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Dr. Sam Lam - Lam Facial Plastics, Plano, TX

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Dr. Sam Lam - Lam Facial Plastics, Plano, TX

Natural, Passionate, Specialized.

"I see every patient with an artistic eye"

Natural, Passionate, Specialized.

"I see every patient with an artistic eye"

Natural, Passionate, Specialized.

"I see every patient with an artistic eye"

Natural, Passionate, Specialized.

"I see every patient with an artistic eye"

Natural, Passionate, Specialized.

"I see every patient with an artistic eye"

Natural, Passionate, Specialized.

"I see every patient with an artistic eye"

Natural, Passionate, Specialized.

"I see every patient with an artistic eye"

Natural, Passionate, Specialized.

"I see every patient with an artistic eye"

Natural, Passionate, Specialized.

"I see every patient with an artistic eye"

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

This audio podcast has been transcribed using an automated service. Please forgive any typographic errors or other transcription flaws.

This podcast continues the psychology series that I have been doing. And this relates to the concept of body dysmorphic disorder or for short BDD, BDD or body dysmorphic disorder is a condition in which someone has an over preoccupation with a physical attribute. That that is actually not that obvious or deforming to other people that they cannot have normal social interactions with. So let’s make a distinction. So if you have a huge scar going across your face from an accident where if I were passed by, I couldn’t help notice it. And you had some social fear of going to public because of that that may not necessarily qualify as body dysmorphic disorder. However, if you have something where I would say a plastic surgeon looking at, you would say, well, I barely can see this deformity or even if they can, let’s say there is a cosmetic quote, unquote deformity.

Like let’s say you have a nasal hump that doesn’t look aesthetically pleasing, and you really want this taken care of, and you can’t go into public. You can’t see people anymore. You become a reckless. This is starting to border. If not fully qualified as body dysmorphic disorder. Now, why is BDD so important? Because if you have these qualities, you have a psychological issue that may not be alleviated even with surgery. You may always see a little hump, a shadow of a hump on the nose. You may still feel as if someone sees something. There may, you may not ever be happy. And of course, if you’re not happy as a surgeon, I’m not happy. And if both of us are unhappy, you’ve wasted your money. So it is very important as a surgeon, for me to quall to look for the risk of body dysmorphic disorder, it is something that I don’t take that diagnosis lightly.

I don’t just label someone as body dysmorphic disorder, of course, as a surgeon like to do surgery. So if I turn away everyone with BDD or I think everyone has BDD, then I’m not going to be doing surgery. However, if I accept those patients that have BDD, I’m going to have dissatisfied patients. And my patients just, you know, are not going to be happy that they made the choice of having a procedure done. Both of us lose. So ultimately it’s very important as you start to decide, if you want to have cosmetic surgery, whether you fit into the BDD category, if you do, then what you should do is see a psychologist or psychiatrist. Sometimes you need to see a psychiatrist that that will give you medication to help you. Sometimes you need psychological counseling. Sometimes you need both. I’m not a psychiatrist, I’m not a psychologist.

I can’t give you advice regarding these things. However, it may be worth to make sure you don’t have body dysmorphic disorder. You can Google it and look a little bit more in depth. See if you fit the criteria. But as I said, the criteria usually would be that you have an over obsessed obsession with a cosmetic or flaw that not be that noticeable to other people, but to you, it is which you cannot interact with other people on a normal level anymore. So if you have mild case, maybe you could still have surgery, but I would definitely encourage you to work with a psychologist or psych psychologist along the way.