Plastic surgery needs to stop

In the last decade or so, plastic surgery has spread like a parasite. For the most popular of celebrities, the idols of the American and global public, appearance altering surgery is common. Women especially use plastic surgery to reach a certain level of perfection or attractiveness through it.  

They shrink their waists, pay for liposuction, ask for Botox in their faces and get fillers in their lips. The list goes on. The goal of these surgeries is to feed off the insecurities of vulnerable people. 

A common theme with these plastic surgeries is getting as close as physically possible to white European features. Hair removal and face contour are just two examples. Another more troubling example is nose jobs. 

Large or hooked noses do not fit into the traditional European beauty standard. Men and women alike are so self-conscious of them that nose reconstruction has developed a market. The goal is to have a petite, short and straight nose to be considered beautiful. 

People who aren’t the beauty standard have been altering their appearance for centuries to meet them, but nose reconstructions are an especially sad result. The process is painful, takes months to heal and looks traumatic to the body. Blood and bruising are a natural part of the process. 

The procedure is expensive and permanent. Patients are changing their appearances, the physical history of all the people before them, their family, for the rest of their lives. 

The idea that so many people would do something so extreme should be concerning, and as a society we should be rethinking our values. At no point should any person feel so uncomfortable with themselves, arguably hating themselves, that they seek out permanent plastic surgery to forever alter their natural appearance. 

There is a pro-plastic surgery side of the issue, or rather people who would say to let people do whatever makes them happy without criticism. I don’t totally disagree with that, but why aren’t we asking ourselves why that would make someone happy? 

When it boils down, isn’t getting a nose job to “fix” your curved nose just trying to be closer to whiteness? Is that not the beauty standard? Should we really say nothing while people permanently alter their appearances, which are naturally beautiful, to be happy according to standards that will eventually change? 

Instead of that we should be pushing for self-acceptance. No one should support someone else’s hate for themselves, even if their intention is good. People deserve to be comfortable in their own skin, and no one’s natural features need altering.