Michelle Says: Yes
If you asked me a year ago, I’d probably have said no. So what’s changed? In the past twelve months or so, I have not, to the best of my knowledge, become any better or worse looking than I was before, nor did I hit any ‘landmark’ birthday. I have what I suspect to be a very average body image – there are parts I’d love a to run a magic wand over but it’s my body and it does what it’s supposed to, we’re working fine together.
So why would I ever consider plastic surgery, when we’ve all seen the poor outcomes? Trout pouts, ridiculous bazookas, faces left with a permanent ‘surprised’ expression. We’re all guilty of looking at celebs post plastic surgery with the cries of ‘she’s so fake!!!’
But, the more I thought on it, the more I felt like anyone who has a problem with the ‘fake’ element was, probably, a little bit delusional.
Hello, I’m Michelle. I have short legs, so I wear heels. My tummy could be a bit flatter, so I own Spanx for those dresses. My hair is highlighted blonde from a natural brown. I’ve donned false nails, eyelashes and tan a countless number of times, and most days of the week I use makeup to contour my face, cover blemishes, and give pops of colour that nature just doesn’t supply.
Does it make me fake? No more so than the next girl I’d imagine. So is plastic surgery just the next step?
I know one girl who’s had a nose job. I only know because she told me. She had a bump from a childhood break that left her miserable, and when she hit her mid-twenties she decided to act on it. I’d never noticed the bump, and I would never have noticed the lack of it, but it was a subtle procedure that left gave her confidence she’d never had before. Who the hell am I to condemn her for it?
As it stands nothing about my body stops me feeling like I can face the day. But if there was, then what’s the harm in a discreet nip/tuck/lift? Not everyone turns into the Bride of Wildenstein, and if you had any idea who many women around you actually have gone under the knife, I’d bet you’d be very surprised…
Rebecca says: No
It’s not that I’m perfectly happy with my body (far from it actually), it’s just that I can’t imagine going through the pain of plastic surgery to have a slightly tucked in tummy or a slightly smoother face.
Like, they actually slice you up and shove needles into your body. It sounds like a scene from one of those Saw films rather than something you willingly ask someone to do to you to make you look better!
Besides you can get the same, well at least similar, results by doing sit-ups and using anti-wrinkle cream every day. Plus it’s far cheaper. I find it difficult to spend €10 on a new book never mind €10,000 on a new face!
There’s also the small issue of things going wrong and coming out with oversized fish lips or a hole in your boob. I just know that if I did ever decide to get it done, I would be the unfortunate case you’d read about in the paper the next day.
I can see the headline now: “GIRL WILL NEVER SIT DOWN PROPERLY AGAIN AS BUM IMPLANTS GO HORRIBLY WRONG.”
For me it just wouldn’t be the worth the pain, risk or money. I mean, would it really change how you look at yourself? If I felt that insecure about a part of my body, it wouldn’t help that I could say I got it fixed with plastic surgery. It would be a shortcut to temporary happiness.
Obviously it’s totally different if you are getting plastic surgery because you have been in an accident or something similar. That I completely agree with and would undertake if I was in that situation. But undergoing surgery for reasons related to vanity is not something I would or could do.
