PART 1, Symmetry: Refocus your thinking
November 2, 2007 by dr. lam
Okay, ideas come to me in different ways. I just had a nice morning consultation over breakfast in Hong Kong with a gentleman who was desirous of some facial enhancement. As I discussed some ideas with him for enhancement, I thought about an idea that I tend to repeat almost on a daily basis that I thought would be beneficial to my readership here. Most women, in particular, are very obsessed with symmetry of the face really for two reasons. First, most women when they get up close to a mirror see minor flaws that are asymmetrical and therefore become interpreted as negatively impacting their beauty. Second, perhaps symmetry is the only language or vocabulary that a person may have toward understanding their own attractiveness. I would highly disagree that symmetry is important unless it reaches a critical level where there is a deformity. If you would like to see how I work with asymmetry when it is deforming, just look at my reconstructive photo gallery. Then, you will see when symmetry truly detracts from one’s attractiveness.
Then, Dr. Lam, why is it that I read all of these psychological studies that talk about symmetry being so important in terms of animals being attracted to other animals? In my humble opinion, this is all rubbish. It is something that may exist in the animal world but I truly don’t think it impacts how we choose a mate, friend, etc. In addition, symmetry is elusive. I have memorized part of my consent form you sign whenever you have any procedure done with me, “The two sides of the body are not the same and can never be made the same.” Now, how did I memorize that one line because I repeat it at least 5 to 10 times a day, trying to help people forget about symmetry. Here is the usual sequence of events, you look in the mirror close up and notice a small flaw that something is not symmetrical. Then you step back or pass by a normal mirror and whammy you have to notice this flaw EVERY TIME. You look at photos and you become obsessed with symmetry. Then you point it out to a friend or someone else who may not have noticed the asymmetry then they become obsessed with it when they look at you. Remember to be careful since you can be one step away from body dysmorphic disorder (or BDD) which is loosely defined as being overly obsessed with a feature that is not something that other people notice as a problem to the point that it impacts or even cripples your social or professional life.
Now, how much do I care about symmetry when I operate. Inordinately so. I am obsessed myself when I do work to create as symmetrical a result as possible. For example, I do almost all of my rhinoplasties open technique, i.e., through a small incision under the nose that heals tremendously well just so that I can see that both sides are symmetrical under direct vision. When I do fat grafting, I do one eyelid, then the other side, and keep going back and forth so that I have immediate recall as to how my hand moved just a second a go. That is the level of care toward symmetry when I work on your face. However, now you need to forget about it before consulting with me (if at all possible). What I find very interesting is that most people after a procedure start to micromanage their face. If they don’t look closely before a procedure they begin to spend a lot of time in front of the mirror studying their face and guess what oftentimes they are obsessed with SYMMETRY! What I find extremely interesting is that a lot of people come to me after a procedure and say “Dr. Lam, I love the result but how come you made me asymmetric?” Then, I show them their before photographs and they were totally asymmetric and now they are 90% better but all they noticed was that they were 10% uneven. Now, why did they not notice they were totally uneven before? Because they did not study their face with the scrutiny that comes after a paid procedure done for aesthetic reasons. This blog has gotten too long so I will talk about what really matters in my next blog: harmony
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[...] PART 1, Symmetry: Refocus your thinking [...]
eyelid surgery…
For those who haven’t yet seen this post, you should really check it out – well worth the read……
thank you!!!
sml