As time progresses, technologies develop and media sources expand, people tend to become more materialistic in order to keep up with the swelling material economy around them. Faster, more efficient, more productive, and especially sexier models of everything are coming out, from computers to cell phones to music devices ...and to people.
Some say people are being sold out, marketed, upgraded, and analyzed like the machines around them. Cosmetic surgery fits right into this slot, as far as most opinions are concerned. People being cut up, filled up, sucked thin, and pulled tight is an unpleasant concept for many, epitomizing the advancement of self-image for the shallow purposes - advancement in sex, society and business. But for a gross exhibition of our decline of morality, it scores extremely well. The fact remains that just last year, 11.5 million surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures were performed in the United States alone. With plastic surgery usually priced at thousands of dollars per procedure, Americans spent a total of approximately $12.4 billion last year. That's a hefty market to consider, and an amazing output of interest from a public with such negative opinions of the practice. So why is it happening?
Imagine you, yourself, right now as you are. Part of a community of average Americans (given that "average American" tends to be a little eccentric). You probably know a few aging mothers, around their late 40's. Normal jobs, simple lifestyle, tired but occupied and happy. These are the women that cosmetic surgery is targeted at. The majority of people who undergo cosmetic procedures are from 35 to 50 years old, and usually female, although current trends show a definite interest in male cosmetic surgery. For these men and women, it isn't about sex or financial empowerment - it's about their own self image, and their confidence in facing the rapidly advancing world around them. Women fix their sagging breasts because they nursed their children diligently; people perform weight loss operations because they work too hard and too often to find time to take a jog.
These people want to look in the mirror at the end of the day and see the physical representation of the strong, shining individuals they work so hard to become mentally. And cosmetic surgery can give them that.
Is it a crime?Read
Cosmetic Surgery Addiction
Why don't you talk about the countless people who are injured from cosmetic surgery? Subjecting healthy people to unnecessary surgery is violation of Hippocratic oath. "First do no harm".
ReplyDeleteThis business is all about insecure, vulnerable patients filling surgeons' pockets with money. What kind of self confidence can you obtain from having your flesh carved up and rearranged? Not anything deeper than superficial, for sure. This should be outlawed except for cases of gross disfigurement or to improve function from birth defect, trauma or disease.
There is so much money involved in this business that the media refuses to report the number of patients injured by this epidemic.. and I mean by board certified plastic surgeons right here in the USA.. not by other MD's in other countries.
I should know.. I am one of those patients injured for life.. having my health robbed from me by not one, but two high profile surgeons.. I have interviewed hundreds of seriously injured patients over the past 10 years.
When I see women, especially, who have had work done, (and I can spot it better than any surgeon) I see a sign on thier forehead that says: INSECURE SUCKER
"What kind of self confidence can you obtain from having your flesh carved up and rearranged? Not anything deeper than superficial, for sure."
ReplyDelete- There was a study I was told about that when someone experiences an big emotional change - like your house burning down OR you have plastic surgery, that in around 6 months the person will judge themselves as equally happy as they were before. Why? The emotional effect of the big change wears off. Like the rip of a band-aid. Happiness is found in something sustainable - it is therefore not something the external world can give you, but the internal one.
Fine. Say what you want. I had a facelift when everything from my eyebrows downward went south. I was 56 at the time. I picked a good doctor and didn't go for restructuring ... just very good rejuvenation. The squint crease between my eyes that had deepened permanently made me look angry, and my jawline completely disappeared despite a good diet, exercise and no weight gain. I thought about it for a long time, and finally decided that if I could afford a new car, I could afford an improved face; I opted for the face. I've not regretted one dime or one minute of it, and 7 years later at age 63, I'm very, very happy with the outcome. I have a jawline, my eyelids don't slide over my eyelashes, and my neck is a separate entity from my chin. As for my confidence ... yes, it's better. I didn't go into it thinking that it would make me happier, nor do I believe that I was subconsciously trying to cut away some sort of self-loathing. I went into it thinking I would like to look better. I wanted nothing more than to improve my appearance - that's all - and that's exactly what I got. I am definitely happier ... not with life, but with my face, and I'm glad that plastic surgery was available to me. It's not for everyone, but it was great for me. I don't plan to have anything done about my cellulite or my baby-stretched tummy that has become worse as my aging skin has thinned, but given the same situation that provoked me 7 years ago, I'd do the facelift again.
ReplyDeleteLove of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.
ReplyDelete