Is Plastic Surgery Really Just a Vanity Project?

Having a breast augmentation or liposuction is now so common that people even book vacations to have a procedure done in a sunshine resort, so they can come back feeling like a new woman… literally.

It’s easy to find a plastic surgeon these days and you don’t need to be a celebrity to have your very own plastic surgeon on call. If you need gynecomastia surgery Beverly Hills, you can go on Twitter and ask for recommendations or call Dr. Hazani, or if your butt is not quite large enough to satisfy your desire to emulate Kim Kardashian, have some fat injections in your lunch hour.

The point I’m making here is that in many respects, plastic surgery has become a huge vanity project. In today’s image obsessed world, looks are all-important and if you don’t have a perfect smile or perky breasts, you are a lesser human being; or so the media would have us believe. However, despite the ready availability of cosmetic surgery, and the fact that it is far cheaper than it used to be, there are many instances when cosmetic surgery is much more than a vanity project.

Facial Reconstruction Surgery

Burns victims, or people who have suffered horrific injuries in accidents or because a dog ate their face, would beg to disagree if you told them plastic surgery was a vanity project. For these people, a skilled plastic surgeon is their best chance of living a normal life without walking down the street and enduring the agony of watching small children scream in terror.

Curing Birth Defects

Many babies are born with disfiguring birth defects. Port wine stains and hemangiomas can be enormously traumatic for parents and children, especially if the birthmark grows and distorts the surrounding tissues. Fortunately, there are many treatment options, some of which may involve facial cosmetic surgery.

Breast Augmentation or Reduction

Breast augmentation procedures are one of the most popular cosmetic surgery operations for women, but although plenty of women choose to go under the knife to have their bust enlarged, there are many reasons why an operation is not just about vanity. Some women are born without breast tissue. To have no breasts is to strike at the very heart of a woman’s femininity; it can also prevent such women breastfeeding if they go on to have children. Other women end up with breasts so large they cause back pain, for which the only cure is a breast reduction. Asymmetrical breasts are a case for reconstructive surgery. Finally, women who have endured a mastectomy can elect to have reconstruction surgery to give them natural looking breasts.

Even simple procedures such as pinning back ears that stick out or rhinoplasty for someone with a deviated septum can be life changing. For this reason, it is important to make the distinction between non-essential cosmetic surgery and procedures designed to correct and improve the quality of a patient’s life.