My, how times have changed

[dakotanorth]

Opinions, of course.

I wonder if people who are against cosmetic surgery are also against Orthodontics.

Personally, no I don't- this falls under corrective surgery. Bad teeth, crooked teeth, underbites etc affect your ability to eat, talk, clean and maintain your teeth's health. Over time you can develop TMJ for example if things are not corrected. But that's just me.

[huh]

 

[Jovan]

Personally, no I don't- this falls under corrective surgery. Bad teeth, crooked teeth, underbites etc affect your ability to eat, talk, clean and maintain your teeth's health. Over time you can develop TMJ for example if things are not corrected. But that's just me.

[huh]

Indeed. I have to have braces soon, or else my overbite will get worse.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

In defense, I'm saving up for plastic surgery. If I had kids, I don't think I'd buy a book in order to explain it to them. I'd just say 'Mommy is sick of looking at her scars and wants to wear a two piece bikini at least once in her lifetime. You'll understand when you're bigger.'

I think, if most women were given the option to improve on their appearance, money being no object... they would. I think Jayem is speaking the truth here.

I haven't had plastic surgery per se, but I have had laser hair removal to my legs and other parts. And I would gladly endure the pain of laser burn and aggravation of having to foot a $1500 bill ...to do so for the time I have gained from not having to shave and how good it feels to not be a sasquatch anymore.

Feeling good about oneself is addictive in my opinion. To what end? I am not sure.

 

[miss_elise]

Personally, no I don't- this falls under corrective surgery. Bad teeth, crooked teeth, underbites etc affect your ability to eat, talk, clean and maintain your teeth's health. Over time you can develop TMJ for example if things are not corrected. But that's just me.

here here, plus if your teeth are mis-aligned they will grind in the wrong places and then you can end up with painful little teeth stubs...

 

[Miss 1929]

identical thread names...

there's one over in the Observation Bar with the same title... but it is WAY more vintage in content...

 

[$ally]

We wouldn't have seen a book like this in the Golden Era. The most disturbing illustration to me was the one with the daughter saying 'but you're already the prettiest mommy in the world'. The message is that isn't good enough. What do the people who love you know? Wow.
I'm not against people making perceived superficial improvements. Most of my friends (male and female) have had work done. It's a personal choice. Sometimes it is even a career investment.
I am asking what happened to our priorities? What if Mother Theresa had decided she'd rather spend $5000 on getting big knockers than to spend that much to feed and shelter some of the homeless children in our world? I could have given up my lovely chin collection to liposuction or forehead roadmap to a lift. Instead we saved a fund for my son, that he can dip into for his study abroad trip to China this summer.
My face, I don't mind it, for I am behind it. I don't see that looking different would make my life better, so I haven't bothered with the stuff. Besides I see some of these cosmetic surgeons and I think 'physician heal thyself'.

 

[gluegungeisha]

I wonder if people who are against cosmetic surgery are also against Orthodontics.

Orthodontics are often purely cosmetic, but just as often not. My mother refused to have braces put on me until she received concrete proof that I actually needed them to avoid serious problems in the future.

 

[cherry lips]

My face, I don't mind it, for I am behind it.

Well put.:eusa_clap

 

[PADDY]

Well...

Indeed. I have to have braces soon, or else my overbite will get worse.

Been there myself many moons ago.


Good Luck with that.

 

[MissHannah]

Why do so many people feel that they have 'imperfections' that need 'correcting'? What is this obsession with perfection? And who decides what perfection is? Why is a big nose worse than a small one? Why are wide hips supposedly less desirable than narrow ones? Who decides on these standards?

I am not anti-cosmetic surgery per se but it breaks my heart to see so many beautiful women (let's face it, it is mostly women who succumb to this pressure) spending thousands on potentially life-risking surgery to 'correct' what they believe are flaws. Do we really need an entire generation of women with the same perfect small slender nose, straight blindingly white teeth and wrinkle-(and expression)free faces? Will our faces become as homogenised as our High/Main Streets? I can't see why people should be made to feel less valuable if they age and sag and get fatter. God forbid that we should demonstrate our humanity and mortality with our external appearance!!

Long live the unique faces and bodies of the human race I say.

PS. Just for the record, I have crooked teeth, a lumpy nose, one boob bigger than the other and one leg longer than the other. I want to learn to love these elements that make me unique, not surgically correct them.

 

[Avalon]

Plastic surgery, when needed, is fine. Burn victims, birth defects, etc.
Plastic surgery, when it will help the outside convey the inside of the person (for example, he was fat, he lost weight, now he's thin but has excess skin) is good too.
When it's treated as an overhaul- ie, "I'm bored with my appearance" or "I just don't like my nose anymore" then it's a gray area that I don't agree with.

:eusa_clap Right with ya! Except it's not so grey for me - I'm completely against the whole "surgery as beauty treatment" movement.

 

[pigeon toe]

MissHannah, I completely agree with you.

When I was 12 or 13 I was at the orthodontist's getting my braces tightened. The doctor said to me, out of the blue, "You know, you can get your chin fixed really easily. You and your mom could go to it together, like a mother daughter bonding experience."

Now, most of you probably haven't noticed unless you've seen me in person, but I have a really weak chin (and so does my mom)! I never liked my profile much at all, and still don't like getting photographed from the side, but never had I considered getting SURGERY for it! To say to a 12 year old that she should go get cosmetic surgery to fix a "flaw" is just INSANE to me! Instead of becoming more self-conscious about it, that just made me want to NEVER get cosmetic surgery, to prove to him, myself and everyone else that I'm just fine the way I am.

 

[Miss 1929]

The things they say!

One of my friends was at a plastic surgeon having a scar from an accident corrected, and he said "You know, you'd be pretty if you had a chin"!

And she's GORGEOUS!!! The way she is!!!

 

[Big Man]

I took a look at the book from the link provided in an earlier post. The following is an excerpt:

... her son Junior, who turns nine this month ... He told her that her stomach looked "pruney," the result, he thought, of staying in the shower too long ... Instead of being uncomfortable about the surgery, Acosta says her son actually spoke up about it at a big party. "Did you see her new belly button? It's so pretty!" he said of his mom. "I think he was proud," she says.

What I want to know is what the hell is a 10 year old boy doing looking at his mother's belly button and bragging about how pretty it is at a party. Am I so old and so far out of touch with modern reality that I find this 10 year old boy's behavior strange?

When I was 10 years old if I had seen my mother's naked body I would have wanted to poke my eyes out with a burning stick. When I was 10 years old if I had commented about my mother's "pretty belly button" at a party I would have quickly had those words slapped out of my mouth.

 

[pigeon toe]

When I was 10 years old if I had seen my mother's naked body I would have wanted to poke my eyes out with a burning stick. When I was 10 years old if I had commented about my mother's "pretty belly button" at a party I would have quickly had those words slapped out of my mouth.

Hahaha, that's hilarious! If he were 4 or 5, that would maybe be acceptable, as kids that age say the weirdest and bluntest things ever (my boyfriend's 5 year old niece asked me in one sitting both why I was white and why I had a small chest!), but 10? No way!

 

[Feraud]

Instead of being uncomfortable about the surgery, Acosta says her son actually spoke up about it at a big party. "Did you see her new belly button? It's so pretty!" he said of his mom. "I think he was proud," she says.

I would say this is an exaggeration on the author's part to support the book's intention.

 

[Paisley]

I thought about how he saw his mom's belly, too. Maybe they were at the pool. (I hope.)

 

[Big Man]

I would say this is an exaggeration on the author's part to support the book's intention.

I think he's most likely a goofy little kid who, at 10 years of age, still sleeps with his mommy (probabally due to the fact that she can't bring herself to let him grow-up).

Gee, I've been working at "the asylum" way too long ... [huh]

 

[Smuterella]

I thought about how he saw his mom's belly, too. Maybe they were at the pool. (I hope.)

Are you suggesting there is something wrong with seeing your parents bodies?

 

[Big Man]

Are you suggesting there is something wrong with seeing your parents bodies?

It probabally has more to do with the difference in your and my age as to how we may look at the same thing. What may be "right" for you may be "wrong" for me. Who's to really say?

However, that being said, I don't think children need to be "over exposed" to their parent's bodies - especially a child of 10 years of age. Call me old school or out-of-step with the times, but that's the way I see it. [huh]