Surgeon Diana Ponsky: Wrong Labels and Winning Despite Them with Linda Kreter

Dr. Ponsky's family left Vietnam as refugees due to war, traveled by boat to Indonesian islands, and came to the United States with help from Catholic agencies, settling in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Ponsky learned English primarily through reading after-school stories and Nancy Drew novels as a child.

Dr. Ponsky worked at the VA for two years treating veterans with head and neck cancer and broken noses, which led her to fall in love with plastic surgery and pursue a fellowship.

Domestic abuse victims have similar psychological needs as war veterans regarding reconstructive surgery - not wanting to be reminded of periods when they were suffering.

Reconstructive surgery for trauma victims represents restoration of what they used to have and what they remember themselves to be.

Some plastic surgery patients are looking to satisfy self-esteem or confidence issues, which can be problematic when they're seeking perfection that cannot be achieved.

Plastic surgery is more achievable when patients are looking to restore their outside appearance to match how they feel inside, because people are feeling healthier and living longer.

Social media has created expectations for people to look a certain way, with many seeking the perfection portrayed by influencers, half of which are not necessarily real or truthful.

Working remotely has caused people to want more plastic surgery because they use filtered images online and want to match those filtered appearances when returning to in-person interactions.

Two reasons people are seeking plastic surgery earlier: (1) millennials and teens are more aware of skincare due to social media, making everyone in households notice aging effects more, and (2) Ozempic causes rapid weight loss that leads to more rapid facial aging with gaunt, hollow appearance.

The stigma around plastic surgery is fading as society accepts that people do things to better themselves, similar to losing weight or dressing better.

Realistic surgical outcomes depend on what patients are made of - their bones, cartilage, and skin type - and cannot simply be designed like manufactured objects.