When you hear of plastic surgery, what comes to mind? Plastic surgery is a special kind of surgery that can change one's whole appearance and ability to function. There are people who possess a strong self-image and would like to have a physical feature improved or changed, and there are those who have a physical defect that has lowered their self-esteem over time. It nourishes a person's envy of those who represent nature's most powerful but momentary appeals?youth, strength, beauty, and fertility. Its supporters admire its ability to change lives and its critics condemn it as the expression of our society's worst impulses. Plastic surgeons strive to improve their patients? appearance or their body image. Body image ? defined as one's own perception of physical appearance ? can play a significant role in the self-esteem of many individuals. It has become a want more than a need in our society today and there are different reasons which may not be the best that women choose to go through with surgery.

Society has a huge impact on why teenage girls decide to get plastic surgery. As Sandra Boodman states in the Washington Post that was published in 2006, ?For More Teenage Girls, Adult Plastic Surgery, ?The enormous popularity of reality TV shows such as ?Extreme Makeover,? ?The Swan? and MTV's ?I Want a Famous Face,? ?has fueled the desire of adolescent girls to alter their bodies permanently, and they are finding more surgeons willing to oblige them.? These reality shows are encouraging women who do not meet society's standards of beauty to get surgery in order to look younger, to improve self-esteem, and to improve their body's physical appearance.

Surgeons need to know that these girls are appropriate patients to operate on and if they have realistic expectations. A lot of times young girls believe they need to have a perfect body to fit in with what society believes to be right. Boodman also claims that ?Kids spend a lot of time in chat rooms and they're bombarded by the media with these unrealistic images,? according to Ann Kearney-Cooke, a visiting scholar at Columbia University who studies girls and body image. Teens usually are not old enough to know what it is they want because they are influenced by the way our culture sees beauty. Teens tend to feel more comfortable with their appearance after they undergo surgery, but it may not be for the right reasons.

Plastic surgery is something that individuals should deeply consider prior to undergoing surgery. Young girls may not think about permanent scarring and their safety in the long run because they are not at the level of maturity to make these decisions. Surgery can change one's life entirely and it may not be the right choice. People do not necessarily think about the full outcome of plastic surgery, they instantly think of the beautiful face or body they will obtain. Boodman also argues in her article that, ?Critics say that teenage girls, who tend to be both obsessed and dissatisfied with their looks, are too young and shortsighted to understand the implications of surgery, particularly the risks that implants may pose and the long-term maintenance they require.? Most teens and adults are self-conscious about their bodies and nearly everyone wishes there were a couple things that could be changed about them. In order to have self-assurance, a woman has to accept her body in every way.

Women are turning to plastic surgery hoping to better their body image and self-confidence. Our society places the ?good body? on high societal value which does not give women a choice but to improve the way they look in order to meet the expectations in our culture. Good bodies have societal value because women are getting surgeries done in order to reach perfection. Perfection is an implied idea of the perfect woman. ?In many societies throughout the world, the body has been considered an object that can be manipulated and controlled, a conceptualization that has had profound consequences for women,? according to the article ?Women's Bodies? that was published in 2005.

Women usually turn to plastic surgery to reach the ?ideal woman? image and they feel flawed in the beginning but as they reach the image they are looking for, they become self confident. As a result, they keep trying to reach the perfect image that society labels: beautiful, very thin, young looking, etc?and they will never be completely satisfied. Women should not have to turn to plastic surgery because in some cases it is not going to meet their level of expectations.