Nicole's essay

Should people take plastic surgery?

Introduction

Taking plastic surgery is getting increasingly popular nowadays. People could have better physical appearance after the operation. Meanwhile different voices from the society also come after it. There are mainly two different opinions about plastic surgery. Some people believe plastic surgery could bring a happier life to them. On the other hand, the other group of voice stands on the opposite side. They think plastic surgery is an unnecessary thing to do. People risk their health on it. This essay will analyse the different aspects of plastic surgery from different type of people who wants to take it. And then, the opinions from those two groups will be compared to see should people really need to take plastic surgery.

Introduction of Plastic Surgery

“Plastic surgery is a special type of surgery that can involve both a person's appearance and ability to function. Plastic surgeons strive to improve patients' appearance and self-image through both reconstructive and cosmetic procedures. ” (Nemours)

It has wide influence in the nowadays society, especially in rich countries. There is a statistic has been done by International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in 2002 showed a rank of the countries which has the most people who took the plastic surgery. And in the rank top 34 countries, most of them are developed and European countries. (International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2002)

And, the number of people who takes plastic surgery is going up rapidly in recent years. Take American as an example. According to the statistic done by American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, they presented that in 2008 there were over 10.2 million people in American have done the plastic surgery. And the overall number of plastic surgery has been done increased 162% since the first statistic began. (Plastic surgery research.info, 2008)

Moreover, women are the majority willing to take plastic surgery. The research done by American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery found out that there were 9.3 million women have done the operation in 2008 which nearly 92 % of the total number. But only about 800,000 men took the surgery in 2008. (Plastic surgery research.info, 2008)

Why people want to take plastic surgery?

Apparently, the first reason for most of people to take plastic surgery is that it can improve their appearance which could give people more confidence. There were two studies presents at American Society of Plastic Surgeons Plastic Surgery 2006 conference in San Francisco presented that taking plastic surgery could improve people’s mood and quality of live. In addition, one of the studies done by American Plastic surgeon Bruce Freedman and his colleagues presented that Plastic surgery may can help people get off antidepressant medications. (Doheny, 2006) The second reason for people to choose plastic surgery is that having a good looking could help people to get more opportunities in the society, such as people may get more chances for finding a better job. As we know some jobs require good appearance like a fashion model or airline hostess. That may be one of the reason for some people want to take the risk to undergo the procedure.

For the normal people who consider plastic surgery is in order to get better looking. But for some people who have physical defect and they think people treat them differently because of their physical flaw or they are not confidence enough. Then the plastic surgery will turn to quite important and necessary. Plastic surgery could help them re-build the confidence and life.

The positive side of plastic surgery

Plastic surgery does can bring the benefits to the people, but still some people against it with few reasons. The first one is that the plastic procedure is too expensive. Take the UK as an example, in 2006/7 the single man and single woman, their income were £267 and £240 per week respectively. And the income for old couple was £508 per week. (Office for National Statistic) But one single plastic surgery could cost over £2000. (Beautyinprague) Compare the price with the normal UK citizens’ income. It is too expensive for normal people. Especially for some people who has physical defect, but they do not have enough money to pay for it.

Moreover, plastic surgery cannot guarantee to make people look better after it. It contains risks. Actually the risk for plastic surgery is quite high. Different procedures have different failure chance. It also depends on the doctors, if people chose a doctor without certificate with cheaper price and the risk will be even higher. Normally there are some common risks of plastic surgery such as drop in blood pressure, infection, Loose Stitches and Asymmetry. Even the operation is success, but there is still a change that the part has been changed may not suit for patient’s face. People may look worth than before and then they have to spend extra time and money to take another risk.

Conclusion

Nowadays, having good looking is a quite important element in the society. Better looking could affect people’s mood and confidence. Also it could help people have more job opportunities. For these reasons some people rather take the chance to undergo the surgery even they are actually looking good. But for some people who have physical defect, it is necessary to take cosmetic surgery. To sum up, whether to take the cosmetic surgery or not, people need to think about it carefully before take it. How important it is worth to undergo the surgery.

Bibliography

1. Nemours, what is Plastic Surgery? http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/body_image/plastic_surgery.html#a_Is_Plastic_Surgery_the_Right_Choice_ (accessed, 15 March,2010)
2. Plastic Surgery Research info. (2008) Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Research Statistics and Trends for 2001 - 2008 http://www.cosmeticplasticsurgerystatistics.com/statistics.html#2008-HIGHLIGHTS (accessed, 15 March,2010)
3. K Doheny, (2006), Cosmetic Surgery Can Boost Mood,
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/09/health/webmd/main2074388.shtml (accessed, 15 March, 2010)
4. T R Dean, (2009), Is Cosmetic Surgery a Necessity Or Vanity?
http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-Cosmetic-Surgery-a-Necessity-Or-Vanity?&id=2784525 (accessed, 15 March, 2010)
5. Office of National Statistic, (2009), Income & expenditure,
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=2158 (accessed, 15 March, 2010)
6. Beauty in Prague, cosmetic surgery price, http://www.beautyinprague.com/pricing-guide/(accessed, 15 March, 2010)
7. International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, (2002), Plastic surgery procedures (per capita) (most recent) by country,
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_pla_sur_pro_percap-plastic-surgery-procedures-per-capita (accessed, 15 March, 2010)