Plastic Surgery or the Plastic Arts?

This is a great short essay on plastic surgery by UMiami med student and friend Mark Choi. You follow your dreams, Mark!


I think plastic surgeons should be allowed to surgically sign their work. You read it right. I believe that plastic surgeons have a legitimate case for being able to sign their work. Plastic surgery, in essence, is quite different from the rest of the medical field. Plastic surgery requires something beyond mere medical skill from the surgeon, but rather a keen attention to detail and aesthetics. After all, the society is obsessed solely with the cosmetic aspects of the field anyway. So why not make it official? In my opinion, the moment a patient hands the surgeon a check for a procedure, which ever body part they asked to have fixed up is no longer theirs. What is part of their body after the surgery is a product of the surgeon's genius and craftsmanship.

Plastic surgery is an art form. No one can argue that just any surgeon can perform a cosmetic procedure. As stated earlier, the attention to detail and aesthetics makes plastic surgery not just another medical professional but an 'art'. Is it not a fact that cosmetic surgery is done to have the on-lookers of the patient stand in awe of their beauty? That beauty is not of the patient, but of the surgeon's work. Look around and find a painting of any sorts. Somewhere in the painting is a signature of the artist who created it. Someone commissioned the work to be created and the artist drew it. The person who took it home may have it in his possession but the work itself still bears the name of the artist. Even something as simple as photographs bear names of the photographers. Every piece of music bears the name of the composer. So why should plastic surgeons not be able to sign their work?

The benefits of having a work signed by a plastic surgeon are not only on the part of the plastic surgeon but to the patients as well. Think of an art transaction. Every time a piece of art is sold, its genuineness must be verified. The works of art determined fake are often worthless and those that carry the name of a famous artist are worth incomprehensible amounts considering the fact that it may just be a piece of paper with colored water splattered all over it. As plastic surgery is like art and surgeons are artists, wouldn't you as a patient be more proud of the work done on you should it bare the name of some famous surgeon that did the work? It's a validation, proof of the fantastic job that is done on your body. It shows that you went an extra mile and extra dollar to get this superior work done on you. Say you walked into a house and saw a beautiful piece of art by Picasso. You might ask, "Wow, is that an original Picasso?" If you were the owner of the painting, do you want to say "Yeah, of course?" or "No, I'm too poor to afford a real one but I'm pretentious enough to own a fake?" (actually, pretentiousness goes both ways I suppose). Now, let's apply the situation to plastic surgery work. You walk in the door and see a beautiful piece of ass by perhaps Mark Choi. You might ask, "Wow, is that done by MC?" If you were the owner of this fantastic ass, do you want to say "Yeah, this is by MC?" or "No, I got this from a discount surgeon down in Columbia?" The quality of the work that is put into the work would never be questioned if you were to answer it was done by MC (assuming MC becomes a famous plastic surgeon).

The benefits to the patients do not end there. By having the plastic surgeon sign their work, the surgeons now have a more personal incentive to do a better job on it. Would any surgeon want to sign a boob job that looks like a Publix bag? I would say no. Should a plastic surgeon sign works such as those, he will quickly lose patients and before long he will be living under the bridge that crosses the Seybold. On the other hand, having a signed work that is of pure perfection walk around the streets is an advertisement in itself to the surgeon and he will be sure to try his best with every cut he makes.

So why not excuse plastic surgery from the foolishness of malpractices and medical nonsense? Does an artist apologize to the world when he misses a stroke or forgets to draw the eyebrows? No, they crumple up what they have and move on to the next canvas. So should plastic surgeons. Just give them the money back. They knew of the risks.