In today’s world of pop culture, music videos, beauty magazines, the Internet, and reality shows such as “Extreme Makeover”, “The Swan”, and MTV’s “I Want a Famous Face”, peop
le are feeling less and less confident about their looks and pressure to become more and more beautiful. In the US in 2006, 11.9 Million cosmetic surgery procedures occurred. Many of these included liposuction-- the removing of fat by vacuum, breast 
augmentation- the enlarging of the breasts, nose reshaping, eyelid surgery, and tummy tucks- removing extra skin from the stomach area, were the most popular procedures. In Korea, it seems the most popular graduation present for about $800US, is eyelid surgery. For some of the unfortunate people with physical characteristics that are extreme, cosmetic surgery is a life-changing event. In the case of the girl with the protruding chin in the photo- this surgery made her ‘normal’. For the girl with the extremely small, non-existent breasts, it gave her more confidence and a more reasonable figure. But for others, it is a disease called BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) where some part of the body doesn’t seem right even after corrective surgery and the subject obsesses about it causing difficulty in daily life- think Michael Jackson’s nose!
le are feeling less and less confident about their looks and pressure to become more and more beautiful. In the US in 2006, 11.9 Million cosmetic surgery procedures occurred. Many of these included liposuction-- the removing of fat by vacuum, breast 
augmentation- the enlarging of the breasts, nose reshaping, eyelid surgery, and tummy tucks- removing extra skin from the stomach area, were the most popular procedures. In Korea, it seems the most popular graduation present for about $800US, is eyelid surgery. For some of the unfortunate people with physical characteristics that are extreme, cosmetic surgery is a life-changing event. In the case of the girl with the protruding chin in the photo- this surgery made her ‘normal’. For the girl with the extremely small, non-existent breasts, it gave her more confidence and a more reasonable figure. But for others, it is a disease called BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) where some part of the body doesn’t seem right even after corrective surgery and the subject obsesses about it causing difficulty in daily life- think Michael Jackson’s nose!
But the trend for having cosmetic procedures is increasing- up over 44% in the US since 2000. Statistics for South Korea are not current enough to reflect the true nature of the business there, but it seems that 50% of women in their 20s have had one procedure or another. According to a BBC report, one fashion magazine suggested that women spend 30% of their income on looking good.
As a race, people are becoming more and more vain, and are trying everything to avoid getting old. Whatever happened to inner beauty?
No comments:
Post a Comment