Tess Kehoe's blog

Cosmetic and plastic surgery are two terms which are used interchangeably in a lay man’s mouth. Cosmetic surgery is any elective procedure focused on enhancing outward appearance. Plastic surgery is the reconstruction of face and body parts that were deformed from birth defects, trauma, burns, or disease. While cosmetic surgery is a facet of plastic surgery, but because not all reconstruction is elective, the two remain separate concepts.   The certifications for cosmetic and plastic surgery are slightly different as well. As part of plastic surgery training, only one of their six requirements are cosmetic surgery, within that they must be proficient in 150 cosmetic procedures. The training requirements for cosmetic surgery are all dedicated to cosmetic and have 300 procedures to know. Just because someone is a board certified plastic surgeon does not mean they have the most cosmetic experience or are fully proficient in that field. Early on in cosmetic surgery, they did not know what to categorize this genre of procedures, it was thought such surgeons would break the hippocratic oath.

Edmonds, Alexander. “‘The Poor have the Right to be Beautiful’: Cosmetic Surgery in Neoliberal Brazil.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 13, no. 2, 2007, pp. 363-381.   

• People wait months to years in Brazil for reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. While a fair amount do come to clinics with the intent to fix a cleft palate or other physical defects, the majority go for the plástica  
• As more and more clinics open up in Brazil, the demand for cosmetic procedures increasing.
• It’s not just free clinics offering these procedures, publicly funded hospitals are  providing free cosmetic surgery. Increased accessibility makes reconstructive and cosmetic surgery available to everyone  “plastic surgery is not only for the rich. The poor have the right to be beautiful” – Dr. Pitanguy  
• In 2001, Brazil took America’s title as the champion or cosmetic surgery, as the number of citizens seeking such procedures has raised dramatically in a short time span.  

Kalus, Alicia R., and Christina Cregan. “Cosmetic Facial Surgery: The Influence of self‐esteem on Job Satisfaction and Burnout.” Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol. 55, no. 3, 2017, pp. 320-336  

Study conducted found that people who have strong positive feelings about their cosmetic procedures found an increase in work performance and satisfaction, along with a lower chance of burnout from work. Many patients seek out aesthetic surgical procedures for the hopes that it will boost their self-esteem, and for many it does. Individuals with high self esteem are more likely to respond well to criticism, leave a dissatisfying job, and take on stressful tasks as a challenge rather than a threat.