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Since time immemorial mankind has always been exceptional in that humans are one of the few animals who have a complete sense of personal identity. What this means is that humans can recognize themselves in a mirror. Very few animals can do that, and evolution does that to you. It is natural that, when a human has awareness of his body’s visual identity and persona, there arises a need for betterment of the said self image and upliftment of persona. Over the millenia humans have developed several techniques for enhancing physical appeal and persona, both external and internal. The cave man resorted to face painting, there are tribes in African subcontinent who use wooden plates inside their lips and wear tight rings around their neck to distend the neck. Humans have always experimented with, sometimes to the extreme, in the pursuit of their versions of appeal and beauty. Humans have always set standards for beauty and have societally motivated themselves to achieve these standards, sometimes even at the cost of health.

Mankind has come a long way from the growing pains of early self recognition and body image enhancements. With the advent of science and empirical questioning, techniques have evolved over time that have brought around cosmetic enhancements and have become safer over time. A sort of exponential growth in the area of research has almost but perfected the techniques and procedures, and people have access to almost an ocean of enhancement technologies in these modern times.

But why do we need this at all?

As we know, self image analysis in group societies has become a genetic disposition over the millenia. Mankind has evolved on a genetic level to identify individuals using physical cues and as result the requirement for better appeal and better cosmetic demeanour has become almost innate. Man is a social animal and withers in the absence of acceptance in society. As a result it is important for every person to have positive body image and appeal among the other members of the society. The result of not having such positive appeal can lead to severe psychological and hence pathological issues that may render the person untreatable after a long period of time. With course correction thanks to cosmetic surgery, the person gets a major boost in his/her self image and therefore gains social acceptance and thus a better life. Psychological parameters also attain neutrality and there is an overall increase in the happiness coefficient which is what anyone really desires.

Cosmetic surgeries do more than alter. The purpose of real cosmetic surgery is not to change the appearance of a person, but to right a wrong. The wrong may have been caused by accident or genetics but the purpose is to correct it and help the patient achieve normalcy. Take the case of a person with severe dental protrusion or as the doctors call it Maxillary-Mandibular Dental Protrusion. In normal day to day activities and social exchanges the person will be severely hampered and will suffer roadblocks in communication as well. Social interactions will trickle down to abysmal levels and over time the person will develop a very poor self image which will in turn affect his performance in this journey called life. However with cosmetic surgery which has become pretty simple and straightforward these days, the person will get perfect teeth. Imagine what this does to the self confidence of the person. It is not just a game changer, it is a life changer.

But then a word of caution.

It is easy to get completely involved in the procedures as they are easily available and are getting more precise and safer over the years as technology improves in leaps and bounds. There is a real need to get emotional and psychological counselling so that there is no excessive indulgence. The judgement of what is excessive is very subjective because the entire concept of beauty itself is subjective.

People should get counselled extensively and absorb a myriad of opinions from well wishers and professionals and get into procedures only after such calculated analysis. But then with the benefit of cosmetic surgery a person can literally turn his/her life around and achieve all that he/she set out to do, without inhibitions.

Cosmetic surgery is the great unifier.