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September 17, 2011

2 Cents on Plastic Surgery

Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian

So, I recently got thinking about plastic surgery. Not about getting any, but about the general social reaction and taboo around it.

We all know that, as women, it is easy to get quite caught up in the practice of staying as ‘fashionable‘ and ‘beautiful‘ as possible. In fact, for a lot of women, this practice amounts to something of a hobby which can be time consuming, prioritized and fun. On a personal level, I think my involvement is pretty inflated as I have created a career for myself that revolves around beauty, fashion and creativity.

But it’s not just those of us ‘in the industry’, is it? Generally, most of you will be involved in keeping tabs on the latest and greatest in fashion, and keeping pace with different styles and trends in both fashion and beauty. If you are one of these women, you probably know what it is like to keep your eye on the runway, fashion magazines, fashion blogs (etc), and you may even follow certain celebrities to see how they are dressing and doing their make-up. Pretty normal, I would say.

After the ‘basic’ interest, we all know that a number of women are also beginning to turn to other methods – besides clothing and makeup – to achieve a type of beauty they desire, and ‘keep up’ with the models, celebrities, Kardashians et al.

Plastic surgery. As you can see on any plastic surgery website (I’ve been looking at aboutplasticsurgery.com), the industry of cosmetic surgery now offers a huge variety of simple and precise procedures that are both effective and difficult to ‘notice’. Of course, for some women, the idea of surgically altering a physical appearance simply isn’t an option, because they just don’t want to go ‘that far’. However, it is important to at least realize that the term “plastic surgery” can apply to slight, delicate procedures just as easily as more drastic ones.

One example of a plastic surgery which might not be what it seems at first mention is liposuction. Because it is often referred to somewhat negatively, and is often joked about, liposuction seems at times to be a drastic method reserved only for extremely overweight people who need to lose a lot of weight. However, you do not have to be dramatically overweight to undergo a liposuction procedure. Many people use these procedures to, for example, get rid of leftover weight following a pregnancy, or shave off a small number of pounds as they grow older and find it harder to lose weight naturally.

There are numerous other procedures that are far from drastic, and which can help women to maintain a youthful and beautiful appearance to the specific ways they might desire; things like minor tummy tucks, to facelifts, and even collagen injections are technically considered “plastic surgery,” but can be used to improve someone’s appearance in small steps.

With the ‘obvious’ being a hold back for many, with improvements in surgical methods and experienced doctors, most of these procedures are also subtle enough that the effects will improve your appearance without making you appear fake or contrived. Sure, there will be those that take it too far, but that also happens with the overuse of make-up, tanning, hair colour, etc.

Most of us alter ourselves in some way every day – even a blow dry is not ‘natural’. While I have nothing I’d like to change about myself (except maybe more manageable hair!), I completely empathise with those who do, and believe that plastic surgery can be done in effective ways that could help someone’s self-esteem as long as they account for the mental effects, as well.

What do you think? Have you/Would you ever undergo plastic surgery?

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