Let me tell you a story of how my friend survived her chemical peel. A good friend, Karla, was a firm believer of Botox. Like most career oriented women with successful jobs, Karla could endure the stress of her job, but not the stress lines. So on her regular trip to her doctor for another injection along her forehead, her doctor presented to her the idea of having a chemical peel. The doctor said the procedure wasn’t that tedious and the results can make her look 10-15 years younger. So, like impulse buying for shoes during an end of season sale, she did undergo a chemical peel. Later that afternoon, Karla left the clinic with her face a little red fresh from the procedure. When Karla got home, to her horror, she had to attend a dinner party tomorrow night that she has been looking forward to for weeks. With the immediate effect of the chemical peel still fresh from her face, Karla can not attend the party for the fear of being shooed away from the buffet table and being judged for having a little cosmetic surgery done on her face. To help her decide, Karla called her friend for advice. My other friend, Vanessa, didn’t quite offer much help as Vanessa didn’t go out for an entire month after getting a nose job.
The question here is: should Karla hide in her room and be ashamed of going out in the open after a cosmetic surgery procedure, which is what society demands her to do?
A chemical peel is a cosmetic surgery procedure that aims to lessen the appearance of wrinkles, age spots, acne, and other scars. The immediate result in includes swelling and redness upon the treated are for days to a week. In this case, should Karla wait for the redness to go away and shy away from public judgment?
In today’s beauty obsessed culture, many are being persuaded to the option of having cosmetic surgery. But still, many are not yet prepared to admit it or announce it to friends. Many still hide for a few days, weeks, even months, after having cosmetic surgery. Some even deny having it all. The question here is why? Why are we afraid to admit that we have had liposuction, or nose augmentation, or a chemical peel? Is there still a social stigma for those who undergo cosmetic surgery?
Some studies show that as people see the pressure of looking good for others and for themselves, they also see the pressure of being tagged as superficial, not being true, and not having enough self-esteem to like your body or your face as it.
Fear of social stigma is basically cultural, it depends more on the social circle you belong to. As there are some people who may judge others as being too vain to undergo surgery or thinking that they may not have the “good genes”, there are also some that embrace the fact and the wonder technology can bring.