Bridalplasty

I'm going to mix it up and post an editorial sort of post rather than a fashion or events post.

There is a new show on E! called Bridalplasty.  It's premise is that it is a competition among 12 brides.  Each has a list of plastic surgery that they want done, and if they win challenges they get these procedures.  Whomever wins gets all their procedures done and their "dream wedding".

Now, this show has gotten A LOT of flack.  It's been chastised for promoting using plastic surgery to change oneself, for promoting the idea that you can't be "perfect" unless you have plastic surgery and doesn't exactly promote the idea of being happy with yourself the way you are. 

I have had plastic surgery, twice to be exact.  However, it was of the reconstructive variety.

I was born with a craneo-facial cleft.  To put it more basically, something went wrong when my face was closing up before I was born, and I was left with a malformed left nostril and a fatty tumor on my forehead.  I had 2 reconstructive surgeries at the ages of 6 and 12 to fix this (although it did not fix it completely, my nose is still not symmetrical, but it's infinitely better than when I was a small child).  The surgeries involved taking cartilage from my ear to help reform my nose and I had liposuction on the fatty tumor, although it later came back. 

I do not regret the fact that I had these surgeries, because I get enough crap for my looks without being given more for having a deformity, however slight.  I am immensely grateful that my parents had the means to have these surgeries done, and for the fact that I was able to have it done by one of the best reconstructive surgeons in the world. 

Still, I cannot imagine ever having more plastic surgery!

For one, it was painful, particularly the liposuction.  As I mentioned, the fatty tumor returned, and my parents wanted me to get it removed again, but I refused.  The first time was so painful, and it just came back, so no way was I gonna do that again!  And that was just on a spot the size of a quarter.  I cannot imagine getting it done on a larger scale.  In fact, the only thing I can conceive of having done is dental veneers because I hate the shape of my teeth and several have been broken or chipped. 

Back to the show, the women on it have different reasons for wanting surgery.  Some are not completely shallow in my opinion: one wanted a nose job to help with scarring that she had there, another wanted breast augmentation because she had had to have parts removed due to cancer.  In these cases, I can't say anything, because their surgeries are really not all that different than mine.  Others simply just seem to want a perfect body; they want liposuction and breast implants and nose jobs just so that they can be "perfect".  This is not a good idea in my opinion, because if you get all these procedures, you might not even look like yourself!  And considering this is for a wedding... the man you're marrying already loves you for who you are, why would you want to change yourself like that!

To clarify, I am not anti cosmetic surgery.  If there is something about yourself that you can't change, and it will really change your quality of life to change it, I'm not going to hold it against you if you do so.  However, when people go overboard and come out looking like a completely different person, I think it's a bit excessive. 

It's hard not to get caught up in looks, especially in a society with a "fix it" mentality.  However, people should learn to be as happy with themselves as they possibly can in my opinion.