Plastic surgeon Klaske Booij shares her journey into the world of reconstructive and aesthetic surgery. From her early passion for medicine to specialising in plastic surgery, Dr. Booij reflects on what drives her work: helping patients feel confident and comfortable in their own skin. She discusses her approach to patient care, the importance of listening, and what she finds most rewarding about her daily work at Blooming Plastic Surgery in Haarlem.
Klaske Booij is a valuable asset to Blooming Plastische Chirurgie as a female plastic surgeon and is happy to put her years of experience to work to help people. She recently obtained her doctorate with her thesis 'Multidisciplinary perspectieven on bile duct injury, impact, management and outcome' and may now call herself doctor. How does she manage it all? Because in addition to being a plastic surgeon, she is married and the mother of two children. In VROUW magazine she shares her story.
In the past, Klaske Booij thought she would follow in her father's footsteps and become a general practitioner. During her medical studies, however, she discovered that she was primarily interested in the skin and soft tissues, or the external body. She also discovered that within plastic surgery you can express more of your creativity, which led her to decide to become a plastic surgeon. Klaske Booij has a passion for operations on the face, breast surgery and body corrections, for example in people who have lost a great deal of weight and have been left with excess skin. In her view, you can truly make a difference for these people and give them their lives back.
When Klaske Booij believes that an operation will lead to an unnatural result, she is honest about it. As the Netherlands is not very fond of the operated look and a natural result is preferred. She also does not carry out the irrational wishes of people if she does not agree with them. She therefore does not comply with requests to create 'cat eyes', and this sometimes means that patients go elsewhere. Sometimes it simply has to stop in terms of operations, when it becomes too much and begins to lead to unnatural results. After all, you cannot keep performing facelift after facelift and at some point you reach a limit. Legally speaking, you may also not perform cosmetic procedures on people under the age of 18, unless this is demonstrably necessary.
Klaske has on occasion experienced a teenager appearing for a consultation at the request of someone else. For example, she once had a girl of around 14 at her consultation, whose mother had indicated that her labia were too large. After a physical examination, however, she found that there was nothing wrong and the girl left the consultation feeling relieved. She was left with an unpleasant feeling about this and wondered "What kind of mother says something like that?" She also finds it regrettable that many women are insecure about their appearance. Even the most beautiful top models struggle with insecurities, while their imperfections are often the reason for their success and career. She also advises women to enjoy every stage of life. It often happens that you look back after 10 years and think: my dissatisfaction was unnecessary and I looked perfectly fine. "Not everyone has to choose a surgical procedure."
Would you like personal advice about a cosmetic treatment? Then Klaske Booij would be happy to tell you more during a first consultation at our clinic. She is a member of the Dutch Association for Plastic Surgery (NVPC) and the Dutch Association for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (NVEPC). She also has a BIG registration under number: 39065549701 and excellent reviews on Zorgkaart Nederland.