Ethical Ethics For Plastic Surgery

Introduction

With advances in technology, reconstructive surgery is now an option, bringing revolutions on the management of patients who suffer from disfiguring birth defects, burns, and certain cancers. It also brings about an option for people to “bypass [their] genetic code and cheat [their] naturally predetermined appearances by altering the perceived external flaws.” Since the introduction of cosmetic surgery, there have been people who were for it, against it, and those who drew a line between reconstructive surgeries that are considered necessary and aesthetic surgeries that are considered enhancements and therefore deemed unnecessary.

Due to differing opinions of the morality of plastic surgery, there has also been differing ideas of who should be allowed to receive plastic surgery. In one local case, a fifteen year old girl, Renata, underwent surgery to have her nose fixed. Before the surgery, Renata’s ‘big’ nose made her a target for teasing, causing her to fall into depression and become afraid to go out in public. Due to the effect of bullying on her daughter, her mother approved the surgery. The case isn’t unusual and is among more than a hundred thousand similar cases, a 30 % growth in children undergoing plastic surgery but it still drew attention causing some to question whether the mother was doing the right thing.

Judaism & Ethical Standards

Most religions have an ethical component to them, creating high ethical standards for their followers. For many religions, there is also a great emphasis on the differences between reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. In the religion, Judaism, the body that each person resides in is only a loan from God and should not be changed in any way. However, the Torah, which ...

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...ze that it’s okay to be yourself and should teach students to embrace their uniqueness. Flyers could be distributed in attempts to get other students to join and the club should encourage members to give small compliments to not only themselves but others. Clubs like this can be implemented in almost any school.

Students should also be informed of cosmetic surgeries’ side effects and of the unrealistic image the media portrays both women and men. A section of Health class should be reserved for this discussion. A video can be shown to show the reality of how models and celebrities are edited, causing an unreal aspiration to look like them because even they don’t look like that. Before watching the video, students should all be aware that the images they see on a daily basis are manipulated, “but it’s something else, and consoling, to see precisely how and how much.”