Plastic Surgery

Introduction

Today the fast development of the new technologies makes a great influence on the human society. The things, that few years ago seemed to be the inventions from the fiction books, now are invented in reality. Plastic surgery is one of such inventions.

Over the past 10 years, collagen injections and laser interventions have become so commonplace that, probably, will soon start to schedule celebrity anti-aging procedures. In 2006, American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) found that 63 % of women in this world approve the surgery, although only 34 % are willing to lie on the operating table. Today plastic surgery is mostly common among those who want to fix something in their appearance. According to the recent statistic, 83% of those who have used plastic surgery of the face were the people without any defects, but those, who wanted to change their natural features (Santoni-Rugiu, Paolo, 2007). That is why the main question appears: “Is plastic surgery a great invention, or disaster for the world?”

History of Plastic Surgery

The history of plastic surgery can be traced back from the ancient Egypt. The local doctors practiced operations for the correction of so-called “cleft lip” and amputated noses. The same operations were performed in India nearly 600 years BC (Haiken, Elizabeth, 1997). In order to make the captivated enemies more noticeable in the crowd, they were cut off their noses during the period of wars. That is why; plastic operations, that allow to restore the nose, were very actual at that moment. However, the progenitor of plastic surgery is considered to be an Italian doctor Gaspare Talyakotstsi. In 1597 he published a treatise on the restoration of damaged noses. Nevertheless, plastic surgery had the success; it was announced illegal in the end of 16^th century. Up until the 19th century, the development of plastic surgery has been stopped. In the late 19th century hundreds of articles, that describe a variety of methods of plastic surgery, had already been published. A huge leap was made during and after the World War II. At that time specialized centers of plastic surgery were opened (Gilman, Sander, 2005).

However, the flowering of plastics surgery came to the 60-80^th of the last century. This time is known for its development of the new methods and techniques of plastic surgery (Haiken, 1997).

Current Situation in Korea

Plastic surgery and dermatology are experiencing a real boom in Korea today due to the running Korean TV shows, dramas and songs. Women from neighboring Asian countries, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan rush to Meondong and Kangnam, known in Korea as “areas of beauty”, inspired by the beautiful actors and actresses, whom they see in the production of Korean art and show business (Canning, Andrea, 2009). The statistics on plastic surgery in Korea for the 2009year is the following:

-         76% of Korean women in their 20-30 years had cosmetic surgery. Most of them had an operation on the upper eyelid (Chambers, Ray, 2009);

-         25% of Korean mothers, having the daughters of the age of 12-16, offered their daughters to undergo the plastic surgery (Chambers, Ray, 2009);

-         27% of graduates of Korean colleges willing to work, 19% of men and 34.1% of women believe that their earnings are low because of their dissapointing appearance; 28.5% of job seekers have been subjected to plastic surgery or are planning to undergo the plastic surgery to be in demand in the labor market (Chambers, Ray, 2009);

-         90% of Korean women aged 20 to 30 years said that they were going to have plastic surgery to feel themselves more confident (Chambers, Ray, 2009).

The amount of plastic clinics in Korea is growing exponentially, for example, between 2002 and 2007 the number had twice increased, as the result, the number of specialists in these hospitals was only 1400 doctors in Seoul. Doctors in Korea achieve the perfect level of surgery, and its plastic is regarded to be one of the best in the world (Santoni-Rugiu, Paolo, 2007).

Reasons for Plastic Surgery

There are lots of reasons for popularity of plastic surgery.

Firstly, the most logical reason for plastic surgery is its usage in operations to correct the obvious birth defects, the deformations that are the result of trauma, the traces of burns and surgeries. Such defects can limit the psychosocial human’s adaptation, generate a complex of inferiority and lead to psychogenic attitude to life. In these cases, plastic surgery is the best solution (Gilman, Sander, 2005).

Secondly, over the past 10 years, the growing popularity of plastic surgery is provided by the scientific breakthrough in most areas of plastic surgery. Today’s technologies are developing every day. The customers are introduced with the effectiveness and safety of the modern technologies. The new methods allow to assure the customer in safety of the operation. In addition, new techniques provide a faster restoration after the operations (Santoni-Rugiu, Paolo, 2007).

Thirdly, every day people watch the TV set, where the perfect faces are shown. Nevertheless the image on the screen is under the layer of the make-up and the computer editing, people just see the beautiful faces. The nature of human is the constant will to have a good look. However, with age the shape of the face and its color are changing. That is why; lifting is so popular today. It is the only way to return wasted beauty (Cronin, 2003).

At last, the problem of obesity is extremely burning in today’s society. In order to fight with it, people should be in the constant process of the trainings and diets. Plastic surgery offers the better way to lose one or two of the size. Liposuction is the other well-known and easy method.

Advantages

The main plus of plastic surgery is elimination of the defects. Plastic surgery helps many people to live on after accidents and fires. Surgeons remove the scars, the various defects which interfere with the person. With the help of plastic surgery, the person can return to normal life. Many people are forced to make plastic surgery because of the circumstances (Cronin, 1978).

Sparing techniques is another plus. New techniques help plastic surgeons to avoid the complications after surgery. For example, after the correction of wrinkles – there is no feeling of tightness of the skin, which is a very important argument. A big advantage of plastic surgery is the preservation of the natural facial expression. Many operations now are using lasers and ultrasounds instead of scalps.

Beauty and youth are the most significant advantages of plastic surgery. People always seek beauty, they want to look younger. In today’s world, the aging process can be delayed, but only temporarily. With the help of plastic surgery, women can look more attractive and confident in their late years.

Disadvantages

Complications after plastic surgery are a minus. Before you decide to have the cosmetic surgery or not, you need consider all the risks carefully. After the correction of wrinkles, hematoma may appear, and there is a possibility of sensitivity loss of skin. This cosmetic procedure, like liposuction – often leads to fat embolism. Silicone can cause breast cancer. Rhinoplasty can lead to deformity and swelling nose (Cronin, 1978).

Another shortcoming of plastic surgery is stress. Many people after operations fall into severe depression. Aging affects all organs. By doing plastic surgery, a person renews himself not outwardly, but inwardly. He cannot stop the aging process. In addition, scars that have appeared can strike the mind.

Everyone who decides to undergo plastic surgery has a risk to be dissatisfied with the result. The eyes can be not the same as you were dreaming about, or your nose can be too small. The thing is that these changes will stay on your face forever, and this is the main disadvantage. What is more; it can be hard to get used to your new image not only for you, but for your acquaintance.

At last, some people become addicted to plastic surgeries. There are examples when the face becomes not natural and looks strange. For example, active usage of Botox can be the reason that your face will not be able to express emotions. Some women are the victims of their own efforts. Their skin may have no texture; because it was purified and subjected to laser processing so many times that it is hard to move. They want to make their nose which has already been reduced four times, bigger. Most patients do not notice that they look artificial (Cronin, 1978).

Emotional Differences

In a review of the popular women’s magazines, it was found that women tend to depict cosmetic surgery as a way of improving not only appearance, but also their emotional state.

Almost half of the 35 articles published in the Canadian women’s magazines contain information on the preoperative and postoperative state of emotional health of the patients of cosmetic surgeons. Twenty-nine percent of the articles mentioned the impact of the results of women’s plastic surgery to men (Fraser, Suzanne, 2003). Male pay more attention to breast augmentation, implants, buttocks, vaginal rejuvenation and restoration are commonly used for determining the standards of female attractiveness and justify the need of cosmetic surgery (Lock, Stephen, 2001).

Conclusions

In fact, despite the constant disputes, the question: “Is it the plastic surgery great invention, or disaster for the world?” is still opened.

Even before humanity came into being, there was the main rule: everything in nature should be harmonious. And this can be applied to everything. Therefore, if not to get involved in the procedures relating to plastic surgery, you can avoid all its negative aspects easily. In general, it is related to the high risk of postoperative complications or allergic reactions, a high probability of “artificiality” and the result of his overt aesthetic unattractiveness. Conversely, a complete rejection of such procedures is not an optimal solution. After all, there are the positive aspects of plastic surgery. This, of course, the three main properties: first, improving health – especially your psychological state. Second, it is the elimination of minor defects – wrinkles, bumps, traces of surgery, etc. And, of course, the third it is the result to which you are seeking and which makes you better.

To conclude, plastic surgery is definitely the innovation. It has lots of advantages and disadvantages and is evaluated differently by people. However, the demand for it will be always, from this the solution can be made that it is really the great innovation.