The Effects of Plastic Surgery on Society

[Larynavalyt]

It's just that plastic surgery has reached a new level now, and that's why many young people want to look perfect and therefore resort to it. I don't see anything wrong with this, but when young girls or guys do a million plastic surgeries at 25 and look like dolls, I don't support this either. For example, I recently did a Mommy Makeover NJ because my skin and body began to look terrible after giving birth. But after doing this plastic surgery and starting to play sports, I could return to my former form, as in my youth.

 

[as300]

Yeah In this topic of plastic surgery i am wondering what will happen with those people who take plastic surgery (or more of them). How their bodies will look like in the future (after 30-40years)

 

[Drusilla_]

The weird thing is specific plastic surgery procedures becoming trendy, like all these young women removing their cheek fat to get 'extreme cheekbones' in their 20s - your face loses it naturally anyway as you age, this is a one-way ticket to aging faster. Instagram filters are one thing, expecting what you see in the mirror to match that is another.

 

[tigerrouge]

In recent times, there's been an accelerated shift away from reality.

When a person is seen (and reacted to) by a greater audience on social media than they are during the course of a normal day, then that avatar of yourself takes on greater importance in the mind, it outshadows the ordinary self.

A yearning for congruence can occur, wanting the actual physical self to match the self-made version. Wanting the physical self to catch up with the new self, rather than trail behind like an afterthought. And if you can alter the appearance of your online self with ease, surely it isn't any big deal to do the same to your face and body?

But people forget they're working in the mediums of flesh and bone, in the setting of reality, where actions cannot be undone, only mended, and everything that happens to your physical self will reverberate down through all the years you remain alive.

That said, when you're young, there are so many options on offer, they all seem so exciting, perhaps there is the fear of choosing the wrong path. Then you get old and realise everything has a consequence - both what you do and what you don't do - so there is no right path in life, no perfect set of choices that will see you reach the end without incident.

Do what you want, just have one foot in reality.

 

[MulletProof]

^ I think it's not so much that you forget when you're very young, you just know aging happens... to people/others. There's an element of arrogance involved. Aging honestly did not dawn on me at all until I made it to 30 and dealt with a line that wouldn't go away with ice or past 10 am . It's actually quite interesting to begin to 'accumulate' aging bills and realising that they're not at all unfamiliar to you and you got plenty of warnings since your teenage years, you just ignored it cause they were whiny organs, nothing others could see.

With that delusional mindset that aging is selective, a huge budget and pressure from surroundings and social media and the total lack of confidence to be yourself that you feel as women in your late teens/early 20s (we are, most of the time, exclusively judged for our appearance), I can see how someone would go to town with these procedures. It really is not unlike the people that say they will kill themselves unless they get breast implants and that it is 'vital' for transitioning (it is not). I don't mind so much the way motives are founded but the ethics in the medical field (especially among plastic surgeons) and the way big pharma seems to have a firm grip on it and is clearly benefitting from this.

There seems to be no solid psychological screening AND proper audits to these facilities that easily bring anyone under the knife and it's highly irresponsible because, the one thing that is constantly downplayed, neglected and promoted as if it was manageable is the aging process and that will ultimately determine everything and it really is not that manageable. So whatever you are doing to people now to "help" them, it will only reignite and exacerbate that pain in 15 years time, which no surgery will be able to fully repair, because you're literally dealing with very fine, unforgiving layers of skin.

One example is the amount of lip work.. everyone seems to have that (it just takes scrolling to the bottom of their feed to realise that), and seem to be under the impression that being able to take out the fillers any time is what sets them apart from the old fillers that would make you look scary and grotesque later in life. The skin on the lips is thin and not that keen on elasticity to begin (reason why we all develop lines on them pretty quickly, even in our teens). I was looking at the recent story on Vogue with Kendall Jenner, and I have a feeling that having no fillers is somehow a part of the contract to continue to work with Vogue?, so she doesn't have them in these pictures. She just turned 27 and her lip texture screams tired/older than 27, which means that in order to look 'plump' she probably needs more fillers than she initially did and the dose will have to keep incrementing as the skin continues to shrink and sag. The impact later in life is really not that different from the 'old-school', non-removable fillers since you'll need them anyways, so what happened to Esther Canadas, Gelsey Kirkland.. that's on the cards.

I'm not really against cosmetic procedures and definitely think there's sexism involved in how we judge them (we're happy for men who fix their teeth, nose and get rid of acne scars for example) but the lack of regulation or minimal sense of ethics involved does make you wonder if someone has something prepared for the psychological repercussions and cosmetic reconstruction work it will require years down the line, which will be more severe if you add the key role of social media and the abandonment people will experience through that (some kind of Paulina Porizkova effect..).

 

[fashionista-ta]

I think plastic surgery gives people who are desperate to control something a chance to do so. I mean, there are so many other things people could more fruitfully focus on ... like dealing with their need to control I had a couple of experiences--having a mole removed, having a funky thing burned off my leg--that convinced me that interfering with my body just isn't worth it. The mole was 'suspicious,' so that was medically justified, but somehow it didn't occur to me that when you remove a mole, there's a divot where it used to be (my surgeon explained they do this intentionally as it will fill back in over time ... OK). The thing on my leg was far more painful than they said it would be, and it just came back. So ...

But I have relatives who are into it. One told me that it removes stress from her not to have wrinkles. Another is obsessed with having perfect underarms. Interestingly, I don't like mine either, but I just buy clothes that don't show them. Her, she's had one surgery and planning another.

I've had enough surgery that wasn't a choice to make voluntary surgery unappealing. People forget the overall risk associated with multiple surgeries, and there are definitely examples of people who've had lots of it who seem to have died before their time.

 

[MulletProof]

^ I had a client who would tell me stories about how her mom (who was in her late 70s) used to TAPE her underarms (!!!). That horrified me so much that I thought I'll go through whatever surgery is needed to not have to ever tape my arms nor have a thing that's just hanging there!

That being said, I think we all speak loosely about these things and I'm actually surprised that people.... do them. Like you, I had major surgeries on my back when I was around 18 and my body did not deal well with anesthesia and also.. it's like cutting a croissant, you may be able to make the cut unnoticeable on the surface with the help of cosmetic surgery, and especially if that is the whole point, but your system will send unexpected reminders that you can't glue the layers of a croissant (lol) back together, or dictate your skull the shape it should have. In other words, you can totally manipulate the outside for a while but it's a whole universe internally and the body is soo unpredictable, what we see in front of the mirror is not even the tip of the iceberg.

I do think it would be maybe helpful to give some kind of attention to Jocelyn Wildenstein. Not sure if she discusses this openly but she's like a walking spoiler alert, especially with that same crazy extent of cosmetic work being normalized right now, (e.g. the Simi and Haze twins, I keep bringing them up but that surgeon did either the work of angels or the work of the devil- depending on where you place ethics and talent).

 

[GivenchyAddict]

Interesting thread…

I have always seen plastic surgery as a tool. Neither bad nor good as it depends on who use it and why.

Sometimes Mother Nature is not your friend or some characterises inherited from someone of your family annoy you for various reason and I like that we have made significant progress in that field to help on that.

Using plastic surgery to have the best version of yourself , yes but to be someone entirely different, no (like wanting to look like Angelina Jolie…)

With social media, we definitely have more access to people who had plastic surgery and be more open about it which I think it is great.

It was so taboo that people ending up going to the wrong doctors, doing some crazy illegal things etc. Knowledge is key.

 

[MulletProof]

or some characterises inherited from someone of your family annoy you for various reason

Using plastic surgery to have the best version of yourself , yes but to be someone entirely different, no (like wanting to look like Angelina Jolie…)

I feel like you unintentionally just went into the most taboo part of all.

That last part (yes to the best version, no to looking completely different) is what has made this so tricky because it is subjective and completely switching race/gender/etc IS what has pushed the idea of plastic surgery almost as a right for people to quickly feel good about themselves and not so much as something that improves the physical and mental health in the long run. That best version is never-ending if you look at most cases, you're then moving on to chin shaving, hair implants so you can pull your eyebrows.. and before you know it, you have gone from (going to use the same extreme example I used above) ethnically Palestinian to looking ethnically Irish.

The 'best' version is informed by the media but primarily by society and what we deem as 'status' and that is super complex... we tend to assign a lot of responsibility to fashion but then you have cases like Marta Berzkalna, a quintessential Prada girl with a look that was embraced by the fashion industry and that was not enough when confronted by her own, local surroundings and own pyramid of values.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

^ For me this is one of the main reasons people do plastic surgery : altering what genetics gave them.

But indeed people tend to not know when to stop and in the society we live in, plastic surgeons are business(wo)men before doctors.

When it is about physical appearance, I consider that the best version of yourself is a harmonious one. You can diminish some flaws but not erase them all.

Plastic surgery is linked to beauty so there will never have a final answer or a good one as it is very subjective. I just despise people who do it to look like their idol or any celebrity or do it in excess.

 

[MulletProof]

^ When it's one of these extreme transformations, I can't imagine it was a light decision that came out of being bored and staring at the mirror. I just conclude they hated themselves that much. Self-love is a longer and slower journey so this is not solved automatically and the fact that society DOES reward you if you stop looking like yourself, that's got to open a brand new can of worms mentally... now I'd be thinking okay, none of my new friends, followers or even my partner would give me the time of day if I looked the way I used to or if I ever stop looking the way I do now. I guess visually it's eyeroll-inducing, or like 'go girl!', but there's something sad about the entire method.

 

[Nimsay]

physical flaws that cause psychological distress. aka you're crazy?

this new generation are some of the most materialistic people Ive ever met. Its really something coming from me because I don't even go on a date if it's not a top restaurant I can wear literal head-to-toe designer at. I literally don't drink anything but champagne and I can tell the difference between platinum and white gold without even touching the item. I am still less materialistic and delusional than this new generation.

At my job in Tech I see 20 somethings with bad filler looking 40 something. As depressed as anyone Ive ever seen. This new Generation has reinvented depression. I see girls getting their lips done so they can have casual sex with men who dont want them. I dont know what has happened to society but plastic surgery is not helping.

Plastic surgery is anti-fashion and will always be. Fashion is about accepting yourself and finding who you are through the medium of clothes, makeup, hairstyling. Not accepting yourself means you're probably a fashion victim. Arent the people who are usually fashion victims also victims of plastic surgery?

Plastic surgery, we dont know her!

 

[Drusilla_]

Plastic surgery is anti-fashion and will always be. Fashion is about accepting yourself and finding who you are through the medium of clothes, makeup, hairstyling. Not accepting yourself means you're probably a fashion victim. Arent the people who are usually fashion victims also victims of plastic surgery?

Plastic surgery, we dont know her!

that's the thing, it reeks of insecurity (the same thing that makes a fashion victim, and no, V*gue can't be trusted to know the difference since they are just celeb PR now) and while insecurity can fuel great artistic achievements, getting a new face at someone else's hands isn't one of those.

Yes, society will dish out immediate rewards to those who do it while keeping it subtle/plausibly deniable but ironically, the only people who come out of these 'tweaks' not looking pathetic, are people who are honest about whatever they got done and don't try to lie or minimise it, whether that's Courtney Love openly talking about her budget nose jobs or Cardi B talking about her butt injections.