Risks Of Plastic Surgery

I am at an age where women I know and the celebrities I am interested in are frequently considering or going for plastic/cosmetic surgery. I am not a fan of these needless surgeries and I have said so before. I believe in aging gracefully and working with what God gave us. Besides, that, there are no guarantees that surgery will actually make you look better, it could have the opposite result. And, by going under the knife, you assume all kinds of risks, some life threatening and possible disfigurement, not to mention serious health complications. Frankly, I would rather take my chances and throw myself under a bus than go through this surgery.

I have heard of a couple of cases of surgeries gone wrong recently and I wanted to know all the risks involved, besides the obvious. And it didn’t take more than a couple of clicks to see how much danger people are putting themselves in for basically no reason, in my opinion. I will use my source as the Mayo Clinic, who were kind enough to educate their readers on the subject.

Let’s say you go into surgery healthy, without prior medical conditions which would only add tremendously to the risk factors. There could be complications arising from anesthesia such as blood clots, pneumonia and sometimes death. There could be infections at the incision cite and even internally, which may worsen scarring and may require additional surgery. Infections that get serious enough may also lead to death and infections are not uncommon! There may be fluid build up under the skin. There may be mild to moderate bleeding which requires more surgery or even a transfusion. Scarring or skin breakdown when healing skin separates from healthy skin and has to be removed. And numbness or tingling from possible nerve damage which may be permanent. You may need weeks or months to recover! That is going to affect your quality of life (Mayo Clinic).

I’m sure Kanye West’s mother, Donda, wasn’t expecting the worst when she went in for surgery at the age of 58. She was a retired English professor who wanted to have some routine cosmetic surgery: breast reduction, tummy tuck, and some liposuction. She died the next day of heart failure. The doctor who operated on her, Dr. Jan Adams, a Harvard graduate, surrendered his medical license after a series of complaints were filed against him. However, the autopsy report and the hospital records did not find any evidence of complications during the surgical procedure. Her heart just couldn’t take it. This is just one case we’ve heard of because it’s a celebrity’s mother. How many more don’t we hear about?

Aside from the high risk factors, we have certainly seen, time and time again, how much worse celebrities look after cosmetic surgery than before. Surely that was not their goal. But there are no guarantees you are going to look like the image you have in your mind. After seeing the outcomes of so many surgeries gone wrong, people are still opting for these procedures. It boggles my mind, seriously. And what’s more is that even when these procedures turn out exactly the way they are supposed to, and you get the perfect face lift, it’s not permanent. You have to keep going back to have it redone, eg. Joan Rivers. And then you wind up looking like an alien with an expressionless face, frozen by the tightness of the skin being stretched to smooth it out. Geez!

Well, I just had to get that off my chest. If it makes one person reconsider plastic/cosmetic surgery, then I will be happy. It’s just not worth it, no matter how many ways you look at it. (And I didn’t even go into the expense!)