Plastic Surgery Pressures

Here in sunny Orange County, it's not uncommon to know, see, or be someone who has gone through some kind of cosmetic plastic surgery. It's getting more and more common in today's society for women (and some men also) to undergo surgery as a form of cosmetic enhancement.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, college students only make up 4 percent of the 1.2 million surgeries that took place in the US in 2006. This isn't quite the number one might have come up with when considering how many young adults in this area have gotten breast implants and nose jobs, but it is a low amount across the United States.

Then again, 1.2 million is a pretty large amount of people getting cosmetic surgeries in the first place. In breaking down the numbers it's easier to understand how many young people are having these operations. The statistics available generally group women into the age range of 19-34, which is pretty broad when applying it to a "college age demographic".

However, it does help put things into a perspective of the age range of college students. The totals of 2005 look something like this: the top five procedures in that age group included breast augmentation (142,072 surgeries), rhinoplasty (121,042 surgeries) liposuction (89,168 surgeries), tummy tuck (32,412 surgeries), and breast lift (27,664 surgeries); also from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

This totals 412,358 just in the top five most common procedures for women 34 and under.

Brianne Davis, a 22-year-old Fullerton College student, underwent rhinoplasty when she was 19 years old, and had been wanting her nose job since the eighth grade. She saw a direct correlation, but it seems like a closely related coincidence, considering how some college students decide on plastic surgery for other reasons besides self preference, like acceptance from peers, or relevancy to occupation.

Danielle Ryan, a 19-year-old Cal State Fullerton student, says she decided to get breast augmentation with her best friend for their 18th birthdays because their moms offered to pay for it. Ryan said she had considered augmentation because her mother had had the surgery previously and she "was just used to everyone around me having larger sized breasts, so I figured I might as well get it done if it was going to be paid for." She's aspiring to be an actress and she says it's just the norm in that line of work.

Everyone has their reasons for considering, looking into or getting cosmetic plastic surgery, but whatever the reason, it should be taken into consideration that even though it may be common for some to have these procedures done, it's still major surgery that should not be taken lightly. Brianne Davis chose Dr. Corbin located in downtown Brea after doing months of research and consultations. "He had me taking vitamins two weeks prior to the surgery and told me to eat and drink as much pineapple juice possible to help with the bruising and swelling. It worked, I was very happy with the results."

Dr. Corbin's office says that their main clientele is not teens or college students necessarily, but primarily women anywhere from 26 to 40. It's a wide range, but all kinds of people of different ages want work done. Plastic surgery is not limited to any specific type of person, especially not in this day and age. Their office will also tell prospects to shop around and not to make any rash decisions. Good research is a must to ensure results are satisfactory, and references should always be contacted. If a doctor doesn't have any references to contact, that should be a sign. Ask as many questions as possible and make sure the doctor answers all of them. Cosmetic surgery is not something to jump into. For those interested in finding out more information, it's best to contact the surgeon for an appointment to go over more than just general information. Everyone's body and situation are different, so specific details are important to go over.

So when did plastic surgery come to be so normal in today's society? Well with shows like "Dr.90210," "Nip/Tuck," "Extreme Makeover," and "I Want a Famous Face," it's easy to understand plastic surgery as an everyday issue in the US. Young adults can see who wants it, who gets it, even graphic footage of how the surgery is actually performed by the doctors. Then with reality TV shows like "The Real Housewives of Orange County" and "The Girls Next Door," there are nothing but women who've undergone cosmetic enhancements as just a normal part of life. If someone isn't a big TV fan, maybe they've picked up the latest issue of Cosmopolitan, and been bombarded with one of at least three of the DoctorsSayYes.com adds they run in every issue. It's hard not to consider plastic surgery as a young woman seeing how so many others are getting it done. It's the issue of comparing one's self to the "perfect image" that's reflected through the media, and another issue of having easy access to, common knowledge of, and the easy-going attitude towards plastic surgery.