member for 36 weeks 6 days
I suspect there’s been a certain curiosity and/or bewilderment why Freda asked me to join Alpha Women. Certainly, the type of woman here is strong, self assured, and confident. Most of you aren’t looking for, nor needing, much of what I discuss. I’m not here to sell. That’s not who I am. I initially thought it would be a good forum to make information available and straight talk about plastic surgery and skin care. For many years I took care of terrible burns, severe trauma deformities, and children with cleft lips and other malformations. I’ve seen what an improvement in any disfigurement can do for a person.
Humans, by nature, are a visual species. We react to others by their features, speech, mannerisms, and intellect. Most of us are satisfied with who we are, despite some self-perceived irregularities; a mole on one’s chins, slight hump on the nose, big feet, hairy arms, etc. These variations of the species occur with regular frequency and don’t elicit adverse reactions from others. In fact, these physical variations are often pushed to the back by personality and the how one communicates with others.
Humans throughout recorded history have wanted to look their best in front of others. Men wore the strongest armor or the finest robes. Women painted their lips and graced themselves with jewels. Presently, makeup, lip-gloss, eyeliner, men’s hair gel, fitness workouts, hair dye, etc. are evolutionary changes of our physical self-esteem. No one thinks ill of him or her.
As technology and science have advanced, there have been increasing options for those who felt their personal variation was just a little more (or less) than the norm. Hair on the upper lip of a woman: laser hair reduction. Balding man: hair transplants. Sagging eyelids, sometimes obstructing vision: upper lid blepharoplasty. Can’t fit into the clothes you’d like to wear after three children: weight reduction or liposuction or tummy tuck.
No one needs to do these things. They’re just available if you want or need them. In this day and age, being ostracized for wanting to feel better about yourself has generally gone by the wayside. Some people are au natural, some use makeup and hair color, some use Botox, some have breast augmentations or liposuction.
How you feel about yourself is a balance of your inner and outer self. That’s the ultimate goal. The ability to choose from a multitude of options is to our benefit and our greatest strength.
It’s a personal choice.
Ricardo Izquierdo, M.D., FACS
Board Certified Aesthetic Plastic Surgeon
ric.izquierdo@faceandbodychicago.com
http://www.FaceAndBodyChicago.com
Comments
Login or register to post a commentHowdy doc, Thanks for the
Howdy doc,
Thanks for the info. I agree to a certain point that plastic surgery is a personal choice. But I also think it a personal choice based on misaligned social distortions and Hollywood inspired standards of beauty that are unrealistic and unsightly on many.
Where does one draw the line between self improvement and self mutilation? How do breast augs differ from foot binding?
I remember when I was in college, some women who lived on my floor were pledging a sorority. For one of their "tasks" they had to go to a frat and let the guys "mark it with an X" all the places on their bodies that were too fat, too muffin top, too small, etc, with black permanant marker, and they had to keep the marker there for a week. I would love it if I could find those women now. I bet a million dollars that I don't have that they STILL harbor insecurities from that kind of "assessment." When people experience that kind of social pressure in regards to their appearance, I have a hard time thinking that any action to "correct" or "better" whatever area is lacking, is more often a response to harsh, unrelenting criticism rather than a personal choice.
I'm afraid I'm with the Dr. on this one.
I have to disagree with you, Danielle. Foot binding was done TO women; breast implants are done by choice, often at great personal expense. To me, that's the difference.
I "get" what you're saying; I just don't know if that many people REALLY have plastic surgery just to conform to someone else's standard of beauty.
I am going to have to agree
I am going to have to agree with Lisa and the Doc on this one.
Another long reply-I can't help it!!!
Yes, foot binding was done to women (starting in childhood
but it was a practice perpetuated by mothers of the daughters as a way to make daughters more attractive to men, and reinforced by mothers of potentials husbands. It was a constructed beauty standard that had a huge impact on a woman's ability to get married, which obviously meant it affected her economically and socially.
I just can't help but draw the parallels between practices like foot binding and modern cosmetic surgeries that create body parts in ways they do not appear naturally-all in the name of beauty. Obviously foot binding was far more twisted and detrimental to a person's health, but in principal, the foundational motivations seem pretty similar to me.
beauty
getting a man
obtaining higher social status
looking better in the fashion trends of the day at whatever physical, financial, or emotional cost.
feeling better about oneself (because you have the above)
I am not bothered by corrective plastic surgery, or any kind of plastic surgery that helps a person with a serious or even slight malformity. I (like most women) have one breast that is slightly smaller than the other, and I have thought about "correcting" it many, MANY times. But even in that process I am making a judgment on what is "correct" and "incorrect" about my boobs and that involves starting from some standard in order to help me gauge my decision.
I actually think we do all kinds of things, on a DAILY basis to conform to someone else's standard of beauty both small and large scales. I dye my hair because my 40% gray head makes me look and feel old in my opinion, and I don't want to look old. Why do I think that way? Does it come solely from me, or I am a product of a society that beats it into my psyche that looking younger is better? I also wear high heel shoes that cause me constant discomfort in my feet and ankles because I LOVE THE WAY THEY LOOK. But are there other external voices/influences that helped shape that opinion?
Don't get me wrong I totally think that societal standards become our own, so in a sense we are making our own personal choices, but I still think standards of beauty, in our culture are heavily marketed to us by people who stand to make lots of money from our efforts to make "self-improvements".
I don't think people intentionally set out to conform to someone else's standard of beauty either, but I do think that is what ends up happening. I think that generally, people get plastic surgery because they really want their bodies to look a certain way because they believe it will make them feel better about themselves. I think that those "certain ways" though are greatly influenced by fashion trends and hollywood, and that makes me nervous. ESPECIALLY when I start seeing young women getting boob/nose jobs as high school graduation presents. I think that's just plain crazy. I would not judge a grown adult who decided to go under the knife, but when teenagers who are still developing physically and emotionally decide to get plastic surgery, something is wrong.
Don't even get me started on the impact plastic surgery has in eliminating cultural attributes of people.
I can understand your point.
I can understand your point. However, there are people whose physical appearance is either far from the norm (large protruding ears, excessively large breasts causing pain, large twisted noses) or have had excessive changes that occur with aging, pregnancy, or massive weight loss which is incongruous to how they feel of themselves. The person in the mirror does not match the person in their mind. The state of plastic surgery (corrective or cosmetic) here in the midwest is far from the "Hollywood" caricatures. I turn down patients because of unreasonable or unnatural expectations. It's not about changing who you are or what you look like anymore. It's about subtle refinements and matching realistic expectations based on your age and form.
Fakeness is not a good result. Matching the inner and (realistic) outer self is the goal. As I said, most people are content with who they are and what the have. It's a personal choice that some people use to rectify the imbalance they perceive. A good surgeon must have an understanding with his patient about reality vs. perfection.
It encourages me to know
It encourages me to know that you define a difference between reality vs. perfection and that you do turn down patients who have unreasonable or unnatural expectations.
I guess living in L.A. skews my opinion about plastic surgery a bit because people here really do ridiculous things to their faces and bodies. I see it all the time. Over sized, rock hard melon boobs, collagen lip injections that look like an allergic reaction to something, and older women who botox to the extreme. There are many here in LA who really like the fake look. I saw a plastic surgeon in an interview and he said that he gets more requests for faker looking breasts than more natural looking ones. I am in the porn capital of the world too, maybe that has something to do with it.
I am glad the option is there for people who really need it and for those who feel incongruous to themselves. That was an interesting point. I have never felt that way before, I just always felt external pressure to change myself. I guess that's why I never got surgery...in the end I realized I'd be more incongruous to myself with a boob job than without. Thanks for the insight.
"I paint my own reality." -Frida Kahlo
I'm so glad that you guys
I'm so glad that you guys are talking this out! Danielle I really like the way that you state your claim and really have substance to back it up with but I like how you also allow Dr. Ric to explain where he is coming from. He is a great guy and a great Doctor. I remember when I went in 12 years ago to get my augmentation, I really really wanted to cantaloupe looking fake boobs and he wouldn't do it. WE fought over it for about a week and he said he just wouldn't do it.
I yielded and I am glad that I did. Like I said, I was appalled when a friend of mine told me I should get them done. But, I have to agree with him because they were so saggy from breastfeeding and although it didn't really bother me, I decided to do it not to feel more secure or confident, I had enough of that, I just thought it would be nice and I was right they have been nice.
So enough of that. I just really like how you discuss subjects. You are a classy lady!
xoxo,
Freda