The Nordström Hospital for Plastic Surgery
Information about Plastic Surgery

The First Book

The first practical treatise in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery, De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionen, was written by the Italian surgeon Gaspare Tagliagozzi of the University of Bologna in the 1500s. It mainly dealt with nasal reconstruction using a flap based on the upper third of the arm This method has become so well-known that the Italian Society of Plastic Surgery uses the drawing of Tagliagozzi's device for nasal reconstruction as their logo.

A Wise Man

Pope Johannes Pavel II organised a congress in September of 2000. The topic of the congress was "Aesthetic Plastic Surgery to Improve the Quality of Life". I have got invited as the only representative of the Nordic countries to give a presentation together with 14 other internationally recognised plastic surgeons. It was a big honour for me and a notable expression of the attitude of the Holy See towards aesthetic surgery on the whole.

Pope, representing the State of Vatican, Stato della Cittá del Vaticano, has earlier admitted that plastic surgery relieves sufferings.

What is Aesthetic Surgery

Beauty surgery corrects various deformities, e.g., too big nose, sagging breasts, big ears or changes caused by ageing. It is important to remember that with beauty surgery the question is never simply about "reshaping a nose" or "correcting a scar". Physical, personal and social well-being of the patient should be taken into consideration.

Expectations and Reality

At the consultation we try to figure out if there are some aesthetic surgery procedures you can benefit from. We always first consider your needs, your personality, your facial structure and body type, and your original beauty. Aesthetic surgery can help you get rid of some disturbing factors in your appearance or give you back what the years have taken away. And a good self-esteem is a good starting point for and a new life of improved quality.

When you come to us for a consultation, you already know what you want, and our task is to tell if your expectations are realistic and possible to achieve - and if they are, by means of what procedure.

I always tell my patients, what results can be expected by means of what procedure and what is not possible to achieve. An experienced plastic surgeon can do a lot to change the life of his patients for the better, but in inexperienced hands anything can happen. The profession of a plastic surgeon is very demanding. Except for profound medical knowledge and surgical skills a plastic surgeon also needs an artistic and a psychological vision (intuition), the ability to communicate with the patient and to understand the patient, the ability to help the patient make the right decision.

By Word of Pictures

Some customers bring to a consultation the pictures of themselves taken years ago. They hope that by means of aesthetic surgery we can turn back the hands of time and give them back their youth. Looking at the pictures, we can see what changes have occurred during the years and visualize more vividly the patient's expectations.

Other customers show us clips from a beauty magazine with the pictures of a perfect nose, lips, or breasts they would like to have.

Plastic Surgery and Beauty Definition

For years, scientists have tried to analyze the human face to find the mathematical definition of beauty. These attempts have not been successful as beauty is in the eye of the beholder and impossible to define.

Recently, the idea of tridimensionality has come into fashion that defines beauty by angles and highlights. According to this idea, a beautiful face should have one highlight on the cheek, two or three highlights on the upper lip, one or two on the lower lip and two on the tip of the nose.

There are numerous ways to improve your appearance: exercising, keeping fit,
- facelift operations
- eyelid surgery
- lip enhancement surgery
- laser skin resurfacing
- nose reshaping
- chin reshaping
- ear surgery
- breast augmentation, reduction, and uplift
- liposuction and liposculpturing
- tummy tuck (abdominoplasty)
- hair transplantation

"Plastic surgery is a highly expansive and very fascinating field of surgery that has developed immensely within the years I have been practicing it. At the same time the interest of society in plastic surgery and especially in one of its field, aesthetic surgery, has continued to grow.

(I have practiced general surgery and plastic surgery, both expansive reconstructive (corrective) and aesthetic surgery for over quarter of a century.

Over the years, I have done about thirty thousand operations and have met a very big amount of people. In my line of work, I have learnt to understand that for aesthetic surgery patient, survival is rarely the issue. Such a patient is seeking a better self-image and an improved appearance to become more socially desirable. The efficacy of aesthetic surgery is measured not in simply being "alive and well" and "free of disease" but in the level of patient satisfaction.)

New methods, high technologies, and safer materials have made aesthetic surgery procedures less time consuming or risky for the patient as they used to be. To make changes in appearance neither a narcosis nor a long recovery period are necessary any longer, and nowadays many operations have become considerably easier for the patient.

The results have also improved. Operations are thoroughly discussed with the client and if necessary pictures, drawings and computer techniques are applied. Sometimes small procedures make quite a big change. For many aesthetic surgery means getting rid of long-term disturbing problems, improved self-confidence and due to this a better quality of life.

I have personally taken part in the development of new plastic surgery operation methods and have invented among other internationally recognized and widely used method of transplantation of small hair grafts, micrografts, for baldness correction that gives own permanent natural hair full to the bald area. One of the recent inventions is the Nordstrom Suture, a special suture material that diminishes scar widening and speeds up bald area reduction. In this way surgical excisions of big scar and moles could be also speeded up.

I know from my own experience that beauty surgery has been and is going to be a blessing to many people.

Rolf Nordström"

If you are considering aesthetic surgery or hair transplantation, the Nordström Hospital for Plastic Surgery is your best choice not only because of Professor Nordström's international reputation but also because of his exceptionally well trained team of professionals. Our surgical nurses are specialized in taking care of aesthetic surgery patients. For instance, preparing and transplanting over three thousand of grafts in one operation requires high professionalism and good cooperation between the surgeon and the operating team.

Aesthetic surgery improves appearance, opens new horizons and improves the quality of life. You can find more information about all kinds of aesthetic procedures done at our hospital from our free videos and information booklets that you can order by phone, fax, email or order from our web site. 

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