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Does Plastic Surgery Help People Feel Better About Themselves?
The quick fix may have undesired consequences
Did you ever hear the story of a Chinese man, Jian Feng, who divorced and sued his wife for being ugly? The judge awarded him £75,000 ($103,000) because she had ‘deceived’ him into believing her good looks were natural, when in reality she had spent £60,000 ($83,000) on plastic surgery to transform her appearance.
The allure of cosmetic surgery is that when done well, it can transform you beyond recognition. In Feng's case, it changed someone he saw as so ugly he would sue them, into someone he wanted to marry.
Placing the ‘deception’ to one side, it’s fair to assume that the woman who married Feng changed her appearance because she wasn’t happy with how she looked. Otherwise, she would not have spent so much money on changing her appearance.
The short-term fix
Generally, people have cosmetic surgery for similar reasons. There is a part of their body they dislike, and that dislike manifests into self-esteem issues.
And oh my, are there lots of people who are unhappy with their appearance. In 2018 alone, nearly 18 million people in the US underwent a cosmetic procedure.
