“I've recently
have had my hairline done, it was something I've always felt insecure
about”, Manny Gutierrez, 26 years old.
“I have temporary
lip fillers, it's just an insecurity of mine and it's what I wanted
to do”, Kylie Jenner, 19 years old.
The amount of names
related with plastic surgery procedures seem to be endless: from the
young Bella Hadid, Nicki Minaj, Ray Liotta to the unforgettable
Michael Jackson. But we don't necessarily have to move to Hollywood's
greatest superstars to see a body changed by a surgeon.
Time goes by and now
plastic surgery is becoming an extremely popular practice amongst our
whole society not only the famous ones. The most demanded surgeries
are: hair transplants (men), nose jobs (women), breast and gluteus
implants as well as liposuctions or skin rejuvenating.
An increasingly
number of people uses some type of procedure to look better, some of
them just change their smile by using braces, other go further
passing by the theatre room. The most surprising fact: statistics.
The most required surgeries change while fashion does it, in the last
two years gluteus implants have increased 20-30% in the USA, as well
as the popularity of clan Kardashian-Jenner and their exuberant
bodies. Amongst men biceps, triceps or abdominal implants are
increasing year by year, maybe due to the spectacular masculine
bodies we are getting used to see in every film.
But it looks like
people is not as concerned with this type of procedure as they are in
other surgeries. The risks of something going wrong are as high as in
in any other surgery nevertheless people don't seem to take the same
caution they take when we talk about a cardiac surgery, there are so
many cases of medical negligence, unqualified doctors and
unconditioned theatre rooms which can cause from several health
problems to death.
This is quite an
interesting topic for me and what annoys me the most is that the
majority of people says that they don't agree with any of these
practices, but that is not what reality reflects, so I would like to know your opinion as well:
Do you think is
getting is getting plastic surgery too normalized? Is people aware of
its risks?
Do you agree with
the most demanded procedures or did you think in another ones?
Do you think people
do it due to improve inner self-esteem or to “impress” others?
Nowadays social
media have a brutal impact in our society, do you think it has an
influence in order to want to look better?
Do you think this
will go further or will we accept ourselves naturally in the future?
This are the main
articles, check them below:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/24/cosmetic-surgery-crackdown-needed-nhs
You can click down
here for further information:
Moreover, if you are
interested in this topic, I've selected some videos. Two of them are
an analysis of beauty inside the two most beauty-demanding countries,
and the other, a case of extreme beauty addiction. Go check them if
you want:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR65OTBteYU
Hello everyone!
ResponderEliminarGood choice! Plastic surgery is an interesting topic that should be more studied along the degree due to its importance in society.
First of all, of course plastic surgery is getting more normalised day after day, even reaching alarming statistics in countries like South Korea. Seoul, is considered the capital of plastic surgery and most of the korean “idols” have been operated (at least, one time) as well as more of the 20% of the korean population. This tendency has been spread to other asian countries like China, Japan, etc, where the numbers of plastic surgery interventions have been duplicated or, even, triplicated. Sadly, this is a global phenomenon.
I agree with you about the common population isn’t aware about the risks that a plastic surgery implies. I suppose that, mainly, it’s because plastic surgery patients aren’t suffering any disease which force them to be operated, so normally they are optimistic about their prognosis. Moreover, the fact that these patients think that plastic surgery is going to have a good impact in their self-esteem makes them to see it as a positive thing.
In respect of the procedures, I also agree that they depend on fashion and temporary beauty standards. Nevertheless, culture also has an important impact on which procedures are more demanded. For example, I guess that in Spain the most demanded procedure is the breast augmentation surgery; but, in asian countries, face surgeries (mostly eye and nose ones) are the most requested.
Regarding to the last 3 questions, I believe that social media have an important impact in at-risk populations like teenagers and young people (mainly because these people are, normally, the most interested in being considered good-looking and the ones who are more exposed to social media) decreasing their self-esteem by considering only one specific body type (or face type, hair type, etc) as “beautiful” or “perfect” while the other ones aren’t.
Personally, I don’t think this situation will change, indeed, it will probably be exacerbated because a population obsessed with beauty, with a low self-esteem, etc; is a population that consume. And that’s not only beneficial for plastic surgery clinics, but also for clothes brands, make-up companies, beauty treatment clinics and companies, etc.
Many things should be changed and many measures should be taken if we want to solve this situation.
Cheers!
(And, sorry for the long comment ;) )
Hi everyone!
ResponderEliminarIn my opinion, I do not believe that this type of intervention is getting normalized. Each time they are performed more frequently but it does not mean they are getting normalized at all. I doubt people think that modifying their constitution, for an unjustified or unnecessary cause, is natural. Simply people inconnected with these procedures learn to respect the actions of the rest and about people who subjected to these interventions, I suppose in their heads the need to "improve their image" prevails over risking their health.
I believe people are not really aware of the risk they are subjected to. Due to plastic surgery do not involve manipulating vital organs, it is thought that the risk is the minimum that can suppose to undergo an operation with its respective anesthesia.
I think the reasons that lead someone to undergo a plastic surgery intervention are complex. Obviously, the one who tries to change his external appearance is because he is not comfortable with it, which affects his emotional state and self-esteem, and with the intervention he tries to solve all problems. Inevitably, by changing your appearance you are trying to impress others, even if that is not your main motive. So, who came first, the egg or the chicken? It's hard to know.
Of course social media has some influence on us. We see continually beautiful faces and perfect bodies that inevitably end up becoming the idea of perfection and the object of desire. This can be a triggering factor but not the only causative factor.
I do not think this fashion is something temporary. There have always been stronger personalities and self-esteem reluctant to let themselves be influenced by what other people say or what others are trying to put in their heads. However, other people, with or without self-esteem problems, tend to be more vulnerable to outside influences and to undergo this type of surgeries. Only now medicine and the operating room are closer at hand than before.
Raquel.
While nowadays plastic surgery is misused, it is an essential surgery that shouldn't be regarded as futile. The external appearence is an important component in people's lives that makes them feel better, thus improving self-esteem, which I think is an important factor in mental health and overall wellbeing. For example, in oncologic patients who underwent mastectomy it is undeniable that the breast reconstruction improves majorly their quality of life. It does it to such an extent that it even has become an integral part of breast cancer treatment in most cases. Restoration of body image helps these patients to overcome social anxiety and insecurity. Bearing this in mind, plastic surgery plays a major role in those diseases (or surgical treatments – like mastectomy) that cause some degree of deformity by improving the external appearence.
ResponderEliminarSetting this aside, I am also of the opinion that we shouldn't put our whole self-worth in something as shallow as our external appearence. Instead, we should be focusing on improving our self-esteem based on our own personal values, and doing activities that are meaningful to us and acting in line with our own personal beliefs.
Everyday we are bombarded with ads that show photos of amazing bodies, most of them impossible to achieve as there is manipulation of those images, and we relate these bodies with a meaning, like manliness, wealth, sex appeal, glamour, wellbeing and attractiveness. Many of these ads are aired on TV, but there's also magazines, music videos, and now as we spend more and more time online, they are popping up everywhere. So we get the idea that in order to get a perfect life and all that we desire we must have a perfect body. And this idea couldn't be further from the truth.
Good afternoon everyone!
ResponderEliminarThank you Andrea for bringing this up! This is a great choice of topic, as plastic surgery has become a widespread practise in the last decades and is something we see solely by turning on the television or surfing the internet.
To answer your first question: No. People are aware of the fact that they want to be beautiful, spotless and perfect, but they are not aware or turn a blind eye to all that can go wrong whilst going under the knife. Sometimes ignorance is bliss… well, not when it comes to surgery and its potential complications. As any kind of surgical procedure, plastic surgery has many risks, in regards to the anaesthesia and to the procedure itself. All that glitters is not gold, and there is always a catch somewhere.
I do believe nowadays we do not necessarily perceive plastic surgery as something that is done for the sole purpose of treating a burns victim or to reconstruct breasts of women that suffered from breast cancer and so on. We perceive plastic surgery as a means to obtain perfection; in my opinion, this is a misconception.
We are bombarded with images of what “a perfect body” should be. We are seduced by the “Hollywood glam” and by all that comes with it: the perfect face, the perfect body, the perfect figure, the perfect everything. What we do not take into account is that most of what we see is counterfeit; it is either photoshopped, embellished with makeup, or attained by using plastic surgery as a resource to reach this type of “perfection”.
Moreover, we do not realize that for a regular person like you and me, these beauty standards are generally unattainable. Indubitably, we want to look better, but we should take into consideration that we have different careers, different aspirations, a different schedule and a different life in general from the artists we see on the red carpet.
Naturally, we try to look our best and we should aspire to that in order to improve our self-esteem and feel good about ourselves. Be that as it may, we are judged on a daily basis by the way we look, so not only do we have to look good to have a high self-esteem, but also to impress others. We tend to perceive people who take care of themselves as more approachable so currently I would say that even without admitting it people go through those procedures to impress others as well.
I would be very naïve if I thought people would just accept who they are in the near future. As I already stressed, we gravitate towards beauty and if the concept of beauty does not change, then our behaviour will not change either.
Marta Silva
Hello classmates!
ResponderEliminarI am afraid to say that as we can see in these articles, I also have to admit that plastic surgeries have increased in an extremely way during the last recent years.
In my opinion this increase is mainly due to the social media by the promotion of famous personalities or fashion models that have to show their perfect bodies as an exemplary model to follow. Otherwise, I think that people is not aware of which risks it involve. First of all, mostly all of these plastic surgeries involve general anaesthesia which has a high elevated risk of cardiologic and respiratory complications than the local one. Moreover, we must be conscious with the fact that most of these surgeries (breast, lips, bottom...) involve the introduction of external materials into our human body, such as silicone, Botox, etc. And this substances increase the risk of having autoimmunitary and allergic reactions, causing even the death, in the worst cases.
Finally, as far as I know, governments should take into account and make some changes on this issue. They should forbid these anti natural and Photoshop prototypes showed on TV (cartoons, series, fashion programmes, advertisements...) and change them for real people. If not, unconsciously we are going to have false stereotypes and we are going to damage our self-esteem.
24-4-17
Noemí
I agree with you Andrea, this kind of surgery is growing, and it seems uncontrollable. Especially, I think that people could be influence by social networks, mass media, advertising spots… Kids and teenagers, who are growing and developing their personality perhaps are more susceptible for this kind of ideas.
ResponderEliminarAlso I think that there is a little rejection for this type of operation. This could be by some social movements, school education or maybe given by parents, in themes of self-respect, personal acceptance… Due to all of this, people could be a bit embarrassed for recognize that, if they could, they would operate. For many reasons, this kind of surgery are more dangerous than common surgery, so I think that all of this is quite alarming.
As I have commented other times, our busy life-style maybe could have a contribution, because it don’t allow us reflect our own virtues and defects, being simpler try to relieve this burden with an artificial way.
Carlos
Hello everyone!
ResponderEliminarSuch an interesting item, Andrea. I use to enjoy watching TV shows which talk about this subject and show different the different patient´s profiles.
Of course I think that nowadays plastic surgery and its risks are very normalized, because these are times of information. So I think we know about the risks, the effects and everything, or if we don´t know about them, we would be able anyhow (by searching for information, by asking doctors, etc).
In general, I agree with the most demanded procedures, they are the ones which sound the most at less. On the other hand, there is a point which I think is the most important one: the reasons why the patients choose or accept these procedures. As doctors, I believe it would be crucial to detect addiction, dismorphobia and a healthy mind. The addicted ones are those who always want more and more, they are never satisfied with an only one surgery because they don´t use to tolerate aging. There are also the dismorphobic ones, who see physical defects where there aren´t. They use to try to achieve a perfection which doesn´t exists. Last, there are those who wish to change something they don´t like about them, and understand the risks and accept them.
Obviously, social media affects and it´s our task to recognize which are the consequences of this influence and the way they change or affect these patients. Although it probably ends soon, as fashion which goes and comes back. I really hope people to accept themselves and choose plastic surgery just in extreme or serious cases, though it is something each one must consider while they have a clear mind.