Nina Rojas waited six months — desperately wanting change.
“It was a difficult six months.”
Rojas was waiting for plastic surgery, a wait her doctor prescribed.
“People get plastic surgery when it is the worst time in their life to do it,” Dr. Darshan Shah said.
Dr. Darshan Shah is a Bakersfield plastic surgeon who has been in the industry for 15 years.
12.7 million procedures were performed in 2015, up from 10.5 million in 2014, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
“How many celebrities get plastic srugery, all the plastic surgery shows, people become more familiar with it. It becomes less of a barrier in their mind, They think it is so easy like going in for a facial or a haircut. They diminish the severity of actually going under the knife,” Dr. Shah said.
Dr. Shah co-authored a bookthat gives ten reasons why you may not be the best candidate for plastic surgery, including unrealistic expectations, doing it for the wrong reasons and lack of time, support system, or research.
“I tell them something to the affect of I think you need to go home and think about this, think about the things that we have talked about and not sign up for this procedure yet,” he said.
Dr. Shah said this to Rojas, who had already gone through a weight loss surgery prior to meeting him. She was trying to cut her weight from 239 pounds.
“When you go into surgery people think you come out skinny and that is not the case,” Rojas said.
She then went to Dr. Shah. Six months after her first consultation she was supposed to get surgery to repair loose skin.
But she had gained back some weight that she needed to keep off, prompting Dr. Shah to recommend another six months of waiting.
“If we can’t get at least a 98% chance of having success we usually tell them this is not going to work,” Dr. Shah said.
“I was disappointed in myself. I knew what the goal was but I strayed away from that goal. I knew it was my fault,” she said.
Rojas pushed herself to reach her new goal and in the end received the results she was looking for.
“I understand where he was coming from and I am happy that I did wait because I ended up getting better results,” she said. Rojas received the “Mommy Makeover”.
Dr. Shah said people should do their research before going under the knife.
“With the internet, with the book, with all the resources we have out there people should take the time to educate themselves,” Dr. Shah said.
Now, Rojas hopes others can learn from her story.
“You are going in for major surgery,” she said. “It is not going to be simple. If you don’t meet your goal don’t do it. Be mentally prepared for after surgery. Make sure you have a support system.”
