In current times and society it seems to be that everyone must look perfect, like the models on the front covers ofmagazines. You have to be a size zero, eat one organic salad a week, and drive a hybrid car, or you’re just not cutting it by today’s standards. Because of this, an increasing number of people are resorting to cosmetic surgery to help them fit into this stereotype that has been imposed upon us, but the question remains…
Is cosmetic surgery worth the risks that are associated with it?
Recently, a teenage girl in Florida died due to complications during her breast augmentation. She didn’t get sick, she didn’t lose a breast, she didnt end up being disabled for the rest of her life… she died. The surgeon explained that they believe she suffered from a very rare reaction to the anaethesia causing the body to overheat, by the time they were able to get her to a hospital for treatment it was too late. Of course these situations are very rare, but the fact remains that it has to happen to someone… and do you really value large breasts over life itself? To me at least, it isn’t a hard choice to make – being alive and well with the body that god gave me is far more appealing than being dead with some silicone in me.
If its so dangerous, then why do so many people do it?
A good question, one that I unfortunately do not have the answer to. The number of people who elect to have cosmetic surgery each year has more than tripled over the last decade (with breast enlargement being the most popular surgery followed closely by liposuction) and although practices and technology are always improving, elective surgery is still not risk-free. Surgery is often made out to be as simple as going to get your ears pierced, you just pop in, have it done, go home, they’ll be tender for a couple of days, and then you’re all fine. Its not like that! the worst that can happen after an ear piercing is that you get an infected earlobe and have to take it out. A complication during a breast augmentation could mean losing your breast altogether, or creating an infection that could spread through the rest of you body.
So what should I do?
Wear a pushup bra, and enjoy life. Be content with who you are and have confidence in yourself. All easier said than done, but you do not need surgery to make you a stronger person.
I don’t mind the idea of plastic surgery, but the media usually doesn’t mention all of the risks to give people a correct view of the potential risks. Like everything in life, there is always risk — they key is to realize those risks and manage them to the best that we can.
I don’t think it’s a fair argument to say that “elective surgery is still not risk-free”. Nothing is risk-free. Individuals die all the time in car “accidents” yet we still drive all the time. And as you said, even ear piercing isn’t risk free, yet thousands upon thousands of people are getting pierced every day. The degree of “risk-free-ness” of an activity isn’t a good reason not to do it.
I also don’t think that elective surgery is more based on stereotyping than anything else we live with. All the things we do are simply varying degrees on an “elective actions” scale and plastic surgery certainly falls on this scale somewhere understandably higher than say ear piercing. It can probably be argued that even elective surgery isn’t at the top of the scale and there are hundreds of other activities which occupy this spot. At this point, elective actions are just that, elective; and by definition therefore, completely subjective. With this, I don’t think it’s fair to tell people to wear push-up bras and be happy and NOT tell them to wear clip on earrings and don’t get pierced.