“What are the risks involved with a plastic surgery procedure?”

This is a great question that comes up often. The answer, however, mostly depends on the exact type of plastic surgery that is being performed. With facial surgery, there are two categories of correction. It can be either soft tissue correction for aging (such as facelift, blepharoplasty, brow lift...) or bony augmentation (such as chin implant, cheek implant...) or a combination of both (such as a nose job or rhinoplasty). Each of these procedures has its own set of risks so without knowing which procedure, the general risks are bleeding, infection, nerve or muscle weakness, scarring or pigmentary changes. There are more specific risks associated with each different procedure.

While there are some risks to any procedure (even non-invasive), proper training, including board certification in plastic surgery, combined with experience in cosmetic surgery are the best precautions for a patient to limit risks to a minimum, and if ever some complication should occur, obtain the best possible outcome for its correction.
A common problem is the patient's confusion regarding the type of treatment that would benefit them the most. Clearly defining an attainable goal and the true benefits of a given procedure require the advice of an unconditionally honest, skilled, and knowledgeable plastic surgeon well-versed in the specific conditions and the variety of treatment options best suited to guarantee the best chances of success. Do your homework in the education and review of plenty of results from any "plastic surgeon" prior to engaging in a procedure!

Christian Drehsen

Facial surgery has many risks:

-Hematoma = prolonged bleeding or loss of blood supply to certain areas.
-Injuries to nerves with loss of sensibility or muscle function.
-Injuries to the salivating glands.
-If bone is cut, that may heal slowly as may the scars on the skin.
-And last of all is delayed healing by infection.

Facial surgery is highly specialized, but there are many skilled surgeons to go to.

The answer really depends on what type of procedure she wants done, as each one has it’s own unique set of complications. Those for a facelift are different from those for a rhinoplasty. Some complications are common in almost all surgeries, such as bleeding, infection and scaring. If I knew more about what she wanted, I could be more helpful in giving you the information you desire.

Risks involved in ANY plastic surgery procedure are unattractive or unnatural final result, scarring, anesthesia complications, nerve injury and even death.

Any surgery exposes the patient to risks of infection, bleeding, wound healing problems, nerve damage and complications from the medicines used before, during and after the surgery. All operations leave scars somewhere and everything is a "trade-off".
Cosmetic surgery is no different, except that it is elective in most cases and the patient has to decide whether or not they can live with the consequences should things go wrong, or the outcome not be what was expected.

She needs to talk her doctor because the risks vary and she should talk to her doctor.

Like with any surgery risk is involved and should be understood. Depending on your procedure a board certified plastic surgeon can explain specifics with you so I suggest you schedule a consultation with one. The article I have shared below will give you some common risks associated with cosmetic procedures: https://www.healthline.com/health/most-common-plastic-surgery-complications#3