Araceli Munoz
Currently, in occidental societies, people give a special importance to the body’s image. Although the cult of the body isn’t a new fact, and this fact has existed in all cultures and in all times, lately, the conception of the body has acquired a new meaning. At the same time, there has also been a big improvement in science and medicine that has entailed the discovery of new products and techniques of surgery.
Thus, these two factors have entailed an increase in cosmetic surgery lately. But, if in the beginning, plastic surgery was applied to specific cases, like malformations, cicatrices and physical defects which caused psychological harm, actually, a lot people go through the operating room only for aesthetic reasons.
Furthermore, this obsession for changing our body can go to unsuspected limits. If a few years ago people who had cosmetic surgery used to be old women who wanted to seem younger, now, women and men of all ages have an operation only to change their image. Actually, younger people go through the operating room *. But, at what age should the age limit be?
Some people think that everybody should have the opportunity to decide to have an operation if they want it, even if this person is a minor. The decision of having or not having cosmetic surgery is something totally personal and we shouldn’t criticise young people who want to have a better appearance by means of the scalpel. These people believe it isn’t bad that a teenager desire to have plastic surgery in order to feel good about himself. Young people have rights over their bodies and they can have one or more cosmetic surgery if they want.
In addition, following this viewpoint, there can be many reasons why these young people decide to consult a cosmetic surgeon: from health reasons to personal goals, and passing through to self-esteem problems. Sometimes boys and girls are traumatized by a physical defect which gives a complex or isolates them from the people who surround them. Other times, they have self-esteem problems because they receive a lot of pressure from their environment which says how they should be if they want to be accepted.
In the opinion of these experts, although plastic surgery implies a positive aspect and a big improvement when it comes to solving malformations, cicatrices and physical defects, any surgery has its risk. In the case of adolescents this risk is bigger than in adult people, because cosmetic surgery can entail complications to their development ** . Moreover, the problems aren’t only physical but also psychological due to a lack of maturity and the emotional importance of this physical change.
In my view, plastic surgery among young people is only advisable in case of malformations, cicatrices and physical defects which cause psychological harm, but I think that it shouldn’t be recommended when boys or girls decide to have an operation only for aesthetic reasons or for being fashionable. Although it’s true that we live in a society where the beauty ideals exert a lot of pressure on young people and often entail self-esteem problems, it’s time for young people to learn that these problems shouldn’t be solved without going through operating room, but looking for other incentives, motivations and values beyond beauty standards. And I sincerely believe that the media could have a very important role in this last process.
* Statistical data from American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) points out that the number of young people in USA who underwent cosmetic surgery to increase the size of their breasts tripled between 2002 and 2003, when the number of this kind of operations reached the 11.326 cases.
** Like in the case of a rhynoplasty among young people who haven’t finished osseous growth. When they finish this growth is possible that the nose will be deviated because some of the nucleus of ossification is destroyed. Or in the case of a breast implants among teenagers, when the breasts are developing and the tissues are growing. Because of this, the breast can sometimes come to look different from the initial results as time goes by.
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