Research That Argues Against the Risks of Plastic Surgery

Abstract

In this argumentative research paper, a message is being addressed to show the ugly truth and dangers of plastic surgery. Plastic surgery is a very popular cosmetic surgery in which many celebrities, both men and women, undergo to enhance their body image. South Korea, having the highest rate per capita of plastic surgery, is considered the world's capital of plastic surgery because majority of the citizens there all have been through some sort of plastic surgery (Marx, 2015).

People from outside of the country would typically go to South Korea to get plastic surgery. People who undergo plastic surgery do it to enhance beauty when in most cases are unnecessary and waste of money. The dangers of plastic surgery are cases where they have backfired and the problem with this is people cannot go back to their original appearance from before the surgery. After reading this paper, people should understand and realize that people should only undergo plastic surgery in situations such as car accidents, other deformities, or burns.

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The Ugly Truth and Dangers of Plastic Surgery

Today, both men and women are brainwashed in comparing a perfect body image and beauty to models and stars shown on magazine, television and in movies. This bearing thought causes people to feel pressured to undergo plastic surgery. In the past few years, a lot of people are undergoing plastic surgery, especially celebrities.

People believe that plastic surgery not only enhances self-image but also self-concept. Plastic surgery can be categorized as either cosmetic or reconstructive surgery depending on the situation and image people want to portray. However, plastic surgery has been a controversial topic since cosmetic plastic surgery is immoral, superficial, and otherwise problematic in terms of our relationship with appearance and perfection of trying to achieve a certain kind of societal ideal through pursuing cosmetic surgery. Plastic surgery have grown in popularity because of South Korea.

South Korea is known for their perfection in plastic surgery and is named as "Capital of Plastic Surgery" (Marx 2015). There are dangers of undergoing plastic surgery that can be too risky, such as the times where plastic surgery has gone wrong and backfired. Within plastic surgery, lies ugly truths with one being positioning a person to have a misleading identity such as Michael Jackson. The focus is to convey how both American and East Asian beauty standards and cultural expectations have led some people to pursue cosmetic surgery in order to not only become "more beautiful" but also to become emotionally happy with themselves.

There are certain circumstances that would be considered a reasonable decision upon undergoing plastic surgery and that is car accidents. People who are faced with trauma and deformity may automatically consider plastic surgery. This is reasonable because people want to cover up the scars and not have to see themselves in a different way due to an accident that was uncalled for. For those who are trying to hide the scars, burns, or traumatic injuries will undergo the reconstructive surgery.

Their goal is to repair or restore the face or body to what it looked like before the accident. People who have to deal with a traumatic event have no choice but to undergo plastic surgery and that is totally fine. They are not changing their body or face differently. The difference between reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery is that reconstructive surgery is to restore one's body or face to what it originally looked like. Cosmetic surgery is completely changing one's body and face to a completely different person. It is very important for people to understand and distinguish when it is appropriate to undergo plastic surgery.

On the other hand, the other type of plastic surgery is known as cosmetic surgery. This is the type that most people undergo today and is considered a more controversial procedure. People believe that plastic surgery will allow them to have a perfect body shape, face, and will promote higher self-esteem. There also happens to be a misconception between plastic surgery and makeup.

The belief is that makeup and plastic surgery are the same thing and will allow one to find beauty in themselves except for the fact that plastic surgery is more expensive. However, that is not the case. People should realize and understand that applying makeup does not permanently alter one's body in any way. Plastic surgery can change one's physical appearance in a good or bad way. Ethics tie into one's decision making of undergoing plastic surgery, but can either be moral or immoral depending on the situation.

Most of the time when people undergo plastic surgery, it turns out well. However, there have been cases where the surgeries have backfired. For example, Kylie Jenner has became more infamous for undergoing plastic surgery on her lips. In order to maintain her plumped lips, she used a suction device called CandyLipz. After seeing Kylie's picture all over the internet, people started to create a challenge, thereby naming it the "Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge".

Unfortunately, this challenge did not prove effective for most Jenner fans. People who performed this challenge did not have the money to afford CandyLipz, so they used shot glasses. The dangerous repercussion that people failed to realize is that that the seal created by the hard glass against one's skin will create bruises. The "Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge" is a quintessential example of how society follows the norm and follows what a celebrity has done. Most people consider celebrities to be their own role model for beauty and perfection.

A lot of people have been following the paths of South Korea. South Korea was previously named the "plastic surgery capital of the world" in a Business Insider report, estimating surgeries in the country at around 20 procedures per 1,000 people (Baer, 2015). Lots of Koreans and celebrities undergo plastic surgery even at a really young age. People are spending way too much money when it is not even necessary. For example, a recent Kpop girl band, containing four members, called SixBomb all underwent plastic surgery totaling up to 88,600 to get cosmetic surgery (Herman 2017).

This was to done on purpose for them to promote their new single "Becoming Prettier After" which is followed by their old single "Becoming Prettier Before". The group decided together to all undergo plastic surgery. They all wanted to look prettier so they not only went under the knife but also wrote a song involving the want to become prettier. Money should not be wasted on something unnecessary like this. With the money this group spent, they could have done some donations to help the people in need. They should help the patients who are ill or are in need of money to pay off hospital bills and not spend money on their "wants" but their "needs".

People tend to believe that going under the knife can lead to happiness. However, that is certainly not the case. There was a story of a chinese man Jiang Feng who sued his wife for giving birth to an extremely ugly baby (Horne 2013). He was never informed by her that she went under the knife. He thought she was naturally pretty and his babies would all be adorable. He did not have second thoughts about his wife until he saw his babies. This was when he knew she lied and is "fake".

People need to know that true beauty lies under and within the skin. Being fake certainly is not pretty at all. Hiding one's own true identity will not help in the long run. Creating one lie and having to build upon that one lie is really tough. Once a person starts to lie about one situation, it will never get resolved unless the truth is revealed. Jiang Feng's wife lost the case and had to pay the fine. She once lived happily a family but now it is torn apart because of the one decision and lie to decided to follow. She finally realized that there are ugly truths of getting plastic surgery.

Besides the ugly dangers of plastic surgery, there are also ugly truths. A famous person known as Michael Jackson, who underwent plastic surgery, misled people because of his new identity. He decided to bleach his skin to fully pale white because of vitiligo, a skin condition that causes patches of uneven tone throughout the body (Triggs, 2009). Many people thought Michael Jackson bleached his skin for fun, but the ugly truth lies hidden. He suffered from a severe skin disease and had no choice but to bleach his skin white.

Because he was "King of Pop", he had a lot of fame and wanted to look perfect and fit the cultural expectations. Therefore, he decided to get treatment done and bleach his skin. His illness was so bad that he could not go out in public without looking terribly peculiar. To cover his uneven toned skin, he had to wear loads and loads of makeup. It was a lot of effort to maintain and it got to the point where he did not want to deal with it anymore. Michael Jackson's case show how the mass media make preconceived notions on what beauty and perfection is for idols. For Michael Jackson to even walk out in public was hard enough for him with his skin disease and the public did not really believe something was wrong with him. For him, plastic surgery was the only way to simplify his life further down the road.

Society tends to follow the norm to fit in with the rest of the world. Decisions are constantly being made and no one knows for sure if they are making the right decision. Plastic surgery is huge risk that can either destroy people's lives or gain happiness. There are ugly truths to going under the knife but people still want to do so.

People should take advantage of plastic surgery under certain circumstances like a car accident that caused trauma to their face or body. Money should not be wasted on cosmetic surgery when one is normal. Instead of going under the knife for cosmetic surgery, people should just apply makeup on daily. This not only does not hurt the skin or body, but will make you look like a different person. So do not be brainwashed by what the media is showing to the world. The celebrities shown are fake and remember, true beauty lies underneath the skin. It does not have to be exposed to the world.

References

1. Marx P., Chung J. (2015, March 23). The World Capital of Plastic Surgery. About Face. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/23/about-face Baer D., (2015, September 22).
2. Tech News. Why South Korea is the Plastic Surgery Capital of the World. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/south-korea-is-the-plastic-surgery- capital-of-the-world-2015-9?IR=T&r=US&IR=T/#jk-is-located-in-apgujeong-a-riverside-area- in-gangnam-seoul-1 town/7727834/six-bomb-k-pop-girl-plastic-surgery Retrieved from http://people.com/celebrity/inside-story-michael-jacksons-plastic-surgery/
3. Herman T., (2017, March 16). Billboard. A K-Pop Girl Group Turned Their Plastic Surgery into a Musical Concept. Retrieved from http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-
4. Horne C., (2013, November 11). abc15 Arizona. Debunked Story of Chinese Man Jian Feng suing wife over ugly baby is 'probably false'. Retrieved from http://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/water-cooler/man-sues-over-ugly-baby-jian-feng- chinese-man-sues-wife-after-she-has-extremely-ugly-baby-girl1384191149764
5. Triggs C., (2009, July 10). People Celebrity. Inside Story: Michael Jackson's Plastic Surgery.

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