Plastic Surgery : A Moral Standpoint

In “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery,” by Camille Paglia, she argues that American surgeons are being too narrow minded with their work because they use the same models as a representation of what their clients can look like. She suggests that getting plastic surgery has become such a normal thing in America and that society pushes women to get work done in order to get that “perfect” look. Paglia also points out that plastic surgery has “leveled the playing field” with wives and their husbands mistresses (694). Also, she believes that plastic surgery is not only critical in keeping a job, but also in keeping a relationship. Although I agree with some of Paglia’s arguments, I view some of the issues differently such as, needing plastic surgery to keep a marriage, that plastic surgery is for non intellectuals, that Hollywood’s environment encourages women to change their looks, and that nothing good can come out of plastic surgery.

Thesis: Plastic Surgery has been a problem in American society. People shouldn’t feel ashamed of their body, their looks, or be insecure about any body part because everyone is beautiful in their own way. Problems of plastic surgery include expenses, health issues, and medical malpractice.

Plastic surgery is one of the most controversial topic today. But the real question is, what is the reason? Beauty is one of the main things America celebrates, and reality tv is slaving our minds into believing if you’re not pretty, you will not make it big, whether in the television industry or not. A study published by APF found that attractive real estate agents were able to sell homes at a higher price than marketers that were not attractive. Other companies have explored the matter, and they have found beautiful people tend to make money and get promotions more often. Jobs like modeling have destroyed most people’s self-confidence. When people began to complain about people being more beautiful than others, we came up with a solution:

Plastic surgery began as bodily reconstruction for wounded soldiers in World War I. The surgery developed in stages, starting with correcting traumatic injuries and deformed facial features. The more cosmetic focus began in the 1970’s, with creating “perfected” facial features and making aesthetically pleasing body parts. Cosmetic surgery boomed in the 1990’s, with 1.2 million procedures performed in the United States alone (plasticsurgery.org). The swiftness in which these procedures have infiltrated society has lead to a change in our view of the value of the body. The modern ease and accessibility of cosmetic surgery has intensified the need for external beauty and has influenced the loss of personal identity.

Cosmetic surgery, a type of elective surgery undertaken to alter a person’s appearance for reasons beyond injury, illness, or disease, has become increasingly pervasive in society in the past few decades despite sparking controversial debates. (Coleman, 171) While reconstructive surgery is condoned, cosmetic surgery occupies a gray area where physicians “dedicated to saving lives, healing, and promoting health” perform “invasive surgical operations on healthy bodies for the sake of improving appearance.” (Miller, 353) Nevertheless, demand for it is higher than ever with people looking to surgery as an easy method for changing their appearances. This essay will argue that cosmetic surgery is indeed ethical for physicians to perform by examining it through the perspective of the four basic principles of medical ethics: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.

Many people get plastic surgeries so they can be more self-confident. When someone talks about plastic surgery most others believe that means the person receiving the surgery is vain and self-centered, but that is not always the case. Some people don’t feel happy in the way they look and how their body appears, without taking any action

To some religious people plastic surgery is very immoral, unnatural and repugnant. Some Christians believe that Plastic surgery is “cheating”. “Cosmetic surgery permanently alters what God gave us” (Hemingway). All Def Digital is a YouTube channel that’s videos consist of comedy and topics. One of their topic videos asked “Do you mind Plastic Surgery?”. Though the video contains some vulgar language most of the people asked said that they did not really care if someone had plastic surgery or not. From watching the video one could also see how society’s “perception” and “ideal” views on beauty have an effect on the way that people view bodies with plastic surgery. Plastic surgery is also very pricy. Stats from the American Academy of Aesthetic

The subject of ethics has been one for the ages. Since man could think and reflect on his state, the question of right and wrong has been contemplated. Bioethics is a relatively young field, only beginning to develop institutionally and professionally in the late 1960s and 1970s. Nevertheless, this field has grown exponentially over these past decades and will continue to develop in conjunction with the advancement of medicine, science, and biotechnology

In a society so consumed by the ideology of beauty, it makes sense as to why so many women these days undergo cosmetic surgery. The definition of beauty has long been obstructed and changed. In the past, if you look at the woman, you will see they are curvy, during this era being thin meant you were poor where as a beautiful and wealthy woman would be plump because she could afford fine dining. As society has changed, being slender has become the new trend, creating the idea that in order to be truly beautiful one must be thin. The movie stars in Hollywood, although most people realize the beautifying changes that are made to the pictures, this idea of 'beauty ' and 'desire ' still lingers in the mind of whoever comes across it. Our society is bombarded with several different ideologies of beauty but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The beauty standards that have been set should not be what are shaping people around the world and influencing them to go through with plastic surgery. The use of plastic surgery has changed from a medical procedure used to reconstruct the wounded or people with birth defects to reconstructing something people do not like about themselves. Plastic surgery was used during WWI in 1910 and after the war, skin grafting grew. The first training program in the United States was in 1924 thanks to Dr. John Davis. In 1950-1959, plastic surgery was used broadly to repair cleft pallet. It wasn’t until about

Plastic Surgery has become a worldwide epidemic in today’s world. The number of plastic surgeries continues to increase since 2010. In today’s day and age, plastic surgery is one of the most popular and requested procedures. Females are opting to have plastic surgery because they dislike their body image. Society has impacted many people by brain washing them to believe that a person’s body has to be perfect. In order for one to be considered beautiful, television and media influence people’s perceptions of beauty.

Plastic Surgery is a controversial topic nowadays. Some men and women believe that plastic surgery is a great chance to have finally the body, face, and even romantic life always dreamed about. In the U.S. the plastic surgery television shows have made these ideas more popular and common than ever. Some men and women have other reasons for want plastic surgery Such as people who want plastic surgery have disfigurements to the face or body because of birth defects or genetic problems. The rise in plastic surgery in U.S. is a bad sign for future. Plastic surgery is not always a good thing for everyone. Cosmetic surgery should be prohibited for teenagers and people having psychological problems.

We live in a society where people worship beauty. As far as recorded history people have gone to extremes to seek beauty. From foot binding in China to wearing strangulating corsets in Victorian era. People from different race and culture have experimented in every way possible way to look beautiful prior to this popular age of plastic surgery. It’s very common to hear people complain about their appearance, whether it’s their crocked nose, thin lips or flat chest. Remarkably, plastic surgery has been the solution for people who complain. Most people tend to think of plastic surgery as only cosmetic surgery and not as reconstructive surgeries. Plastic surgeries seems to be an invention of modern technology; however its roots lie in the ancient history of India. An Indian surgeon contributed towards the establishment of plastic surgery, it was intended to correct physical deformities acquired during birth, accident, disease or war. These surgeries did not gain the popularity it has today until the First World War. It was during the late 60’s, when doctors started realizing the endless possibilities of plastic surgeries. With the help of this surgery a trained surgeon can replace an amputate body part, remove skin cancer, get rid of unattractive scars and visible birthmarks or rescaling a nose or enhance body parts. Today more and more people from different age groups opt for plastic surgeries to obtain dramatic physical changes. These surgeries were envisioned to restore

To sum up, plastic surgery is aimed to make humanity look better. Thousands of people have these operations performed each year. However,

“Don’t like the way you look? Ready for a quick and easy change? We can help you with one simple cosmetic surgery.” We have all heard or seen advertisements like this on television or in magazines, but why is cosmetic surgery so appealing to people, especially women? Cosmetic surgery is used all over the world to enhance one’s features and make people “happy,” but is it worth it? Is it beauty or is it a beast having cosmetic surgery done? There are many options and things to consider when thinking about getting any kind of surgery. Body image is a huge aspect especially when there is a demand for beauty by society. The cost of cosmetic surgery and the dangers are also something to take into consideration, but there are many positives in getting this type of surgery.

Messages within the media indirectly contribute to the rising rate of plastic surgery. Desires to meet the idealisms of media representations are often so consuming that people demand plastic surgery despite all of its associated risks and controversies. To compensate for this up and coming surgical trend, technology has developed more reasonable and attainable options for the public. Millions of operations are now able to be performed on those wishing to fulfill specific gratifcations toward their own personal appearance and/or self-esteem. This is a serious problem in that people are unaware or just simply