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A Human Being = A Piece of Plastic?
“Gina Gim, please be ready to enter.”
As soon as I entered the hospital, I was shocked because of what I saw before my eyes. The waiting room was full of patients, mostly women dressed in gowns, rapped around in white bandages. Trying to ignore my frightened feelings, I waited in patience. I have always had, what many people call it, “complex,” over my nose ever since I was born. My family talked through this issue and I got my parents’ permission to see the doctor for a primary consultation. After a long talk with the doctors, which explained every detail about cosmetic surgeries and possible side effects, I had given up on my surgery; In fact, I was visually and mentally disgusted by plastic surgeries. I, after this experience, apparently became interested in this issue. Many people, especially women, ceaselessly want to become more beautiful and do not feel satisfied with their physical appearances. Although many people in today’s society pursue plastic surgeries, most of them are not even adequately informed about the surgeries, which could possibly ruin their future.
The dictionary definition of the word, plastic surgery, is a general term for operative manual and instrumental treatment which is performed for functional or aesthetic reasons.” The word "plastic" derives from the Greek, plastikos, which meaning is to shape. The history of cosmetic surgery reaches back to the ancient world. In ancient India, Physicians, including the surgeon Susrutha, were handling skin grafts for reconstructive work as early as the 8th century BC. His work, Sushruta Samhita, explains rhinoplasty, nose surgeries, and otoplasty, widely known as eye surgeries. This knowledge of plastic surgery existed in India up to the late 18th century. The Romans were able to put through simple techniques such as repairing damaged ears around the 1st century BC. The U.S.’s first plastic surgeon was Dr. John Peter Mettauer. He performed the first cleft palate operation in 1827 with instruments designed by himelf. The New Zealander Sir Harold Gillies discovered many techniques used in modern plastic surgeries for those who suffered facial injuries during World War I. Despite the reasonable intentions of plastic surgeries in the past, the side effects of those surgeries are growing into a serious issue within the society.
The Korean news channel YTN has recently reported that a man was holding a demonstration against the hospital where he got his nose done. He was presenting for a claim for the damage because one of his nostrils was getting bigger after seven surgeries done on his nose. The doctors, however, have confuted that the surgery itself had not produced any ill effects on his nose. There are approximately three hundred plastic surgical medical centers running on business today and over 1/4 of the surgeons are not professionals. This is leading so many patients into serious after effects or side effects.
An outgoing seventeen-year-old girl named Soo-kyung makes a visit to a hospital during her summer break. After having a cosmetic surgery, she changes a lot beyond recognition, however she keeps seeing an allusion of her face being cut by surgical knives. Within a few weeks, she ends her own life by cutting off a chunk of her face. This frightening story is only a small portion of a newly produced movie, “The Cinderella.” The movie itself represents the aspirations of teenage girls for beauty. The implications Man Dae Bon, the producer of this movie, was trying to make was to warn his audience how serious plastic surgeries could be. Not only the victims of cosmetic surgery but also the media started criticizing plastic surgeries.
One of the most popular TV shows, “The Swan,” offers ugly ducklings to transform themselves into a beautiful swan. It proposes women an opportunity to undergo physical and mental transformations and follows them through the process. This innovative idea concludes in a particular parade in which one woman will be crowned as “The Ultimate Swan,” who will automatically receive a million dollar award. Each of the contestants are assigned a team of specialists – a therapist, personal trainer, cosmetic surgeon, dentist, and stylist – who work together to design the program. The final reveal is very dramatic because the contestants are not allowed to see themselves in a mirror during the three-month transformation process. The primary purpose of the show was to offer confidence to people who are wounded both physically and mentally all over, however one of the episodes have completely ruined this point.
A mother of a 3-year-old girl who is a household of a small family was selected as a contestant because of her tragic past, getting physical and sexual harassments from her step father. She was emotionally recovered however, when she saw herself in the mirror after the long process, she was apparently shocked. Her little daughter and even herself could not recognize her incredibly transformed physics. This particular episode of the show has “transformed” the contestant’s life into a even worse situation.
Our bodies are the greatest gift our parents handed over to us. Putting a knife on any of our body parts could possibly be considered a crime. Another surgical accident was reported on one of the news media today. So many people of the society have been mentally and physically injured by cosmetic surgeries, and the side effects are condemned by an effective media. It is such a poignant reality that nothing could satisfy women's endless desire for beauty.
Works Cited
Weinzweig, Jeffrey. Plastic Surgery Secrets. Boston: Hanley & Belfus, 1998.
Lee, Wan-Jae. Plastic Surgical Techniques. Seoul: KSI, 2001.
“Fox Reality exec says he didn’t call the Swan ‘worthless.’” Reality TV News Digest. CNET Games & Entertainment. 27 June. 2005.
http://www.tv.com/tracking/viewer.html?tid=10401&ref_id=25662&ref_type=101&tag=story_list;title;4
“Teenage Plastic Surgery.” Go News Page. U of Texas ANM. 07 September 1999. http://news.media.daum.net/society/affair/200609/07/gonews/v13955300.html
“Serious Damage of Plastic Surgeries.” YTN.com. Cable News Network. 07 Sep. 2006 http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=034&article_id=0000313179§ion_id=102&menu_id=102
Bartolomeo, Joey. “Lindsay’s Plastic Crisis.” Weekly US 23 Jan. 2006: 40-44.
White, Kate. “Doctors Say Yes.” Cosmopolitan January. 2006: 168-169.
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