The Psychological Effects of Going Through Cosmetic Surgery

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According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in the United States 14.6million cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in 2012. Cosmetic procedures range from skin rejuvenation to cleft palate repair. The most popular age range of cosmetic surgeries performed is 40 to 54 years old. Most of us are self conscious about how we will appear in the future. Our self conscious feelings towards our body image affects us psychologically and psychosocially by our own body-self image, sexual relationships, social interactions esteem and self worth. As we age our body dissatisfaction increases and in order to increase our body self image and esteem we proceed to undergo cosmetic surgery procedures.
The psychological or emotional state of a person who has undergone cosmetic surgery varies. The patient may feel better about their psychical appearance but may not have any improvements or changes in their psychological characteristics. These characteristics being self esteem, confidence and satisfaction. According to Sarwer, Pertschuk ,Wadden & Whitaker (1998) most people undergoing cosmetic surgery appear to be psychology healthy, however some are not therefore negative outcomes can arise causing issues for the surgeon and for the patient. Surgeons face the challenge of having to identify, before any surgical procedure, those patients that may have a poor or unhealthy outcome in there psychological and psychosocial health. Such issues that could possibly arise if the patient is not psychologically healthy are request for repeated procedures, social isolation, depression, self harm behaviors and anger towards the surgeon and the staff involved (Goin & Ann, 1991). The psychological outcomes for different procedures vary. For example ...

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Sarwer DB, Wadden TA, Pertschuk MJ, Whitaker LA. The psychology of cosmetic surgery: A review and reconceptualization. Clin Psychol Rev. 1998;18:1.

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