GENESE

Every Body is Unique:

Or can cosmetic surgery give us happiness?

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."         
 
- Steven Paul Jobs

1. Worldwide phenomenon

Two fatal mental illnesses: Lookism and Hypochondria

＊  "My Big Fat Plastic Surgery Prize Draw " allows winners
                       to get free cosmetic surgery.(London)

IHAS/Baaps: "They're enticing people to have cosmetic surgery

who may not have even thought about it."

＊  Surgery & Safari in Johannesberg: luxurious tours since 2003.
Motto: Surgery and Recuperation with time to heal away from
          public scrutiny.

2. Anorexia & Cosmetic Surgery

Those who have unreasonable desire, to obtain both beauty and health,

try to control themselves, first not to eat. [Anorexia]

And they become drastic and make a bold decision.
                                                             [Cosmetic Surgery]

2.1. Cosmetic Surgery < Plastic surgery: Sushruta Samhita, 8.C. BC~

* Sudden death directly after Blepharoplasty:                     a girl aged 21 died in Korea (2007). *After an abdominal liposuction surgery (2002),                  a women died aged 42 in UK (2009), caused by a long-term infection resultingfrom it.                      A laparoscopic adjustable gastric band ▶

* An option! Employment beauty surgery? [by 알바천국 Arbeit Heaven]

- 61 % of 1,023: would go, 8 %: a must to get a job
* Problems: Cosmetic Surgery doesn't assure job security.

           It isn't covered by most health insurance, is still dangerous,
   especially for adolescents who are growing. (Weight-loss surgery!)

2. 2. Anorexia: one of the Siamese twins of Cosmetic Surgery

* Symptoms

  - Refusal to maintain a healthy body weight

- An obsessive fear of gaining weight.

- Deny all but very small quantities of food, merely 600–800 calories
per day and in extreme cases complete self-starvation.

* Statistics

- One in 250 women, one in 2000 men experience anorexia.

- About 20 people in Britain die from anorexia every year.

- Most of the deceased are female, but about one in 10 is now a male.

*Cases

- A 27 years aged: "With anorexia there is a little voice that you get. There's a voice in your head that criticizes, it judges, it tells you what you can eat and what you can't eat."    
                http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-14377967?

- A talented ex-gymnast, 10 years old, began to worry about her weight.
In obsession she cut out sweets and chips, then dairy and meat and
finally everything but salad. She had lost 17 pounds in the six weeks,
was dying.

"When I was sick…I kept hearing a voice inside telling me that
I wasn't good enough."  http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/08/tweens.anorexia.parenting/index.html

*Notice

-Anorexia can affect men and women of any age,race and socioeconomic   
  and cultural background.
- Onset age decreased from an average of 13 to 17 years of age to 9 to 12.
                                                                                                                  -WiKi

*Problems
- Eating disorders as a problem in schools (more than 60% of elementary  
  and middle school): National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and   

  Associated Disorders. NAAN is fighting Pro-anorexia websites.

- Pro-anorexia websites:

Pro-anorexia: Most claim that they exist as a non-judgmental environment for anorexics.  Some deny anorexia nervosa is a mental illness     and claim it is a "lifestyle choice." Often (84%, in a 2010 survey) feature thinspo:                                         An example of Thinspiration ▷ Wannarexia(anorexic yearning): Someone who claims to have anorexia nervosa, or wishes they did, but does not.

 

[cf.] Fat acceptance movement: 
       Against Lokism.  Lookism is discrimination based on looks. 
    
         (Obesity might decrease human efficiency and 
          obese people interfere with laborproductivity.)  

  → People can pursue mental and physical health  regardless
     of their physical appearance or size.

3. To be healthy and beautiful?

 

The cosmetic measure, which is superficial, will do nothing to help
keep the beauty long term. Humans are mortal, including healthy and
beautiful ones. Important is how we can cope with ourselves with

confidence. Happiness is our state of mind or feeling, not something
tangible. There are too many things in the world waiting for us to
experience. We are the result of what we have done, not how we look.

So, live your life and

                       Remember, Every Body is Unique!

Suh Yong-Jwa, Oct.7.2011