I had a very necessary prostate operation a few months ago, and hopefully there'll be no more surgery needed, but who knows?
Too many people are lured into cosmetic surgery by slick advertising and the knowledge that so many celebs have resorted to it. If the celebs do it, then it must be safe, right? It's just a routine way of perfecting yourself, right? The botched procedures (procedures - what a lovely euphemism!) get a lot less publicity than the happily enhanced individuals smiling for the cameras.
Many of the botch-ups are carefully hidden so nobody knows of the pain, the distress, the embarrassment, the regrets, and the damage done to a once-healthy body. Damage they may have to live with for a lifetime.
Not only have I steered clear of cosmetic surgery, I would never suggest it to anyone else. It disgusts me that some men will actually demand that a woman gets bigger breasts or a more attractive vagina. If I was the woman, I'd break up with him straightaway.
I must say I'm puzzled as to why any woman would want bigger breasts to begin with. Not only are they a big and often uncomfortable nuisance but presumably they attract a lot more unwanted male attention. A flat chest must avoid all the gawping and the man-talking-to-my-tits syndrome.
So no "corrective" surgery for me, thanks. Keep those scalpels to yourself.
PS: I'm not referring to "reconstructive" surgery after a physical injury or an operation. That's fully justified.
An ex of mine has been reported to have had a dreadful facelift!
ReplyDeleteI think it is all rather sad
John: Oh dear. And if you don't like the result, you can't reverse it. You're stuck with it.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think the sight of people like Mickey Rourke and David Gest would be enough to put anybody off.
ReplyDeleteOK, if someone has a genuine defect that makes them self-conscious, and surgery is going to improve their quality of life then fair enough, but when it's just for the sake of vanity then I'd question whether the underlying problem is really one that can be solved with a scalpel.
Dave: There have been so many truly shocking cosmetic-surgery failures. But those going under the knife always seem super-confident that they'll end up looking fantastic. When the result is awful, it must be hell coming to terms with their dashed hopes.
ReplyDeleteI so agree about vanity surgeries. I also make an exception for surgeries to correct defects or reconstruction after trauma. But small breasts or an aging face is not a defect. I would kick someone to the curb for pressuring me to get any sort of cosmetic surgery. It makes me sad that so many people don't feel okay about themselves and think they can surgically find happiness. Also, the upswing in cosmetic surgeries alters our perception of normal, and I think that's a huge problem.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's sad that people feel the need for this. Honestly, even the Botox in the lips looks god awful to me.
ReplyDeleteAgent: The idea that surgery can make you happy, as opposed to changing your attitudes towards yourself and your life, is very prevalent. And you're right, our perception of normal is being warped by all those clandestine "procedures".
ReplyDeleteBijoux: I agree, those bulging, unnatural lips you so often see now are bizarre.
I'm with you. No thanks!
ReplyDeleteI don't like the idea of cosmetic surgery..
ReplyDeleteJean: The very idea of having a facelift gives me the creeps.
ReplyDeleteTreey: It must be so easy to fall into the hands of someone who's totally incompetent.
what's amazing is you would think well paid movie stars and the like could afford the BEST!
ReplyDeleteand yet the botched jobs are abundant!
I can't imagine messing with my face that way. unless it were burned or disfigured. those are the wonderful miracle workers then and well justified!
but just to have bigger lips and no lines? good grief no.
Tammy: I guess cosmetic surgery involves so much subtle aesthetic guesswork about what exactly needs to be changed and how, that it's easy to make misjudgments and end up with a disaster. Even the most experienced surgeons in the world must make horrible mistakes. I'm amazed that even with all the botch-ups, cosmetic surgery is getting more popular rather than less.
ReplyDeleteI have been on the surgeon's table on five different occasions for hip replacements and revisions. I have now cried enough and despite the very real possibility of needing one sooner or later, I would rather wait for the latter to become an emergency to go for one again. By that of course I hope that I pop off before I reach that stage.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that any surgery will improve my looks in any way and more importantly, I am quite comfortable in my own skin warts, scars and all.
I know a few men who have got somethings done and more who go to get their facials etc regularly and I think that they are foolish and vain. I don't tell them that though, as it is their prerogative to do what they want to with their selves and money.
Ramana: I can understand your not wanting any more surgery unless it's a real emergency. I think people sign up for surgery far too casually, without realising the serious risks involved. Nothing wrong with facials, that's a harmless enough business. And as you say, that's their concern, nothing to do with anyone else.
ReplyDeleteLet me ask you a question (inspired by the tune of your post and that of some of your readers): How would you feel about cosmetic intervention if it were RISK free? Guaranteed, one hundred percent risk free. Emerging like a swan having shed the duckling.
ReplyDeleteAnd whilst you are at it, what of people dying their hair till they are as blond as a Swedish (only blonder and more Platinum) or as black haired as they were fifty years ago? Sure, the latter doesn't involve surgery. It's still cheating nature - one might say.
The above inspired by one (me) who has beaten her eyebrows into submission by plucking them into a pleasing shape, never has had her hair died (sic), yet blessed with a sister who can't stop tweaking where nothing needs tweaking (other than in her perception).
U
Ursula: Even if it were 100% risk free, I think I still wouldn't change anything because I'm happy with the body I've got and see no good reason to mess around with it. And even if it were medically risk-free, there's still the question of the surgeon's aesthetic judgment and whether the final result would be as I expected.
ReplyDeleteCan't see anything wrong with dying your hair. No serious risk there, except possibly the long-term effects of all those potent chemicals. Yes, it's cheating nature but so is every other way of beautifying - skin products, make-up, depilating, shapewear etc. Just living to a ripe old age is cheating nature.
I have had a skin cancer in the corner of my lip and it's removal has left a scar which creases deeply. I have never considered cosmetic procedures until I got this premature wrinkle, one of the type that really old people have. I also remember being deeply, disproportionately disturbed at the development of stretch marks in pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteWe really don't know what will tip us over the edge until we are faced with it.
Kylie: I guess cosmetic surgery is okay if you're seriously bothered by something and you're sure surgery will make you feel better. But you still have to consider the medical and aesthetic risks involved. I gather a lot of women are disturbed by stretch marks, because again they make you think of older women.
ReplyDeleteThe underlying problem is the absolute terror of aging. Eternal youth and being f***able. Look at the MSM ads. Vulva fixing starts wirh 12 year olds FFS. Never good enough.
ReplyDeleteI've always deeply sympathized with my friends who've been brainwashed into this destruction and can't see it for what it is.
XO
WWW
www: The terror of aging indeed. The terror very much due to the way old people are usually treated by the young and fit - as pathetic, senile wrecks to be patronised or ignored. Thus the desperate attempts to seem younger and prettier.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you also, by the way, about the fraudulence of gender reassignment surgery. Which process often starts way earlier than age 12.
I'm an advocate and practioner of natural aging which I've written about in the past. Guess I was lucky that aging, death, have always been an accepted process in life, spoken about easily and comfortably all my life. In terms of appearance what I miss most has been the truly lovely shade of my red hair darkening, becoming gray, but I have had no desire to artificially alter the color because I'm fascinated to see how my body changes as well as that of those I know. There are those for whom surgery, other artificial interventions, ate beneficial, but that becomes a very subjective choice.
ReplyDeleteOops....are beneficial.....
ReplyDeleteJoared: I agree with you about letting the ageing process take its course. I've never made any attempt to keep back the wrinkles or the crows' feet. But I don't see anything wrong with the everyday routines of moisturising, hair dyeing, depilating etc. It's the very invasive and risk-laden aspects of cosmetic surgery that alarm me, and I wonder why people embark on it so casually.
ReplyDeleteI think it's grotesque unless medically necessary or if a person has a severe deformity.
ReplyDeleteHattie: I agree with you. Too many people think surgery is a magic fix. They overlook all the things that could go horribly wrong.
ReplyDelete