Abstract Throughout the paper a complete argument as to why people should not get cosmetic surgery will be explained. Starting with the history of cosmetic surgery and why it is around, leading into the basis of the argument and an explanation of the definitions that need to be defined. After the basics then there will be a case study that goes into the different types of dangers that occur from different types of cosmetic surgery (another definition for plastic surgery).
Finishing the paper with statistics and one more case study that will further explain the point of why others should avoid having their body altered. All the history and background information comes from different history sites, the dangers and statistics come from medical sites and the cosmetic surgery gone wrong stories come from different news papers in the last six years. Cosmetic Surgery Gone Wrong The human race has an unrealistic expectation for physical perfection. Physical perfection is that model we see in the magazine or the actors that are on the television.
Physical perfection is never having a blemish, or bad hair day, or being over a size six. Physical perfection is never having a scar, until you go under the knife and that hope for physical perfection is destroyed by the scar that is always left. Cosmetic surgery has been around for hundreds of years, through ancient times, the middle ages, the renaissance, and through the world wars. The only things about cosmetic surgery that have changed are the ways surgeons go about doing the procedures (Beautiful Body: A History of Plastic Surgery).
Cosmetic surgery, things like, Botox, breast augmentation, nose jobs, liposuction, and face lifts, might sound good in theory, but in reality the risks of going under the knife far outweigh the rewards. Cosmetic surgery should not be an option to everybody, but only an option in very severe cases. To explain, medically necessary cosmetic surgery should be allowed. What constitutes as medically necessary are cases like burn victims, health issues occurring due to large breasts, and accidents that leave people with mutilated faces or other parts of the body.
What should not be allowed is elective surgery, which is what people who want to get nose jobs or face lifts and Botox get just because they think it will make them achieve that idea of physical perfection. One of the most recent cases of an extreme cosmetic surgery disaster was back in June of 2011. A woman named Maria Shortall died in Weston, Florida after a liposuction procedure went in an unplanned direction. The procedure caused 22 different incisions and the woman was, for the most part, in a very healthy state, she should not have died at the age of 38 years old.
As a result of this woman’s death, her daughter lost a mother, and the lives of a lot of people were altered because of a minor surgery that was not necessary and could have been avoided (abc News). Besides death, there are numerous different risks to having a cosmetic procedure done. The most common risk to cosmetic surgery is scarring. When you go to have a major procedure done, you are going to have a scar, this happens because you are having a knife cutting up your skin, and it will not heal all the way. Another risk to having a procedure done is a chance of getting seromas.
Seromas is defined as the accumulation of tissue fluid, instead of blood. Also, infection is quite possible after getting surgery done. The hours after the surgery, your body is more open to getting infections since your it is left exposed from the wound, and bacteria is able to get in through the wound easier. Other possible risks of getting cosmetic surgery can include bleeding, necrosis- the death of tissues-, nerve damage, and there is also a risk of having a bad reaction to the anesthesia after the surgery or during (buzzle.com).
In March of 2007, a middle aged woman, named Kay Cregan died of complications from having a face-lift and a nose job done at the age of 42 years old. Cregan was said to look older than her real age, and it was making her lose her self confidence and decided to fly into New York to have a face-lift and nose job done to help her look older. She ended up not making it through the surgery and never returned home to her family (Daily News: From dream to nightmare: Cosmetic surgery disasters).
Besides the physical risks of undergoing cosmetic surgery, there are still emotional and mental risks. Depression plays a major role in cosmetic surgery. People have this preconceived idea that having cosmetic surgery will help them to give them the look that they have always wanted, and when they go through the surgery, they go in expecting way too much. If the surgery goes wrong, and things do not go the way the patient expects them to go that patient can then slip into depression (Business and Health: The Dangers of Plastic Surgery).
Along with depression, people, mainly women, become addicted to plastic surgery. According to Yahoo! Voices, two-thirds of plastic surgery patients are repeat patients that come in more than once to have more work done. Women become obsessed with having the perfect body and they continue to find things to operate on repeatedly, and a lot of these people are said to have body dysmorphic disorder which makes that person think that they are ugly (Yahoo! Voice). Social factors can help to enhance a person’s addiction to surgery.
Young women see on television all the time that these beautiful people are having cosmetic surgery done, and they think that since these seemingly beautiful women who are famous are getting it done, then that must mean that they are not good enough and need to get the surgery done as well (treatment4addiction. com). Michael Jackson, one of the most famous men to walk the plant in the 20th century, is a huge example for addiction to plastic surgery. Michael Jackson had an addiction to getting cosmetic surgery and had his nose worked on numerous times until there was barely anything left and had to get something new completely designed (People.Inside story: Michael Jackson’s Plastic Surgery).
Taking a chance with cosmetic surgery can lead to a number of different disasters. Why would you want to take the risk if it is not necessary to? Love yourself the way you are, and embrace the person you are. You do not need to live up to that idea of physical perfection. You do not need to be that model in the magazine or the actress on the television. Cosmetic surgery is a major risk if it is not medically necessary. Love your life enough to want to protect it.