Undergoing Plastic Surgery

Nowadays, undergoing plastic surgery becomes more common and acceptable by the public. Especially in Korea, advertisements and clinics for plastic surgery are everywhere. The definition of beauty has gradually changed by the society in these few years, people put most of their focus on the appearance and body shape. Many of them undergo various plastic surgeries in order to ‘fit’ the new standard of beauty. However, cases of patients’ death after plastic surgery has raised public awareness, some people suggest to ban plastic surgery. Nonetheless, people have forgotten the advantages and importance of having plastic surgery. This essay will argue the reason why plastic surgery should not be banned.

To begin with, plastic surgery can boost one’s self-esteem and self-confidence. With improved appearance, people evaluate themselves more positively. After surgery, patients are satisfied and pleased with their look and thus more confident to face others, because they do not have to worry about how outsiders see them and they feel less judged. A research published in Clinical Psychological Science states that patients could enjoy a more cheerful life, with higher satisfaction towards life and raise their self-esteem (“Research ties plastic,” 2013). Another study conducted by the Centre for Human Appearance at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reports that 87% of patients felt less negative about their body image in both career and social life (Taryn Davies, 2013). Plastic surgery allows patients to eliminate their physical imperfections and enhance their appearance, they gain contentment through achieving their goals. Therefore, plastic surgery can raise one’s self-esteem and self-confidence level.

Secondly, plastic surgery allows people to meet more opportunities. Most people judge about a person through their first impression. Although everyone knows that appearance does not relate to one’s personality at all, people tends to believe that good-looking people have more advantages. A 2012 study published in Applied Financial Economics reports that attractive real estate agents were able to sell properties at a higher price than those less attractive ones. Other studies have also found that prettier people usually receive higher salaries and get promoted more frequently (Norman H., 2015). Good-looking employees are easily get hired, as they can help company to earn higher profits through drawing more clients’ attention. Moreover, employees tend to do more for better-looking bosses too. Attractive supervisors are perceived as more credible and more persuasive. As a result, plastic surgery can boost one’s competitiveness in the workplace and allow them to grab more chances.

Some people argue that plastic surgery poses negative psychological impacts to patients. If the surgery does not meet the expectation of patients, or there is scar left behind, patients will conduct another surgery to further improve their appearance. This easily causes an addiction to plastic surgery that patients would never agree that their appearance is perfect and stop undergoing. One typical example is Michael Jackson, he has spent 30 years undergoing different kinds of plastic surgery in order to achieve his ideal look. He started out to have a better nose but ended up to around 100 operations (“Revealed: Scalpel,” 2015). Another example is from China, a daughter spending 800,000 yuan on 20 operations over 2 years whom could hardly recognised by her mother (Celine Ge, 2016). It has been observed that many individuals undergoing plastic surgery tend to suffer from an obsession with their look. This can cause an addiction and may impel them to undergo plastic surgery several times.

However, plastic surgery is crucial on medical purpose. Some people are born with a physical impairment, or because of accident. Reconstructive plastic surgery is necessary to recover those impairments so victims can be integrated into the community. It generally refers to plastic surgery undertaken to restore the face or body to as near as "normal" as possible, for instance, skin grafting. One victim from the Taiwan dust party explosion, Megan Loy, had suffered severe burns on 80% of all over her body. After a successful skin grafting surgery, her burn wounds are reduced to only 5% of her body (Janice Tai, 2015). Stanley Cheung, a