Plastic Surgery
Plastic surgery is no longer only used to correct the flaws that nature gives you with age. It is no longer limited to iron out wrinkles, lift up sagging, and tuck away that which is a product of a slowing metabolism. Indeed, plastic surgery has become more and more common with younger people, and used as a way to correct what they think are born flaws.
When I first became aware of the silicon epidemic, I must admit, I became a bit swept away. In high school I compiled a list of what I thought I would get done at certain ages: Botox before twenty-five, a boob job after having kids, and a facelift in my late thirties. Since then, I’ve started giving the idea of filling my body with collagen and silicon, and slicing up my flesh a little more thought.
My growing skepticism mostly stems from seeing many products of plastic surgery. Just the other week, I saw a woman whose face seemed frozen and lips looked like they were stung by bees. This was not a pleasant look. Sure, she was free of wrinkles and had ‘youthful’ qualities, but it was almost frightening in a way. It was obvious upon first glance that she had work done and it looked about as natural as a palm tree in the North Pole. On a second occasion, I saw a woman who could not have been in her thirties. Her eyes looked like they hurt to blink, her skin was so tight that it may have cracked if she smiled, and her boobs looked proportionate to Barbie’s. In a way, she looked good but it was also very sad to me that she had already at least three obvious surgeries at such a young age. And in a strange way, her efforts to stay looking young, made her look somewhat older.
I think that the number of women getting these surgeries at a young age is growing. For example, I knew of an eighteen year old who got lip injections and a boob job for her nineteenth birthday. I asked her why she wanted to get so much done before she even really finished developing. Her response was that I didn’t see what she looked like before. She also mentioned that these were the first of many surgeries she wants to get done. This worries me that she will one day look like a cross-breed of Michael Jackson and Pamela Anderson. It also makes me believe that like tattoos, plastic surgery is contagious. You may initially want to fix up one little thing, like having a smaller nose, but before you know it you’re back in for an eyelid lift, a tummy tuck, and cheek bone implants. You may start to notice ‘flaws’ that you never really noticed before just because you’ve run out of the major things you wanted to correct. And this is when I think plastic surgery goes wrong and starts making you look worse than better.
Yes, I still have a fear of premature wrinkles and inheriting my father’s crow’s feet. However, I think will I’d rather deal with a few wrinkles and sagging than look like an Egyptian mummy drag queen. I mean, it’s nice to want to stay youthful and look fresh, but like the picture below shows us, there’s comes a point when you just have to accept the laws of nature.
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1 Comment to Plastic Surgery
YES YES YES! I was worried at first that this blog would be an effort to backup your opinions on the subject from our high school days. It makes me infinitely happy to know that your mind has been switched. True beauty is aging gracefully and being happy just the way you are!
April 14, 2009