Motivations for Plastic Surgery - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages In her article, Balsamo (1992) note two widely pursued perceptions about plastic surgery where a section of critics perceive the practice as “technological colonization of women’s bodies” while there are those who think plastic surgery presents women with the opportunity to get “empowered” (226). Central to these two perspectives is the motivation behind the ever-increasing number of women who are willing to go under the knife in order to get what is considered a perfect body. Certainly, not all plastic surgeries are undertaken for cosmetic reasons given that there is also a large section of women who are forced by medical reasons such as breast cancer after mastectomy.
One of the areas that have reported a rapid increase in the number of clients is breast surgery procedures. The number of women looking for cosmetic breast surgery has been on a dramatic rise since Timmie Jean Lindsey as the first woman underwent the procedure in 1962. Although the shape of preferred breast implants have been fluctuating depending on the societal trends of specific periods with the 1970s women preferring a teardrop shape while those of the 1990s went for the roundest breasts possible, the global number of those interested in the procedure has always been on the increase (Foster). It is estimated that in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, one out of five women had undergone a plastic surgery procedure (Conley).
These figures have continued to increase even with reported health complications such as the Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) scare, which is in fact not the first one. Over the history of cosmetic surgery, there have been always been an alternative to procedures that were deemed as risky such as the 1992 US silicone scare which led to many women going for plastic surgery to prefer saline instead of silicone implants. The risks on physical health such as possible infections, chronic pains, numbness of affected areas, breakage, leakage as well as necrosis for those who go through such procedures have deterred potential clients.    ...Download file to see next pagesRead More