Has Plastic Surgery Gone Too Far?

With the increasing popularity of plastic surgery, even non-celebrities feel pressure to look perfect. I have always been strongly against cosmetic surgery and thought people who pay a surgeon to slice them open, insert a toxic implant, and risk bad scarring, infection and even death were suffering from a severe lack of self esteem.

Even 16 year olds are now getting breast implants - what does that say about our society? Children will now grow up thinking that if they don't look perfect, then there must something wrong with them. Or worse yet, they'll think that it doesn't matter what they look like now because they will eventually get plastic surgery to make them perfect. But should humans even strive to look perfect? I've been told that some of my physical traits add character and make me original. In today's society, it seems like I'm in the minority but at least I don't look like everyone else.

Forget dieting and exercise, just go for liposuction or a tummy tuck. You cannot look on television today without finding at least one person on the program - including the news - that has had their entire face reconstructed. Even Dr. Phil's wife, Robin, looks like something off of Dr. Frankenstein's table. She obviously has had her lips injected, a face lift, an eyebrow lift, a nose job, porcelain veneers, and a boob job. So if the wife of a prominent TV psychologist is insecure enough to get a total make-over, then what hope do the rest of us have?

I must admit that recently I've been unhappy enough with my bum to warrant research into the Brazilian butt lift. This procedure can either be performed by inserting implants (similar to breast implants), or by taking fat from the hips or thighs and injecting it into the butt. In looking at the obviously doctored before and after photos, I wasn't impressed, so I'm back to sulking and throwing myself a pity party. Why is it that I work really hard at the gym (to the point where I can barely walk some days) only to look in the mirror and see gravity and cellulite mocking me?

I do lunges, squats, Hack squats, V-squats, leg press, leg extension, leg curl...you name it but yet nothing seems to help. I wish that the butt bra was just as important in our society as the breast bra; I mean why shouldn't it be? Gravity affects the butt just as much as it affects women's breasts. Only when your butt heads south, there's nothing you can put on to hold up your butt cheeks during the day.

OK, so there's Spanx, but that's not really something you can wear to the gym or when you're in shorts in Houston during the day. And embarrassingly, I actually bought a pair of Spanx years ago but never wore them, and then finally I had the opportunity about a month ago, but couldn't get them over my knees. Yep, I was too fat for Spanx; and I weigh less than 110 lbs (most of the time) - see the injustice?

So I understand the population's desire to be thinner, prettier, and less saggy; but I can't help thinking that if Hollywood didn't make beauty - especially in women - such a priority, that the rest of us wouldn't feel pressured to follow suit.