Added Value UnitCosmetic Surgery

Is it safe to go under the knife?

Four articles for and against the use of cosmetic surgery to maintain appearance

Article One

http://www.normanrappaportmd.com/5-benefits-of-plastic-surgery/

(This article is from the website of a cosmetic surgeon based in Texas. The website contains information about various cosmetic procedures as well as before and after pictures)

5 Benefits of Plastic Surgery

By Norman H. Rappaport M.D.

Plastic surgery is typically done to improve one’s appearance, which is also perceived as the primary benefit to the procedure. However, improving appearance is just one of many possible benefits plastic surgery can provide. If you have been considering a plastic surgery procedure, check out a few of the advantages you might stand to gain from your decision.

Increased Self-Confidence

When you look good, you feel good. Improvements to appearance naturally translate to increased self-confidence for most people, which means a greater willingness to try new things or open up in social situations. You may also be willing to wear certain types of clothing or participate in activities you tended to avoid before your surgery, due to your discomfort with your appearance.

Improved Physical Health

Some plastic surgery procedures can improve your physical health as well as your looks. For example, rhinoplasty or nose reshaping surgery may improve breathing at the same time it improves the aesthetics of the nose. Breast reduction surgery improves the body contour, but it may also relieve physical discomfort like neck and back pain and skin irritation from disproportionately large breasts.

Enhanced Mental Health

Mental health benefits can be gained from plastic surgery procedures as well. Some people see a reduction in social anxiety after their surgery, due to the new feelings of self-confidence their new look inspires. It is not unusual to feel greater control over your life, become more willing to take on new challenges, or take charge of your life in a whole new way.

More Opportunities

Some studies suggest that people that are more attractive may enjoy more professional and personal opportunities. A 2012 study published in Applied Financial Economics found that attractive real estate agents were able to sell properties at a higher price than agents that were not perceived as attractive. Other studies have also found attractive people tend to make higher salaries and get selected for promotions more often.

Extra Weight Stays Off

Patients seeking body contouring, such as liposuction or a tummy tuck, may find it is easier to keep the weight down after their plastic surgery. The positive results of the procedure may motivate the person to maintain a healthy diet and exercise program to keep their weight in check. A healthy weight can also lead to a healthier body and reduced risk for some types of diseases.

There are many reasons why people consider plastic surgery today. After a successful procedure, you may also discover benefits from your surgery that you never realized would occur. To learn more about your options in plastic surgery, contact Houston Center for Plastic Surgery at 713-352-708

Article 2

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hollywood-phd/201403/does-plastic-surgery-improve-emotional-well-being

(This article is from the Psychology Today website and is written by Ted Cascio who teaches psychology at The College of New Jersey. He has written articles for Psychology Today, In Mind

Magazine, and John Wiley & Sons.)

Does Plastic Surgery Improve Emotional Well-Being?

Can we learn anything from the Kim Novak Oscars catastrophe?

By Ted Cascio Ph.D.Hollywood Ph.D.

Recently, the moral debate concerning plastic surgery was thrust forcibly back into the limelight during the Oscars when formerly attractive actress Kim Novack appeared on stage and shocked the audience using only her face. A visage all-too-apparently disfigured by plastic surgery. Disgusting, awkward, depressing…don’t even begin to describe the spectacle.

While we can readily understand the motivations involved in an elderly actress’ (or actor’s) decision to artificially improve her looks, any benefits the rest of us can expect from undergoing plastic surgery are perhaps less clear. We can safely assume that there are social payoffs if the surgery isn’t botched. Maybe you can hope to become more well-liked by strangers, or you suddenly gain persuasive powers you never had, and where did that pay raise come from? However, many people who elect to have these surgeries are looking for something else. They’re doing it for me, for their own private reasons that have little or nothing to do with any objective rewards they might reap from the transformation. It’s less obvious that plastic surgery will improve these subjective factors, such as self-esteem, or happiness. Thankfully, research provides some answers.

One question we can ask is simply whether physically attractive people tend to be happier than the plainer among us. Based on the findings of one psychological study, the answer to that question appears to be no. Sort of. To get the full picture, we need to consider the differential consequences of other-perceptions and self-perceptions of physical attractiveness. First, perhaps surprisingly, the study did not find a relationship between others’ ratings of a target’s attractiveness and the target’s happiness. In other words, people who are objectively more physically attractive are not more happy, on average. The same study did show, however, that self-perceptions of physical attractiveness do relate strongly and positively to happiness. If this seems perplexing, consider that it’s possible to be biased about how attractive you are—it’s easy to feel more or less attractive than you seem to others. What appears to matter most is those feelings themselves, even if they diverge from reality to some extent.

So, perhaps plastic surgery will help people feel more attractive; if that’s true, it should improve their happiness, though again we are not forced to guess. There is research that directly addresses the question of whether having plastic surgery improves psychological well-being. One recent study revealed benefits across a wide range of outcomes, including anxiety, social phobia, depression, body dysmorphia, goal attainment, life satisfaction, mental and physical health, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. A fairly recent review study found more evidence like this, but also qualified the main idea to some extent by demonstrating that expectations matter—if you have unrealistically high expectations of what the surgery will do for you, you are likely to be disappointed and wind up less happy than you were to begin with. Interestingly, this study also broke down the psychological

benefits of plastic surgery by type of procedure. Breast augmentation and reduction were most uniformly associated with positive emotional outcomes—greater social confidence and self-esteem—while rhinoplasty and face lifts presented a more mixed picture. Another side point is that males tend to exhibit greater dissatisfaction overall with these procedures than females.

Everything considered, there seems to be some merit to the idea that going under the knife will improve one’s happiness, at least for a period of time, keeping in mind the exceptions and qualifications enumerated above. It’s even possible that Kim is happy with her situation, whatever it is that’s happening there on the front of her head, so long as she thinks she’s beautiful.

Ted Cascio teaches psychology at The College of New Jersey. He has written at the intersection of psychology and popular culture for Psychology Today, In Mind Magazine, and John Wiley & Sons. Though I can assure you his cat isn't impressed in the least.

Article 3

http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/disadvantages-of-plastic-surgery-5535.html

(This article is from the beauty and fashion page of a lifestyle magazine website. It has links to other articles regarding plastic surgery)

Disadvantages Of Plastic Surgery

It's hard to find a (rich) person with wrinkled face, flabby waist or a misshapen body nowadays - thanks to the emergence of plastic surgery!! Plastic surgery, whether reconstructive or cosmetic, has come as a boon for people who are displeased with their look and appearance. While reconstructive surgery improves the function of the body parts, cosmetic surgery is mainly concerned with the appearance of a particular body part. However, just like almost every other thing in this world, plastic surgery also has its own list of pros and cons. While there are innumerable benefits of getting a plastic surgery, the disadvantages are also great in number. Counter-reactions, not up-to-the-mark results, prolonged healing time and pocket-unfriendliness are some of the major cons of the surgical procedure. To get detailed information on the disadvantages of plastic surgery, browse through the following lines.

Cons Of Plastic Surgery

Complication

One of the most obvious shortcomings of plastic surgery is the risk of complications. People with a sensitive body are most susceptible and vulnerable to infections from the surgery. Chances of something going wrong during or after the plastic surgery, in turn resulting in an infection, disease or illness, are very much there. Complications that lead to partial paralysis of the face or other body parts, abnormal heart rhythm, airway obstruction, blood clots, brain damage, heart attack, malignant hyperthermia, nerve damage, & stroke are also possible.

Possibility Of Death

Though rare, possibility of death cannot be ruled out during plastic surgery. Many-a-times the surgical process involves usage of chemicals and equipments that are not suitable for a person's body. Excessive bleeding, heart attack or even a drop in blood pressure, while the surgery is going on, are some of the factors that might lead to death of the patient.

Imperfect Results

The case of 'revision' i.e. getting back the old look has become a common phenomenon in the present times. This is mainly because the result of the plastic surgery might not turn according to your desires. As a result, more and more patients are undergoing revision, after the surgery, to get back their original look.

Costly

Though it might look all too nice to get a plastic surgery done - permanently changing the form or appearance of your body part, the process is not viable for all. Plastic surgeries usually cost a fortune and cannot be availed by everyone. Its usage is limited to those belonging to the high echelons of the society.

Slow Healing

Plastic surgery does not get over with the surgery alone. The patient has to undergo days or months of healing process. Sometimes, the wound takes forever to heal. The speed of healing may vary from person to person. Age, skin type, immune system and sticking to doctor's advice are some of the factors that determine the healing speed after the plastic surgery

Addiction

Believe it or not, plastic surgery has the potential to become an addiction. Some people who undergo it become enamoured with the aftermath and look forward to a change in each and every part of their body. As such, plastic surgery becomes an obsession for them, rather than just a means of altering a body part.

Article 4

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/09/dangers-cosmetic-surgery

(This article is from the website of the Guardian newspaper and is written by journalist Denis Campbell for the health and wellbeing section. The article includes a photograph of the model

who died as a result of plastic surgery.)

The dangers of cosmetic surgery

By Denis Campbell

The Briton who has died in a US hotel is one of many women who have come to harm as a result of cosmetic surgery

Former Miss Argentina Solange Magnano is the most famous victim of the quest for better buttocks.

Many other women before Claudia Aderotimi have suffered serious harm after seeking to enhance their appearance cosmetically. Businesswoman Penny Johnson is currently suing a cosmetic surgeon for £54m after her partial facelift in Leeds in 2003 allegedly left her with a facial twitch, pain around her right eye and grimacing. She claims her career has been dramatically affected.

In the most high-profile case of alleged negligence involving cosmetic surgery in the UK, Denise Hendry, wife of ex-Blackburn Rovers and Scotland footballer Colin Hendry, almost died in 2002 after liposuction she had at the Broughton Park hospital in Preston went badly wrong.

The most famous victim of the quest for better buttocks former Miss Argentina Solange Magnano, 38. The mother of two died in Buenos Aires after a legal operation believed to have involved buttock implants and injections. Her friend, the fashion designer Roberto Piazza, said: "A woman who had everything lost her life to have a slightly firmer behind."

Cosmetic surgery is clearly potentially dangerous. "But people don't seem to treat it with the same caution and fear that they would another surgical procedure. People seem to be less willing to see the danger of having a tummy tuck compared to that of a stomach operation they need medically", said Edwina Rawson, a medical negligence specialist at solicitors Field Fisher Waterhouse.

"When things go wrong someone can end up disfigured or even dead", Rawson added. "A facelift can lead to your eyes or mouth not opening and closing properly. I've seen patients whose lower eyelid isn't resting against the eyeball after they've had facial surgery. Breast implants can result in oddly shaped breasts. And post-surgical infection is a risk, as is severe psychiatric injury."

Safer procedures, more information for patients about the risks involved and better regulation of this booming trade were needed, she said.

Organisations such as Which? and Action against Medical Accidents agree.

Some popular surgical procedures carry inherent risk, said plastic surgeon Rajiv Grover, the president elect of the British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons.

"A facelift can lead to a haematoma, or blood clot under the skin, which in 2% to 3% of patients can be dangerous if left untreated. And the risk of a blood clot in your leg, is low here but could be as high as 10% if you have a tummy tuck in somewhere like South Africa or the Far East and then get a long flight back."

The patient's consultation with the surgeon is vital, Grover added. That is when the risks involved need to be discussed openly. BAAPS members decline to operate on 30% of those they see initially, partly because they think the person does not need the surgery they are seeking but also because their medical history, such as high blood pressure, can make it a risk not worth taking.