Nobody knows about cosmetic surgery better than Edward Mondeck and his twochildren, ages 9 and 11. Rosemarie Mondeck, 39, decided to have a bit of tummyfat removed after having two kids. She let the doctors use a new procedurecalled tumescent liposuction. The patients are primed prior to surgery byinjecting large amounts of diluted local anesthetic and epinephrine, drugs thatshrink capillaries. They reduce bleeding and make it easier to suck fat outaccording to doctors. After the drugs were injected, Rosemarie went into cardiacarrest and died.
All she had was a fatty area above her bellybutton,states Edward. Look at what can happen. This goes to show you that cosmeticsurgery is not only dangerous, but can also result in death. Cosmetic surgery isdefined as a surgery that improves ones self-image by correcting a certainarea of the body that the patient finds unsightly.
Its biggest benefit ispsychological. It is used to minimize age-related features in baby boomers suchas wrinkles and sagging skin. A big part of self-esteem is feeling that youlook good. We can cure an insecurity in 30 minutes that a psychiatrist cantcure in 30 years, H.
George Brennen, M. D. , Plastic and ReconstructiveSurgery, states in the magazine article from Young and Modern. Many people wantto get cosmetic surgery because they feel that they dont look good. Acertain level of attractiveness can open doors.
It can make a difference in ateens social life and later on, in a career, (Bloch 60). It can help youto look better and pursue a career in modeling or a field related to looks. Shouldnt people accept themselves for who they are? As Andrea Cooper statesin the article Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Make Me the Prettiest of ThemAll, All the cosmetic surgery in the world wont help if you dontfeel good on the inside. It wont change you if you already dont feelgood about yourself. You will just make it worse by trying to change yourself soyoull feel more attractive. People age.
Especially today when they are activeand in the work force. They feel good on the inside, but when they look at theirimage, they look at a face or body that they dislike. I dont see a problemat all with matching what you see with how you feel, (Davis 77). If you werehoping cosmetic surgery would add excitement and spice to your life, or rekindlean old flame, you might be disappointed.
It will only change physical aspects. Your mental aspects may still be disappointing. Youre still yourself, you arejust learning to cope better with your body now that you like it. You can learnto be more confident and self-assured.
During the periods in between thewars, Americans participated in a new, visual culture, where appearance seemedto rank even higher in importance. The postwar era also saw an increase insurgery to minimize or eradicate physical signs of race or ethnicity,(Shepard 2006). Americans began to see people of different origins, and theyliked their look better. Other people didnt like their appearances an examplebeing blacks. Whites thought they were better than blacks and used them asslaves just because of their skin color. Things like that make you want tochange your looks so that other people wouldnt make fun of you or ridiculeyou about your looks.
Research shows that today looks play a major role in oursociety. Women and men look at magazines and see the pictures of the skinnymodels. Then they think that theyre ugly and fat because they might not bethat skinny or have those perfectly proportioned face. Remember the sayingits whats on the inside that counts.
You should go by that because thepictures of the people you think are perfect probably have many moreproblems than you. Live to like yourself and dont go by what others think ofyou. Some types of cosmetic surgery are rhinoplasty, the reduction of a nose,otoplasty, to correct protruding ears, blepharoplasty, which is to removedrooping skin around eyes, and rhytidectomy, face-lift. People tend to wantblepharoplasty as they get older. It has many complications that could arouseincluding bleeding, swelling, delayed wound healing, infection, drooping ofupper or lower lid, asymmetry, double vision, and dry eye syndrome. Duringrecovery, the first 24- 48 hours you have substantial swelling and blurryvision.
The stitches arent removed until four to five days later. Breastenlargements are a common sought surgery. Women want bigger breasts so that menwill like them better or just to look bigger. Complications that could occur aredelaying wound with diabetes, history of radiation, autoimmune disease, smokers,capsular contracture, bleeding, infiction, and irregularity of skin. Afterhaving surgery there is swelling, and there may be some asymmetry. The firstweek you cant lift anything or exercise.
The outer shell of the silicon isfilled with saline. If the saline get a hole, the leak can result in a flatimplant and necessitating surgical replacement. Risk of serious complicationsfor most cosmetic procedures is as high as 2%, with some procedures being moreproblematic, (Podolsky 74). Listen to all of these complications that couldoccur and recovery methods.
Are you willing to go through this? What if thishappens to you while you are getting surgery? Are you willing to risk yourperfectly normal body for one that could be even worse after surgery? Thinkabout all of these. This was only two of the types of surgery. Think about howlong it would be to list the rest of them. When you go in to talk to the doctorabout your surgery, they will most likely either take a picture or they have acomputer-imaging machine to show you what the change will look like. For apicture, if only the lighting, angle, and film are changed, you can look like atotally different person with great results when no surgery has been done.
Inthe computer imaging, its technically impossible for your surgeon toreplicate those results. You will go into surgery thinking you know whatyoull look like when youre done, but when you get done, you will looktotally different. Sometimes people are going through life changes and theythink that it will solve their problem, so they go ahead with it. In the end,people are more depressed after the surgery because they dont like the waythey look. Doctors should advise patients to look at the whole picture andsuggest procedures that are in keeping with your overall appearance. Today amore natural appearance is popular.
Liposuction has become the nations favoritecosmetic procedure. It is not appropriate to get liposuction done for generalobesity. You have to have always consistently eaten well and worked out. Youhave to try to rid yourself of the problem area first. If it doesnt go awayafter trying, then you might consider it.
Slick marketing campaigns make iteasy to think of cosmetic surgery as just another off-the-shelf consumerproduct, its purchase about on par with buying a new computer system. Butsurgery is surgery. There is pain. Recovery can be lengthy and uncomfortable.
Moreover, there can be complications of anesthesia, infection, bleeding, andunfavorable scar, says Ross Rudolph, head of plastic surgery at the ScrippsClinic in La Jolla, California. Surgery isnt guaranteed. What if you arentsatisfied? A lot of surgeons charge for a re-operation. They explain it ascosmetic surgery not being a luxury. After surgery, if youve had an incision,youll get a scar.
Do you want a scar after youve tried to make yourselflook better? It might make you look worse. You wont be able to exercise. Youwill always have to wear sunblock on that part of the body youve had surgery. You cant expose your skin to hot, cold, or windy conditions.
Pretty much,youll have to stay inside when you want to go out and show off your surgery. The commercial goal is to make you want the most extensive surgery at thehighest cost you can afford. Since insurance doesnt cover it doctors cancharge whatever they like. Many doctors are doing cosmetic surgery with minimaltraining. Urologists are doing hair transplants.
Gene Barry, a gynecologist,does more liposuctions the C-sections. They do it for that extra money since youare paying for it out of your pocket. Do you want a doctor who has no trainingdoing surgery on you? It is scary to even think about that. The cost is anywherefrom $200 to $12,000 for one procedure. The cheapest being vein removal at $200to $500, and the most expensive being a face-lift at $5,600 to $12,100.
People having vanity procedures topped 1. 6 million in the United States in1994, (Podolsky 72). If you have more than one thing done, then of course itwill cost more than that. Even after spending all that money to correct youimperfection, most of the areas are likely to go back to the way they were aftera few years. You will grow back wrinkles.
Its a sign of aging. Only a fewprocedures stay forever. A tummy tuck, for example, will stay forever, but thefat will grow in around where you got surgery leaving a lumpy look. All surgeryis hazardous.
The doctor should help you decide what not to have to minimizeyour risk. Cosmetic surgery is all about fantasy and possibilities, not scarsand death. Thats what explains the growing population. In the process,something other than flesh is being altered, (Siebert 20). Deaths are rare,but no one knows how rare since risk data isnt compiled into a centralclearinghouse.
US News asked Physician Insurers Association of America, whichhas data on malpractice claims, to check its database of over 150,000 casesinvolving cosmetic procedures. There were 2,600 claims from Jan. 85- Dec. 95. Thirty of those cases involved deaths, (Podolsky 74). That is a highdeath rate.
Do you want to be one of those statistics? This shows you thatcosmetic surgery is not only dangerous, but can also result in death. Afterreading this, you should reconsider the thought about having cosmetic surgery. It shows you just how high the risks are and that it is about fantasies. Godgave you the look you have and you should be satisfied with them.
Remember thatits not what is on the outside, its what is on the inside that counts. BibliographyCooper, Andrea. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Make Me the Prettiest of ThemAll. Young and Modern.
May 1999: 60-64. Cosmetic Surgery. Internet. http://www.
cosmetic. org/. 28 March, l999: 6:30 p. m.
Davis, Rod. Blueprints for Beaty. WeightWatchers. September l998: 74-77. Morgan, Elizabeth.
The Complete Book ofCosmetic Surgery. New York, NY: Warner Books, c l988. 617. 95. Plastic Surgery.
Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc. l994 copyright. Podolsky, D. H. Read thisFirst.
US News & World Report. 14 October l996: 79. Podolsky, D. H.
ThePrice of Vanity. US News & World Report. 14 October l996: 72-78. Sheperd,Janet E.
, MD. Cosmetic Surgery. Journal of American Medical Association. 24 June l998: 2006.
Shiffman, Dr. Felix. Cosmetic Surgery. Internet.
http://www. drshiffman. com/BIO. html. 4 April, l999: 5:07 p.
m. Shiffman, Dr. Felix. Cosmetic Surgery.
Internet. http://www. drshiffman. com/FACIAL.
html. 4 April l999: 5:11 p. m. Siebert, C. The Cuts That Go Deeper. The New York Times Magazine.
7 July l996: 20-25,34.Health Care
