Crooked nose, cellulite, drooping skin, insecurities erased. Cancerous tissue, extensive burns, abnormalities since birth, health risks erased. Plastic surgery is a common medical technique partaken by many. There are 2 types of people that undergo plastic surgery, those whose bodies require repairing, and those who are filled with a chosen amount of silicone. The 2 branches of plastic surgery include a media frenzy procedure, cosmetic surgery, and the medically based procedure, reconstructive surgery. Altering portions of the body for medical or cosmetic reasons can end in a life saving or life altering manner. The adverse sides of plastic surgery contain different motives, and are typically lumped together, misconstrued as one definition. Cosmetic surgery abuse has lead to ideas that all plastic surgery is unhealthy and unnecessary. Lumping together the topics have shed reconstructive surgery in a more negative light. In reality cosmetic abuse leads to mental health disorders, and reconstructive leads to mental freedom. In discussions of reconstructive/cosmetic plastic surgery, it is a controversial issue of whether or not undergoing surgery for physical changes is worth the risk. Of course some might object that , any work that changes psychical features is dangerous and unnecessary, the medical issues still stand. Despite the facts, opinions tend to rain on any procedure that changes one’s physical features. Although I concede that cosmetic plastic surgery can be a life-threatening proceder, I still maintain that reconstructive plastic surgery can be a necessary solution when it is best for the patient’s health and wellbeing.
The hideous side of plastic surgery is what as known as cosmetic surgery, a universal procedure that is used as an easy outlet to fix ones so called “problems”. A prominent issue that remains with this surgery is that it's discussed and promoted like its a causal activity to do. The outcome of this train of thought can result in scheduling surgeries left and right, eventually molding oneself into a silicone monster that was never intended to be created. Cosmetic plastic surgery consists of incision methods that exalt and reassemble structures of the body to improve appearance and confidence of the individual (Stokes). Cosmetic surgery is a billion dollar industry that is hyped up based off of celebrities that have had successful surgeries. Many of these individuals take part in plastic surgery because of this. What this demographic doesn't realize, is that they are perpetrated in the idea of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is “the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses”(Plous). Thus meaning that these individuals tend to only refer to celebrities with so called “successful” or “flattering” outcomes of plastic surgeries. What this audience frequently neglect is that there have been several celebrities with botched noses, faces the size of balloons as the result of filler, and even too exaggerated curves. The hard truth of these realizations it that many celebrities don’t necessarily have a gifted surgeon, but gifted genetics.
Many desire to look a certain way, a goal that is virtually impossible to achieve. What starts as wanting Kim Kardashian's fake nose, can turn into wanting all of her facial features. Seeing these “perfect” celebrities’ bone structure can lead to An unfortunate disorder that tends to be a root in many plastic surgery addictions, BDD. Body dysmorphic disorder is a sickness where individuals spend hours a day trying to hide their physical features that they are insecure about. Many result in an excess amount of surgery to disguise their features.Patients with this disorder are unlikely to be satisfied with the results of cosmetic surgery, and some people have even attempted to take out their frustration on their doctor (Ziff). According to the Manual of Mental Illnesses/Problems, BDD is summed up as a person's intense constant thoughts about an imagined defect in appearance. If a physical insecurity is actually present, the person's constant thoughts about it is overwhelming to a massive degree. the individual then feels significant distress and depressive feelings, resulting in weakened mental health. People with BDD also have unusually high suicide attempt rates because they feel like they can never meet the standards of physical perfection (Davis). An example of this disorder would result to a thought like “if the sides of my nose aren’t thinner in a year, I’m going to kill myself.”
Cosmetic surgery was intended to enhance and tweak God-given features, not change and get rid of them. Most patients walk through the door intending to enhance their self esteem. Thus leading into the potential of surgery addiction, leading to a mentality that every imperfection of the body should be fixed/tweaked(Ziff). If such individuals don’t pursue these surgeries, self consciousness could potentially rise, since they are relying on surgeries to build them up. The most common procedures include “breast, fat reduction, breast enhancement, body lifts, face and neck, minimally invasive, male-specific plastic surgery, vaginal rejuvenation” The issue with this is that the majority of these procedures are not just simple “lipo and leave” situations, and require serious under-the knife and anesthesia methods (Goudreau).
The seriousness of these procedures are not something that should be taken lightly. Every time you are put under, there always runs a risk of never waking up, or complications concurring during the surgery. Marsh states, “Statistically, about one in 250,000 people die from complications of anaesthesia especially those people with serious medical condition.”(Marsh). This point has been brought to life in many situations where patients have died when desiring to simply look better. An example of this has been shown through the procedures on Leah, “Leah Cambridge, 29, from Leeds, died on the operating table at Elite Aftercare in Izmir. She is said to have undergone a “Brazilian butt-lift” procedure, which reshapes the buttocks by transferring fat from areas including the stomach and back.” (Marsh). The precious life of this individual has now been taken all because of the apparent want/need to improve her physical appearance. The sadness and desperation of this feeling is remarkable, and can change someone eternally.
An example of the riskiness is demonstrated in this quote Tutton states, “During the first procedure, surgeons have removed 60 grams of foreign substance from her face and 200 grams from her neck”(Tutton). This is the unfortunate process when fixing a botched surgery. Ultimately, plastic surgery can tend to lure in several health problems. Complication such as bruising, infection ,irritation may take place during and after the operation (Tutton). Infection is dangerous to the patient because it prevents the incision from healing in the normal way, which will in turn affect the desired finished product. For instance in the case of breast enhancement, the implant may have to be removed if infection spreads to the implant (Kita 2008). Next, complications involving anaesthesia is a key factor when deciding if going under the knife is worth it. “Excessive or mis-prescribed anaesthesia may cause the patient to drown in fluid or suffocate due to loss of reflex abilities. Other risks also include nausea and vomiting, bladder problems, airway collapse, nervous system deficit or nerve damage, pulmonary embolism, and drug or allergic reactions” (Natalie Kita). Simple tweaks to the body tend to cost thousands, draining ones bank account for minor “imperfections”. The ultimate question remains as, is it worth it? The personal choice to change your body does not affect another person. However, just like a drug, it can evolve into an unhealthy addiction that is a form of self harm.
Moving on, the contrary side of plastic surgery is reconstructive surgery. Reconstructive plastic surgery is a procedure that takes place when one's physical aspects affect their health for medical reasons. It is more of a must instead of a want. The desire to change their body results back to the struggle of his/her health. An example of a medical struggle, a patient named Jen was diagnosed with basal cell carcinomas (BCCs). “I started getting BCCs when I was 29,” she says, stating that these fungus’s are a result of her genetic makeup. Her skin doesn’t repair itself from sun burns and blisters. She then consulted a doctor who told her that mohs surgery would fix her up her growths. “In this procedure, a specially trained dermatologist removes thin layers of the cancerous growth one by one and a pathologist examines each layer under a microscope until there are no more visible cancer cells. Then the opening is repaired with reconstructive plastic surgery.” Reconstructive surgery is an effective way to remove damaged cancerous tissue while still salvaging live healthy tissue.The operation is not a 100% cure, for the surgery requires meticulous skills. If one cell is left behind, the cancer remains. (Morrison 2008).
Examples of reconstruction surgery include, breast reconstruction, burn repair surgery, congenital defect repair: cleft palate, extremity defect repair, lower extremity reconstruction, hand surgery, and scar revision surgery. These surgeries are all examples of patients who need reconstruction based off their health complications. As stated previously, the need for reconstructive plastic surgery is worth the risk. The patient would be risking his/heer life by not doing the surgery. If he/she decides to not follow through with the doctor’s recommendation, they could end or remain with an atrocious medical issue.
This paper was intended to severely stress the significant different sides of plastic surgery. There is just not one definition within that word, and they should not be lumped together. My statement is not that plastic surgery is useless, but in fact is a necessity in today's medical world. I agree that it is ones choice with what he/she wants to do with their body, and would even say that plastic (cosmetic/reconstructive) surgery is a great outlet when considering mental and physical health. This being said, there are risks to plastic surgery taking place, but in the long run, it can be a desirable outcome that is not regretted by the patient. My points stand as is, and will remain as long as doctors are qualified to do such skills that are intended. It's mandatory that the patient trusts the professionals opinion regarding when to start and stop suitable surgeries. I have expressed my concerns with the different sides of plastic surgery. As a whole my opinions remain that you should be able to do whatever you want with your body since it is in fact yours. The word “plastic surgery” is not just defined as wanting to look better. The factual definition of this word makes a point that this is not just a cosmetic based surgery. There are many operations that take place and are very helpful when maintaining medical needs.