Cosmetic Surgery.doc

Zhang5Candy ZhangJunior Composition and ConversationPatrice YangCosmetic Surgery Nowadays, cosmetic surgery has become more popular for modern people. “Cosmetic surgery” is surgery that is unnecessary from a medical perspective, but is carried out to reshape normal structure of the body in order to improve appearance and self-esteem. Things like skin grafts on burn victims or the correcting of an abnormal feature on the human body which can help people feel more normal are called “plastic surgery”. This essay considers only cosmetic surgery and does not address plastic surgery for medical reasons. With the development of fashion trend, people started to use cosmetic surgery, not to look merely normal, but to look perfect. They even wanted their faces and bodies to look like the airbrushed girls/boys in the magazines. Today, television shows and newspaper supplements are devoted to cosmetic surgery and makeover programmes advocate it. More and more parts of the body can be “improved”. Once the possibilities for surgery were relatively restricted, but now almost anything can be the subject of cosmetic surgery. To name but a few, according to Medicard Finance, a company that collects data on cosmetic procedures, common operations include blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery), rhinoplasty (nose reshaping), otoplasty (ear surgery), rhytidectomy (face lift), lipectomy/liposuction (removal fat from the body), chin and check augmentation, and finally and most commonly, surgery for the breasts: both mammaplasty (breast enlargement/reduction) and mastoplexy (breast lift). A study report from China Daily points out that cosmetic surgery has grown by 15 percent a year since the fad really took off in China about five years ago. Moreover, according to the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, more than 219,000 cosmetic procedures were done on patients aged 18 and even younger in 2008. I cant help wondering why so many people seek cosmetic surgery ignoring the risks which can cause serious diseases and side effects. Should we change our appearance to whatever we want by getting cosmetic surgery?Some people claim that people have freedom of expression. According to the Human Right Act, we have the freedom to express ourselves. If we feel that our body does not reflect who we are, then we have the right to change it. That is a legal argument which can be made for cosmetic surgery. However, it is actually very laughable to think that having larger breasts or lips can be classified as the use of “freedom of expression”. How low has our society become if we think a valuable use of our right of free expression is to have cosmetic surgery? The advocates also announce that we can spend our money how we like. Why shouldnt people be allowed to make personal choices to change their appearance with their own cash? Wealthy people need to spend their money somehow. The reality is the poorer people now are considering cosmetic surgery as a viable option for them. These people will try their best to save money, sacrificing their ordinary day lives in order to look like celebrities or become stars one day. If these people spend their money on things that are more important than their appearance, they would live better. Besides, spending money on cosmetic surgery shows us how spoilt we are. What we want we can get, even if we pay thousands and go under the knife for it. When we feel that there is something that we cannot achieve, it humbles us by warning us that we are merely mortal. However, cosmetic surgery changes this perception. We feel we can achieve all we want in life, and that only feeds our vanity as well as our spoilt natures. Market profits can be a reason to support the trend. Cosmetic surgery has greatly aided reconstructive surgery which went into decline. To shut down cosmetic surgery would cut off a valuable outlet for research and discovery. Through the clinical experience of cosmetic surgery, techniques and devices can be improved rapidly in some certain medical field. Nevertheless, those benefits shouldnt be the medicines aim. Doctor should heal, not waste their talent on appearance. Surgeons should do medical operations that are needed, not the cosmetic procedures that are desired. In addition, people can get cosmetic surgery in one of two places: a hospital or a private clinic. Hospitals are required by law to follow certain standards, but it is really hard to control the private clinics which lack legal safeguards, medical accountability and qualified doctors. The boom in cosmetic surgery just has resulted in the prosperous situation of those private clinics.Moreover, there are dangers involved in any kind of cosmetic surgery. Experts warn that the physical pain is quiet severe. Also, years after having surgery, patients will have to face the later side effects which will even disfigure them. If the patient has a history of cardiovascular disease, lung disease or obesity, he/she will face a higher risk than healthier people of developing complications such as pneumonia, stroke, heart attack and blood clots in the legs or lungs. When people undergo procedures like liposuction, they may be at risk for severe skin infections, which could lead to significant scarring and punctures to internal organs. In some cases, death is also a risk because of shifts in the bodys fluid levels as fluids are being injected and sucked out. The fluid shifts can cause kidney and heart problems. It is not rare to hear that some young South Korean stars suffer the side effects of cosmetic surgery and should be hospitalized for a period of time.There is another statement that cosmetic surgery can alleviate mental illness because some people are so consumed with their appearance that they let it affect their mental well being. Indeed, it is a curiosity of modern life that we find ourselves being dominated by other peoples comments. Actually, girls who undergo cosmetic surgery are more likely to have sustained injury from cutting themselves. That is the conclusion in a new study by Norwegian Social Research, which looked at young womens mental health before and after plastic surgery. The study reveals that plastic surgery does little to heal mental health problems. Whats more, some of the symptoms of poor mental health are on average even worse after operation. The Associate Professor Lundin Kvalem says “Those who get cosmetic surgery have more problems than others. After the surgeries, their symptoms of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and excessive alcohol consumption have increased. They are also even more prone to suicide.” Getting cosmetic surgery to improve ones appearance might seem like a quick and efficient remedy, but when their lives fail to improve, their mental health problems might worsen, perhaps because of the disappointment. Although its a quick fix of body parts people are dissatisfied with, the effects arent as far-reaching as some they seem to expect. Therefore, cosmetic surgery can not solve the mental health problem radically. We should promote the idea that appearance is not as important as character and character can show on the face. Looks are deceptive; it is our personality that takes our places. Superficial beauty does not last