Which Procedures Patients Choose, and Why They Combine Them

Data published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons consistently identifies the same five operations as the most frequently performed: rhinoplasty, eyelid surgery, facelift, liposuction and breast augmentation.

Two things have changed the pattern of enquiries over the past decade: greater media visibility, and a general shift in how openly the subject is discussed. A consultation today is more often a specific question about a specific operation than a tentative enquiry.

Combining procedures

Patients increasingly ask about having two procedures at once — abdominoplasty with breast augmentation, or rhinoplasty with otoplasty, for instance. The reasoning is straightforward: ageing and pregnancy do not affect one area in isolation, so the concerns rarely present in isolation either.

Abdominoplasty is a common example. Loss of skin elasticity and loss of abdominal muscle tone tend to occur together, and the operation addresses both. Where breast changes have occurred over the same period, the two are often considered together — the combination usually described as a post-pregnancy procedure, comprising some arrangement of abdominoplasty, breast lift and liposuction.

Whether combining operations is appropriate in an individual case is a clinical judgement. It depends on the total operating time, your general health, and how much surgical trauma is reasonable in a single session. It is a question to put to a surgeon who has examined you, and the answer is not always yes.

Choosing the surgeon

Three things, in order:

Board certification Verifiable, and the first thing to check.

Experience with the specific operation Not with plastic surgery generally — with the procedure you are considering.

Judgement about proportion and balance Aesthetic surgery is not purely technical. A good result depends on the surgeon’s assessment of what will suit your face or body, which is why an in-person examination is not a formality.

Dr. Demetris Stavrou is a board-certified plastic surgeon and a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.