Culture of cosmetic surgery

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Culture of cosmetic surgery is a set of attitudes and behavior regarding making changes to one's appearance via plastic surgery. World War I left thousands of soldiers with unprecedented levels of facial damage, creating a massive need for reconstructive surgery. Harold Gillies of New Zealand developed methods to restore function and structure to the faces of soldiers and these processes rapidly gained popularity. During the 1940s and 50s, personal appearance became more emphasized in the United States. As beauty standards changed, new products and techniques were developed to meet those demands.

Contents

History

Reconstructive surgery after WWI

World War I left thousands of soldiers with unprecedented levels of facial damage; trench warfare and progressive weapons lead to massive amounts of death and destruction. Explosions and rapid gunfire left those who survived with horribly disfigured faces, creating a dire demand for medical intervention. Dr. Harold Gillies of New Zealand developed and tested methods to restore function and structure to the faces of soldiers, such as taking cartilage or skin from an easily concealed part of the patient's body and using it to reform the injured area. Due to the thousands of soldiers in need of immediate medical attention, there were no shortage of willing trial subjects. Gillies based his work on methods that had been developed previously, but were never intended for such drastic application. He improved upon these efforts and, when combined with anaesthesia and sedating medication, found his techniques rapidly gaining in popularity. [1] The call for doctors able to perform facial reconstruction grew rapidly and received national attention. Dr. Varaztad Kazanjian became the first recognized post-war plastic surgery specialist at Harvard Medical School. [2] Years after the war ended, the supply of patients in need of life-saving facial reconstruction was steadily reducing. As such, surgeons were able to take on less dire cases, such as industrial accidents or other injuries. Techniques and procedures became more advanced and public knowledge of them grew.

Social factors in the United States

Throughout the 1940s and 50s fashion and personal appearance was emphasized more strongly in the United States; both world wars were over and years in the past, and normalcy was returning to the average American household. As ideas about what was considered beautiful changed, services, products, and techniques were developed to help consumers meet those standards if they so chose. Women felt pressure to be symmetrical, have smooth skin, and be slim yet curvy in all the right places. Being too thin was equated with being fragile and sickly, but being too large suggested poor self-care. [3] The emphasize on bust-waist-hip measurements grew, with Miss America's proclaimed ideal in the 1950s being 36-24-36. [3] Despite the physical risks they carry, corsets and waist-trainers returned to popularity during this time to help women achieve the "hourglass figure" that was so sought after. While fitted dresses and push-up bras were readily available, some women chose to undergo surgery to enhance their bodies. The rate of breast augmentation operations soared in the 1960s, and a decade later rates of anorexia-nervosa hit record highs. In the 1970s breast reduction surgery became more prevalent, as well as reduction of the thighs and buttocks. These surgeries were newly developed and experimental; some common unintended outcomes were numbness, loss of range of motion, and infection. At the same time, women were anxious to look youthful as they age in order to "keep their men". Suffering from poor self-image also became reason to improve one's appearance via surgery. Working women believed that good looks help secure or advance their livelihoods. Studies have shown that attractive individuals receive higher earnings and faster promotions than unattractive people across professions. In addition, people from different ethnic groups, such as Black, Asian and Jewish women, struggled to look more like other Americans and sought WASP noses and breasts as seen in Playboy magazines. [4] [5]

Psychological relationships to cosmetic surgery

Many people who have plastic surgery in today’s era choose to do so because of their mental state and lack of confidence in their own bodies.[ citation needed ] Instead of working to accept and love what they look like as they are, millions of people turn to getting something changed about themselves instead because it requires less mental/ emotional work and is readily available. One example of this is people with eating disorders; a person who has body dysmorphia may try and get surgery in order to feel that they are skinnier than they already are. The major problem with this is that many eating disorder patients are not overweight, so this surgery will not be helpful to their physical health or appearance. These patients expect to come out of the operation room looking like a new person, and they believe that they will be able to feel confident in this new body. [6] This can happen to certain people, but for the majority of people with these diagnoses, the surgery will not be able to change their mindset. These patients need therapy and mental treatments, so a physical surgery will be a waste of time and money. Besides eating disorder patients, a large number of people who choose to undergo plastic surgery are victims of anxiety, depression, or other mental illnesses. These people, just like an eating disorder patient, falsely believe the surgery will fix their mental state. These patients deserve to get mental health treatments because the surgery will most likely not be able to change their mindsets. However, cosmetic surgery can have profoundly wonderful affects for the transgender community and those who have significant facial damage. Trans folk who choose to have surgery so their physical form aligns more closely with their gender identity often feel more comfortable in their own skin and are able to see their external figure the way they want to see it, giving a marginalized and under-recognized group a significant amount of power back over their own lives. Burn victims and other patients who have experienced significant facial deformation also benefit psychologically from plastic surgery; victims of an accident or attack commonly feel much of their power has been taken away, and having a plethora of surgical procedures available to them may make the healing process easier. These procedures are intended to restore normalcy to people who have had traumatic experiences, and help them lead as normal of a life as possible.

Plastic surgery started to become commonly used during the world wars in order to help soldiers and veterans who were injured. Surgeons used skin grafts to reshape faces that had been impacted by bombs and bullets. [7] After, plastic surgery became mainstream in the 1950s for American women to change themselves as beauty standards were changing. Most popular were, and is the third most popular today, rhinoplasties, which is a reconstruction of the nose. Over the course of the 1900s American beauty standards became more narrow and created a rigid definition of beauty, which made these procedures more common in order to be seen as fitting into the definition of beauty. [3] Today, many procedure can be done to meet society's definition of beauty and media and research has found the most common procedures sought out each year. The most popular procedure performed in 2018 were breast augmentations, followed by liposuction, nose reshaping, eyelid surgery, and tummy tucks. [8] These procedures have become less invasive and more available as plastic surgeons expand their services and accessibility. These procedures are still expensive, but there are recently more ways to gets parts covered by health insurances. The criteria for medical intervention in contemporary society can be as simple as disliking the appearance of that part of the body; cosmetic surgery is the only medical specialty where the patient decides what is wrong with her and what the course of treatment will be. The prevalence of cosmetic surgery in the United States can make it feel less like a choice and more like a medical need; advertisements in everyday media, worship of celebrities who transform their bodies, and constant critique of the natural female form can suggest that there is something innately wrong or flawed about the way one looks, and surgical intervention is required to "fix" these issues.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastic surgery</span> Medical surgical specialty

Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns. While reconstructive surgery aims to reconstruct a part of the body or improve its functioning, cosmetic surgery aims to improve the appearance of it. A comprehensive definition of plastic surgery has never been established, because it has no distinct anatomical object and thus overlaps with practically all other surgical specialties. An essential feature of plastic surgery is that it involves the treatment of conditions that require or may require tissue relocation skills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mammaplasty</span> Surgically modifying the appearance of the breast

Mammaplasty refers to a group of surgical procedures, the goal of which is to reshape or otherwise modify the appearance of the breast. There are two main types of mammoplasty:

  1. Augmentation mammaplasty is commonly performed to increase the size, change the shape, and/or alter the texture of the breasts. This usually involves the surgical implantation of breast implant devices.
  2. Reduction mammaplasty is commonly performed to reduce the size, change the shape, and/or alter the texture of the breasts. This involves the removal of breast tissue.

Facial feminization surgery (FFS) is a set of reconstructive surgical procedures that alter typically male facial features to bring them closer in shape and size to typical female facial features. FFS can include various bony and soft tissue procedures such as brow lift, rhinoplasty, cheek implantation, and lip augmentation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breast augmentation</span> Surgical procedure

Breast augmentation and augmentation mammoplasty is a cosmetic surgery technique using breast-implants and fat-graft mammoplasty techniques to increase the size, change the shape, and alter the texture of the breasts. Augmentation mammoplasty is applied to correct congenital defects of the breasts and the chest wall. As an elective cosmetic surgery, primary augmentation changes the aesthetics – of size, shape, and texture – of healthy breasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face transplant</span> Medical procedure to replace a persons face using donor tissue

A face transplant is a medical procedure to replace all or part of a person's face using tissue from a donor. Part of a field called "Vascularized Composite Tissue Allotransplantation" (VCA) it involves the transplantation of facial skin, the nasal structure, the nose, the lips, the muscles of facial movement used for expression, the nerves that provide sensation, and, potentially, the bones that support the face. The recipient of a face transplant will take life-long medications to suppress the immune system and fight off rejection.

Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a surgical specialty focusing on reconstructive surgery of the face, facial trauma surgery, the oral cavity, head and neck, mouth, and jaws, as well as facial cosmetic surgery/facial plastic surgery including cleft lip and cleft palate surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhytidectomy</span> Type of cosmetic surgery

A facelift, technically known as a rhytidectomy, is a type of cosmetic surgery procedure used to give a more youthful facial appearance. There are multiple surgical techniques and exercise routines. Surgery usually involves the removal of excess facial skin, with or without the tightening of underlying tissues, and the redraping of the skin on the patient's face and neck. Exercise routines tone underlying facial muscles without surgery. Surgical facelifts are effectively combined with eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) and other facial procedures and are typically performed under general anesthesia or deep twilight sleep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reconstructive surgery</span> Surgery to restore form and function

Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition.

Lip augmentation is a cosmetic procedure that modifies the shape of the lips using fillers, such as collagen or implants. The procedure may be performed to increase lip size, correct asymmetry, create protrusion, or adjust the ratio of the top and bottom lips. The procedure typically involves surgical injection, though temporary non-surgical alternatives exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Male chest reconstruction</span> Surgical procedure

Male chest reconstruction refers to any of various surgical procedures to masculinise the chest by removing breast tissue or altering the nipples and areolae. Male chest reconstruction may be performed in cases of gynecomastia and gender dysphoria. Transmasculine people may pursue chest reconstruction, also known as top surgery, as part of transitioning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breast implant</span> Prosthesis used to change the size, shape, and contour of a persons breast

A breast implant is a prosthesis used to change the size, shape, and contour of a person's breast. In reconstructive plastic surgery, breast implants can be placed to restore a natural looking breast following a mastectomy, to correct congenital defects and deformities of the chest wall or, cosmetically, to enlarge the appearance of the breast through breast augmentation surgery.

Aesthetic medicine is a branch of modern medicine that focuses on altering cosmetic appearance through the treatment of conditions including scars, skin laxity, wrinkles, moles, liver spots, excess fat, cellulite, unwanted hair, skin discoloration, and spider veins. Traditionally, it includes dermatology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, reconstructive surgery and plastic surgery, surgical procedures, non-surgical procedures, and a combination of both. Aesthetic medicine procedures are usually elective. There is a long history of aesthetic medicine procedures, dating back to many notable cases in the 19th century, though techniques have developed much since then.

New York Plastic Surgical Group (NYPS Group) was founded in April 1948 and is the oldest and largest private academic plastic surgery practice in the United States. The group currently has 10+ offices within the New York Metropolitan area, including Garden City, East Hills, Babylon, Huntington, Manhattan, Flushing, Astoria, Brooklyn, White Plains, and Connecticut. The practice operates with over 20 plastic and reconstructive surgeons who were trained at institutions including Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center, Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital. NYPS Group is composed of nine Centers of Excellence: Breast Reconstruction Surgery and Microsurgery; Burns and Complex Wound Management; Cosmetic Surgery of the Face, Breast, and Body; Facial Reanimation Treatment; Hand Surgery and Peripheral Nerve Repair; Non-Invasive Cosmetic Procedures; Pediatric Plastic and Craniofacial Surgery; Post-Weight Loss Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery; and Skin Care and Age Management.

Ethnic plastic surgery, or ethnic modification, refers to the types of plastic surgery performed frequently due to certain racial or ethnic traits, or with the intention of making one's appearance more similar or less similar to people of a particular race or ethnicity. Popular procedures which may have an ethnically-motivated component are rhinoplasties and blepharoplasties.

Cosmetic surgery, also referred to as aesthetic surgery, is a surgical procedure which endeavours to improve the physical aspects of one's appearance to become more aesthetically pleasing. The continuously growing field of cosmetic surgery is closely linked with plastic surgery, the difference being, cosmetic surgery is an elective surgery with the sole purpose to enhance the physical features of one's appearance. Plastic surgery is performed in order to rectify defects to reinstate normality to function and appearance. Cosmetic surgical procedures are generally performed on healthy functioning body parts, with the procedure being optional not medically necessary. The inevitable aim of cosmetic surgery is to enhance one's image, encompassing reducing the signs of aging and/or correction of a believed deviation on one's body in turn it is surrounded by controversy. Although the implementation of cosmetic surgery within Australian society is growing, the trade has struggled to find its place within the Australian culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korean beauty standards</span>

Korean beauty standards have become a well-known feature of Korean culture. In 2015, a global survey by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons placed South Korea in the top ten of countries who had the highest rate of cosmetic surgeries. Korean beauty standards prioritize a slim figure, dewy skin, v-shaped jaw, pale skin, straight eyebrows, and smooth skin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzanne Noël</span> French physician (1878-1954)

Suzanne Blanche Gros Noël (1878–1954), also known as Madame Noël, was one of the world’s first plastic surgeons and the first female plastic surgeon in the world. She was known for her efficient face lift technique, the “petite operation.” Noël was also a very active feminist, a philosophy which was considered radical for a practicing cosmetic surgeon. She is the founder of Soroptimist International of Europe (SIE) and had a career spanning from 1916 to 1950. At the outbreak of the war in 1914, without having been able to defend her doctoral thesis, like all the interns, Suzanne Gros was allowed to practise medicine in the city. She then joined Professor Morestin at the Val-de-Grâce military hospital in Paris. In 1916, she trained in the techniques of reparative and corrective surgery. From there, under extremely precarious conditions, she participates in the war effort by operating on the “broken mouths”, the wounded in the face.

Cosmetic surgery refers to the process, methods, and theories focusing on the enhancement of a person's physical appearance. In China, there are over 10 million people who have undergone cosmetic surgery, 8.5 million of them are under 30 years old. The intensifying fixation with physical beauty has escalated the demand for cosmetic surgery in recent years. The influence of Korean pop stars and other celebrities, and social media have significantly prompted young people to undergo these surgeries.

Fat transfer, also known as fat graft, lipomodelling, or fat injections, is a surgical process in which a person's own fat is transferred from one area of the body to another area. The major aim of this procedure is to improve or augment the area that has irregularities and grooves. Carried out under either general anesthesia or local anesthesia, the technique involves 3 main stages: fat harvesting, fat processing, fat injection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmetic surgery in South Korea</span> Surgery for beauty enhancement in the social context of South Korea

Cosmetic surgery, also referred to as aesthetic surgery, is a surgical procedure which endeavours to improve the physical aspects of one's appearance to become more aesthetically pleasing. It is closely linked to plastic surgery, but cosmetic surgery focuses more on the improvement of one's appearance, for example by reducing the signs of aging, instead of existing for health purposes. Motivation for plastic surgery has been debated throughout Korean society. Holliday and Elfving-Hwang suggest that the pressure of success in work and marriage is deeply rooted in one's ability to manage their body which is influenced by beauty. As companies helping with matchmaking for marriage and even job applications require a photo of the individual, it is inevitable that the Korean population feels pressure to undergo plastic surgery to achieve the "natural beauty".

References

  1. ↑ Klein, Christopher. "Innovative Cosmetic Surgery Restored WWI Vets' Ravaged Faces—And Lives". HISTORY. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  2. ↑ "Varaztad H. Kazanjian · Plastic Surgery in Boston: Then and Now · OnView: Digital Collections & Exhibits". collections.countway.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  3. ↑ Schillinger, Liesl (August 2, 1998). "America's Paint and Body Shop". The New York Times archive.
  4. ↑ Haiken, Elizabeth (1997). "Venus Envy". The New York Times archive. Johns Hopkins University Press.
  5. ↑ Bradbury, Eileen (1994-06-01). "The psychology of aesthetic plastic surgery". Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. 18 (3): 301–305. doi:10.1007/BF00449799. ISSN   1432-5241. PMID   7976766.
  6. ↑ "History of plastic surgery | Facial reconstruction and face transplants | Plastic surgery | Services A-Z | Services | The Royal Free". www.royalfree.nhs.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  7. ↑ Monday, March 11. "New Plastic Surgery Statistics Reveal Trends Toward Body Enhancement". American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Retrieved 2019-12-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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