Should Teenagers Be Discouraged from Doing Plastic Surgery?

What is plastic surgery? Plastic surgery is ‘the process of reconstructing or repairing parts of the body by the transfer of tissue, either in the treatment of injury or for cosmetic reasons’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2010). Sushrutha from India, who is known as the ‘Father of Plastic Surgery’, had carried out plastic surgery a millennium before Hippocrates as well as two millenniums before European stalwarts such as Celsius and Galen (Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery, 2009). Today, plastic surgery is becoming very popular among all people especially for teenagers. The number of teenage girls who underwent breast implant had increased from 3,872 to 11,326 in Washington, DC, USA. Based on the information from American Society of Plastic Surgeons, cosmetic implants have become very popular for all people. There were 32,000 women who underwent breast implants for augmentation in the year of 1992 whereas there was a high increase of number by the year 2003 which is 247,000 in Washington, DC, USA (Boodman, 2004).

This shows that there is an increasing demand for plastic surgery. Although plastic surgery is very popular among teenagers nowadays, there are several negative drawbacks in having plastic surgery. Therefore, the main purpose of this essay is to indicate the negative drawbacks on plastic surgery in various aspects such as psychological, physical and monetary. Everyone knows that plastic surgery can help people improve or change their appearance to become better look or attractive. However, plastic surgery is a real surgery and there will be risks and limitations during or after undergoing it. Although a patient is very satisfied with his or her new appearance after the surgery, there is still the risk of getting side effects. The complication and risks may happen during or after the surgery. During the surgery, bleeding is the most common thing that can happen. However, if bleeding occurs during surgery then the risk is increased. In fact, there were cases when patients bled heavily during the surgery. In addition, there were also some patients who responded badly to analgesics during the surgery. Some of these cases had led to death (Saxena, 2010). Another risk is the side effects during plastic surgery and after the surgery. Scarring is the side effect that cannot prevent after the surgery.

When a patient is having incision while doing plastic surgery the chances of getting scarring will be high and is not preventable (Heisler, 2009). The patient’s responsibility is also an important role to preventing scarring. This is because; scarring may occur if a patient does not follow the instruction from their plastic surgeons after the surgery. Normally, the surgeons will advice their patients stop smoking at least two weeks before the surgery (Heisler, 2009). Besides that, other than scarring, infection also will happen to a patient after undergoing plastic surgery. This may happen any time after a person has undergone plastic surgery. ‘A surgical incision creates a significant opportunity for infection to enter the body, even though surgery is done in a very clean environment.’ (Heisler, 2009) If a person is suffering from infection after the surgery, there is a need for him or her to undergo the second surgery to remedy the infection. In the perspective of psychology, teenagers are too young to understand all the consequences of plastic surgery.

They may not consider the risks that involve when undergoing the surgery. Teenagers may just think that plastic surgery can help them to improve their self-esteem. The studies show that, teenagers are not mature enough to realize the negative effects of plastic surgery; they just care about their physical appearance only (Boodman, 2004). Teenagers might choose to undergo plastic surgery because of their boyfriends without considering the side effects of plastic surgery. Therefore, teenagers normally will not consider about the negative drawbacks that may lead to them doing plastic surgery. In addition, plastic surgery will make a person addicted to it. For instance, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, underwent plastic surgery many times before his death. He has undergone plastic surgery to do a nose job and changed his colour of skin. According to Dr. Eileen Bradbury, who is a consultant psychologist at the Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle, she said that people will be addicted to plastic surgery in order to get more attention, however, once the attention is finished, they will go for another surgery for getting more attention (Templeton, 2006).

Therefore, patients may not be able to control themselves from the urge of changing their physical appearance by doing plastic surgery. In monetary areas, the price of undergoing plastic surgery is very high. ‘According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, plastic surgery became even more expensive in 2007.’ (Nichols, 2007) Therefore, not every person is able to afford plastic surgery as the cost is very high. People who cannot afford the high cost of surgery such as teenager will do it illegally as the cost will be cheaper. This is a very dangerous choice as risk may increase because there are many unlicensed and unprofessional doctors as well as incomplete facilities for this to be done. Although initially, illegal plastic surgery with unprofessional procedures will be much cheaper, however, it can turn to become more expensive than the professional plastic surgeon in the future. This is due to the fact that, the patient who underwent surgery illegally may be suffering from the side effects after the surgery and may need emergency surgery with higher cost (Peterson, 2009). Furthermore, most of the teenagers that undergo plastic surgery are due to the influence of the mass media. The misleading information through mass media is misleading teenagers on how they should look like.

There are celebrities that had successfully undergone plastic surgery and appear on television shows or advertisements. This will further affect teenagers’ decision to imitate them as well as undergo plastic surgery. Besides, most of the teenagers nowadays believe that physical appearance is the most important factor to them. They believe that a person who has pretty appearance will have more advantages compared to those that do not have an attractive appearance. In addition, most of the teenagers nowadays misunderstand the fact that a person who undergoes plastic surgery for a new appearance will get more benefits in their daily life. They might not think about the consequences that may bring to them in their future life. For instance, they may face discrimination or be teased about this new change. They are many who disagree about plastic surgery is only causing a lot of negative drawbacks however; plastic surgery is also having it own advantages. The first argument that they provides is there is great improvement in technology for plastic surgery which reduces the risks. For instance, ‘advances in LASIK technology provide patients with choices that can reduce the risk of post-laser eye surgery complications and provide more precise results.’ (Einstein Industries, 2010)

The improvement in the technology nowadays may be good news for patients who want to undergo plastic surgery as the risks had been reduced. Therefore, people can feel safe doing plastic surgery as the technology nowadays is starting to improve day by day. In addition, the second argument that they argue is plastic surgery is necessary for people who meet with accidents such as people who get burnt from an accidents and fire. Due to this injury, these people will lack self-confidence and be afraid of going out. Besides that, they might not be able to live like normal people because of their looks. Therefore, plastic surgery is a surgery that is necessary for them to improve their self-confidence so that they are able to communicate with other people like normal people (Bhatti, 2010). In other words, plastic surgery is very necessary or important for these people as it can help them to feel better like normal people. The third argument that they mention is plastic surgery can help people increase self-confidence and self-esteem. Self-confidence is very important to a person because it will make them feel strong and will not easily defeat by negative opinions (Frost, 2010). In addition, self-confidence is very important to people as it may give person courage as well as prevent someone from being fearful.

To illustrate this, there are some people who find it very hard to make friends with other people as they lack self-confidence. Therefore, plastic surgery is bringing advantages for people who are self-conscious with their physical appearance (Houston, 2010). By and large, although physical appearance is important, however, inner beauty is more important than outer beauty. Outer beauty is not everlasting, but inner beauty is always never-ending and perpetual (Kumar, 2010). Teenagers should not just emphasize about physical appearance and choose to undergo plastic surgery because they want to become pretty or attractive. They should understand that inner beauty is actually more important than the physical appearance. Furthermore, inner beauty accumulates and learns during our daily time. It is needed to practice for long period of hard work as it does not come out in a short time of period (Kumar, 2010). There is no benefit if a person has attractive look but his or her attitude is not good.

Therefore, teenagers should think twice before undergoing plastic surgery as inner beauty is actually more important than outer beauty. Furthermore, not every person can afford doing plastic surgery as the cost of plastic surgery is very high. For instance, teenagers who are still studying and do not have any fixed sources of income will not be able to pay the high cost of plastic surgery. As we know that the cost of plastic surgery is very high and most of the insurance policies may not cover for the price of undergoing plastic surgery (Breast Plastic Surgery, 2010). Besides, teenagers should be more realistic about plastic surgery. Teenagers should understand that plastic surgery is not a surgery that can satisfy all of them and there is limitation to it. In addition, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) mentions that side effects may happen after undergoing it. Therefore, teenagers should be more realistic about plastic surgery (American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 2010). Taken as a whole, teenagers should understand all the negative drawbacks from doing plastic surgery as it can change their lives after the decision has been made.

Plastic surgery is carried out with side effects or risks taken. Teenagers should not thinking that plastic surgery can help them to become better look and attractive, however, they should think of the consequences that they might face in the future and how it will affect their lives. Plastic surgery also can make a person become addictive on it in order to get more attention from other people. Therefore, teenagers should think twice before they make decision. In addition, teenagers are still young and they can very easily be influenced by the mass media to do plastic surgery. However, they may change their mind when they become more mature. In conclusion, teenagers should realize that plastic surgery may change their future; therefore, they should consider the consequences of undergoing plastic. In order to prevent teenagers from making wrong decisions, they should discuss and understand all the details of plastic surgery with their doctor before they undergo the surgery.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2010), plastic surgeons should explain all the information of plastic surgery such as advantages, disadvantages, risks as well as all the effects that may be happen from the plastic surgery to their patients and patients’ parents or guardian. Furthermore, plastic surgeons should make sure that this information is understood by them. Besides that, doctors should also consider the maturity of teenagers’ decision making before the surgery. Plastic surgeons can test their patients by using psychological testing to assure that their patients such as teenagers are mature enough for making their own decision in doing plastic surgery. Teenagers who undergo plastic surgery because of their boyfriends are considering as unsuitable for having surgery. However, a teenager who is lack self-confidence can consider as suitable for having surgery (Zuckerman, 2005).