Signs That You Shouldn’t Have Cosmetic Surgery

Whilst cosmetic surgery certainly can help to improve the way you look and the way you feel about yourself, cosmetic surgery isn’t the answer to every worry or concern you may have.

Getting cosmetic surgery done for the wrong reason because you hope that it will fix something in your life you don’t like when in reality it won’t or can’t, can very often leave you in a worse state emotionally, and sometimes physically, than before you had the surgery.

Below you will find some of the most common “wrong reasons” people have for wanting cosmetic surgery. If you are thinking of having plastic surgery, make sure your reasons aren’t any of those listed on this page!

I Want To Fix Something Nobody Else Thinks Is A Problem

Sometimes you may think that something about you looks strange, abnormal or ugly, but when you ask other people or a surgeon about it they don’t see anything wrong with it.

The medical term for this is body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), and requires the help of a psychiatrist or psychologist rather than a cosmetic surgeon.

A good plastic surgeon will not operate on anything they consider to be normal, because people who want to change such parts of their body usually have psychological issues that they should resolve first before undergoing cosmetic surgery.

A good example of body dysmorphic disorder can be found with Michael Jackson. Despite being an attractive black man, he felt the need to bleach his skin and change the appearance of his face and nose.

Very few people would argue that he looked better after his operations than he did before them.

There are differing levels of severity of body dysmorphic disorder. At the extreme end a person has a completely unrealistic view of how they really look.

At the other end, a person can view their appearance for how it actually is, but will blow any minor imperfection out of proportion and turn it into something it is not.

However, just because nobody else thinks that the way you look should be changed with surgery it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should listen to them. After all, it is your body, and if you want to change how you look then that is ultimately up to you.

But as was previously mentioned, you need to be absolutely sure that you are changing your appearance for the right reasons, because if you are trying to fix a psychological problem with surgery, you are unlikely to be successful and could end up causing yourself more problems later on.

So, if you are in any doubt as to the true reason why you want to have cosmetic surgery, or if you have seen a surgeon who said that you don’t really need surgery but you still feel that you do, go visit a psychiatrist just to rule out any psychological causes that could be making you feel the way you are feeling.

I Want Plastic Surgery Because I’m Feeling Depressed

Having plastic surgery to change the way you look can help to improve the way you feel about yourself, but it is important to remember that plastic surgery is not a substitute for mental health care.

If you are feeling depressed then it is recommended that you treat your depression first, after which you can go ahead with cosmetic surgery. There is an exception to this, and it applies to people who have a gross deformity.

If your appearance is unusual or has been disfigured in some way, such as a result of an accident, then plastic reconstructive surgery is generally advised because a person with a deformed appearance is likely to suffer from low self esteem as a direct result of their appearance.

However, in most cases, unless you do have a gross deformity, changing your appearance is unlikely to permanently lift your depression, although it may do so in the short term.

Depression is something that you would be best talking to a psychiatrist about before you decide to undergo any type of procedure.

The reason being is that once a person becomes depressed, they actually start to think different from how they normally would.

The short term satisfaction they get from a good cosmetic surgery result can, in some cases, lead to a long term and expensive addiction to plastic surgery.

When they do not get a good result however, as sometimes happens, their appearance can actually make them feel more depressed than they were before the operation.

For these very serious reasons, any respectable cosmetic surgeon will refuse to operate on a patient who appears depressed or hopes that surgery will help to alleviate their depression.

I Want Cosmetic Surgery To Get My Ex Back

If a relationship ends and you are still in love with your partner, it is a natural reaction to try and do whatever you can to get them back.

For some people this involves having cosmetic surgery with the hope that improving their appearance will win their ex back.

For example, the girl pictured below on the left is planning to have cosmetic surgery in order to make her look more like Jessica Alba (right) to win back her boyfriend who is a big fan of Alba.

In some cases, improving your appearance will win your ex lover back, but very often these relationships do not last. The reason such relationships end in the first place is not due to how each partner looks, but rather their personalities.

So improving your looks will do little to solve the underlying problem(s) which initially caused the relationship to end.

A far more successful approach would be to get your ex back first and then after you have been with them in a stable and happy relationship for some time, to undergo cosmetic surgery if that is still what you want to do.

I Want To Recover After A Death

Some people who have lost a spouse start to worry that they will spend the rest of their life alone and that nobody will find them attractive because they are too old. As a result, they feel that getting plastic surgery after the death of their partner is their best chance of finding love again.

Whilst this may be true in some cases, it is never a good idea to undergo surgery when you are dealing with lots of stress in your life because your thinking is likely to become impaired and you may end up making decisions you later regret.

Give yourself time to grieve and make your decision about whether or not to go ahead with surgery later on when you are not in such a vulnerable frame of mind.

I Am Feeling Bored With Life

Believe it or not, some people decide that having cosmetic surgery would be a good way to add some excitement to their life.

Any respectable surgeon would not accept this as a valid reason, and refuse to operate on a person who held such a belief.

If you are bored with life, try finding a new hobby or taking up exercise. Cosmetic surgery is something that should only be considered as a means of helping you overcome something you feel is inhibiting your life.

Someone Else Wants Me To Have Cosmetic Surgery

Having plastic surgery should always be your decision and not someone else’s. If you feel that someone else is pressuring you into having plastic surgery, such as your partner, then you may want to seriously reconsider the relationship you are in.

If your partner can’t accept you for the way you are now, then you are probably better off with someone else who loves you for you rather than some fantasy image they have in their head.

Most often people who are pressured into having plastic surgery are women by their husbands. If the woman wants to have surgery, then by all means she should go ahead.

But if she doesn’t like the idea of what is being proposed, for example overly large breasts, then she should not allow herself to be forced or pressured into changing her appearance as she is likely to regret it later on.

For example, if a woman changes her body to please her husband and to meet his view of an attractive woman’s body, then if that relationship were to end she may find attracting other men difficult because they may have a different idea of what a beautiful woman should look like.

This is a very real danger whenever you permanently change the way you look with cosmetic surgery to make another person happy, and in the worst case scenario, it could leave you with nobody who finds you attractive or who wants to be with you.

So if you do choose to go under the knife, do it for your own reasons and not because someone else wants you to look a certain way.