Emerging Goals in Aesthetic Medicine

I applaud Bater et al on their significant contribution in this issue of JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery to the growing body of literature further shaping and defining what the ultimate goal in aesthetic medicine is and should be. During the past decade, we have witnessed an evolution in aesthetic medicine, progressing from medieval standards of success defined by Eurocentrically oriented and canonized somatic ideals to a modern-day aspiration of enhanced social and psychological well-being. Let me be frank: those seeking cosmetic treatments are, at their core, desiring more than a straightened dorsum, a reduced cervical angle, or a projected mentum. They also—and perhaps more importantly—desire the self-satisfying and externally perceived benefits that result from the perception of idealized forms. It is the impression of beauty, whether elicited from the self, another, or both, from which our patients appreciate the aesthetic interventions we offer to them.

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