Considerations for esthetic facial surgery in the African-American patient

Due to the diverse ethnic nature of most communities, the perception of beauty is not homogeneous. Beauty is a perception of good balance, symmetry, harmony, and features that are pleasing to the eye. It is not possible to quantitate beauty. Many attempts have been made to standardize what is and is not beautiful by establishing the ethnic norms. Surgeons commonly attempt to achieve these ideal norms, but they may not necessarily be considered beautiful by the individual patient. Therefore, it is imperative for the surgeon to completely understand the patients' goals for surgery, which may not fit the ideal norms published in studies for that specific ethnic community. It also has become essential for patients to be made aware of the limitations of surgery, especially if their goals are unrealistic, to avert future distress and medicolegal problems. Thus, what is "normal" is not necessarily beautiful, and perhaps it would be better to strive for what is considered beautiful to the individual patient, rather than normal. Within the African-American population, the concept of what is beautiful can be extremely diverse. The number of African Americans who seek cosmetic or esthetic facial surgery is limited. As the number of esthetic procedures performed in the African-American population increases, however, the more educated this population will become regarding these procedures, and the more comfortable the surgeon will become regarding his or her own sense of "African-American beauty" and specific esthetic facial considerations for this population. It should be mentioned that as the number of African-American surgeons increases, their influence within the African-American population regarding the availability of esthetic procedures will also be felt.