Cosmetic Surgery
Nobody knows about cosmetic surgery better
than Edward Mondeck and his two
children, ages 9 and 11. Rosemarie Mondeck,
39, decided to have a bit of tummy
fat removed after having two kids. She let
the doctors use a new procedure
called tumescent liposuction. The patients
are primed prior to surgery by
injecting large amounts of diluted local
anesthetic and epinephrine, drugs that
shrink capillaries. They reduce
bleeding and make it easier to suck fat out
according to doctors. After the
drugs were injected, Rosemarie went into cardiac
arrest and died. "All she
had was a fatty area above her bellybutton,"
states Edward. Look at what can
happen. This goes to show you that cosmetic
surgery is not only dangerous,
but can also result in death. Cosmetic surgery is
defined as a surgery that
improves one’s self-image by correcting a certain
area of the body that the
patient finds unsightly. Its biggest benefit is
psychological. It is used to
minimize age-related features in baby boomers such
as wrinkles and sagging
skin. "A big part of self-esteem is feeling that you
look good. We can cure
an insecurity in 30 minutes that a psychiatrist can’t
cure in 30 years," H.
George Brennen, M.D., Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery, states in the
magazine article from Young and Modern. Many people want
to get cosmetic
surgery because they feel that they don’t look good. "A
certain level of
attractiveness can open doors. It can make a difference in a
teen’s social
life and later on, in a career," (Bloch 60). It can help you
to look better
and pursue a career in modeling or a field related to looks.
Shouldn’t
people accept themselves for who they are? As Andrea Cooper states
in the
article "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Make Me the Prettiest of Them
All",
"All the cosmetic surgery in the world won’t help if you don’t
feel good on
the inside." It won’t change you if you already don’t feel
good about
yourself. You will just make it worse by trying to change yourself so
you’ll
feel more attractive. People age. Especially today when they are active
and
in the work force. They feel good on the inside, but when they look at
their
image, they look at a face or body that they dislike. "I don’t see a
problem
at all with matching what you see with how you feel," (Davis 77). If
you were
hoping cosmetic surgery would add excitement and spice to your life,
or rekindle
an old flame, you might be disappointed. It will only change
physical aspects.
Your mental aspects may still be disappointing. You’re
still yourself, you are
just learning to cope better with your body now that
you like it. You can learn
to be more confident and self-assured. "During the
periods in between the
wars, Americans participated in a new, visual culture,
where appearance seemed
to rank even higher in importance. The postwar era
also saw an increase in
surgery to minimize or eradicate physical signs of
race or ethnicity,"
(Shepard 2006). Americans began to see people of
different origins, and they
liked their look better. Other people didn’t like
their appearances an example
being blacks. Whites thought they were better
than blacks and used them as
slaves just because of their skin color. Things
like that make you want to
change your looks so that other people wouldn’t
make fun of you or ridicule
you about your looks. Research shows that today
looks play a major role in our
society. Women and men look at magazines and
see the pictures of the skinny
models. Then they think that they’re ugly and
fat because they might not be
that skinny or have those perfectly
proportioned face. Remember the saying
it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
You should go by that because the
pictures of the people you think are
"perfect" probably have many more
problems than you. Live to like yourself
and don’t go by what others think of
you. Some types of cosmetic surgery are
rhinoplasty, the reduction of a nose,
otoplasty, to correct protruding ears,
blepharoplasty, which is to remove
drooping skin around eyes, and
rhytidectomy, face-lift. People tend to want
blepharoplasty as they get
older. It has many complications that could arouse
including bleeding,
swelling, delayed wound healing, infection, drooping of
upper or lower lid,
asymmetry, double vision, and dry eye syndrome. During
recovery, the first
24- 48 hours you have substantial swelling and blurry
vision. The stitches
aren’t removed until four to five days later. Breast
enlargements are a
common sought surgery. Women want bigger breasts so that men
will like them
better or just to look bigger. Complications that could occur are
delaying
wound with diabetes, history of radiation, autoimmune disease,
smokers,
capsular contracture, bleeding, infiction, and irregularity of skin.
After
having surgery there is swelling, and there may be some asymmetry. The
first
week you can’t lift anything or exercise. The outer shell of the
silicon is
filled with saline. If the saline get a hole, the leak can result
in a flat
implant and necessitating surgical replacement. "Risk of serious
complications
for most cosmetic procedures is as high as 2%, with some
procedures being more
problematic," (Podolsky 74). Listen to all of these
complications that could
occur and recovery methods. Are you willing to go
through this? What if this
happens to you while you are getting surgery? Are
you willing to risk your
perfectly normal body for one that could be even
worse after surgery? Think
about all of these. This was only two of the types
of surgery. Think about how
long it would be to list the rest of them. When
you go in to talk to the doctor
about your surgery, they will most likely
either take a picture or they have a
computer-imaging machine to show you
what the change will look like. For a
picture, if only the lighting, angle,
and film are changed, you can look like a
totally different person with great
results when no surgery has been done. In
the computer imaging, it’s
technically impossible for your surgeon to
replicate those results. You will
go into surgery thinking you know what
you’ll look like when you’re done, but
when you get done, you will look
totally different. Sometimes people are
going through life changes and they
think that it will solve their problem,
so they go ahead with it. In the end,
people are more depressed after the
surgery because they don’t like the way
they look. Doctors should advise
patients to look at the whole picture and
suggest procedures that are in
keeping with your overall appearance. Today a
more natural appearance is
popular. Liposuction has become the nations favorite
cosmetic procedure. It
is not appropriate to get liposuction done for general
obesity. You have to
have always consistently eaten well and worked out. You
have to try to rid
yourself of the problem area first. If it doesn’t go away
after trying, then
you might consider it. "Slick marketing campaigns make it
easy to think of
cosmetic surgery as just another off-the-shelf consumer
product, its purchase
about on par with buying a new computer system. But
surgery is surgery. There
is pain. Recovery can be lengthy and uncomfortable.
Moreover, there can
be complications of anesthesia, infection, bleeding, and
unfavorable scar,"
says Ross Rudolph, head of plastic surgery at the Scripps
Clinic in La
Jolla, California. Surgery isn’t guaranteed. What if you aren’t
satisfied? A
lot of surgeons charge for a re-operation. They explain it as
cosmetic
surgery not being a luxury. After surgery, if you’ve had an incision,
you’ll
get a scar. Do you want a scar after you’ve tried to make yourself
look
better? It might make you look worse. You won’t be able to exercise. You
will
always have to wear sunblock on that part of the body you’ve had
surgery.
You can’t expose your skin to hot, cold, or windy conditions.
Pretty much,
you’ll have to stay inside when you want to go out and show off
your surgery.
The commercial goal is to make you want the most extensive
surgery at the
highest cost you can afford. Since insurance doesn’t cover it
doctors can
charge whatever they like. Many doctors are doing cosmetic
surgery with minimal
training. Urologists are doing hair transplants. Gene
Barry, a gynecologist,
does more liposuctions the C-sections. They do it for
that extra money since you
are paying for it out of your pocket. Do you want
a doctor who has no training
doing surgery on you? It is scary to even think
about that. The cost is anywhere
from $200 to $12,000 for one procedure. The
cheapest being vein removal at $200
to $500, and the most expensive being a
face-lift at $5,600 to $12,100.
"People having vanity procedures topped
1.6 million in the United States in
1994," (Podolsky 72). If you have
more than one thing done, then of course it
will cost more than that. Even
after spending all that money to correct you
imperfection, most of the areas
are likely to go back to the way they were after
a few years. You will grow
back wrinkles. It’s a sign of aging. Only a few
procedures stay forever. A
tummy tuck, for example, will stay forever, but the
fat will grow in around
where you got surgery leaving a lumpy look. All surgery
is hazardous. The
doctor should help you decide what not to have to minimize
your risk.
Cosmetic surgery is all about fantasy and possibilities, not scars
and death.
That’s what explains the growing population. "In the process,
something other
than flesh is being altered," (Siebert 20). Deaths are rare,
but no one knows
how rare since risk data isn’t compiled into a central
clearinghouse. "US
News asked Physician Insurers Association of America, which
has data on
malpractice claims, to check its database of over 150,000 cases
involving
cosmetic procedures. There were 2,600 claims from Jan. ‘85- Dec.
’95. Thirty
of those cases involved deaths," (Podolsky 74). That is a high
death rate. Do
you want to be one of those statistics? This shows you that
cosmetic surgery
is not only dangerous, but can also result in death. After
reading this, you
should reconsider the thought about having cosmetic surgery.
It shows you
just how high the risks are and that it is about fantasies. God
gave you the
look you have and you should be satisfied with them. Remember that
it’s not
what is on the outside, it’s what is on the inside that
counts.
Bibliography
Cooper, Andrea. "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall,
Make Me the Prettiest of Them
All." Young and Modern. May 1999: 60-64.
Cosmetic Surgery. Internet. http://www.cosmetic.org/.
28 March, l999:
6:30 p.m. Davis, Rod. "Blueprints for Beaty." Weight
Watchers. September
l998: 74-77. Morgan, Elizabeth. The Complete Book of
Cosmetic Surgery.
New York, NY: Warner Books, c l988. 617.95. Plastic Surgery.
Grolier
Electronic Publishing, Inc. l994 copyright. Podolsky, D.H. "Read
this
First." US News & World Report. 14 October l996: 79. Podolsky,
D.H. "The
Price of Vanity." US News & World Report. 14 October l996:
72-78. Sheperd,
Janet E., MD. "Cosmetic Surgery." Journal of American
Medical Association.
24 June l998: 2006. Shiffman, Dr. Felix. Cosmetic
Surgery. Internet. http://www.drshiffman.com/BIO.html.
4 April, l999:
5:07 p.m. Shiffman, Dr. Felix. Cosmetic Surgery.
Internet.
http://www.drshiffman.com/FACIAL.html. 4 April l999: 5:11 p.m.
Siebert, C.
"The Cuts That Go Deeper." The New York Times Magazine. 7
July l996: 20-25,
34.