We are constantly bombarded with new, innovative ways to look more beautiful. From consuming fish oil as a part of our well-balanced diet or injecting collagen into our cheeks to minimize flab or wrinkles, the possibilities seem endless. Unless you live inside a shoe box, you are aware of how imperative it is to look our best, especially in materialistic Southern California.
Brushing up on my ‘cosmetically altering surgery’ reading, I stumbled across the wonderment of stem cells and how these little buggers can prove very effective and beneficial in cosmetic surgery, namely face-lifts.
The procedure uses an individual’s own stem cells. And, do not fear because the surgeon avoids cutting into the patient’s face. He or she simply uses liposuction, which is not nearly as bad as creating an incision, right? Wrong.
The doctor uses the fat from liposuction to form a kind of stem cell enhanced fatty sludge, prior to injecting the sludge back into the patient’s face to create what Beverley Hills cosmetic surgeon Nathan Newman calls “fantastic results.” Newman told the Los Angeles Times that “the injections of fat help plump up the skin — creating a fuller, younger-looking face.”
Wouldn’t injecting fat into any part of the human body make things a little more plump and full, though? Why not just gain a few pounds instead of investing $15,000 to $25,000, which is what Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, charges for a stem cell face-lift?
Since this treatment is just beginning to take its first baby steps, there is little proof that these face-lifts do exactly what they are supposed to do.
I have a few problems with this new technology, starting with that I don’t agree with plastic surgery in the slightest. I find it mildly disturbing when an individual feels that they are physically inadequate and would resort to surgically altering their body.
The second concern is that those who desire this process that costs more than my car feel that their problems will be banished by fattening their faces up. My third and final issue is that plastic surgeons sturdily back these methods without thoroughly investigating any and all possible repercussions. Whether or not stem cells can benefit one’s face, I still believe that this procedure does not turn one’s life around for the better.
What saddens me the most is the importance of fitting into that stereotypical, uninteresting mold of beauty. We have all been exposed to it.
Whoever helped construct that mold obviously had no creativity or imagination. And, the fact that women and men would spend thousands of dollars to force themselves into someone else’s idea of beauty is harrowing.
Aging is inevitable; wrinkles are inevitable; these are all signs of how well, or not so well, we have lived our lives.
Rebecca Eisenberg is a junior philosophy major and a columnist for the Daily 49er.
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