Cosmetic surgery is currently spreading all over the world and so are the issues associated with it. Many factors are involved in this rapidly evolving field. These include:
- Socio-economic development
- Cultural norms, globalization
- The effects of Western culture, advertising, media, and psychological problems
Nowadays, cosmetic surgery is becoming a profitable business. It deals exclusively with the human appearance and less with beauty based on physical protest. It is considering sex, age, and race. In the last few years, the morality of plastic surgery has undergone many moral dilemmas. However, the role of the patient, irrespective of his/her unrealistic dreams, has a questionable ethical dimension.
The problem is the loss of human values and the replacement of false values, pride, and glory. This may underlie some of the ethical issues that have arisen. Cosmetic surgery is different from the general principle of legal liability in professional orientation. It is because cosmetic surgery is different from the common therapeutic objective. So, these service providers must maintain a commitment and priority to patient safety. Before they take any action, they should make a real application to this service recipient. Also, the Confidentiality of patient-physicists is the foundation of medical ethics.
In this article, we are going to provide information about Issues of Cosmetic Surgery.
Social Issues of Cosmetic Surgery
If it’s a more chiseled jaw or a smaller nose, everybody has heard or complained about a physical feature they wish they could change. Plastic surgery has been a popular solution to society’s insecurities. Even patients as young as 13 years of age receive it.
Many of the procedures are unnecessary, particularly for such a teenager. Bodies and facial features often change as people grow older. This makes no sense to consider cosmetic surgery at such a young age.
People sometimes want to hide the surgery itself. It has been a taboo and controversial topic in the past. Rather than being open about it, many prefer and hide that they took plastic surgery. For, e.g., Kylie Jenner remained silent while she speculated that she was getting lip fillers. But she later admitted.
Celebrities of this day and age encourage the regular use of cosmetic surgery. For, e.g., makeup artist Jeffree Star has followed the trend of plastic surgery. Today, few actresses have not gone under the knife to “perfect their looks.” So it is only natural for young people to follow their teen idols. As a result, procedures such as nose jobs and lip fillers are not rare among individuals.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the most common treatment for an individual is rhinoplasty or a nose job. It alone accounted for more than 31,000 procedures in 2016.
Plastic surgery has its risks. Anesthesia is still unpredictable. Also, the recovery process will take about four to six weeks. Imagine an active high school student having to stop their cosmetic surgery schedule and have their academics and physical practice put on hold due to vanity.
There may be breathing problems and chronic headaches associated with rhinoplasty and botox. But you can treat these problems. Still, cosmetic surgery is not worth the risk, especially for minors. So minors should try to avoid going under anesthesia for cosmetic purposes.
The growing commonality of people plastic surgery encourages self-esteem issues among youth. It produces the illusion that cosmetic surgeries are the only viable option to obtain the results. Flaws make people who they are. Society needs to accept their imperfections. They should not encourage people, especially teenagers, to change them.
Ethical Issues of Cosmetic Surgery
Plastic, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery refer to several operations performed to replace or rebuild body parts that look normal or to improve a structure or anatomy that is already normal. Several legal considerations must be considered carefully. These include the patient’s right to self-reliance, informed consent, and benefit. The medical profession’s primary goal is to provide services with full respect for human dignity. Plastic surgeons should merit the patients’ trust entrusted to their care. They should give each one a complete measure of service and devotion. They need a huge amount of education and preparation. The rise in demand for plastic surgery and media practice promotion also raised some concerns. These are about the circumstances under which cosmetic surgery is ethical and legal.
New technologies derived from such research almost often pose ethical and policy concerns.
Medical ethics regulate what is, and is not, correct in advocating cosmetic surgery to the public. It is important to create an educated public on plastic surgery’s ethical issues. Plastic surgeons need to carefully assess the degree of deformity, physical and mental maturity. Science is a powerful force for progress in modern society. Plastic surgeons are responsible for improving their behavior with careful ethical scrutiny.
According to Beauchamp and Childress’s Biomedical Ethics Guidelines in 1979, four principles serve as the ethical basis for current medical practice.
1. Respect for Human Dignity
Responsible adults have the right to determine whether or not to perform a surgical procedure. They need to be provided with the operational risks and whether there are choices for surgery. Plastic surgeons should ensure that patients’ expectations of the procedure are realistic.
2. Compassionate Care
Surgeons have to act in the best interests of the patient. Patients who experience pain, anxiety and are socially ostracized because they are self-conscious of their appearance will benefit from cosmetic plastic surgery. So, patients with body dysmorphic disorder have become common. Hence, cosmetic surgery has become an addiction that needs to be addressed.
3. Choosing Who To Represent
Surgeons should not be harmed by working against the best interests of the patient. Whether the cosmetic plastic surgeon feels like the procedure is not in the patient’s best interests, they have the right to continue to perform the procedure. If a patient has severe health problems, this can raise the risk of surgical complications. Then the surgeon has to decide whether the surgery should continue.
4. Available Healthcare
Health care should be available to anyone who needs it, but this is not always the truth. Although, cosmetic surgery is not always available with limited resources.
The commitment to these principles provides an ethical basis for the practice of surgery.
The Bottom Line
Plastic surgeons use the 4 main ethical principles defined by Beauchamp and Childress. There are some ethical and social issues of cosmetic surgery. But the literature on plastic surgery has a relative lack of papers focused primarily on ethics. It is reported by Chung et al.
As plastic surgery and other surgical fields continue to develop with the advancement of technologies and surgical procedures, simultaneous improvement in ethical reflection and discourse is still needed. Many ethical situations within plastic surgery could influence other surgical disciplines.
