Aesthetic surgeries appeared as a necessity after the First World War, which left behind many mutilated soldiers. Over time, however, plastic surgery turned into an obsession with perfection for many patients. In Hollywood, for example, there are few celebrities who do not have any surgical intervention. This phenomenon also comes with risks, plastic surgery experts say.
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In Romania, aesthetic operations were performed even before the Revolution. In 1958, Professor Dr. Agrippa Ionescu founded the Plastic Surgery Hospital in Bucharest. However, the field has developed only since 1995, with the appearance of private clinics. It is the moment when surgical interventions are no longer performed only out of necessity.
More than 60% of the patients of private clinics in our country are young women between the ages of 18 and 35. Now, the field is defined, say plastic surgery doctors, by many exaggerations, which, in turn, mean risks.
Dr. Lucian Popa, primary physician in reconstructive plastic surgery, points out that in a society obsessed with youth and beauty, the tendency to turn to plastic surgery as a quick fix to achieve beauty standards seems to be increasingly important . He also mentions that he refused to operate on certain patients because he considered that they did not need it and that the facelift, practiced more and more often by young people, is not exactly a satisfactory practice.
Social Affirmation vs. Medical Necessity
The plastic surgeon points out that current trends, such as those related to lip acid procedures or facelifts practiced increasingly by young people, may represent a desire for social affirmation rather than a real medical necessity.
“The medical community tends to steer patients toward a natural, less aggressive approach. Which does not lead to deformation. The intervention, through aesthetic operations, in the same place, has a repetition limitation, in order to avoid risks. Because each intervention will lead to a fibrosis of the area and a change in the local characteristics“, warns Dr. Lucian Popa.
Professional responsibility
An important role in this phenomenon has, more than in other fields, the professional responsibility of the surgeon in counseling patients and in making decisions regarding aesthetic interventions.
Doctor Lucian Popa reveals that he refused to operate on certain patients because he thought they didn't need it, emphasizing the importance of a responsible and ethical approach in surgical practice.
“Unfortunately, I have met specialists who fulfill the wishes of the patient. Which is not okay. We should get involved and give advice. I have had patients to whom I told them that I do not operate on them because they do not need it“, confesses the primary doctor in reconstructive plastic surgery, highlighting the importance of a sincere and responsible collaboration between the doctor and the patient.
The history of beauty through the scalpel
Since ancient times, people have been concerned with how they look. However, plastic surgery developed not out of a fad, but out of a necessity. During the First World War a large number of soldiers suffered facial injuries from bullets and shells.
It was the moment when the surgeon Harold Gillies, recognized as the father of modern plastic surgery, tried to reconstruct the faces of soldiers destroyed by war. Soldiers resorted to such operations in order to be able to later integrate into society.
From an approach towards normality, plastic surgery has now turned into an obsession for perfection, for many of the patients. In Hollywood, for example, there are few celebrities who do not have any surgical intervention. And small adjustments such as botox and hyaluronic acid injections are considered small interventions. The list goes on with breast surgeries, rhinoplasty, liposuction or abdominoplasty.
The ugliness syndrome
As a result of the excessive interest in the physical appearance, there is more and more talk about the so-called “dysmorphic disorders” or “ugliness syndrome”. It occurs when a person is preoccupied with a minor defect, often non-existent.
“A person with dysmorphic disorder will immediately look for another area to intervene. I mean, he fixed his nose, he may develop a certain obsession with lips. She fixes her lips, then wants to enlarge her breasts. And so on. And it is a chain of weaknesses that never ends”, explains specialist psychiatrist Cozmin Mihai, from the “Socola” Hospital in Iași.
One of the exponents of this syndrome was considered Michael Jackson.
