Cosmetic and plastic surgery has been around for centuries, but first became popular after WWI when it was used to help injured soldiers. There has been a lot of controversy on this subject ever since. Even though not everyone is a candidate, cosmetic or plastic surgery can be very helpful in the right situations, such as, medical emergencies like burns or accidents and to correct birth defects.
Many people believe that cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery are the same thing. This is incorrect. Cosmetic surgery is intended to improve a patient’s self-image by correcting a feature they are not happy with (Check, 2008). Plastic surgery is used to correct physical deformities and disfigurements caused by birth defects, injuries and disease (Check, 2008). Both types of surgeries have many benefits both physically and emotionally.
Cosmetic surgeries are on the rise, in 2004, there was a 5% increase in procedures with over 9.2 million procedures performed, this was reported by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 2005). To prepare for surgery and make sure a patient is a good candidate for surgery, physicians like to meet and talk with the patients. The doctors go over the procedure, risks and answer any questions a patient may have. At this meeting, doctors are looking for red flags that would indicate if a person should not have surgery. People who should not have surgery fall into two groups, one is people with certain medical conditions, such as, people who have heart problems, high blood pressure or are excessively obese. The other group is people with psychological issues for example someone who is suffering from a loss of a spouse, a person going through a divorce or going through menopause. Physicians also want to know the patients expectations and make sure they are realistic. If a patient is healthy, both physically and psychologically, and their expectations are not unrealistic, they make a good...