In my parents day and age, the chief worries in life were job security, having a home of your own, and good education for your children. Fast forward thirty years on and I have a neighbour whose only worry in life is those two extra lines on her face and the secretary at my workplace has just booked herself in to have a nose job in a bid to enhance her self esteem.
According to latest figures, the total UK cosmetic surgery industry was worth an estimated £528.9m, showing a 53% rise in 2006 alone. An average British woman spends anywhere between £5000 to £10000 on cosmetic surgery/non surgical procedures yearly. The cosmetic surgery market is being driven by an astonishing speed of technological advancements, particularly in non-surgical procedures. Combined treatments involving the use of a number of different types of non-surgical treatment — laser, injectables and peels, as well as the use of cosmeceuticals — is an increasing feature of the market. In terms of surgical procedures, facial surgery is now offered with minima
lly invasive techniques, encouraging a trend of `lunch-time lifts' where the woman can often be back at work shortly after a fairly major procedure!While I fully appreciate that cosmetic surgery in certain situations, especially in victims of accidents and disfigurement, is not only desirable but also essential, it’s the ‘worried well’ section of our population that seems to be the predominant user. In other words, there is nothing wrong with these women (and men- in 2005 about 11% of all procedures were performed on men).
There is a mad rush to get the latest tummy tuck, the plumpest lips and the biggest bust around. Its getting difficult day by day to find a person who isn’t planning or hasn’t already had some form of cosmetic makeover done. It’s as if self esteem was just discovered yesterday.......because without cosmetic surgery you have no personality, no presence and nobody loves you. If you are fifty, then you have to look twenty and if you happen to be twenty, then you have to get the perfectly shaped bottom. Your glass is always half empty.Poor Narcissus was just kidding himself, wasn’t he? He had no idea what being beauty conscious meant….he was quite content to just stare at his spectacularly imperfect face and had no hope of finding the dashing, dynamic surgeon with the magical touch to lift him out of his ‘meaningless’ existence.
In an ideal world, people would accept themselves as they are, accept that flaws can be attractive, and growing old is natural and not necessarily bad. I am not deluded enough to think that looks would cease to be important to people one
fine day. Caring about how you look is an inherent human instinct that has to find the right way of expression. But its not too much to expect that as intelligent, sensible human beings we’d find better ways of feeling good about ourselves rather that changing external appearances to the point of destruction. I am not even going to go down the route of suggesting that people use these megabucks that they’ve saved up for cosmetic surgery to help some of their less privileged earthlings, but it may just solve the purpose, you know. It may just make you feel as good if not better about yourself and there is just a chance that this feeling will last slightly longer than it takes an artificial tan to wear off.
Now a cosmetic surgeon in Florida has even gone on to publish a picture guide to help young kids understand the exact process involved in making their mummies beautiful (http://www.news.com.au). For after all, as a kid aged five or six, that is your biggest concern in life – having a mummy with a jelly belly or a crooked nose would just be a catastrophe!As an amused and at times frankly miffed bystander to this trend, I’ve struggled to explain this fixation with looks that is now part of our everyday life. Aside from the fact that it costs the earth, its also totally useless if its friends or love you’re after. A cosmetic makeover will not win you friends, or happiness, only dig a huge hole in your pocket. While looking good has been important since time immemorial, the recent trend where it supercedes all else in life is decidedly unhealthy. In some households, a substantial chunk of the family income is now spent on beauty makeovers.Alarmingly, big corporate sharks have jumped onto the bandwagon and are offering easier access to borrowing for this purpose!The amount of column space that’s dedicated in women’s magazines to discussion of which celebrity has cellulite and which other one has piled on a few millimeters on their abdomen, is another story altogether.Besides, before luring a thirty something, mother of two towards the operation table, how many of these clinics actually care to fully explain the implications? The ugly truth behind these panacea procedures is that if anything goes wrong, you run the risk of being horribly disfigured and in the worst case scenario, die from sepsis or anesthetic complications. Cases have been reported but they are few and far between to have made any significant impression on the minds of would be wannabes.Just another example of how too much of a good thing can actually be a bad thing. The quest for happiness and success has many different connotations. Some find happiness altering their bodies, some find it in the smile of another human being.
According to latest figures, the total UK cosmetic surgery industry was worth an estimated £528.9m, showing a 53% rise in 2006 alone. An average British woman spends anywhere between £5000 to £10000 on cosmetic surgery/non surgical procedures yearly. The cosmetic surgery market is being driven by an astonishing speed of technological advancements, particularly in non-surgical procedures. Combined treatments involving the use of a number of different types of non-surgical treatment — laser, injectables and peels, as well as the use of cosmeceuticals — is an increasing feature of the market. In terms of surgical procedures, facial surgery is now offered with minima
lly invasive techniques, encouraging a trend of `lunch-time lifts' where the woman can often be back at work shortly after a fairly major procedure!While I fully appreciate that cosmetic surgery in certain situations, especially in victims of accidents and disfigurement, is not only desirable but also essential, it’s the ‘worried well’ section of our population that seems to be the predominant user. In other words, there is nothing wrong with these women (and men- in 2005 about 11% of all procedures were performed on men).There is a mad rush to get the latest tummy tuck, the plumpest lips and the biggest bust around. Its getting difficult day by day to find a person who isn’t planning or hasn’t already had some form of cosmetic makeover done. It’s as if self esteem was just discovered yesterday.......because without cosmetic surgery you have no personality, no presence and nobody loves you. If you are fifty, then you have to look twenty and if you happen to be twenty, then you have to get the perfectly shaped bottom. Your glass is always half empty.Poor Narcissus was just kidding himself, wasn’t he? He had no idea what being beauty conscious meant….he was quite content to just stare at his spectacularly imperfect face and had no hope of finding the dashing, dynamic surgeon with the magical touch to lift him out of his ‘meaningless’ existence.
In an ideal world, people would accept themselves as they are, accept that flaws can be attractive, and growing old is natural and not necessarily bad. I am not deluded enough to think that looks would cease to be important to people one
fine day. Caring about how you look is an inherent human instinct that has to find the right way of expression. But its not too much to expect that as intelligent, sensible human beings we’d find better ways of feeling good about ourselves rather that changing external appearances to the point of destruction. I am not even going to go down the route of suggesting that people use these megabucks that they’ve saved up for cosmetic surgery to help some of their less privileged earthlings, but it may just solve the purpose, you know. It may just make you feel as good if not better about yourself and there is just a chance that this feeling will last slightly longer than it takes an artificial tan to wear off.Now a cosmetic surgeon in Florida has even gone on to publish a picture guide to help young kids understand the exact process involved in making their mummies beautiful (http://www.news.com.au). For after all, as a kid aged five or six, that is your biggest concern in life – having a mummy with a jelly belly or a crooked nose would just be a catastrophe!As an amused and at times frankly miffed bystander to this trend, I’ve struggled to explain this fixation with looks that is now part of our everyday life. Aside from the fact that it costs the earth, its also totally useless if its friends or love you’re after. A cosmetic makeover will not win you friends, or happiness, only dig a huge hole in your pocket. While looking good has been important since time immemorial, the recent trend where it supercedes all else in life is decidedly unhealthy. In some households, a substantial chunk of the family income is now spent on beauty makeovers.Alarmingly, big corporate sharks have jumped onto the bandwagon and are offering easier access to borrowing for this purpose!The amount of column space that’s dedicated in women’s magazines to discussion of which celebrity has cellulite and which other one has piled on a few millimeters on their abdomen, is another story altogether.Besides, before luring a thirty something, mother of two towards the operation table, how many of these clinics actually care to fully explain the implications? The ugly truth behind these panacea procedures is that if anything goes wrong, you run the risk of being horribly disfigured and in the worst case scenario, die from sepsis or anesthetic complications. Cases have been reported but they are few and far between to have made any significant impression on the minds of would be wannabes.Just another example of how too much of a good thing can actually be a bad thing. The quest for happiness and success has many different connotations. Some find happiness altering their bodies, some find it in the smile of another human being.
hi there!i loved this article and much appreciation to you.
ReplyDeleteit is indeed very sad to see people going overboard with their looks and measures to "rectify" them.a science which was supposed to "fix" the disfigurement is now incessantly used to "enhance" the already good looks.
i am doctor myself in india,doing my intership actually,and was really baffled when people confused my nose piercing(through the word of mouth)with rhinoplasty!i was aghast not because of the gossip but because people even commented that it IS looking different.i have my self esteem intact,thank you very much and didn't need to undergo the knife!
this is the link to the entire episode:
http://thecompulsivetalker.blogspot.com/2008/11/social-networking-sites-like-orkut-or.html