Choosing to have plastic surgery on any area of your body is likely to be one of the biggest decisions you will ever make, and should not be undertaken lightly. Like any other kind of medical procedure, there are risks involved, and these must be carefully weighed before surgery. When it boils down to basics, anyone considering plastic surgery must decide whether the possibility of what they might gain is more powerful than the risk of losing what they already have, however unattractive that might seem.

Medical science is, it seems, improving almost every day, and so plastic surgery does not now involve the risks it once did. We all, however, have heard horror stories about people who have been permanently scarred by surgery that has gone wrong, and have even lost their lives. While we might all in theory say that we would give anything for a butt like J-Lo, we have to ask ourselves before surgery how realistic a statement this really is.

The best protection against surgery mishaps is choosing a highly qualified and experienced plastic surgeon, so do your research before selecting a doctor. The plastic surgery industry is an extremely buoyant one, and while this means that there is a huge choice of surgeons available, it also means that those who are less skilled can find a niche in the market by offering low prices to vulnerable people. This is not to say that the more expensive the better, simply that knowledge is power. Talk to former patients of any doctor you are considering, and find out how happy they were with their surgeon's work.

Plastic surgery involves an operating room that is remarkably similar to the one in which cancerous tumors are removed, and other surgeries that we would not choose to have performed unless we had to. Lives are lost in every OR, so before going under the knife weigh the risks carefully, and make sure that you are putting yourself in the hands of the best.

Steve Brink is the founder of Cosmetic Surgery a website decicated to plastic surgery.