Cosmetic or Plastic Surgery Before Your Wedding

Many brides consider some type of cosmetic surgery before their weddings. It would be nice if we could all embrace our flaws but in today's beauty and celebrity obsessed society it seems almost impossible. My personal view on cosmetic surgery is that I am for it if you are just tweaking something. I don't believe in drastic changes and I worry about these women who have multiple surgeries in search of perfection. That being said, many of us color our hair, use self-tanner, get our eyebrows waxed, whiten our teeth, etc. and I consider all of these cosmetic "tweaks".

Although much more invasive, many cosmetic surgery procedures can be considered "tweaks". Lets say you would like larger breasts... okay but you don't have to go overboard with DD cups. Instead you can increase by one cup size to make a subtle change and boost your body confidence. The same is true for rhinoplasty (a.k.a. nose jobs). You don't have to completely change your nose shape and size. You can find an experienced plastic surgeon that can keep your natural shape while just making your nose a bit smaller.

So back to cosmetic surgery before your wedding... if you are going to do it, you need to do it at least 6 months to a year before your wedding. Most surgical procedures and especially the most popular, breast augmentation and rhinoplasty, involve quite a bit of swelling. It can take months for the final results to take shape. I know of one bride who had breast augmentation 3 weeks before her wedding and she couldn't fit into her dress. It was very sad because her intention was to look fabulous in her dress (not swollen).

Other cosmetic procedures, such as Botox, may not cause swelling but still take 3 to 4 weeks to take full effect. With Botox, it only takes a few days for the lines to disappear but many women experience a funny looking browline for the first 2 or 3 weeks and then they start to look natural in about week 3 or 4.

As with any business, do your research and find a cosmetic surgeon with experience and good references. Many cosmetic procedures can be expensive and you don't want to have to do it twice!

See also: Cosmetic Dentistry

Good luck! ~ Lei