It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that plastic surgery is a simple vanity project, but for many people who choose to have plastic surgery, that’s just not true. There are a wide variety of potential health benefits that plastic surgery can offer – and these are often benefits that lifestyle changes like diet and exercise can’t provide.

Plastic Surgery Can Restore Balance

For many people, one of the biggest benefits of plastic surgery has to do with their posture and distribution of body weight. For example, women who have had damage to the abdominal wall because of multiple pregnancies can benefit from a tummy tuck. By repairing separated abdominal muscles (diastasis), and removing excess skin from the abdomen, the patient is better able to strengthen her core muscles leading to improved posture and ability to carry out daily tasks. It can even improve lower back pain.

A breast reduction, like a tummy tuck, can have benefits on posture and eliminate back and neck pain. In fact, enough women gain immediate relief from pain after the surgery that health insurance may pay for the surgery.

Other body contouring can help rebalance the physique in a way that improves posture and allows more ease in pursuing physical activity, thus leading to improved physical fitness and muscle tone. This can be customized to the patient depending on their needs and can include not only surgeries we have already mentioned like a tummy tuck or breast reduction, but procedures like thigh and arm lifts as well.

Plastic Surgery Can Ease Breathing

“I had a deviated septum.” It’s the joke used in every sitcom when a character tries to explain that their reason for having a nose job wasn’t purely cosmetic. But the truth is that a deviated septum is a real thing that can cause real problems. The septum is the cartilage that normally runs down the middle of the nose. But for some people, it is shifted to one side. They may have been born with it this way, or it may have happened because of trauma to the nose. When the septum is shifted, it can cause difficulty breathing through the nose, drainage issues, snoring, and other problems.

Plastic surgery can fix this. The procedure to do so is called septoplasty, and it is often performed in combination with a nose job, or rhinoplasty, to improve the outward appearance of the nose.

Plastic Surgery Can Improve Vision

As we age, the muscles around the eyes loosen, and the eyelids begin to droop. For some people the upper lid can droop so much it interferes with vision.

A surgery called blepharoplasty can correct this issue. Many people whose vision is not affected choose blepharoplasty because they do not like the look of their eyelids. But if vision is affected, blepharoplasty may be covered by health insurance.

Cosmetic Reasons are Perfectly Good Reasons, Too

For some reason, there can be a stigma attached to plastic surgery, hence the “deviated septum” jokes mentioned earlier. But it’s a perfectly reasonable choice to have plastic surgery if some aspect of your appearance bothers you. In fact, doing so may actually yield mental health benefits, and we’ll talk about that in part two of this article.

But it’s okay to say, “I’ve always been uncomfortable with fill-in-the-blank, and I’m going to take action to change it.” A board-certified plastic surgeon can discuss the options available to address your concerns. In the end it’s your body, and you deserve to feel good about it. And if you gain some health in the process, so much the better.

Dr. Slack is a board-certified plastic surgeon serving the residents of Allen, McKinney, Plano, and surrounding areas. He would love to chat with you about your goals and how he can help you achieve them.