Preface
"Aesthetic surgery is concerned primarily with what the patient subjectively experiences", Leo ClodiusArt & Aesthetic Surgery is a book that the public has long been waiting for. It affords the interested reader a comprehensive insight into all the different aspects of facial aesthetic surgery. The patient will be able to find quickly all the relevant information and to consider the fundamental issues. This book can also serve to supplement and complete the information and explanations obtained during the medical consultation.
Some patients mistakenly believe - on account of the often-inadequate information provided in some women’s magazines - that a significant facial rejuvenation effect will be achieved simply by removing wrinkles or merely by tightening the skin. This informative and easy-to-read book clearly shows that this assumption is incorrect. Rather, a naturally harmonious appearance is obtained by repositioning certain tissue structures and by judiciously combining the individually appropriate operating techniques.
Urs Victor Burki draws the reader’s attention to the specific characteristics of a branch of medicine which does not allow even the slightest error. Only an experienced surgeon pays attention to the minor yet important details that contribute to an excellent result. My former student and co-worker, Urs Victor Burki, achieves astonishing results in facial rejuvenation surgery – as evidenced by the numerous photographs of his patients. He masters the art of attaining a significant and most natural rejuvenation of the face, without altering in the slightest the personal facial features. He thus achieves the supreme objectives of facial aesthetic surgery: naturalness and harmony.
The aspiration to achieve perfection has driven Urs Victor Burki to set important new trends in aesthetic surgery of the face, particularly with regard to forehead- and facelift techniques. He has been doing pioneering work in the field of aesthetic surgery for years: he was the first specialist in Switzerland to practise aesthetic surgery mainly on an outpatient basis or with a minimal stay in a clinic and to perform facial surgery exclusively under local anaesthesia and sedation. In 1990 he established his own clinic, the Burki Clinic for Aesthetic Surgery,which was one of the first in Europe to specialize primarily in aesthetic facial surgery. Urs Victor Burki has also broken new ground in terms of patient information. For more than ten years he has been providing his patients with detailed information, not only by richly illustrated brochures describing the main points of the surgical aspects, preoperative considerations and postoperative care, but also by using video films showing operating techniques and patient interviews.
Ever since he embarked on his professional career, one of Urs Victor Burki’s main concerns has been to raise constantly the quality of aesthetic surgery through ongoing specific training and in-service training. That is why he founded the Swiss Society for Aesthetic Surgery (SSAS) in 1994, of which I am a founding member.
I can recommend not only the public at large but also all physicians to read this extensive and very artistically designed book.
Leo Clodius