Nowadays, plastic surgery is common and routine. With the stressed importance of self-image on today’s youth, young girls look for ways to perfect and polish their appearances. From early ages, starting from freshman year of high school, girls become very critical about their self image and their flaws become very apparent to themselves. A lot of girls look to plastic surgery, since it is popular in today’s society, in order to solve their facial or body problems.

In no way am I against plastic surgery. In fact, I believe that if you are really insecure or bothered about a certain aspect of yourself, you should get it fixed if that is what you are set on. I know plenty of girls who have wanted to get nose jobs and lip fillers from a young age due to their insecurities and anxiety towards that flawed body part. That’s understandable. Even if you want to get plastic surgery for other reasons besides your insecurities, that’s fine too, do whatever makes you happy. Plastic surgery is so evident in our society that it is practically normal.

I want to direct this article towards the girls or guys who are on the edge. Maybe you are thinking you want to have a procedure done, but aren’t sure if it is that worth it or you’re worried about how drastic the change will be to your face. Because facial procedures have become so common, I find it hard to come across people who will discourage getting plastic surgery. If your first nose job doesn't come out the way you want, just get another one; it’s limitless. Or if your lips aren’t as big as you want them, just get another injection. That seems to be the common mindset of people in Los Angeles. This topic came to my attention when I was with my friend who recently had a procedure on her nose and was telling us how after her surgery, anytime she looked at an individual, she saw how much more potential a certain feature, like a nose could have after surgery. Obviously, anything has the potential to look better, but that doesn't mean you have to rearrange your face.

While I am a perfectionist and do truly care about self-image, I don’t believe anyone is perfect. I don’t take it seriously when people say “everyone is perfect in their own way.” That would be a very nice thing to say, if it were true. Instead, I believe that everyone is unique and everyone is unique because of what they consider to themselves to be their “flaws”. So, I think if you are unsure if you want to undergo plastic surgery, it is essential to remind yourself that all the features you like and don’t like give you character. You should ask yourself, “Do I really want to change the features that God gave me." Most of all, I want to stress that if you are thinking about getting plastic surgery, don’t do it in order to create the “perfect” self-image or to imitate a model or celebrity because if you do it for those reasons you will never be satisfied with your appearance; there will always be other aspects or features you will want to change. When you are going through the process make sure that the changes you will make are solely for yourself. If getting a nose job is genuinely going to make you happier after the surgery is completed, then I recommend going through with it. Coming from Los Angeles, it is impossible to ignore the superficial surroundings. Just remind yourself that your own features make you unique and give you character. People aren't going to like you more just because you get bigger lips, better boobs, or a nicer nose.

I think that looks are extremely important, no doubt, but essentially I think it is how you portray yourself to other individuals that makes you appealing and that is a change that plastic surgery can not make.