The booming surgical cosmetic industry has taken over our lives. Everywhere you go, ads and poster will follow. Why is this? It's because our brains are programmed to judge everything and everyone we see in 10 seconds hence the first impression. This is part of the inner self defense strategy as it helps us prepare ourselves before interaction. Cosmetics companies and plastic surgeons use this instinct to their favour, as they promote that they can help you create a better first impression. After all, once a first impression is made it is almost impossible to undo.
The sudden growth in plastic surgery can be blamed on the media. Due to the increase of unrealistic covers and photos of models, the image of beauty has been changed. It is now, a person who is only beautiful with photoshop. However, this cannot be pursued in day to day life, so we turn to plastic surgery.
In the western world plastic surgery is so heavily looked down now, we only hear the negatives. So, what will be the positives? Many people do not go through plastic surgery just for beauty, many patients are referred to the plastic surgeon for medical problems, such as cartilage blockage which disturbs breathing. This can only be removed through a 'nose job'. In the Middle East, having plastic surgery shows that the women is independant and wealthy as she has made her own life changing decision. It is popular for women to go out and flaunt their recoveries and bandages as then it will obvious they had surgery. This is a major contrast to the rest of the world as people during recovery tend to hide away. The main reason to get plastic surgery is to come over your insecurities and feel more confident in your own body. Most patients feel much better and comfortable about themselves after the proceeder.
On the other hand, there are a significant amount of negative points of surgery, such as the large expense.
"During my aesthetics training, we had many patients because it was cheaper to have a training doctor to carry out the proceeder than an experienced qualified one. This was very risky as mistakes were very likely but this did not stop the patients" - An aesthetic doctor (wishes to be unnamed). As the doctor says "mistakes are very likely" meaning if anything goes wrong the patient will have to return to plastic surgery to fix it, adding to this bill. Another negative impact is the pressures from other people, like in Korea where many girls are pressured to get double eyelid surgery so they will be accepted in the society.
Plastic surgery really depends on the situation of the person, it could be medical, a self esteem boost or a pressure. So it is never right to judge someone with plastic surgery. And that everyone has different views of beauty and how to achieve it.
Thanush Venkatram, Newstead Wood School
