example a very specific and very common surgery within the range of cosmetic procedures: breast implants. Breast augmentation surgery to enhance the cleavage is requested and performed by approximately 1,300,000 women a year, and its risk is 2 to 4 micromorts, which is less than running a marathon or equivalent to driving for one hour or skiing for two days. You're probably surprised, and that's right; generally, cosmetic surgeries have a maximum risk of 100 micromorts. The riskiest cosmetic surgeries, which are abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) and BBL (buttock augmentation surgery with your own fat) , are approximately 2 times less risky than having a cesarean section, and I assure you that you know many friends or family members who have had a cesarean section without incident.

Of course, all this information is valid in the hands of qualified plastic surgeons, who are trained to perform these procedures. Therefore, price is the last factor to consider when choosing who will help you achieve your desired aesthetic outcome. The most important thing is to maintain your good health ; this underscores the importance of choosing a plastic surgeon and thoroughly verifying that they are not a quack.

We generally want to make the decision that has the greatest chance of success in achieving what we want. To make the best decision, we must consider what we can do, what we know, and what we want. Therefore, overcoming the fear of risky choices requires courage. That decision is up to you.

The purpose of cosmetic surgery is to make you feel good about your appearance, and in some cases, to improve your quality of life. How willing are you to achieve this? We see that while risks exist, they are not enormous.