Types

• Plastic surgery can either be reconstructive or cosmetic. The former can improve how the body works or reconstruct badly disfigured faces and bodies after an accident or other mishap. Cosmetic surgery is fully elective and physically unnecessary, performed only to enhance someone's looks.
  
  

Procedure

• Plastic surgery has made huge advances over the years. It has definitely become less harrowing and invasive, thanks to the use of lasers. Much of the plastic surgery can be done on an outpatient basis using a general anesthesia. Healing time has also vastly improved, with folks getting back to their normal routine within a week or two.
  
  

Effects

• Reconstructive plastic surgery can put someone back together after he has been torn apart. Cosmetic plastic surgery can create dramatic changes in appearance and alter the human body to resemble a store-bought Barbie doll. People use the surgery to defy aging and create a sexier look, at least according to society's definition of sexy. Larger breasts, a flatter stomach, fuller lips and heightened cheekbones are just some of the procedures that can make a mousy gal into a marvelous model.
  
  

Considerations

• As quick as a plastic surgery procedure may be, there are still many things that can go wrong. Infection can set in, complications can arise that lead to partial paralysis of the face or other body parts, breast implants can explode, harden or end up misshapen. More often people are also regretting their decision to alter their natural looks, and "revision" procedures have been on the rise. These are a lot of potential hazards for a procedure that is not absolutely necessary to create physical well-being.
  
  

Addiction

• Another phenomenon in the world of plastic surgery is a patient's inclination to become hooked on it. The quest for physical perfection may be so intense that people will feel they need more and more surgery to fix more and more things they perceive to be wrong with them. Jocelyn Wildenstein is one example of someone who has had extensive plastic surgery, much to the disfigurement of her face (see Resources below). She reportedly spent more than $4 million on surgical procedures, gaining her the title of the world's scariest celebrity in British tabloids.