Plastic surgery erases more than just aging

After being coerced into watching a popular cable TV show treating plastic surgery, I decided that aesthetic surgery is a poor substitute for the natural body.

Cosmetic procedures, such as nose jobs, injections to reduce wrinkles and breast augmentation are some of the worst out there. These treatments cause more harm than good because they remove signs of happiness, do not alter genes and do not slow the aging process. If at first more confidence and self-esteem is gained from the procedure, it surely will subside after the rest of your body ages.

As we age, our bodies become prone to wrinkles. This is a natural process. By expressing different emotions our faces can crease and those creases can become permanent with the help of the sun and time. For instance, we express many strong emotions when we invest a lot of time and work hard toward a goal. Whether that be to please someone, receive good grades or get that promotion, we can feel stressed, sad, happy, shy, mad and many other emotions en route to accomplishing that goal.

If we were to one day remove these wrinkles caused from these emotions, our past too would be erased. Wisdom we have gained, happiness we have shown, sadness we have experienced can disappear with the injection of a needle. A part of us, every-day reminders that we see in the mirror that tell our life story, will be gone.

Cosmetic procedures do not alter the body’s genes. The changes someone does to their body will not be passed on to their children. If a nose were too big, chances are that his or her child would inherit that same nose. The trait is thus kept within the family. Our children will one day stumble upon pictures that show a clearly different nose. When they do so and realize they too have the same nose that their parent had had, an embarrassing explanation will follow.

However, cosmetic procedures seem to give people more confidence and make them look younger. This can be beneficial. Having more confidence and looking younger may lead to better relationships and more success. One might finally fit into that social group they never could belong to otherwise. But is this short-lived?

Two famous women, once stars of a popular life-guard TV series, received breast augmentations. The procedure looked great and probably helped them with their careers. However, one woman was recently doing work for a second-rate TV show where she often was portrayed as a sex object and the other is playing the same role in commercials for a fast-food burrito and taco establishment. The rest of their bodies have aged normally, but their breasts have not caught up. The result is distracting and sadly fake.

The body looks better natural and should remain that way. Aesthetic surgery can erase some of the most prominent signs of emotional investment that one has ever had- one’s wrinkles. The surgical procedures do not alter genes and the trait may still show up in your children. And, once the rest of your body ages, the procedures that one underwent will look even more fake and distracting than what was there before.

Contact Campus Press staff writer Gary Black at gary.black@thecampuspress.com.

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