What do you do?
Dutch women are living longer than ever, and fortunately often in very good health and with a high social participation. However, aging is quite difficult for many people. After all, the reaction of the social environment is slowly changing, often in a negative way. That while people usually feel no different at all. In the past, social prejudices against plastic surgery were so compellingly negative that few women dared to consider the possibility of surgery. Fortunately, that is slowly changing these days, and I see more and more women who want to soften the sharp edges of aging. Want to look friendlier, more rested, and fresher. Luckily, this is possible in many cases with good surgical instruments. However, a precondition is that, as a surgeon, you must have a good view, master good techniques and be able to explain to clients what to expect, so they can make an informed decision.
As a child, facial plastic surgery already fascinated me, and eventually my career took that turn. It is truly a privilege to be able to do what I do. To be part of the “liberation” that women often experience when they dare to choose an operation, and to be able to guide them in this. It is a “happy” profession, with many positive experiences and real gains in quality of life. You rarely see that in medicine. It is also a very technical profession, where margins are narrow. That makes my work extremely challenging.
Every woman ages differently, and every woman has a different facial structure. Both have a lot of impact on the decision I make. The so-called sub-SMAS face-neck lift, and the endoscopic forehead lift are procedures that work for almost everyone. I am not a surgeon who wants to change people in their “being”. Whatever I do, it has to stay close to the person. That’s one of the reasons why I do modest lipo-filling, for instance, and I never enlarge lips excessively. Sometimes that can be quite “beautiful”, but when the person subsequently changes, I cannot support it. I always look for those characteristics that leave the largest mark on the aging of a face. For many clients that is difficult to estimate properly. As a result, it often happens that my advice deviates from the procedure a client had in mind. In addition, with aging it is rarely the case that only one part of the face draws negative attention. I therefore strongly believe in combination interventions. For example, a face-neck lift plus a forehead lift, or a facelift plus a chemical peeling of the skin. Finally, the combination with fillers or Botox is often recommended for an optimal effect.
I think others should answer that question. In any case, I can say that I wholeheartedly choose quality in everything I do. People notice this every step of the way. We take ample time for each client, listen carefully to his/her wishes, and always simulate the operation on the basis of photos. Operatively I only work with the most effective techniques, even though they are sometimes more complex and can therefore take longer. I am uncompromising about that. I think we are a very personal company. We understand that facial surgery is a vulnerable moment in our clients’ lives. In our opinion, a businesslike attitude does not fit in with this. We are available 24/7 for questions and support. Because of my background and the location of the practice, I think we are also relatively international, which all of our clients really appreciate. Our clients are almost always satisfied, and if that is not the case for whatever reason, we have a completely open attitude. Finally, our complications over the past 3 years were exceptionally low, which I think is important too.
