In today’s society the picture of beauty is a rail thin super model with the body of a goddess posted on billboards all around the world. Children are brought up playing with Barbie dolls with the body measurements of would be 39, 18, 38. Because of these pictures and other figures of beauties projected all over, today teenagers are convinced to believe that to be beautiful and happy they must look like these images. According to a survey by Bliss Magazine, Four in ten teenage girls have considered plastic surgery and two thirds of the 2,000 girls quizzed, average age 14, said the pressure came from celebrities with perfect bodies and boys.
(BBC news) Society today has brain washed not only today’s teenage girls, but also the boys to believe that in order for a person to look beautiful they must look like the images seen on television, in movies and on the cover of magazines. These images portray grotesquely thin women and muscular men with the infamous six-pack abs. The Hollywood figures that are so famous for their looks and bodies also encourage the belief that thin is beautiful. These images are plastered all over billboards, television shows, commercials and magazine advertisements.
With all these visions of beauty seen everywhere in teens’ every day life, they feel compelled to look just like those images. To most, the easiest way to achieve this is by having cosmetic surgery performed. This, however, can be a dangerous choice. But no matter how good the technological advancements are, there is always the risk of not only the surgery resulting in unwanted outcomes but in some cases, death. There are risks or complications associated with any surgical procedure including bleeding, infection, ugly scarring and anesthesia-related risks. According to Todd M.
Wider, M. D. , a plastic surgeon at St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, “Each plastic surgery procedure carries its own risk”. (Wider) Therefore, I personally think that teens should not undergo cosmetic surgery because of medical complications, high cost and no guarantees of satisfaction. Even though cosmetic plastic surgery offers a world of possibilities for teenagers to be thin and attractive, it is not without risks. “There are risks or complications associated with any surgical procedure including bleeding, infection, ugly scarring and anesthesia-related risks.
” (Wider) Therefore, teenagers who are looking into having a surgical procedure performed should take these risks into account. One of the most popular procedures among teens is breast augmentation either because they want to attract men or just to look better. This procedure, however, is not without risks. Complications that could occur are delaying wound with diabetes, history of radiation, autoimmune disease, smokers, capsular contracture, bleeding, infection, and irregularity of skin. After having surgery there is swelling, and there may be some asymmetry. The first week a patient cannot lift anything or exercise.
Moreover, According to Wider, recent studies have suggested that implants may interfere with mammography, possibly hindering early detection of breast cancer. Another common procedure among adolescents is liposuction. This procedure also has some potential risks according to Todd M. Wider, MD. “Although most patients walk away satisfied, serious complications can occur. The most feared is fat embolism syndrome, when fat gets loosened during the procedure and pieces lodge in the lungs, potentially causing death. Other complications include: numbness, burns, waviness, and accidental organ puncture.
” (Wider) According to USA today, one study found that one out of 50,000 liposuction surgery patients die. (USA today) Another risk that needs to be taken into account is the fact that most teenagers cannot afford the best surgeons due to the high cost, so they turn to ? discount’ price plastic surgeons that claim to offer professional service for a low price. Most of these doctors are not even properly trained to perform such drastic cosmetic surgeries. A doctor can attend a seminar at a hotel and in a few hours, learn how to perform liposuction. This, then, may increase even higher risks for teens that undergo cosmetic surgery.
Apart from medical complications that could occur, the cost of cosmetic surgery is another factor that teens should take into account. Cosmetic surgery can be very expensive especially for adolescences that are still in school and do not have a lot of income. According to BBC, The average price of a “boob job” is around ? 3,000. A nose op or liposuction costs slightly less. (BBC news) And due to the high cost of these surgeries, it is no surprise that some teenagers may go into debt to finance the surgery by taking out a bank loan or other credit. Cosmetic surgery today has become a booming business which makes a lot of money for surgeons.
And no one else is better qualified for potential customers than self-conscious teenagers who wish there were a thing or two that could be changed on their bodies. Once they walk into the rooms, doctors will say everything they can to persuade them to have as many things done as possible in order to get more money out of their pockets. The commercial goal is to make them want the most extensive surgery at the highest cost they can afford. Since insurance does not cover it, doctors can charge whatever they like. Most of these teenagers are easily convinced especially when it comes to appearance since they are still young and immature?looks matter a lot to them.
Therefore, chances are that they will pay whatever it takes for these extensive surgeries. The last factor that teens need to take into account is that with cosmetic surgery, there are no guarantees of satisfaction. There are no guarantees that the results will come out the way they want them to be, no guarantees that their lives will change after the surgeries and no guarantees that they will be satisfied. One of the good examples is a 19-year-old student at Baylor University in Texas, Kacey Long. She wanted implants because she wanted to look like Julia Roberts playing Erin Brockovich in the hit movie.
But after she got it done, she was not satisfied with the result. She felt that her D-cup implants were too big that it made her look like a porn star. Her parents then had to take out a $6,400 loan to pay for removal surgery. (USA today) As for some teens whose self-esteem is so low that they view themselves through a filter of self-rejection (I’m ugly, or I’m fat) and hope that cosmetic surgery will change their lives, they will never be satisfied no matter how good the results are. All the surgery in the world is not going to make a difference, if they don’t change the filter through which they look when they see themselves in the mirror.
It is all about perception. (Dr. Phil) Many Teenagers believe that to be happy in life and be beautiful to all that see them, they must have the beautiful bodies of runway super models or the muscles of Mr. America. With the advertisement of products today and the idolization of actors and actresses also come the repercussions. Not only will today teenagers begin to have a distorted view of what a person should look like, the new generations of tomorrow will also be more likely to have more problems as a result of low self-esteem and poor body image.
The society should not only cut back on the use of teen cosmetic surgery for safety reasons but also because it is destroying the simple beauty of a person being who they are. The society will change its view of people in the years to come. Generations to come will grow up feeling that they are being judged on not who they are as a person, but how they look. If they do not look like the super model they have come to believe as perfect beauty, then they will not believe in themselves, causing psychological problems. Adolescents considering plastic surgery should be informed of all the risks, costs and other factors.
They should not be concerned with trying to live up to society’s standards and by the price of the operations. They should most be concerned with the real price, their lives. “Teens need to be really realistic with the fact that cosmetic surgery may be only one piece of many things that serve to improve aspects of themselves. There may be physical changes but the real change begins with who they are inside. ” (Gordon) References BBC. 40% of teens want plastic surgery. Retrieved February 10, 2006, from http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/health/4147961. stm BBC. Infection risk of breast implants.
Retrieved February 10, 2006, from http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/health/4226577. stm Davis, Robert. Teens’ cosmetic dreams don’t always come true. Retrieved February 11, 2006, from http://www. usatoday. com/news/health/2004-07-28-plastic-surgery_x. htm Gordon, Julian B. Liposuction. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://www. emedicine. com/plastic/topic22. htm Mcgraw, Phil. Should you have cosmetic surgery? Retrieved February 16, 2006, from http://www. drphil. com/articles/article/121 Wider, Jennifer. Plastic Surgery: Is it worth the risk? Retrieved February 12, 2004, from http://www. drdonnica. com/news/00008174. htm.