Plastic Surgery: The Origins

While this is true to an extent, the fact is that cosmetic procedures have been around for almost 4,000 years. While there may not have been a market for a show like Nip/Tuck in the days long before Christ, there is certainly evidence that even those early civilizations were doing things to improve their appearance through what could be called an early form of plastic surgery.

As early as 800 B.C., individuals in India were using the technology of skin grafts to help those who had been injured. These early attempts at plastic surgery may not have informed much of what is done in the doctor's offices of today, but they still remain a potent reminder that our desire to improve our appearances and make the most out of our scientific knowledge has been there for much of our existence as a species.

It wasn't until the early 1800s that plastic surgery as we know it today got its real start. That is when a doctor named John Mettauer began designing instruments that could be used for more advanced medical procedures. One of his biggest breakthroughs came in 1827, when he was the first doctor to perform a cleft palate operation in America. He is considered to be one of the first doctors to advance this type of medicine in the modern world.

The number of plastic surgeries done each year is growing quickly and most patients have found that the procedures have helped them be happier with their appearance. Advances in technology and techniques have reduced costs over the last ten years, so the procedures are more affordable to most people. As a result of lower costs, having surgery done is no longer the private domain of movie stars and millionaires, and statistics bear this out.

The number of surgeries has grown rapidly in the last few years to the point that, in 2009, there were around ten million procedures done in the United States. The growth is understandable since many people have physical features that they have always felt do not look right, and they naturally would like to remedy these problems.

Even though many people still think plastic surgery is an exercise in vanity, studies are consistently indicating that successful procedures often produce positive impacts on personality as well as correcting the physical problems. So is having plastic surgery really vain? If so, then why do we not think about people who get braces on their teeth as being vain? So now more people every year are coming to the realization that physical defects that have bothered them all their lives no longer have to be tolerated.

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