Once upon a time, plastic surgery was a thing only celebrities indulged in, and it was usually received by the media with shock and scorn. Today, however, cosmetic procedures are popular amongst women – and men – from all walks of life. Here are some of the reasons why plastic surgery has become more popular:
COST
While the costs associated with plastic surgery haven’t necessary reduced, the fact that payment plans and finance options have become available mean that plastic surgery isn’t as out of reach as it once was. A £6,000 surgery that would have once been way out of the average Jane Doe’s budget can now be reduced down to a set of affordable monthly repayments. Also, with numerous companies vying against each other for customers, cosmetic surgery packages have sprung-up, offering numerous related treatments for the price of one. Yummy mummy packages, for example, often include tummy-tuck procedures and liposuction at a reduced cost.
ATTITUDES
Attitudes towards plastic surgery have changed considerably. In the past, individuals who opted for plastic surgery were often regarded as vein, or condemned for trying to hard or not embracing the ageing process. Today, things have changed; society has begun to respect the need for all women to ooze self-confidence and feel comfortable in their skin, regardless of the measures they had to take to achieve it. Individuals who feel good about themselves often do well in other areas of their life – girls who aren’t insecure about their appearance will invest their newfound self-confidence into their studying or their careers. Self-confidence fuels the so-called ‘can-do’ attitude. Attitudes which advocate the need for self-confidence have therefore helped to present plastic surgery as a tool for unlocking self-confidence and reduce stigma previously associated with cosmetic procedures. Surgeries such as Gary Ross Plastic Surgery in Manchester has seen a large uplift in customers due to what people see in mainstream media and the celebrity culture.
COSMETIC SURGERY IN MAINSTREAM MEDICINE
The line between cosmetic surgery and medical surgery has blurred slightly over the years as cosmetic surgery techniques have become a staple of mainstream medicine. Plastic surgery techniques are used to repair birth defects such as cleft lips and palates, and to reconstruct parts of the body after illness or injury. As cosmetic surgery and its role in helping patients to recover psychologically from traumatic events has become to be viewed as a legitimate medicine, the stigma associated with undergoing cosmetic surgery procedures has lessened.
ACCESS
Cosmetic surgery is everywhere today – there are advertisements on the TV, on billboards and, with the rise of social media, on popular internet portals. Cosmetic surgery has been normalised as a popular means of improving one’s body and increasing self-confidence; the fear that was once associated with the thought of going under the knife has been dulled by the thousands of success stories published every year on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
Fear of surgery has also been reduced by the emergence of modern, safer-than-ever surgical techniques. Some new liposuction and rhinoplasty techniques avert the need for anaesthesia completely and some face-lift procedures can be completed with local anaesthetic only, thereby reducing the likelihood of negative outcomes and complications,. As techniques are repeated and mastered, scarring becomes less of an issue for surgeons and incisions can be performed artistically to ensure scars are covered by naturally occuring folds in the skin or bra straps.
