Seeing Things Differently as a Specialist

December 23, 2008 by dr. lam

I had a Christmas party a couple of weeks ago for my EO (Entrepreneur’s Organization) forum group. One of my forum buddies, Larry Patterson, owns part of a franchise known as the Glass Doctor. He specializes in glass, both auto and flat. He came into my bathroom and looked at my all-glass shower and said, “Sam, if I had done your glass I wouldn’t have used this green-tint job. I would have used an all clear glass so that you could see the tile better. In addition, if you look at this hinge here, they put a spacer in because it is easier but I would have made the glass flush with the other piece without needing the rubber in between. Also, I would have used a teflon-like coating so that you would never have to wipe the smudges and water stains away.” I was floored a bit. I am still very happy with my shower, but I now recognize when someone specializes in something, they truly possess an entirely different eye for what is going on.

I actually plan on featuring some very interesting specialists in the next few weeks both in video and written format but more about that when the time comes. I have been asked by many people, “Do you see faults in every face you look at?” Of course, I sort of humbly shrug that off and say, “Well, not really.” However, the truthful answer is yes in many respects I do. That is my job, which I live, sleep, eat, and breathe. I am trained to see a pinched nose with an exposed tip graft and alar margin retraction; a rounded canthus of the eye that looks unnatural from a lower eyelid procedure done through a skin incision (which I never perform); and an upper lip that looks like a big McDonald’s Golden Arches staring at me. Even though you may be able to detect half of the individuals who look fake, I can see about 98% of them and tell you the reasons why that person looks off. In addition, I can see where maximal facial deficiencies are and how to correct them, i.e., I can help you prioritize the issues of maximal benefit to help you.

That being said, not to beat a dead horse, but I hope you now understand why I sit with you and look at you even without much of your input on what bothers you because I want to be able to help you achieve 2 goals: 1) if you have had obviously bad surgery even if you can’t detect that it is bad, I need to cover the problem so that instead of 80% not seeing it that hopefully 95% or more people won’t, 2) i help you prioritize where to spend your money best. With discretionary income, of course, you can ultimately do anything with me so long as I don’t hurt you. However, you should expect from me a more detailed analysis that can help you…within reason. For example, if you come in for rejuvenation of the aging face and you have a pretty strong hump on the nose, I probably will not mention it to you. However, if you came in for aging face work and your nose was pinched in and your bridge scooped out and I see that perhaps 70% of onlookers are looking at something not right, then i will gently help you see that even if you can’t.

I love how I see many plastic surgeons’ ads that read “Specializing in the Face and the Body”. What? Are you kidding me? Shouldn’t the ad read, “Generalizing in the Face and the Body”? Is it oxymoronic to say that one specializes in everything. You could say, “Specializing in Plastic Surgery” but you can’t say specializing in everything. That makes no sense.

After listening to my friend’s expertise on glass, it makes me more aware of how much I truly “see” that others do not. I would hope that when you come in for consultation that I don’t just rush you to a treatment or respond on what you want done without offering my opinion but to do so in a deliberate and intelligent fashion and offer my best advice to help you.

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