Thursday 5 August 2010

Plastic surgery and botox - do they really make you beautiful??

I was in the hairdressers yesterday and whilst there I indulged in some tacky magazine reading - a guilty pleasure shared by many I am sure!! The one article that stood out to me, amongst tales of celebrity weddings and pieces on the 'in' handbag, was one about teen starlets indulging in various cosmetic surgeries and procedures.

I personally find the thought of any plastic surgery, or the invasion of my body by poison spurting needles, absolutely abhorrent. I am fortunate to have an average body with a reasonable face, but even at the age of 46 with things beginning to droop, I am in no way tempted to alter the way I look.

These young actresses though were apparently queueing up to have their faces filled, plumped and frozen.Nearly all the girls ( and interestingly they were all girls ) were pretty gorgeous before any procedure.After, at least from the photos printed, they looked ghastly.All of them were sporting the classic 'stuck in a wind tunnel' look.All expression or sign of movement in their features had been annihilated.

Why??? Why on earth do these girls feel the need to conform to a certain look?They must be so lacking in any self confidence.Their advisors must be so short sighted to tell them that pneumatic lips, huge boobs and shiny frozen foreheads are the way to go...




This does not even start to address the health risks... The whole idea of manipulating our bodies, filling them with substances with no idea of future side effects, undergoing massive surgeries, just in order to 'look younger' is, to me, obscene.What is this obsession with the rejection of ageing?What is wrong with getting old?It happens to us all no matter how much surgery we have.

And the awful thing is that these people don't actually look younger, do they? They just look ' procedurised'.I bet any one of us could spot someone who has had 'work' done at 100 paces. We don't look at them and think 'Gosh! She looks young and gorgeous...' We think 'Bloody hell.... she's had stuff done' At worst we snigger that someone has been so desperate to look gorgeous that they have in fact ruined their looks. At best we sigh sadly that someone has felt so insecure....

Maybe its a sign of the times... that we are so dissatisfied with our lots.... that we are so obsessed with materialism, with the cosmetic. I know that this doesn't apply to all of us. Perhaps, in fact, it is the minority of people - who knows? But the fact that people anywhere are prepared to subject themselves to such radical treatment seems bizarre to me.It also seems very sad that women who would appear to have so much are, in fact, so insecure, so lacking in confidence.

I have no desire to have anything done. I would rather eat healthily, exercise and just get on with making the best of my life than spend my hard earned cash on something that makes me sore, ill,uglier than I was to start with... You would hope that plastic surgeons would turn women away rather than profit from their insecurities. Or is that too much to hope? Maybe peoples' desire to make money overshadows their need to do the right thing.

What do you think?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I for one, just want to age gracefully. I mean, look at me. I've been 29 for the last 29 years and have loved every minute of it! But I swear, if my daughter pulls at the flab around my elbow one more time and laughs at how it looks like the skin on a chicken drumstick, I may have to resort to something foolish, like plucking my eyebrows or something.

Love your blog,
Liz (aka Ninny)

Kork said...

I shall age, but will fight it - with my personality and lifestyle - eating good food, not indulging in nasty things too often, I choose not to smoke and don't drink often. that said - plastic surgery is AWFUL!
I am of the strong opinion that we have become a society of instant gratification where, if we CAN, we therefore OUGHT to do things...

I won't go on, as I'll get myself all worked up and make someone angry.

I do indulge in hair coloring, and some other things I consider small, like facial hair waxing, and some skin care products that contain things to help my skin look healthy and therefore, I suppose younger?

But I'm glad of the spots and lines that are appearing - they only come with wisdom and experience. And I'm not so afraid of having LIVED that I don't want those outward signs.

Gail said...

I have earned my wrinkles and am very proud to show them.

Louba said...

I'm with Gail - I've earned the lines I have - from laughter tears and living life. I don't understand why anyone would give up a huge chunk of their life to have work done which makes them look worse and eats up time when they could be doing something amazing - or just sitting on the couch in their pajamas :)

Razmataz said...

From a slightly different perspective I will tell you that I do indulge in a little something. I take care of myself, eat right and exercise, so the fact that my upper lip disappeared and had crevices like a chain smoker really bothered me. I get a lip filler every 4 months. Even with filler, they are on the small side. It is something I NEVER thought I would do, but I felt very haggared and old. I first did it last year when I lost a ton of weight and people noticed I looked a bit different but attibuted it to my weight loss.

I would never have surgery, but this little filler makes a difference to me.

sarah at secret housewife said...

interesting to hear everyone's viewpoints and brave of you to tell us that you have filler Razmatazz, when most comments and my post are anti - procedure.
I am a big fan of make up, skin care lotions & potions etc and I have my hair dyed, but I just can't see myself having anything more radical done. S

Anonymous said...

I colour my hair ( I would look like an aged hag if I didn't) and so far that is it. I have the odd facial too, I am too much of a coward for fillers & botox though. The only thing I would contemplate is having the loose upper eye skin removed (money & courage permitting). It is a shame that fresh young women feel the need to alter their looks so drastically though.

Caz said...

Would you believe my 14 year old daughter only about 2 hours ago mentioned how pretty Lindsay Lohan used to look and how now she has those, 'pouty, botoxy lips'!!! Out of the mouths of babes. I'm with you. I hope to age gracefully.