The surgeon explained what facial corrections help a person look younger and happier

A. Pajeda performs more than 400 plastic surgeries every year, so he agreed to review how plastic surgery looks in the eyes of a patient.

A. Pajeda has helped many patients. Some of them are children who were born with congenital defects, and with the help of a surgeon, they solved even very serious problems. According to the surgeon, each patient’s situation is absolutely individual. And although sometimes one person really needs an operation, because he wants to live comfortably, another person may need only a conversation with a surgeon and the realization that an operation is not necessary.

Statistically, a plastic surgeon performs an average of 4,000 surgeries throughout their career. This is a very large amount.

“For a patient who comes to me for a consultation, the upcoming operation is equivalent to a huge event. Most of the time he is very excited. Sometimes my emotion and understanding as a surgeon can be very different from the patient and his fear,” says A. Pajėda.

According to him, a good patient-doctor relationship is simply essential. The patient must choose the doctor, because that relationship will determine the path to the goal.

“I would like to compare this relationship with the architect of the house. If we want to build something, we turn to an architect who has a lot of knowledge and can draw up a certain plan and explain how everything will be,” says the plastic surgery doctor of Kaunas-based Nordclinic.

Therefore, it is very important that the chosen doctor takes into account the whole: the health of the patient, the current condition, financial possibilities, which may be important, time frames, which are often relevant.

“Only then does the doctor, like the aforementioned architect, suggest the best treatment plan, just as an architect would suggest the most acceptable house plan. Another important aspect for patients is to set treatment expectations and understand what they want to achieve. And that, of course, requires knowledge”, says A. Pajėda.

The surgeon describes two different faces, a young woman and an elderly man.

“An elderly man’s forehead is wrinkled, his eyebrows are drooping, his eyelids are obstructing his vision. Most likely, this person’s peripheral vision is impaired. And the shape of a young girl’s eyebrows and eyelids look completely different. It is also easy to notice that the proportions of the face and neck of a young and an elderly person are very different,” explains the doctor.

According to him, it is important to see these things in the mirror, to evaluate them properly.

“The patient must know what he wants to become, what his wish is. I personally like the expression “aging gracefully”. I am convinced: if a person wants to look younger, we have to make him look happier, less tired. However, the fact is: a woman who is 50 or 60 years old will not suddenly become 20 years old,” emphasizes the specialist.

When we look at an older woman whose facial skin is not sagging, her cheeks are fuller, her eyelids are not drooping, and her face and neck are in the proportions of a young person, we are simply seeing a fresher, younger face – not that of an older man.

According to A. Pajeda, this is the purpose of the operation – that the corrections are not drastic, but simply help a person to look younger, more proportional.

Another extremely important step is the operation itself.

“It is natural that the heart beats more intensively when going to the operating room. But for that we have an excellent team of anesthesiologists. It is they who help patients deal with stress and anxiety,” explains the doctor of plastic and reconstructive surgery.

A. Pajeda mentions that the postoperative period is also important.

“Up until now, the topic of postoperative melancholy has not been explored. The statistics are quite brutal: even 30-50 percent. patients experience symptoms of anxiety and depression after facial surgery. A few percent of patients also have moderate depression, which needs to be treated,” the surgeon provides very interesting information.

In most cases, according to him, the surgeon is happy after the operation – after all, the operation went well. When he looks at a patient with bruises, he ignores them because he knows what the result will be when they disappear.

“And the patient can be very sad at that time. He may not understand what happened because his face is swollen and looks bad. The dressings we perform after surgery are not just dressing changes. In a sense, it is also an evaluation of emotions. The doctor must encourage and encourage the patient at a time when he is having a hard time,” the doctor is convinced.

Doctor A. Pajėda says that a person can evaluate the result of his changes after a few months.

“People often ask before facial surgery if they will be recognized or if they will be able to travel somewhere after a few weeks. Many patients come from abroad, so they wonder if they will be able to cross the country’s border normally, or maybe they need some kind of special statement.

I would like to assure you that plastic surgery does not change faces. Patients want to look the same, only “fresher”, happier, more self-confident”, says surgeon A. Pajėda.

You can hear more about the possibilities of plastic surgery in the recording of the “Plastic Surgery Changing Lives” conference: