In the British cult science fiction television show <em>Doctor Who</em> there is a character named Lady Cassandra. Calling herself the "last pure human," she has had so many cosmetic surgery procedures that she is literally a large swatch of skin on a frame, with eyes and a mouth, and a tube connected to her brain, which is in a jar below the frame. While she is, of course, a fictional character, for too many people multiple plastic surgery procedures have left them in a condition only slightly better.
For most patients, elective cosmetic surgery is a benign undertaking, resulting in a slightly altered appearance - an enhanced bustline, for example, or a smaller nose. For some people, however, cosmetic surgery doesn't stop with just one or two related procedures. Instead, multiple procedures, whether they're done separately or combined into a few marathon sessions, offer a possibly-lethal combination of health risks that might not be worth any perceived happiness or career advancement.
One example of extreme plastic surgeries is media personality Heidi Montag, a young woman who had ten cosmetic procedures in one day in November, 2009, including breast implants that doctors say are too large for her frame (and will likely cause back problems when she gets older) and back scooping, as well as earlobe lifts, fat injections in her face, and work on her neck.
Ignoring the fact that as a woman in her early twenties Heidi is facing decades of subtle body changes that may not react kindly to such extensive remodeling, there is the risk of the surgeries themselves.
Any plastic surgery involves some level of risk. Most surgery is done under general anesthesia, which can lead to a whole litany of complications, including abnormal heart rhythm, blood clots, airway obstruction, brain damage, heart attack, stroke, temporary paralysis, and even death. While these are rare complications in and of themselves, the more surgery you have, the more risk you're exposed to. Heidi herself has said in interviews that too much Demerol caused her heart to slow to a dangerously low rhythm - she's lucky to be alive.
Danger from anesthesia is heightened whenever multiple procedures are done at once because you stay under for longer amounts of time.
There are also complications that come from the outcome of plastic surgery. For example, there can be asymmetric results, dimples, puckers, and divots. There can be temporary or permanent loss of sensation, tingling caused by nerve damage, or skin death if there is infection or too much bleeding after the procedure has been completed. Again, these risks are increased with every surgical procedure.
Other risks involve losing elasticity of the skin, or having the skin become too thin, so that implants may actually show through it.
An indirect risk of too many procedures is the self esteem of the patient, though low self esteem is often the catalyst for getting cosmetic surgery in the first place.
To minimize risk, we recommend only going to a board certified plastic surgeon who has privileges in a local hospital and does procedures in a real operating room. As well, we recommend breaking extensive plastic surgery into small segments and not doing multiple procedures at the same time. While this does not remove ALL risk, it does lessen the risk associated with prolonged exposure to anesthesia.
Cases like Heidi's are not the norm, of course, and the mortality rate associated with plastic surgery remains at about 1 in 57,000. Still, asking yourself if a procedure is medically necessary or if there is an alternative to surgery to achieve the result you want is always the wisest course of action.
As well, it's important to be an informed patient. Know the recovery time you'll need, and if there are dietary or lifestyle changes that will help you heal faster. Know the risks of the procedures you're planning, and if anything makes you uncomfortable, don't do it. Even Heidi Montag eventually said she regretted some of the work she had done, and wished she had been more informed.
