As I sit here watching my sixth episode of "Botched" for the day, it’s fair to say that I never plan on getting plastic surgery. The current client has had 200 surgeries and at least 45 re-corrective surgeries. Her boobs are currently a size 38FFF and they literally, no exaggeration, resemble two basketballs. To be honest, she looks like she belongs in Madame Tussauds. So, I guess the only thought that runs through my mind as I watch Dr. Terry Debrow and Dr. Paul Nassif fix nose jobs done in the back of dimly lit bars is this: who in their right mind would do this to themselves?
Just to be clear, I’m not against plastic surgery at all. I truly believe if there is a component of an individual’s body that makes them self-conscious or unable to live their life, then they have the right to do whatever they want to fix it. I mean, everyone really has the right to do whatever they like to their body, and I totally respect that. If it makes you happy, you do you. But when is enough enough? To be fair, in a large amount of the situations on “Botched,” the clients recognize they’ve gone too far, and are therefore trying to reverse the effects of their surgeries. However, there are quite a few instances where the clients not only want the doctors to correct something, but they’d also like to have the two enhance something as well. I don’t know about you, but I find that something of a counterintuitive situation.
I guess I just find it sad that so many people are so consumed with their appearance that they are not only willing to spend thousands of dollars to alter the body they were born with, but to also risk their life in order to do it. For what? Bigger boobs? A smaller nose? How long is that going to keep you happy until you notice another external feature that you’re unsatisfied with? We could go back and forth about positive body image until our faces turn blue, but that’s not what I’m getting at. I’m concerned that, in 2014, over 15 million cosmetic procedures were performed. I’m concerned that these cosmetic procedures have altered a large portion of the patients that they have been performed on immensely. I hope that we as a society don’t acknowledge these altercations as the new “normal,” because they’re not normal. These assets are not humanly achievable without a surgery of some sort. All of these surgeries and procedures are making the impossible possible, ultimately raising the standards within the definition of beauty.
Like I said, I’m not trying to sit here and lecture about how important it is to be confident in your own skin, there are plenty of Dove commercials that preach that message just fine. I just believe it’s really important for us to look at the effects plastic surgery has on society’s happiness and our own personal happiness, as well as the long term effects it will have in the future. But if that’s too much thinking for you, or you simply don’t care because you’re still trying to get those Kylie Jenner lips, then just tune into "Botched" on May 10 at 9 p.m. Maybe that’ll sway your mind a bit. Or just provide a good hour of entertainment.
