Cosmetic Surgery Research Paper free essay sample

Stars today portray a picture perfect image of how everyone should look, but is it really worth it? To some, yes it is, but when you weigh the pros and cons it really is not worth it. What really is beauty, and why are people so obsessed with it? These days there is a cosmetic procedure to fix any kind of issue that someone thinks they need to have, anything ranging from getting cosmetic dentistry work to getting liposuction. Today, people are under the impression that they have to do whatever it takes to be â€Å"perfect† even if that means going through extensive cosmetic surgery. People should embrace who they are for what God made them to be. A celebrity is who everyone admires and what everyone dreams of becoming, but is it really that glamorous? â€Å"Part of why beauty is so important to humans is that one depth perception allows us to see and recognize that other humans are watching us† (Kuczynski, 2006, p. 104). For most of today’s leading Hollywood stars they have received some sort of cosmetic procedure to enhance their already beautiful looks. On the show the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, which broadcasts on Oxygen, Janice underwent a tummy tuck on national television. On the television show The Housewives of the Real Orange Country, it showed the ladies having a party at a doctor’s office and they all received a Botox treatment. An episode of MTV’s True Life did an episode on â€Å"I Want a Famous Face†, â€Å"in which teenagers and people in their twenties described to a surgeon who they wanted to look like† (Kuczynski, 2006, p. 11). â€Å" A twenty-three-year-old transsexual named Jessica wanted to look like Jennifer Lopez, so she got breast implants, cheek implants, and an eyebrow lift and had her hairline lowered† (Kuczynski, 2006, p. 111). Other people who were featured on this episode was a pair of twenty-year- old twins who wanted to look like Brad Pitt, and a woman who wanted breast implants inspired by watching the movie Erin Brockovich. (Kuczynski, 2006, p. 111). The funny thing about that is Julia Roberts who played Erin Brockovich, had a push up bra made for her (Kuczynski, 2006, p. 11). Consequently, the implants that the woman received actually had to be removed due to serious medical complications (Kuczynski, 2006, p. 111). In addition to those shows, Dr. 90210 is a show based directly on plastic surgery. It shows people the great side of cosmetic surgery, and how it changes people’s lives. It seems today that television and the media portray cosmetic procedures as no big deal. It is just like going out to lunch or going to the store. What about the message it is sending out to all the young women out there? Apparently, it is saying that it is not ok to be anything above a size two, and well if you cannot achieve that by over excessive exercise then you just have to alter your looks! Now cosmetic surgery is not the new alcoholic addiction, but it is starting to pose a problem for a lot of people. Some people just feel like they need these procedures done to make them feel pretty or accepted. Take Cindy Jackson for example, or should I say the human Barbie. Cindy in her words was just a â€Å"plain Jane† from Ohio. She wanted to look younger. Her doctor told her â€Å"1) You cant make a plain person attractive, 2) You cant change bone structure, 3) You cant take more than 10 years off a face†(Jackson, 2007, My Surgery. para. 9). Well she succeeded in breaking all of the rules of cosmetic surgery for her time. Cindy had â€Å"eye lifts, nose jobs, cheek implants, lip enhancement, cosmetic dentistry, chin reduction, jaw reshaping, face lifts, breast implants, fat transfers, liposuction, and many more†( Jackson, 2007, My Surgery. para. 3). She really does not even look like she is â€Å"plastic† like most people do when they have work done on them. She just looks like a twenty year old. Which in her mind is satisfying. Along with Cindy there is another face we have all come to know, she is Jocelyn Wildenstein or should I say the human cat. Jocelyn has gone from female to feline, and has spent millions of dollars on plastic surgery to transform her face into that of a cat! It sounds pretty absurd, but she has accomplished it. As scary as she looks Jocelyn looks like a cat on two legs (TMZ Staff, 2008, Cat Chow para. 2). Women are not the only addicts though, take Armand Lepore. Well, he was born a male and his first cosmetic surgery was a sex change (The Insider, 2006, Inside the Most Extreme Plastic Surgery Ever! para. 3). Now one of the nations most famous transgender, Amanda Lepore has undergone a ton of plastic surgeries to make him look like a girl. Well, he has succeeded and now has been doing modeling for top designers. The most shocking surgery that Amanda had was that the doctors had to break her rib to make her waist look smaller (The Insider, 2006, Inside the Most Extreme Plastic Surgery Ever! para. 6). If that does not scream addict in itself I do not know what does. It is just amazing the measures people are willing to go to be â€Å"beautiful†. Risking your health just to save some money is it really worth it? Well some women feel that going overseas to seek plastic surgery is worth it. After maybe being denied by a good doctor in the states or just not having enough money for their dream look, more and more people are going outside of the U. S to get plastic surgery. Some women swear by it and think its no big deal, but it really could be a big deal if they do not do their research. Some doctors overseas do not even have a license and are just posing as doctors to make a living. You could have a higher chance of getting some sort of disease overseas because doctors do not get checked out enough and can do whatever they want. If you weigh the costs of food, plane tickets, and the actual surgery, the patients might be surprised that they could get a legitimate surgery in the states for the same price that in total they would spend overseas (McFadden, 2008, Are Overseas Plastic Surgeries Safe? para. 14). According to WNDU News, a woman who was 350 pounds lost 180 pounds and need a surgery to remove her excess skin (McFadden, 2008, Are Overseas Plastic Surgeries Safe? para. 6). In the United States the surgery would of cost her $75,000, so she decided to go to Costa Rica for a total of $19,000, but to her dismay she ended up spending close to $50,000 to fix all of the mistakes made by the surgeon in Costa Rica (McFadden, 2008, Are Overseas Plastic Surgeries Safe? para. 8). Uncertainty, risk, and complications are always factors when receiving cosmetic surgery. You could have issues ranging from permanent scaring to fatal death. But again and again people pile into their chosen doctors offices to receive such risky and unnecessary procedures. An example of one of the most recent fatal causes of a cosmetic surgery has to be Kanye West’s mother passing away. Donda West’s death was caused by related complications from a tummy tuck and breast reduction procedure (Reid Rodriguez, 2007, Donda West Noted Scholar and Kanye’s Mother, Dies at 58, para 2). You just cannot be sure about what can really happen. Donda West was the mother of a very famous rapper and she was also a respected college professor (Reid Rodriguez, 2007, Donda West Noted Scholar and Kanye’s Mother, Dies at 58, para 1). I am sure she did her research like everyone else, and because of her son I’m sure she had one of the best doctors, but you can never be sure when dealing with cosmetic surgery. Obviously, not all surgeons can be trusted. Some actually go to extreme measures by buying certifications to hang in their luxurious offices. According to Straight Talk About Cosmetic Surgery (2007), they state that â€Å"if plastic surgeons do not do their homework, they will experiment on their patients† (Perry Roizen, 2007, p. 302). By the patients dismay these surgeons will take advantage of them to the fullest. If they buy a new machine and it does not seem to work as they thought it would, they will still lie to their patients until that piece of machinery is paid off (Perry Roizen, 2007, p. 302). Cosmetic surgery is very expensive and to be lied to is just wrong. â€Å"The total expenditures for all procedures in the United States is $12,376,507,077† (Perry Roizen, 2007, p. 22). That is a lot of hard earned money, and just to waste it away for something so risky is crazy. It just shows how shallow our society is. Some of the most popular procedures are breast augmentations, breast lift, abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), liposuction, rhinoplasty (nose job), microdermabrasion, and botox. In the book Straight Talk About Cosmetic Surgery, there is a table consisting of information given by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery about age distribution of cosmetic procedures, and all the following information was recorded in the year 2005. 84,899 people received a breast augmentation between the ages of 19-34, 68,000 people went through a breast lift between the ages of 35-50, between the ages of 35-50 98,887 people received a abdominoplasty, 207,660 people have received liposuction between the ages 35-50,100, 388 people went through a rhinoplasty (nose job) between the ages 19-34, between the ages of 35-50 465,084 people received a microdermabrasion, and a shocking 1,711,797 people between the ages of 35-50 have received botox (Perry Roizen, 2007, p. 27-329). Since botox is the most popular procedure among the public, I was wondering what really is botox? Botox is the U. S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved injections of botulinum toxin type A for the treatment of facial wrinkles (Bernstein, 2003, Botox: Quick Fix, Serious Medicine, para. 1). Surprisingly, â€Å"doctors had been using the drug â€Å"off label† to relieve patients of their wrinkles long before it was officially sanctioned for that purpose† (Bernstein, 2003, Botox: Quick Fix, Serious Medicine, para. 1). Once again my point of doctors practicing without proper instructions of a drug is not right. Without botox being approved by the FDA doctors could have really hurt people by injecting it into them. There could have been serious side effects, but it seems like they care about making money more than peoples well being. For years cosmetic surgery has been popular, but is it still really worth it? It does not matter who you are the risks are still there. Some people think they are invincible and think bad things cannot happen to them, but they are obviously wrong. Even if you are a celebrity it can still happen to you. After knowing all the facts it is hard to think that people still go overseas or still go get risky procedures done even in the United States, to make themselves feel better. People are going to extreme measures to be beautiful, but are people mistaking their insecurities for thinking there not beautiful? There are more and more addicts immerging that have an addiction to some kind of cosmetic procedure, and we need to find a cure. Doctors should not be thinking about making money and should think about these peoples health. Instead of doing work on them these doctors should think about suggesting a psychiatrist for their prospective patients. Patients willing to get this surgery after knowing all the outcomes should be smart and do their research about their doctor, but beware of the risks.