PART II: Harmony (or Balance), What really matters

November 2, 2007 by dr. lam

For those of you who did not read Part I of this blog on the subject of symmetry, please do so. I split the blog into two sections because it just got way too long. Okay, if symmetry is not so important, what makes one beautiful or attractive? In a word, harmony. What is harmony? Harmony is the balance of facial features in terms of relative size and distance. The best analogy that I like to use when I talk about harmony is picture a glass of water in your mind. If I ask you how big does this glass of water appear in your mind? You will probably not have a precise answer for me. However, if I asked you to picture a glass of water three times the size of the first glass of water, then how big does that original glass of water appear to you now? Probably pretty small. Conversely, if you picture a second glass of water that is 1/3 the size of the original, then I am certain you would state that the new glass of water appears much bigger than originally conceived. This little exercise was intended to help you understand the importance of facial harmony.

As an artist myself, when I approach a face, I exercise tremendous degree of spatial harmony and balance. Let’s just take a nose for example. I have many people come to me and say the bottom of my nose is too wide but what I see is that the tip of their nose is too big so when I pinch the sides of their nose in slightly I ask them now what does the tip look like? Of course, the answer is that my tip now looks gigantic! That is part of the idea of facial balance and harmony. Also, at times I raise a bridge of the nose to make it look smaller. Most of my patients are frightened of this prospect until I show them examples in which I can make a nose smaller looking if the bridge is raised. Now, obviously, if you have a large hump, you will most likely need that portion reduced to create harmony.

When I do facial fat grafting, I have an acute sense of proportion. Sometimes, I encounter a very heavy face and I know how to shape it by adding fat in order to make it look slimmer. Is this possible? Yes! I had a lady who simply did not believe me and so I put 1 syringe of Perlane in a certain part of her face, i.e., I added volume to her face, and when she went home that night her husband said, “Honey, did you lose weight?” I had another lady who had lost 40 pounds and no one noticed that she looked any slimmer. Once I added fat to her face, she told me 30 some people came up to her and said, “Did you lose weight?” Now, at times, I deal with a very gaunt face that looks older and unattractive so I widen that face to make it look better. This is the artistry that I exercise in every case.When you look at a model and say, “Wow, she looks really good?” Take a look again and ask yourself is it symmetry that you are admiring or is it harmony and balance? That is why many of my patients look at my work and say, “I have never seen before and afters like that before.” The reason, not to be too proud, is that what I offer my patients far exceeds technical ability but falls squarely in line with artistry. That is why I personally cannot help but ask, “How did a surgeon who is passionate about aesthetics create a face that looks like that?” Anyway, I hope this idea of harmony and balance makes a little sense to all of you. I am very passionate about my work, and I treat my career as my art.

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