“Plastic surgery is not about suffering!” Interview with plastic surgeon Alexander Fadin
Alexander Fadin
plastic surgeon
Alexandra's Instagram
You have extensive experience in plastic surgery. How good is it now in Russia compared to other countries?
I started in constructive surgery, in a thermal injury clinic, and worked in aesthetic surgery for the next 19 years. That is, yes, I have been in the profession for 24 years - in fact, exactly as long as plastic surgery has existed in our country as a specialty, and in the form in which it exists now. It originated in Russia at the beginning of the 2000s and developed incredibly quickly. Then specialists from Germany came to teach us. Now continental Europe is far behind in terms of the quality of operations and their diversity. I think this happened, among other things, thanks to our patients: it is no secret that in Russia people undergoing plastic surgery are incredibly demanding.
However, even demanding patients, as far as I know, praise you. By what criterion do you personally judge your work?
The main criterion for the quality of my work is whether the patient is satisfied with it. Therefore, even at the reception stage, I determine what his expectations and motivation are. They must be adequate to reality - otherwise I will have to refuse the operation. No, not even like that: I have to try to persuade the patient that he does not need the operation, otherwise he will go looking for someone who will do something absolutely unnecessary.
There's a very fine line here. It’s one thing if a person is dissatisfied with, say, large protruding ears, because of which he suffers all his life - he has no problems with hearing, but there are indications for surgery, they are understandable. It’s another matter when a person comes with completely normal ears and says that they are huge and stick out, doctor, do something. Then he is not shown surgery, which only changes the anatomy of the body. He needs a psychologist to treat his body dysmorphic disorder. And I can't help you here. Moreover, it is simply contraindicated for me to take such a patient for surgery, because no matter what I do, he will not be happy with his new appearance, just as he is dissatisfied with his existing appearance.
During the pandemic, the number of dissatisfied people increased: people looked at themselves for too long and too much during work calls on Zoom. Many people are out of sync with how you see yourself in the mirror, unconsciously taking a good pose, and how this tiny camera distorts you. Have you had an increase in the number of operations? And are there many men among those who converted?
We really began to operate more after the pandemic—mostly women, of course. However, approximately 10% of my patients are men, and I think this is completely normal. Why should we tell a person what to do or not do with their body based solely on gender? I don't think there is any need to emphasize any differences here.
Where women and men really differ is in their attitude to the recovery period. Women, as a rule, are more diligent: you tell them what not to do, and they won’t. Men tend to think that the doctor is playing it safe, but in reality, “well, a little bit is possible.” It is forbidden! All surgeon recommendations during the recovery period must be followed. I only have five of these recommendations, after all.
“It’s another thing when a person comes with completely normal ears and says that they are huge and stick out, doctor, do something. Then he is not shown surgery, which only changes the anatomy of the body. He needs a psychologist to treat his body dysmorphic disorder. And I can't help you here. Moreover, it is simply contraindicated for me to take such a patient for surgery, because no matter what I do, he will not be happy with his new appearance, just as he is dissatisfied with his existing appearance.”
Was it necessary to have operations on all these people? It’s no secret that the modern industry sells us a single image of eternal youth that everyone must live up to. Why can't you just accept yourself as you are?
I’ll probably answer here with a quote from the Bible: “Is not the body greater than clothing?” We take care to dress beautifully and comfortably, we try to make everything around us comfortable and beautiful - because this makes us feel better. So why can't you think about feeling good in your own body? If a man buys himself an expensive, nice suit, why doesn’t he also remove his sagging chin and bags under his eyes? Yes, you cannot replace the beauty of the soul with external beauty. You cannot replace inner peace and confidence with something external. However, if a person, for this inner peace, needs to change the shape of his nose, which has been poisoning him all his life, then why do we have to make superhuman efforts and try to convince him that in fact everything is wrong and he likes his nose?
And for this reason, making cuts, enduring pain...
But plastic surgery is not torture! I understand where this comes from: medicine in the human imagination is implicated in suffering. And yet, with the development of various branches of science, medicine is moving further and further away from pain: there are new technologies and new types of anesthesia that are constantly being improved. Plastic surgery is no exception. There are only a few types of intervention when the patient will actually be in pain for some time, when the anesthesia wears off, but the vast majority of plastic surgeries are not accompanied by pain. If previously our patients after blepharoplasty, for example, stayed in the clinic for three days, now they go home the same day.
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Or here’s another example from the realm of outdated stereotypes: fat is an absolute evil. However, now fewer and fewer people are doing liposuction, because the human body is simply impossible without fat. But lipofilling, that is, the transplantation of the patient’s own fat, is gaining momentum, as it helps to change the shape of the body and preserve the beauty and youth of the skin. This is a practice brought to us from the USA, the absolute leader in the field of plastic surgery. I really like such operations, because a person’s own fat is an excellent building material.
Okay, let’s say a person decides to have plastic surgery. How can he choose a really good surgeon who is not afraid to trust?
I can’t tell you how to choose a good surgeon, because everything is quite obvious. However, there are patients who are simply doomed to choose a bad doctor or, in the worst case, become victims of scammers. Such patients are distinguished by their belief in miracles: they are confident that they can get an ideal result at a minimal price with the shortest recovery period - or better yet, none at all. A good surgeon will not satisfy them - they need a wizard who will promise them all this. Since there is no chance of such promises being fulfilled, you can imagine the result: it’s good if people only lose money.
In my practice, this happens quite often: a person sits, listens to me attentively, nods, and then asks: “Doctor, is this really not possible? Or maybe I should just pay extra?” It seems to him that I am hiding some good operation from him under the table or in the closet. Like in a store, you know, when they put up a sign, what doesn’t work - and it definitely doesn’t work, at all?
Surgery is a science, in it, like in everything, there are boundaries of reality. Yes, I can remove jowls and tighten my chin, I can enlarge or reduce my breasts. And yet it happens that the patient wants the impossible - and then a good surgeon will refuse him. A bad surgeon or fraudster will never refuse.
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“Surgery is a science, in it, like in everything, there are boundaries of reality. Yes, I can remove jowls and tighten my chin, I can enlarge or reduce my breasts. And yet it happens that the patient wants the impossible - and then a good surgeon will refuse him. A bad surgeon or a fraudster will never refuse.”
Have you ever had patients who came just after the actions of scammers posing as doctors? What needs to be done to stop their activities?
Yes, of course, that happened. Situations when patients become victims of people who provide services almost in the basements and promise instant results without a recovery process - this is also the foam of rapid development. Here, I think, the intervention of the professional community is needed: unfortunately, when the state deals with such things, it does not succeed very well. It can, of course, introduce regulation, standardization, and so on, but this will only lead to the fact that respectable clinics will close and scammers will continue to work. After all, if you look at their social networks, where they sell their services, the composition is obvious: just look at the conditions in which these operations are carried out. That is, we have the tools to combat all this, they just aren’t used.
What do you enjoy most about working with patients?
That stage when we have completed all the preparatory procedures, performed the operation - and now the person goes through a recovery period, gets used to his new reflection in the mirror. This is the best time - when I see the result of my work, how it changes the patient’s sense of self and his perception of himself.
What is beauty for you personally?
Complex issue. Beauty is not some single set of characteristics, although this is exactly what modern marketing is trying to impose on us. For me, this is the image that I create for each patient. If two friends come to me with the same problems, then I will give them different recommendations, which will depend on very many things. Because if we are talking, for example, about age-related changes, then everyone ages differently: for some, the oval of the face becomes very sagging, while for others, deep wrinkles and bags under the eyes form. Patients also have their own ideas about beauty, they also want different things. So everything is very individual, and the opinions of not one person, not ten, do not decide anything.
You talk about plastic surgery with passion—it’s immediately clear that you enjoy your work. What vacation would you call the best?
I am not a workaholic - for me, life consists of a comfortable alternation of my favorite work and my favorite leisure. The two best ways to relax are reading and fishing. Fishing is generally the most wonderful activity: peace, silence, the beauty of nature... I remember with great pleasure the last fishing trip before the coronavirus on the archipelago in northern Norway. It was amazing. And I like to read a lot and different things, but above all books on philosophy: if I had not become a surgeon, I would definitely now be happy to teach this science in some small provincial institute.
“Beauty is not some single set of characteristics, although this is what modern marketing is trying to impose on us. For me, this is the image that I create for each patient. If two friends come to me with the same problems, then I will give them different recommendations, which will depend on very many things (...) Patients also have their own ideas about beauty, they also want different things. So everything is very individual, and the opinions of one person or ten do not decide anything.”
The article uses photographs from the Instagram account of Alexander Fadin
“Reshaped” the body to his taste: a plastic surgeon arbitrarily enlarged the patient’s hips
A Muscovite complained about the plastic surgeon who disfigured her. According to the patient, she went to the doctor to have her breasts adjusted, but ended up with a crippled body. The doctor allegedly arbitrarily decided to enlarge her hips and, after the operation, refused treatment. The surgeon himself has so far refrained from communicating with the media. Vesti FM correspondent Alexander Sanzhiev will tell you the details of this story.
“The body is mutilated and the psyche is crippled”: the patient complained about the Novosibirsk plastic surgeon. According to the woman, she wanted to improve the shape of her breasts, but after the operation she woke up... with huge hips. The woman assures that the doctor arbitrarily decided to “reshape” her entire body to his taste. As a result, the victim underwent rehabilitation with Moscow surgeons. After the physical wounds were healed, the mental wounds also had to be healed. To do this, Lyubov turned to psychologist Veronica Khatskevich. She just decided to make this story public on the Internet.
KHATSKEVICH: Indeed, everything is terrible. And moreover, perhaps a person has a mental disorder, after which his health is simply ruined. Everything will be completed. Now we need to do all this legally. Such doctors should not touch people.
Lyubov went to the Novosibirsk clinic because 7 years ago she had already undergone plastic surgery there - albeit with a different doctor. This time she was assigned to his colleague. Surgeon Rustam Kurmanbaev himself is confident that the result is quite satisfactory for an “intermediate” operation. In one of the videos, the doctor boasts about his successes: on the operating table, the patient is apparently under anesthesia and, most likely, does not know that filming is taking place. The recording was subsequently published on social networks.
KURMANBAEV: We have completed a complex operation. Here we got the most beautiful result: a cool athletic belly, bones, ribs and waist-hip transition. Even from a very thin girl who weighs 55 kilograms, we removed 2 liters of pure fat.
We invited the surgeon himself to comment on the scandal. His manager promised to help. However, the doctor, apparently, is avoiding communication with the media for now. Therefore, for now we can only voice the comments of other patients:
— In June I had lipomodeling with lipofilling of the buttocks with Dr. Kurmanbaev. He is 100% professional in his field, a real “sculptor of beautiful bodies.”
— If you want to get a terrible figure and attitude, welcome to this “specialist.” I still don’t understand how you could call yourself a “sculptor of beautiful bodies.” He speaks competently, but the result is terrible.
Despite the fact that, in addition to positive reviews, there are many negative ones on the Internet, the plastic surgeon continues to work in one of the Novosibirsk clinics. This may mean that there are no official complaints against the doctor, and all the outrage is only on the Internet. After all, in case of serious violations, he would be suspended from work. However, according to lawyers, contracts in some medical institutions often contain clauses that say that the client agrees to the intervention, and the surgeon does not give a 100% guarantee of obtaining the promised result. For this reason, patients often have to be content with what happened, and subsequently correct unsuccessful interventions by other specialists.
As for the injured Lyubov, who, in addition to her breasts, has also gained new volume in her hips, she continues her rehabilitation.
