Plastic surgery is important in some cases, but these cases are so rare and far spread that counting by the number of surgeries conducted in the US today, only less than 8% are objectively necessary. There are instances that children are born with lip anomalies or facial disinformation. Correcting such problem with plastic surgery is a noble goal. The same can be said about adults who go through accidents, injuries and burns that wreck their facial appearance. Corrective plastic surgery is well advised then (Papel 163-171). These cases are very infrequent in real life though.
In some cases, secondary infections following major illnesses like cancer may call for corrective plastic surgery at least to reduce the severity of such effects. Plastic surgery when used as a mode of treatment and not for luxurious cosmetic purposes remains a brilliant invention of modern medicine (Papel 163-171). Out of 100 terminal illness patients, only one patient (1%) ever needs plastic surgery to correct a side effect. That means that it is very rare to find a procedure conducted authentically for such corrective purposes. The benefits of plastic surgery have thus been misplaced, misused and taken too far, that they are solely cosmetic driven and never based on medical reasons.
It is a fact that plastic surgery has become far to frequent a medical procedure in modern times. Research has shown that in most of these cases, very few are genuinely necessary. Now, any unnecessary plastic surgery, one not based on medical reasons, is an abuse. As already noted, plastic surgery becomes too much very easily when it is pursued for the wrong reasons. The fact that the first procedure is sought for due to a personal disorder means that even after that initial procedure, the same disorder will push an individual to successive repeat procedures that completely ruin the little good that the procedure could have ever attained.
The most prominent indications of plastic surgery taken too far is when it is pursued as the only way to attain life contentment, majestic beauty and happiness. Even if the plastic surgery was to achieve impeccable results, it only lasts for a while. Again, when plastic surgery is sought for a solution to a life problem, one that the individual may have lived with for years such as in Michael Jackson’s black skin, then the surgery looses meaning. In most cases of plastic surgery abuse, the individuals are undergoing stress and depression and only a cure for their stress would solve their problem not plastic surgery (Papel 163-171).
Most importantly, the media hype and celebrity definition of beauty as seen on TV has had the greatest impact on the abuse of plastic surgery. People are undergoing plastic surgery so that they can look like a person they saw or heard of on TV, since that is what has been defined as beauty. Such individuals will undergo multiple surgeries to correct their looks, totally because of a fancy ideal configured by the media and social trends. In all these outcomes, the essence, use and benefits of plastic surgery have been beyond the level of being tenable. They have swung out of the orbit and become a rollercoaster ride out of control (Mathes 842-971).
Were these procedures as simple as brushing ones teeth or getting a haircut, there would be no problem with people taking them too far; but plastic surgery pretends great dangers and health risks, some of which are not even worth getting a medically prescribed plastic surgery.
Some of these risks include excessive bleeding during and after the surgery, great discomfort in the operated area, secondary infections during and after the surgery, and phenomenal scaring. Scaring is the most obvious risk of having a plastic surgery since it ends up destroying the facial look, to extents worse than before the surgery(Baran & Maibach, pp. 442-446). Another great risk is development of necrosis, a condition in which the tissues die as a result of insufficient oxygen supply to the operated body part (Baran & Maibach 442-446).
Plastic surgery also exposes an individual to nerve damage such that after the surgery, the body part operated on develops numbness and constant tingling sensation before it ultimately gets impaired. In some cases of plastic surgery, individuals develop adverse reactions to certain drugs used in the operation, especially anesthesia (Baran & Maibach 442-446).
According to Iverson (Consumer Guide to Plastic Surgery), plastic surgery is an important procedure in some cases as detailed above, mainly when it is used to correct a medical anomaly. However, when such operations are done purely for aesthetic purpose, some of which are totally mundane, then the procedure becomes a victim of abuse. The worrying thing is that in cases where plastic surgery is done for the wrong reasons, the individuals seek numerous repeat operations for the same or other body parts without ever knowing when to stop. Abusive use of plastic surgery is always oblivious to the many and serious risks dangers of the procedure. When that happens, plastic surgery has been taken too far. Today, this is evident. Plastic surgery as Mathes (1997, 842-971) says; has become a rollercoaster ride totally out of control.