Cosmetic Surgery Anyone Can See Essay

In many cases, looking to plastic surgery to solve problems with body issues can actually lead to what is known as Self-Injurious Behaviors, or SIB, (White Kress 2003:490). People have gone overboard with excessive surgeries which are never enough.

This has impacted the medical environment drastically. These changes are even as simple as methods of payment, "Changes in health-care practices are the main reason behind growing credit card use for medical payments," (Lunt 1996:60). Medical practices have also grown much closer to home; "Plastic surgery is generally used to heighten or enhance gender differences and can take place under casual circumstances such as 'Botox house parties' where doctors make house calls to administer injections to groups of friends," (Hauser 2007:31). The popularity of various procedures has created a greater demand with more intimacy.

Additionally, doctors' roles have changed inside the operating room as well. Doctors have to change the nature of their recommendations for commencing surgery, "an operation can only be recommended to the patient if, based upon his/her experience, the operating surgeon can predict that a more or less significant improvement will at least be reached after the operation," (Panfilov & Larkin 2005:189). Along with providing recommendations without crossing the line, there are situations where medical doctors must take into account the psychiatric health of the patient.According to research, "It will become clear after what has been said that plastic surgeons should also equip themselves with psychological and psychiatric knowledge to be able to provide optimal assistance for their patients," (Panfilov & Larkin 2005:189). Thus, doctors also have to become psychiatrists.

Some changes are definitely needed. The media needs to take a step back and not portray plastic surgery as such a vain necessity, as well as incorporating more realistic images of women in fashion, print, and movies. It is clear that many will not be able to truly resist temptation, and so it should be the media's job to limit those temptations as a way to truly care for the society the serve.

References

Hauser, Reine. (2007). Body of work. Afterimage. 34(5):29-33.

Lunt, Penny. (1996). Doctors grow fonder of plastic. ABA Banking Journal. 88(1):59-63.

Panfilov, Dimitrije & Larkin, Grahame. (2005). Cosmetic Surgery Today. Thieme Publishing.

Shilling, Chris. (2003). The Body and Social Theory. 2nd ed. Sage Publications.

Stenson, Jacqueline. (2004). Cosmetic surgery comes out of the closet. MSNBC. Retrieved November 30, 2009 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3972620

White Kress, Victoria….....