Looking Good: It’s Your Choice

A Patient’s Guide to Discovering the Truth about Plastic Surgery

Are looks really that important?

No.  And yes!

Most people would agree that what is inside a person is more important that what is outside.  But increasingly, we’re learning that how you look is very important because it can have a direct impact on how you feel about yourself.  When there’s something you don’t like about the way you look, it can make you feel self-conscious, unconfident, and unhappy.  That’s the real story behind today’s plastic surgery.

It’s not about vanity—not at all.  It’s about ordinary people with problems.  Maybe it’s a nose that’s too flat.  Or small breasts.  Or a fat waist.  Or wrinkled, sagging skin that makes someone who feels young and alive look old and depressed.  Whatever the cause, it’s a problem. Not so much because of the way it makes you look—but because of the way it makes you feel. 

A little change on the outside that can lead to a big change on the inside….

That’s what plastic surgery is really all about.

Aesthetic or cosmetic surgery is a highly sophisticated specialty that is dedicated not only to the return of the face and body to normal but to improvements that actually surpass the normal.  Each year the number of individuals who undergo aesthetic surgery increases at an incredible rate.

Several factors converging at the same time in history are responsible for this boom in aesthetic surgery.  The public has been continuously bombarded by the communications media.  The general medical profession has become better educated about aesthetic surgery and has accepted the fact that it is safe.  There is a growing awareness that the role of modern medicine should not be limited to the treatment of diseases but that it should alleviate human suffering in all its forms.  Survival is no longer the only principal effort; improvement of the quality of life is also important.

It is impossible to measure human suffering.  A flat nose may be unimportant to one individual; however, in another case it can produce emotional discomfort.  Aesthetic surgery can truly satisfy many needs and often will provide the extra measure of inner confidence, which may otherwise be difficult to achieve. It requires no apologies and is understandably well accepted in all circles.  It is, however, not the answer to all of life’s problems.  The purpose is to improve one’s appearance as much as possible.  It can do no more, and if one expects a transforming miracle, there will undoubtedly be disappointment.

Blame mother nature. Blame your parents.  Blame it on bad luck.  But whatever you do, don’t blame yourself if your were born with something you’re unhappy with.  You’re not alone.  Psychology Today did a study which showed that lots of people feel Mother Nature could have done a better job.

60,000,000 don’t like their noses.

30,000,000 don’t like their chins.

6,000,000 don’t like their ears.

And 6,000,000 don’t like their eyes.

The good news is, today, you can do something about it.  Every year more than 2,000,000 people do.  Calmly, rationally, they approach it just as you would any other physical problem you might be born with.  Like crooked teeth.  Lousy eyesight.  Or poor hearing.  It’s just as easy to be born with a nose that’s too small.  Or breasts that never develop. 

Plastic surgery can often solve these problems.  Usually permanently.  And if you do have a problem that really bothers you and makes you feel self-conscious, is there any wrong with correcting it?

Of course not!  Arguments which you often hear against aesthetic plastic surgery (“It’s just not natural”) are ridiculous.  And out of date.  Fortunately, intolerance an old-fashioned prejudice are fading fast.  Everyday more and more people are realizing that it’s okay to have plastic surgery.  Let’s face it, Mother Nature does make mistakes.  There’s nothing wrong with correcting them.

In fact, no less than Pope Pius XII declared on October 14, 1958:

“If we consider physical beauty in its Christian light and if we respect the conditions set by our moral teachings, then aesthetic surgery is not in contradiction to the will of God, in that it restores the perfection of that greatest work of creation: Man.”

From the website of Carlos Imperial Lasa Jr. Plastic and reconstructive surgeon

http://www.phildoctors.com/Doctors/Drlasa/Services.htm

Accessed September 2000