This time, it’s Solange Magnano, mother to 7-year-old twins and Miss Argentina in 1994. She died this past Sunday from complications arising during a gluteoplasty. She wanted a nicer backside, so she went for a “bum lift,” but she never had a chance to show off her new body. Her death follows the deaths of other women, including celebrities who died after cosmetic surgery. Most recently, Donda West, mother to Kanye West, died during such a procedure. In Canada, Micheline Charest, co-founder of the Cinar animation house, died at age 51, while having a face lift and breast enlargement.

What People Forget

Cosmetic surgery has long been thought of as a simple, risk-free procedure, but all surgery has risk, be it the seemingly simple injection of Botox to a full reshaping of the body (breast, butt, face, etc). These risks include scarring, reactions to anesthetic, blood clots, clots to the lungs (pulmonary embolism), even death, like what happened to Ms Magnano.

Other complications are particular to cosmetic procedures. They include:

An accumulation of clear fluid beneath the incision (seroma), which may need to be drained

A collection of blood beneath the closed incision (hematoma), which may have to be removed

Skin breakdown — a separation from healthy skin caused by poor blood circulation, particularly if you smoke

Bleeding requiring a transfusion

Infection at the site of surgery, which may require additional surgery and lead to bigger scars            (source: MayoClinic.com)

Plastic surgery has its place. There are people every day who are born with severe disfigurements or become disfigured because of accidents or illness. Plastic surgery can help a person breathe properly again or look “presentable,” so he or she can go out in public without being stared at. Plastic surgery can help heal a person and good plastic surgeons change lives. But cosmetic surgery to firm up a butt, to lift breasts, to try to achieve the perfect body, is it worth leaving behind your children – to have them go motherless?

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Venezuala has the honor (?) of holding the most international beauty pageant winners in the world. The women are known for their beauty – but a lot of that beauty is created, not natural. Of course, this isn’t unusual, cosmetic surgery to enlarge breasts, “fix” eyes, remove sags, and to make other so-called improvements aren’t unusual, even in the beauty pageant world. But it seems that Venezuala may have the corner on the market when it comes to expectations that the women will have surgery to be as beautiful as possible, whether they can afford it or not.

Women feel that the surgery is so important that they’ll do just about anything to finance their procedure be it using credit cards or even downsizing their home. The need for cosmetic surgery is so pervasive that families begin talking about it at a young age and some surgeries, like breast enhancements are even considered a right of passage. A plastic surgeon quoted in this article, Using your plastic for plastic surgery.., says that three or four out of every seven Venezualan women have breast augmentation.

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

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There were 18 contestants and they had to prove that they had had cosmetic surgery to be eligible; Botox and other types of injections were not considered. While the type of surgery didn’t matter, the majority of the women did have breast enlargements. Others had nose jobs. One had her toes operated on.

The winners and prizes?

The women weren’t the only ones to receive prizes – their plastic surgeons did too. Among the women though, the winner received an apartment in Budapest, the first runner-up a new car, and the second runner up the equivalent of 10,800 dollars (U.S.).

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

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Don’t laugh – it’s happened. It is becoming increasingly popular in China for women to travel to South Korea for cosmetic surgery. Many women go because they want a more “western look” that is attained by rounding out the eyes and slimming the chins. What one particular group of women didn’t count on though, was that when they came home, they didn’t look like themselves anymore.

According to news reports, they had to show the customs officers their scars and then were examined closely so the officers could match the non-retouched facial features with the old passport photos to verify their identity.

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Source

Image: PhotoXpress.com

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French surgeon Laurent Lantieri, one of the doctors involved in operating on a Chinese man severely disfigured by a genetic disease, believes they are becoming a medical reality. He’s quoted in a recent article in The Lancet as saying “There is no reason to think these face transplants would not be as common as kidney or liver transplants one day”.

Just three years after the successful partial face transplant for a French woman viciously attacked by a dog, two more people have benefited from partial face transplants using tissue from deceased or comatose donors.

One case involved a Chinese man who had been attacked by a bear in 2004, losing his left eye, nose, and a large portion of his upper lip and left check. After an initial attempt to repair the damage using tissue from the man’s forearm failed, the doctors decided to try a partial face transplant in 2006. The 18-hour operation resulted in a greatly improved facial appearance and the ability of the man to drink, eat, and talk normally again.

In the partial face transplant case involved a French man with a massive disfiguring neurofibroma. This tumor was so large that it was causing complete paralysis of the right side of his face and partial paralysis of the left. During the 15 hour operation, the tumor was removed and a partial face transplant restored the appearance and function of his face. As a result, the man’s quality of life has greatly improved.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The next step, some surgeons believe, is to do a full-face transplant…

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Now, you will never, ever find me saying that plastic surgery is wrong. That is a completely individual choice, and one I would never even rule out for myself. But what you will find is me noting my surprise that there is a need for such a book.

Dr. Michael Saulzhauer, the author of “My Beautiful Mommy”, due out this Mother’s Day, drafted the book’s manuscript after seeing moms with their kids in tow during plastic surgery consultation appointments. He believed the kids viewed the surgery as scary, and wanted to assure them that their Mommy would be even more beautiful than ever – she just had to deal with some bandages and a few owies first.

Some supporters say the book will help explain why Mommy would choose to go to the doctor and to have surgery when she isn’t sick or hurt. And with the rise in the amount of “Mommy Makeovers” (tummy tuck and breast implant combos), surely this is something more and more kids are left wondering about.

Now while I applaud Dr. Saulzhauer’s efforts, I am stunned that mothers are taking their children to consultation appointments. I’m all about sharing special moments with my kids and I know that keeping secrets is “bad”, but aren’t there just some things in life that are better left to more mature audiences? Do we not do enough to force our kids to grow up too fast that now we need to expose them to how to fix their imperfections, show them all that’s “wrong” with Mommy, and pretty much ensure they’ll be scarred for life when they see their mother strip down to her skivvies (or less) in front of another man (if the surgeon’s male, of course). Just my two cents there.

So, what do you think of all this? Of plastic surgery in general, about the book, or about toting kids to plastic surgery appointments? Let us know.

Post from: Healthbolt