The Pros and Cons of Cosmetic Surgery

Have you ever been insecure of your looks? Have you ever stared at the mirror, looked at your features and just think, “Ah! I’m ugly!”, “Why am I so chubby/thin?”, or “My face looks so blemished!”.

Admit it, you have thought about these things at least a dozen of times already. You might even think about it daily. We always judge how we look and think about how people perceive our appearances. We search for ways to improve how we look by buying beauty products but sometimes, it just doesn’t work as we expect it to. Well, what if we tell you that there’s a solution about this problem you’re facing? Then let us introduce you to Cosmetic Surgery.

What is Cosmetic Surgery, you ask? Cosmetic Surgery, or also called Plastic Surgery, is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction, or alteration of the human body. To put it simply, it is a type of surgery that can help you change the appearance of your different body parts, depending on what you choose to change. Common examples of plastic surgery are breast enlargement, liposuction (body fat reduction), and rhinoplasty (nose job). With plastic surgery, you can have the dream body that you want to have! But the real question is: is it worth it?

Cosmetic surgery evolves as the years pass by. People can now alter almost everything with it and that’s why it’s getting more popular as well. But should you really change your appearance?

PROS

• Confidence!

There are people who are too shy to pursue something they’re interested in due to their appearance. It tends to affect their mental health, too. By undergoing cosmetic surgery, that person can finally fix that insecurity they have for they can finally have the look they really want. They can finally have the confidence to do what they love without them being scared. It can improve their mental health, and it can improve their relationships towards other people, it can bring out their hidden talents they’re too shy to show before because of their previous appearance. It can finally give them the satisfaction they sought for.

• It’s Permanent

Sometimes there’s just things makeup can’t simply fix. Well, sometimes it does but once the makeup wears off, you get to see the imperfections you tried to hide with it. Once you undergo cosmetic surgery, the results are permanent. You can finally wake up the next morning seeing your improved self and you don’t have to cover your insecurities with cosmetics anymore because you finally have the desired look you like.

• It’s not painless, but not that bad at all

Surgeries are always associated as being very painful. But due to the advancements of cosmetic surgery through the years, different innovations and techniques are developed to reduce the pain experienced in surgery. That means that you can worry less about how much pain you’ll get when you undergo through it if you’re contemplating about getting something on your body altered.

• Physical Health: Improved

Not all people who decides to undergo cosmetic surgery does it only for its aesthetic purposes or to just change something undesirable to their body. Some people do it to regain their original appearance that disappeared due to accidents. For example, not all people who get a nose job only do it to make their original but undesirable noses to be shaped to what they like. There are people who go through accidents that can cause their noses to dislocate. A broken nose can cause difficulties in breathing, pain, swelling, and it can cause bruising around your nose and eyes. Through rhinoplasty, those complications can be fixed which greatly improves a person’s health.
Another example is breast reduction, it can reduce the risk of breast cancer.

• It’s accessible 

If you’re considering plastic surgery and wonder, “Is it too expensive?”. Well worry not. Sure, some surgeries can cost a lot of money but there are also procedures that ordinary people can access without it being too expensive. You can undergo cosmetic surgery at a fair and reasonable rate.

CONS

As much as cosmetic surgery can cause you good things, it can also cause you a lot of negative things. So, we ask you once again, is it really worth it?

• Say goodbye to your money

Cosmetic surgery might be affordable, but some procedures are very expensive and could cause you hundreds of thousands or even millions! Yet despite that, some people still tend to avail it and is still motivated to change their appearance. That can cause debts. What if you can’t pay back those debts? That’ll be serious trouble.

• It’s… permanent

Errors made in cosmetic surgeries can cause serious consequences. Sometimes it can turn out badly and would look worse than what it originally was. For example, a facelift can cause permanent nerve damage which leads to face paralysis. And what’s worse, some of these errors are irreversible. You should always consider these things before undergoing surgery for these errors can worsen your mental health.

• Expectations vs. Reality

Sometimes things just don’t go the way you want it to. The doctors might make errors regarding your surgery and the way you thought it would look like isn’t the result you got. It can cause disappointment so you might consider revision surgery but if you do, it can cost you a lot making you think about your decision of undergoing cosmetic surgery.

• You can get addicted

People who undergo cosmetic surgery has a high risk of having BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder). A person who suffers with the disorder may be preoccupied with the defect in their facial feature. Focusing in it would become obsessive over a long period of time and will always have the need to change it. They could become addicted to cosmetic surgery thinking it’s the correct solution to the problem.

• Side effects

Cosmetic surgery can cause side effects. For example, it may be rare but liposuction can cause accumulation of blood under the skin, known as hematoma, infection, changes in sensation, allergic reactions, damage to underyling structures, and unsatisfactory results. Some patients can be allergic to the substances they use in cosmetic surgery which can lead to bad consequences. Be careful!

• Depression

Apart from addiction, depression has been associated with the surgery and increased risk of suicide among women who have undergone cosmetic breast augmentation surgery. A con of cosmetic surgery is that it sometimes takes time to adjust to the new changes that have been made to your appearance. It may not be the case that you dislike your ‘new’ self, but you are simply not accustomed to it (yet), which can sometimes be unsettling and cause further insecurities than you started off with.

OUR THOUGHTS

Now that we’ve laid down its pros and cons, we’d now give our insights. We think that cosmetic surgery is good. It’s very innovative and because of it we can see how much science changed the way we live. We can now be satisfied with our looks. Though, we mostly think that it’s not that worth it unless it’s for medical purposes. Sure, you get a chance to finally get your insecurity out, but at what cost? Cosmetic surgeries sometimes just don’t play out as what you like it to turn out. Your face can get deformed, you can get lots of health complications, and you’d be throwing away a lot of money. In short, it’s a pretty risky thing to do.

So instead of relying on cosmetic surgery, what about we consider loving ourselves? Everyone’s unique, everyone of us has our own quirk, we have different weaknesses, we have different strengths. The same goes for our looks. We all have something we’re insecure in. But that’s what makes us who we are. It’s the look that God gave us, so why should we change it? We should embrace it since it’s a part of us!

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart. – Kahlil Gilbran.

Even though we may not look pretty on the outside, we can still be pretty on the inside and that’s what matters more. When we age, our appearances will change, but never the kindness we show towards people. Being beautiful doesn’t just cover your physical appearance, but also your attitude. We should learn to love ourselves and be good towards others because for us, that’s what true beauty means.