How do you feel about purely elective cosmetic surgery?
"All decisions to undergo elective surgery should be based on risk vs benefit. If the patient understands this ratio and feels it is weighted to his or her benefit, it should be considered acceptable."
"All surgeries should be based on risk vs benefit. The risk is for me to decide, but the benefit is for the patient to decide. For example, if a patient were getting a rhinoplasty to end years of social anxiety, that sensibility is in his or her eyes alone, not mine; however, if I felt a procedure was ill-advised on medical, ethical, or risk grounds, I would have no trouble objecting to it and educating the patient of this."
Hardly controversial now, elective surgery--especially for cosmetic reasons alone--has earned a legitimate place only after a lengthy period of disapproval, historically. You'll be considered behind the times if you condemn plastic surgery, but this question allows you do do something else altogether: give your opinion on a patient's ability to make his/her own decisions, unless it involves illegitimate surgery, such as outdated procedures or bogus ones that are nothing more than profiteering.
"As long as a patient understands the risks vs benefits of a planned procedure, and if that surgery were to benefit him or her in any way, even for self-esteem, I see no reason to object to it."