Cosmetic Surgery

Written by Estrella82 on March 14, 2010

Since 2006 the number of cosmetic surgery cases in the UK has increased by about 2,000 per year.  With Hollywood putting increasing pressure on society and reality shows obsessing over body image, high percentages of the masses have been inspired to go under the knife seeking nips here and tucks there to spruce up the reflection they see in the mirror.

Traditionally plastic surgery was only for medical reasons for example if someone had been in an accident.  But due to society’s obsession over looking younger and more ‘perfect’, and the undoubted money spinner this brings for the private health professionals, it has since nudged its way into our everyday way of thinking.

Personally I have varying opinions.  If we start with surgery for medical reasons, I can’t find much argument against it.  If my face had been burned in a fire and I had the chance to take skin from elsewhere to look more ‘normal’ I doubt I would think twice.  And women whose breasts are so big that their backs are suffering the consequences, who am I to tell them they can’t since doing this would give them better quality of life.

There is a programme in the UK called Embarrassing Bodies and most weeks there is someone with a ‘cosmetic’ problem.  But is this where the boundary of vanity is crossed?  I remember seeing a woman whose one breast was double the size of the other.  This wasn’t troubling her medically but she was clearly desperately upset over them and was starting to damage her health indirectly through depression.  Again this procedure dramatically improved her quality of life and mental health so how can we label this vain?

There is of course pure vanity and this is where I’m torn.  I look at people like Jordan and I think it’s horrible.  I can’t see how anyone would find her boobs attractive and I don’t even know how she copes with them.  I mean, if I had those I think I would be knocking things off shelves constantly and they must be heavy so is that damaging her health in other ways and what are the long term implications?  Things like that I just think are for shock factor.

Then you see people who have had soooo much botox and face lifts that they frankly don't look human anymore and probably have more people critisizing the way they look than they did before.  This is what I really don't understand.  Is the human face and body really that bad?

I know that’s the extreme and there are many people that have such minor things done that you don’t really notice.  I guess that’s a personal choice and they do it because they have some insecurities about how they look.  But why?  I smile when I look at the faces of the elderly and I love their wrinkles and creases.  They have lived!  This is how nature made us, if it was better for our skin to be pinned back wouldn’t we have evolved to be like that over time anyway?

I then consider my own insecurities and can’t deny I haven’t listed all the things I would love to change, probably things that people looking in wouldn’t even notice, but as I’m on the topic I’ll share it now.  I've had terrible bags under my eyes since I was about 10 and I hate them with a passion.  My school teachers started questioning my bedtime, class mates commented over the years, but what could I do?  I was just made that way.  Now I use make-up to try and hide them and although this helps the colour it doesn’t take away the contour of the skin.  On the one hand I would love to remove the bags, but then letting someone loose with a knife on my face?  Scary prospect!

The thing that bothers me the most though are my boobs, something I know Kimberly has talked about herself.  It’s safe to say I can obsess over it at times.  Over the years I have seen Doctors to see if they can help, tried to put weight on but of course as soon as I lost it again, bye bye boobies!  I took herbal tablets that were supposed to make them grow, God knows what crap was in them but I was desperate and would try anything (ps. They don’t work!!!).

I can’t begin to express how petrified I was the first time I was with a guy, I was convinced he wouldn’t like me anymore or even if he said it didn’t bother him I was sure that secretly he was disappointed.  One day we got on to this subject and I ended up being in tears talking about it.  I was surprised by his horrified reaction at the thought of me wanting surgery, he couldn’t understand where I was coming from & said he would hate a woman to have fake boobs no matter how small they were naturally.  I guess what this did teach me was that these perceptions we have of what people think looks good are simply a matter of opinion.  For me it wasn’t just for men though, I didn’t/ don't feel feminine or sexy in myself & that's the reason I would consider surgery.  I try to appreciate the good points, but I’m still far from loving my body! 

I don’t know why I should care what people think, but I still only ever wear padded or push up bras; I know it’s stupid but it gives me self confidence.  With this in mind, I can relate to women who undergo boob jobs for their own self esteem.  Whether I ever would, perhaps it’s something I will consider later in life?

I guess my conclusion is that there is no right or wrong answer.  We work in order to earn money to spend on what makes us happy, if that happens to be a face lift or tummy tuck so be it.  Who am I to judge someone for having surgery if it vastly improves their psychological outlook and enjoyment of life?  

I would love for the media to work harder to use men and women with no air brushing or cosmetic surgery.  Although progress in this area has been made, it is slow and sadly I don’t think we will ever reach a point where people no longer want to create the ‘perfect’ body.  After all what is the perfect body?  I think it comes down to perceptions and personal opinions, something which I believe the media, fashion and entertainment worlds amongst many more all ought to have some responsibility towards changing.

‘Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart’.  ~Kahlil Gibran

‘I don't like standard beauty - there is no beauty without strangeness’.  ~Karl Lagerfeld