Stevie wasn’t a stranger to plastic surgery after undergoing a breast augmentation when she was 21. In our latest Konfidence with Alex Karidis podcast, she describes her motivation for surgery and why it gave her the confidence to have a rhinoplasty with Alex a few years later.
Alex: Now, just to make it clear for the listeners, Stevie is a nurse who has worked in my practice and looked after many of our patients, both pre- and post-op surgically and offering non-surgical treatments.
You work with cosmetic surgery patients, but you are also a cosmetic surgery patient, right?
Stevie: I came into the industry having already had cosmetic surgery before, so my view has always been that you’re allowed to look and feel your best.
I had that first surgery when I was pretty young, like 21. So, I can relate to patients, especially the younger ones, when they come in, and it’s something that’s affecting their confidence, particularly in the younger years.
Alex: Can I ask what surgery you had done?
Stevie: I had a breast augmentation.
Alex: Can I take you back to that time? What were your thoughts? Had it been building for a while, or was it sudden?
Stevie: I don’t really remember a time where I would say I struggled, but I’m tall, I’m broad, I’m 5’10”, and I felt that my friends were petite with nice full breasts, and I was quite flat-chested. I think it really niggled in my mind. I remember telling my mum I’ve been thinking this is what I want to do. And she said, if it makes you happy, go for it.
I also had a mild form of tubular breasts, and someone I knew also had tubular breasts and had surgery. She recommended her surgeon, and he seemed to have done a lot of these cases. He felt like the right surgeon for me then, and I was very pleased with my outcome.
Alex: When did you start to think about your nose being an issue?
Stevie: I think it’s something that affected me for a more extended period, and I believe having breast surgery warmed me up to the idea of it because it went well, and then I was finally a little bit braver to do something to my face.
It’s always a bit of a scary one when you do something to your face. It seems almost like a step up from body surgery; if something went wrong with facial surgery, everyone could see it. So, the breasts were like a warm-up, and then the nose. I finally felt ready.
But it was only when I started to work for you, Alex, that I needed to be entirely confident. I was nursing these people and feeling like, how can I be a nurse for somebody having these surgeries, not feeling my best, and not looking how I felt I should?
And I know this might sound silly, but seeing people have their noses done and removing casts and seeing them so happy made me feel, “Oh, I really want my turn.”
Alex: So, tell us, what was it about your nose that you weren’t happy with? Do you remember? Was it the front view, the side view, certain angles?
Stevie: It was the front view, and most people, interestingly, struggle mostly with their side profile. But for me, it was looking at my nose from the front view.
Alex: Now, I know you’re very active on Instagram and have been for a while, so do you think that played a role in terms of you saying the front view?
Stevie: Yes, I rarely filmed myself directly from the front. It would always be slightly to the side, and I kind of adopted this side tilt.
Alex: That’s one of the curses of modern technology now because we’re constantly exposed to all these images of ourselves, whether that’s on social media, video conferencing, whatever. And it probably sensitizes us to what we feel are deficiencies or problems and highlights them.
That’s also one reason there has been a slight uptick in demand for plastic surgical procedures; people are suddenly becoming more aware of these things.
Listen to Stevie’s story in full in our latest podcast…
