Cosmetic surgery in Australia
The inevitable aim of cosmetic surgery is to enhance one's image, encompassing reducing the signs of aging and/or correction of a believed deviation on one's body in turn it is surrounded by controversy.
[4] Plastic surgery originated in 600 BC when Hindu surgeons performed rhinoplasty with the use of segments of cheek tissue.
The sixteenth century saw an Italian by the name of Gaspare Tagliacozzi adopt the method of using upper arm tissue to reconstruct the nose during rhinoplasty, granting him the nickname 'the father of plastic surgery'.
England was exposed to the Hindu techniques of rhinoplasty by a practitioner in 1815, who clearly defined the use for the surgery, limited to those who were physically affected by the horrors of Napoleonic Wars.
Towards the end of the century in the 1880s John Orlando Roe, a New York surgeon, developed a technique which prevented scarring by operating from inside the nostrils.
From here a surgeon by the name of Henry Junius Schireson, acquired his license to practice throughout multiple states of America, who became known in 1923 when he performed rhinoplasty on a Jewish actress Fanny Brice in her New York apartment,[6] giving birth to the booming trade of cosmetic surgery for everyday civilians.
Benjamin Rank was an Australian trained by Gillies himself who in the 1940s governed the Royal Melbourne Hospital which was the first plastic surgery unit within Australia.
Through the development of aiding surgical instruments such as a viewing scope or Lasers (see below), this shift has been made possible, reducing the incision site resulting in a faster recovery time for patients.
Some of the common risks are the development of a hematoma, organ damage, deep vein thrombosis, seroma, excessive bleeding, swelling, bruising, ectropion (optical), blindness (optical), obstruction of airways (nasal), loss of sensation, excessive scarring (including of keloid scars), a shift in position of hair line effecting symmetry and nerve damage.
[9] Most surgeons will suggest to patients electing to undergo cosmetic surgery to cease smoking for a period before and after their alterations.
Generally a period of four weeks pre-operative and post operative, to aid in the recovery time and the healing of the wound.
In today's world viewers are flooded with images and advertisements, showing generally, naturally unobtainable faces and bodies.
There is a growing trend of reality television shows broadcasting makeovers of ordinary civilians undergoing cosmetic surgery to enhance their aesthetic image.
Viewpoints grow around the link between the climbing figures of cosmetic surgery and the constantly changing world of media.
There is a constant stream of connection developed via social media outlets such as Facebook and Instagram which hold a high level of importance within people lives.
Cosmetic surgery in a lot of cases will enhances the problems patients have with their self-esteem issues instead of depressing them as first desired.
[10] Studies show that patients who undergo cosmetic surgery who have been made aware of the risks involved along with the technical side of the procedure, have higher levels of satisfaction with their outcome post-surgery.
The condition is treatable although there is an alarmingly high rate of suicide within BDD sufferers, one in every three hundred and thirty diagnosed will end their own lives.
It is largely debated around the level of regulation in comparison to the heavy controls placed around the use of schedule 4 drugs such as Botox or Dysport.
