Thursday, February 13, 2014

Would you go under the knife?


At some point in many people’s lives there comes a time when a little help is needed with the look or shape of the body.  Whether it is a few nips and tucks here and there or something more major, like breast augmentation for example, it is certainly a popular thing to do.  The reasons for it are usually to make a person look and feel better, and the results can be dramatic. An interesting point about it though is that it doesn’t matter what age you are, and in this feature beauty writer Hannah Goffman explores the relationship that age has on the issue of plastic surgery. Whether you're a person in your teens or of more senior years, there is of course the question of boosting ones self-esteem... but the question remains, would you go under the knife?
While it is true that both men and women go under the cosmetic surgeon’s knife at various points in their lives I am concentrating here only on women.  Generally speaking younger women will have certain things done and, as they get older, they may move onto other procedures. This is not set in stone though. 
According to Dr Jeremy Hunt of Sydney, Breast implants are one of the most popular procedures among women, and might be requested by a young woman in her late teens or maybe by a lady her sixties or seventies. Who is to say that a woman of more senior years shouldn’t enjoy the benefits of beautifully shaped breasts?  In truth, there are a whole host of reasons for taking these steps and I will go through a few of them here.
There really are no boundaries regarding who should or should not have cosmetic surgery procedures.  It could be argued that those under more public scrutiny (women in the entertainment business are obvious examples) are more likely to go under the knife, but some choose not to.  So, where does it all start? 

18 Years of Age:

A young girl of, say,18 years of age might go for a nose job to correct a little bump that has always bothered her. Nothing too major there and the result will make her feel great. 
But then she might fancy bigger and better shaped breasts.  Not all young women are happy with their body shape and this is a fairly common procedure which occurs even more among women in their 20s.  This might be to firm them up, or just to make them bigger.  Again, the result is likely to be positive with the woman involved feeling much more self-confident in her looks.  A more “womanly” shape is probably, after all, the best boost she can get.
30 years and above:
As she moves into her thirties she may find that fat is starting to accumulate in certain parts of the body – the back of the legs for example.  This is usually addressed by Liposuction.  Many take this option and the results can be dramatic with the unwanted fat literally being sucked out of the body. 
40s and 50s:
But then comes the period in the 40s and 50s where facelift treatment starts to become an option.  The skin loosens around the eyes, chin and neck and there is a strong desire to tighten that up through cosmetic surgery.  The overall effect here will be a more youthful, vital appearance and the woman benefitting from this surgery will see quite a transformation.
The bottom line though is that there are no hard and fast rules about when all of this should take place. It really is when it feels right for the woman involved.  There is nothing to stop a lady in her sixties, for example, from having breast implants to firm up and enhance her looks.  This can be a tremendous boost to her self esteem of course.  Some women might have a number of procedures; others only one or two, while some none at all.  It’s pretty much down to personal choice but the overall effect is usually positive.
For further details on the procedures discovered, please feel free to check out the Australian Foundation for Plastic Surgeons website, which contains detailed procedure notes on each of the major procedures discussed.
This health and beauty feature was written by Hannah Goffman, freelance beauty journalist, based in Sydney.