Girl of the week: plastic surgeon Ekaterina Lonskaya

A fashionable girl does not necessarily mean a blog about cosmetics or your own clothing brand. Ekaterina Lonskaya (31), for example, is a candidate of medical sciences, a sought-after plastic and maxillofacial surgeon, but at the same time she has 33 thousand followers on Instagram, a stylish wardrobe and beautiful photographs from travel and the gym. Ekaterina told PEOPLETALK about how to find a common language with a patient, operate together with her husband, and whose photographs patients bring instead of Jolie (41) .

In my case, it is very difficult to talk seriously about vocation. There have never been doctors in our family or in our immediate circle. My parents saw me as a lawyer, but, unfortunately, by the time I graduated from school, my father was no longer alive - I had no one to consult about choosing a profession. One winter evening, when I was looking at old family photographs, I found a stack of dad’s letters that he had sent to my mom from the army. He wrote to her about how he read textbooks on chemistry and biology in the evenings, how he dreams of entering medical school and becoming a surgeon. And these letters decided everything for me, I never again wondered who I would be when I grew up.

I graduated from the Medical University in Minsk , and then moved to Moscow , where I entered the Department of Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery at the Moscow State Medical and Dental University. The head of the department (Professor, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation Alexey Yuryevich Drobyshev ) became for me the main reference point in the profession.

They say people don't trust young doctors. But it’s not about age, it’s about how you feel about your profession. In medicine, it is very important to be honest not only with the patient, but also with yourself, so you only need to take on what you are confident in and what you can do well. Don't underestimate young specialists - they study, write articles, give presentations at conferences, win grants, defend their Ph.D. theses, speak several languages, and keep their finger on the pulse of modern science. Choosing a surgeon is really difficult. First of all, it is worth looking at his real patients, how they look, whether they are satisfied with themselves - word of mouth can defeat even expensive advertising.

I also received a second specialty - cosmetology. It seems to me that having two related specialties is one of my main advantages. After all, I perfectly understand the real possibilities of surgery and cosmetology, so I can recommend to the patient the optimal scheme for correcting the problem he is dealing with. Fewer incisions, fewer stitches, less tension - more health, more naturalness and natural beauty - today this is the main principle of aesthetic surgery and cosmetology.

The main operations I perform are blepharoplasty (removal of excess skin in the upper or lower eyelids, bags under the eyes), eyebrow lifting, facelift, removal of Bisha's lumps, lipofilling (injection of the patient's own fat to create volume in the face or body) , liposuction. It's sad but true: 10-15% of patients undergo repeat surgery. This statistic, of course, frustrates us as plastic surgeons, because not only are you redoing someone else, but someone is redoing you. We must be honest - everyone has dissatisfied patients, even the most experienced, best and titled surgeons. And often it’s simply a matter of misunderstanding, so it’s important for every surgeon to understand what exactly the client wants to change and whether you can help him with this.

Of course I take care of myself! Now I have enough of several cosmetic procedures: biorevitalization or plasma therapy, Botox, laser peeling. I haven’t had any plastic surgery, but as soon as the need arises, I won’t think twice. (Laughs.)

In the evening, my husband and I (candidate of medical sciences, assistant at the department of maxillofacial and plastic surgery at Moscow State Medical University Konstantin Aleksandrovich Kurakin. – Ed.) always discuss how the day went, how the operations went. We often work together because he deals with surgical treatment of patients with malocclusions. This is a very interesting direction that is now gaining momentum, it is called orthognathic surgery. My husband is responsible for the reconstructive stage (that is, moving the jaws, moving the cheekbones, chin, upper, lower jaw), and I add aesthetics.

Before operations, I worry because the patient trusts you with the most precious things - beauty and health. But when I start working, the excitement goes away, enthusiasm appears - I want to do everything very well, I want to do it perfectly! During consultations, patients often show photographs of famous people. By the way, they stopped bringing Angelina Jolie; last week, for example, they came with a photograph of Alessandra Ambrosio (35).

I don't have much free time, but if I have some, I spend it with my family. I love ballet very much, so I go to the theater quite often - it’s a great opportunity to relax and get a charge of positive energy.

The more you work, the less grandiose ambitions you have. I defended my PhD thesis and continue my scientific activities. I just try to be a good doctor and a good surgeon and not disappoint those people who trust me with health and beauty.

The story of Ekaterina Lonskaya

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In general, everything is as usual: childhood with boys, boys' games, I always thought that it was better to be friends with boys... In my youth, I had many acquaintances, male friends, relationships with whom did not move very smoothly from friendly to sexual (and usually ended there ). Naturally, my favorite clothes are jeans. Although even in my school years the thought came to me: “Why don’t I still have a boy? Maybe because she’s always like a kid herself?” At the age of 28 I moved to another city, my parents bought me an apartment there. Where, of course, someone was “hanging out” all the time, since I was terrified of being left alone. One day one of my good friends brought my daughter's future father to my home. I was approaching 30 and desperately wanted a child. The child turned out, but dad was kicked out of the apartment because I didn’t like his behavior. We didn’t promise each other anything, and at that time he was already interested in someone else, and had no time for children. So he safely disappeared from my life, having received from me a sarcastic promise: “Well, if the child is yours, I’ll give you your middle name.” For most of my pregnancy, I walked around with a contented, mysterious smile, but sometimes it was still mentally difficult and scary. Thank God, friends and parents helped, my mother lived with me for two months after giving birth. And then we were left alone. I jumped back into trousers (although before pregnancy I had my favorite sundresses and dresses). I had to manage everything on my own and not really count on anyone. My daughter started kindergarten at one year and eight months. When she was two and a half, I got a good job, there was no shortage of money. Two years later there was a staff reduction at work and I chose to quit. I stayed at home for 4 years. Of course, for a reason. During this time, I received a second higher education (with the financial support of my parents), learned to weave with beads, enrolled my child in a school at the Palace of Creativity, and exchanged my small apartment for a more spacious one in the city center. And she thought that “everything was in chocolate,” but from the outside it looked exactly like that. Three years ago I started working in my specialty. Of course, she didn’t get out of her trousers. Only one thing alarmed me - my personal life, or rather, its periodic presence. Short-term romances with a quick transition to sex and a quick breakup. After all, I’m already forty, but where is women’s happiness? A year ago, righteously indignant at my lack of technical advancement, one of my friends made me a contact page, and at the same time an email. The same one who once brought my daughter’s dad to me. Well, here we go. End of April last year. Among the friends in the contact of this same comrade, I see the father of the child and one fine day I write to him that he has a 10-year-old daughter (and 10 years ago, I, angry with him for his complete inattention to the birth of a child, signed up my daughter for a completely different surname). And then something seemed to burst through: she dumped all the news on him at once and there was no resentment left against him. And this is where the fun begins! I don’t know what barrier was broken when I started communicating with my child’s dad again, but a man appeared in my life. An old acquaintance, once (immediately after the birth of my daughter) quite close, but then our relationship did not survive a stupid quarrel. And now we run into each other on the street and we can’t just part ways anymore. He is married again, but things are difficult at home. Two weeks later he quarrels with his wife, she goes to her mother with her things and I have to calm him down. And then what a summer it was! Like 10 years ago - without brakes, a riot of passion, daily conversations on the phone, correspondence in contact. And often his night calls, when he came to me in a rage after another quarrel with his wife. I calmed him down, I succeeded. She followed him everywhere he called. If he couldn’t or didn’t want to come to me, she went to him herself. The sex was very good, but I was more worried about his state of mind, his mood. I absolutely loved it when he called me “everything is bad, come quickly,” I arrive and he smiles from ear to ear. “Oh, you!.. Everything was just bad for you!” - “Well, you arrived, now everything is fine..” I melted from this... And on New Year’s Eve he completely disappeared, he even deleted me from his friends in contact and blocked messages, did not pick up the phone. From a lonely reply SMS I realized that I had seriously fined my wife and was now trying my best to save my family. There has been complete silence for two months now.

Now it dawns on me that I was his friend, his “vest” for comfort, his lover, anything - just not a woman. Only once during the whole summer did he see me in a skirt and was delighted, and I immediately awkwardly tried to hush up this situation. For what???!!! For a long time it was not clear to me why fate (or God) brought us together this time, if again everything did not end in anything. I think, guiding me on the right path. Back in the summer, I sometimes had thoughts that I wanted to be a woman for this man. But everything turned out so awkwardly... Since the end of October 2013, I have been wearing dresses. At work it was like a bomb exploding. Our entire ladies department took about two weeks to get used to my new image. The male part of the team looked at me, their mouths open in amazement and surprise, and making all sorts of compliments and other pleasantries. Very nice, by the way! I'm not going back to my pants. I try very hard to behave like a woman. I’m trying to establish a female daily routine for myself, but so far it’s not working out well. I hope that in my next relationship I won’t be in a hurry)). I am participating in E. Koinov’s marathon “A World Without Complaints.” I often linger on the pages of O.G. Torsunov and S.N. Lazarev. And, of course, on the website “The Purpose of Being a Woman”)). Olya, thank you for telling us what we should be like, it’s very interesting, very informative and instructive. Happy upcoming holiday of spring and women, happiness and health from the bottom of my heart!)) Thank you, girls, for helping us become ourselves...

P.S. The relationship with my mother is improving, as you write. This is great, although for a long time I pretended that it was not important to me.