With regard to safety with cosmetic surgery, we usually say that cosmetic surgery should be safe surgery and hopefully start out with healthy patients and finish with healthy patients. That being said, all surgery involves some element of risk, but a good surgeon should do everything possible to help minimize risk and evaluate each potentially anticipated risk individually and have a plan for minimizing that risk. This is sometimes a different thought process from reconstructive surgery, which is “more necessary in nature,” and, therefore, patient and surgeon may be willing to take greater risks for different purposes.

Dr. Andrew Elkwood