Well physicianartist, that observation unfortunately reflects the distorted view and ignorance of the general public against plastic surgeons, particularly those who focus on aesthetic surgery.
First off, nowhere in the Hippocratic oath, or in medical school is there a mission statement that physicians must save lives in order to fulfill our duties as physicians. We must strive to do no harm and improve patients lives. There are the dramatic examples of trauma surgeons, oncologists, and at times, ER physicians who are on the front lines and can at times, directly save lives. However, for the majority of physicians, we increase the lifespan of our physicians, ease suffering, improve the quality of life and combat disease which could eventually snuff out lives.
As droliver has pointed out plastic surgeons often perform melanoma excisions, necrotizing fasciitis debridements, and facial tumor excisions which can potentially save lives. Further, plastic surgeons often provide critical burns care which is often life-saving and at least greatly life improving. As a resident, I assisted in sternal debridements which potentially saved lives from catastrophic infection, prosthetic graft debridement and reconstruction in vascular patients as well as treatment of infection which can spiral to sepsis and death.
I would point out also that reconstruction, for breast, facial, hand, oncological and trauma purposes, while perhaps not necessarily life-saving, do much for decreasing the morbidity and suffering of a patient and greatly improving the quality of life of a patient which echoes the tenets of the Hippocratic oath. Is replanting a hand or correcting the deformities of cleft lip/nose/palate not worthwhile endeavors as a physician and surgeon?
Finally, I would argue that in many cases, aesthetic surgery does improve the quality of life for many patients. Certainly, one can argue that a fair amount of this may seem superfluous and unnecessary but who is anyone to necessarily judge a patient's life, self-confidence and measure of self-worth? When practicing aesthetics, the plastic surgeon makes a judgement call for him/herself to determine whether a cosmetic procedure will be of enough benefit to improve the patient's appearance and their quality of life. That is certainly the approach i will take in my aesthetics fellowship and I have seen a measure of satisfaction in myself from witnessing the growing confidence of some aesthetics patients just as I did in certain hand patients during my residency and hand fellowship.
If you choose plastic surgery as a field, it is worthwhile to remember the scope of our practice and particularly, the proud history of our field, ranging from Gillies to Mallard to Murray to Lister to the leaders of today. In the future, we will have to continue to dispel the distortion that the media have focused upon within the practices of a few individuals in aesthetic surgery. I am proud of the little good for patietns that I have performed to this point in my career and the considerable efforts of my mentors and colleagues continue to do to improve and sometimes, save lives.
