Is Cosmetic Surgery Really Safe?

Essay by OLIVERRRCollege, UndergraduateA-, August 2003

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Is Cosmetic Surgery Really Safe?

Why is it that in America we feel the need to meet certain standards? Even while watching t.v. we are forced to view countless commercials about weight loss drugs, diets, and various exercise programs. Not only are we told that being a certain size is desirable, but we are also led to believe that our natural features should look a certain "unnatural" way. Today, there are countless solutions to changing features on our bodies that we do not like. If a person has the money it is possible to walk into a doctors office and order up a new nose or much larger breasts. According to research journalist Judy China Hui Hsu, Americans spent an astounding 560 million dollars on Botox injections in 2001 (Hsu). Even though such procedures are legal, we still must ask the question, is it really necessary to risk our lives to become more attractive? I feel that the answer is no; our lives are not worth something as shallow as beauty.

According researcher Marian Segal, one of the most popular cosmetic procedures for women is a breast augmentation. To start out with background information, breast implants were first introduced to the market in the early 1960's, but were not approved by the FDA until 1976 (Segal). The implant has changed greatly in the time it has been around. First, the implant was made out of a sac filled with silicone, then saline, and now a polyurethane-coated coating has been added for safety. Even though studies do not prove the implants are unsafe, there are several side effects caused by them. During the surgery it is possible to suffer nausea, vomiting, fever, infection, a hematoma, hemorrhages, thromosis, and skin necrosis (Segal).

Once the patient makes it thus far they still have...