Introduction
Plastic surgery is derived from the Greek word “plastikos” meaning
“to form”. It is a number of medical procedures done with the intent of
restoring or improving the body image.
Types of plastic surgeries are:
- Reconstructive surgery- This is used to repair birth defects,
breast surgery, facial and neck construction, and burn repair
surgery.
- Cosmetic surgery- Use in facelift, rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, liposuction, abdominoplasty, body contouring, buttock augmentation, fat grafting, laser skin resurfacing and injectables.
The techniques used to perform cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery are:
- Endoscope surgery
- Flap surgery
- Laser surgery
- Skin grafting
- Tissue expanding
For the past 20 years plastic surgery has become very popular worldwide causing social pressure and high demand within individuals. Social media have been promoting perfect and edited images on its platforms using filters and photoshop image correction influencing the person’s way of viewing themselves.
Individuals have equated beauty with happiness in the search of perfection. This has made patients have unrealistic expectations from the surgeries performed causing unsatisfaction or regret with the results achieved.
It has evolved from a medical field to a psychological one with social expectations, putting pressure on individuals and posing an ethical and medical question as to where it has crossed these lines. While plastic surgery can improve image it carries risks ofinfection, medical complication reaching to death.
In an article in 2023 from the American Society
of Plastic Surgeons it showed that the top surgeries performed in 2022
were:
- Liposuction
- Breast augmentation
- Abdominoplasty
- Eye surgery