If there ever were a field in which it's easy to overdo things, it's aesthetic medicine. In fact, some clinicians develop what Dr. Val S. Lambros called "surgeon dysmorphia syndrome," which occurs when "the surgeon thinks something looks so good that he makes everyone look that way."
Image courtesy of Flickr User B, K, & G
At the SDEF Summit in Aesthetic Medicine meeting in Dana Point, Calif., Dr. Lambros shared his version of the Serenity Prayer that he modified as a way to remind his colleagues to avoid developing surgeon dysmorphia syndrome. Known as the Facelift Serenity Prayer, it reads:
Grant me the ability to change the things I can,The serenity to let go of the things that I can't,
And the wisdom to avoid overdoing the things I can change to fix the things I can't.
Dr. Lambros, a clinical instructor at the University of California, Irvine, Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery Institute, said that he created the prayer prior to addressing a group of plastic surgeons about 4 years ago.
"It really could be called the Cosmetic Surgery Serenity Prayer," he said.