Scalpel Backlash

I practice aesthetic surgery and have encountered the “backlash” associated with my profession. Too often that is the result of an assumption that plastic surgery is a frivolous, superficial response to the aging process, both on the part of the patient and the surgeon.

Aesthetic surgery is an opportunity, a possibility that is available, and that may, carefully conceived, become as much a part of everyday American life as hair styling. At the same time, it is a luxury of our society, not a necessity.

For those who choose not to undergo aesthetic surgery, I urge them to feel satisfied with their choice and less judgmental against those who choose an alternative.

GEORGE L. MUSSER

Los Angeles