This concise, educational, and thorough reference will educate women who are contemplating, undergoing, or recovering from plastic surgery.
In Outsmarting Mother Nature: A Woman's Complete Guide to Plastic Surgery in the 21st Century, a female plastic surgeon explains all the major procedures in cosmetic surgery, offering frank insights into both physical and psychological issues and expectations. Dr. Iliana Sweis, who not only performs but has undergone cosmetic procedures, details the stages most women will go through from the time they begin to contemplate plastic surgery. The book explains how one can best prepare for a procedure, what to expect during the actual surgery, and how to handle the healing phase.

The first several chapters discuss the emotional aspects underlying the desire to undergo plastic surgery, including its social and professional impacts. Each of the subsequent chapters is devoted to individual plastic surgery procedures in significant detail, using a question-and-answer format. Case studies illustrate what cosmetic procedures can, and cannot, accomplish-and the reality checks that need to be in place as part of the decision to proceed.

Iliana E. Sweis, MD, FACS, is a board-certified plastic surgeon and fellow of the American College of Surgeons.