According to statistics released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the top five surgical procedures in 2011 were:
• Breast augmentation (307,000 procedures, up 4 percent)
• Nose reshaping (244,000 procedures, down 3 percent)
• Liposuction (205,000 procedures, up 1 percent)
• Eyelid surgery (196,000 procedures, down 6 percent)
• Facelift (119,000 procedures, up 5 percent)
Steven Z. Kussin, M.D., well-known patient advocate, 30 year New York physician, and medical college professor, warns of the potentially harmful consequences of cosmetic surgery in his own vivid and graphic style:
“The cosmetic surgery never treats the underlying psychological disorder. If you think that plumped-up lips, age and gravity-defying breasts, buttocks and thighs filled with stem cells, silicone and collagen implants, or transplanted body fat will look good when you are in your golden years, go ahead, but, consider this:
“Gentlemen, those buttock implants will cause you to slip from your cabana chairs, golf carts, and wheelchairs. Ladies, the lovely and fetching butterfly tattoos on your breasts will, with Newtonian certainty, flutter down to your navels. When the rest of your body ages gracefully and naturally, those gravity-defying body parts will look stranger then, than your current fantasies about how they look today.
“Think twice when you consider the horrors of the countless cosmetic surgeries gone wrong. Think twice before you subject yourself to clubhouse chatter or nursing-home staff finger-pointing. I can and will face the future bravely, despite my shortcomings, as long as my dignity is preserved.”
Steven Z. Kussin, M.D., Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now: Gaining the Upper Hand in Your Medical Care, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011
Photo: cosmeticsurgery19 (flickr)
Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
