The Destruction of Natural Beauty: Cosmetic Surgery

Modern Lit 4

March 1st 2013

The Destruction of Natural Beauty

“People assume plastic means artificial when actually it comes from the Greek word plastikos, which means to mold or to give form to... Americans spent 12.4 billion dollars to undergo cosmetic procedures last year alone,” (De Gersdoff). Public awareness of cosmetic surgery has increased due to social media and television shows. They emphasize false and negative messages that complex personal and social problems can be remedied through cosmetic surgery and that normal bodies, with their various imperfections, are in some way shameful. Cosmetic surgery is done for the wrong reasons and should be prohibited with the exception of reconstructive surgery acknowledging illness, birth defects, and irregularities caused by accidents, such as war scars and battle wounds.

Aesthetic surgery is concerned with improving an individual’s physical appearance and has been trending. “Since 1997, the number of procedures has increased 591%. Of that, 92% is women with 104% increase in surgical procedures and 233% increase in non-surgical procedures. The 8% of men procedures experienced a 15% increase in surgery procedures and 239% increase in non-surgical procedures,” (Cosmetic Surgery). These percentages are rising at an overwhelming rate and need to halt. James K. Beggan states that, “In 2010, a survey was taken by ASAPS (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery) that said 48% of all Americans in all income brackets approve of cosmetic surgery and ¼ of them would consider getting a procedure themselves,” (Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society). To put this into perspective, figure there are roughly 320,000,000 Americans, which means about 80,000,000 people would debate getting a procedure for themselves. “Americans 18 and younger have had 46,198 chemical peels, 17,233 rhinoplasties (nose jobs), 4,211 breast augmentations, and 4,074 Botox injections last year alone,” (De Gersdoff). This is about a...