Is Plastic Surgery Artistic?

Posted July 26, 2024 in Liposuction, True Form Body Contouring®, True Form Tummy Tuck®, Tummy Tuck

By Dr. Chris Patronella

In our training, we as plastic surgeons learn how to do plastic surgery techniques: tummy tuck procedures, breast lift procedures, facelift procedures, etc. That’s what our training is about—to learn how to perform those procedures and the techniques for each one. But plastic surgery is so much more than that.

There’s also an artistic element that is required to make those techniques come alive—to make the vision that’s in your mind become a reality through the technique that you’re performing. And I’m going to show you an example of this (in the video).

This is an example of standard tummy tuck results that I learned when I was training to become a plastic surgeon. It has all the elements we were taught: the muscle wall has been repaired, the incision is relatively low, and the tummy is flat. But it’s unartistic. The attention to detail is missing. There’s so much more we can do to capture the authentic-appearing abdomen—the artistic appearance of the abdomen. And those details require some thought—applying your own visual instincts to accomplish those details.

The photo on the right (patient in white sports bra) is an example of this. This is a patient for whom I performed abdominoplasty using my True Form Tummy Tuck approach, which consists of the techniques I combine to create more authentic-looking tummy tuck results. It consists of the original techniques I learned in my surgical training but with so many more elements that I now incorporate.

Yes, the True Form Tummy Tuck procedure takes me an extra 30 to 45 minutes to perform than it did when I performed the standard tummy tuck that I was taught, but the result is so superior, it is very much worth that time. With the True Form Tummy Tuck, I can create an abdomen that looks like a woman was born with it rather that one that looks like it was surgically-created. And that’s my goal: to make a woman feel comfortable and proud to put a two-piece swimsuit on and expose her abdomen.