By Chan Meng-hin（陳明憲）, Chen Ching-wen（陳靖文）,Chuang Li-cheng（莊立誠）,
Lam Tsz-ching（林梓晴）, Hsu Yu-shan（許毓珊）, Liu Chia-yu（劉家瑜）
Social Media Whip up Cosmetic Surgeries
With the advancement of medical technology and the growth of social media, cosmetic surgery has become increasingly popular in Taiwan recent years. Diyo Chan（陳錦坤）, a junior of English Department of Shih Hsin University, wanted to do double eyelid surgery, but she has not done so because of the risks of the surgery.
According to a popular online media, the cosmetic surgery that most Taiwanese do is double eyelid surgery, the second place being breast enlargement, followed by cosmetic nose surgery, facelift, and liposuction,in that order.
Diyo said that she first came across cosmetic surgery via Youtubers and street billboards. They introduce the whole picture and describe thoroughly the entire process in Youtube videos. And she started to realize and zoom in on her imperfection and intended to do the surgery to get more beautiful. She said, “My eyes are not the same, as one is double eyelid and the other is not, which doesn’t look good.’’
Jayden Lai（黎湧楠）, an intern at Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Taipei（香格里拉台北遠東國際大飯店）, had been suffering from sleep apnea and malocclusion for the past years because of his jaw structure. Jayden’s jaw used to be crooked and consequently influenced his work and rest. He searched much information and took in his friends’ advices and made up his mind to do the orthognathic surgery years ago. His jaw was adjusted to the right position during a surgery, which also gave him a better look.
The reason for Diyo not doing the surgery is the risks accompanying the surgery. She believed health is more important than beauty. As cosmetic surgery does have risks and medical after-effects, people should clearly understand how the surgery works and what consequences it could bring before doing surgery. Likewise, Jayden pointed out that his intention is not to be more good-looking, but to have a better life and get rid of those health problems he used to suffer from.
Social media like Facebook and Instagram do influence people’s willingness to do cosmetic surgery. People who did cosmetic surgery share their experience rigorously, attracting and encouraging other people to do it. In addition to social media, the Korean wave may also be a vital cause of the cosmetic surgery trend.
In Korean drama, the main characters are mostly good looking and have a good life with another stunning partners. Other than that, the K-pop stars are mostly perfect in body figure and appearance. As such, people develop a stereotype that people with nice looking faces will always get more chances and live a better life, a perception that boosts cosmetic surgeries.
People define cosmetic surgeries differently, and the resulting beauty also differs. It’s undeniable that self-concept is deeply affected by comparisons. And social media play a crucial role in creating perceptions of beauty. With advanced medical technology and the widespread ideas of cosmetic surgeries from social media, the trend should be long-lasting. People have their rights to change their appearances and body figures. The only question to ask is if you can accept the consequences that cosmetic surgery brings.
Potential Risks behind Beauty
To do plastic surgery or not, you should balance the pros and cons first. Nowadays, influenced by Korean opera and TV stars, lots of people tend to do plastic surgery, however, there are lots of potential risk. According to the expert, before taking the surgery, people should balance the pros and cons thoroughly, also have a complete discussion with their doctor.
In modern times, with the advanced of medical techniques, many people tend to do plastic surgery. Although the plastic surgery industry has been matured, however, there are still lots of potentially risk. There are several seasons lead the phenomenon so popular, such as the Korean opera, entertainers on TV shows, etc. People usually do not think thoroughly before they come to doctor, said Lu Xin-ning（呂歆寧）, a Registered Nurse（護理師）of Department of Surgery（整型外科） of Taichung Veterans General Hospital（台中榮民總醫院）.From Lu’s point of view, she agrees with the cosmetic surgery（美容整型）, but the most important thing is that people should keep the healthy mind.
Chiu Wen-kuan（邱文寬）a surgeon of Wangfang Hospital（萬芳醫院）said that patient who is operated under general anesthesia may exposure to high risk. It’s a good phenomenon that many people start to care about their appearance, even more and more young people consider to do the plastic operation. It could not only build one’s confidence but also enhance the interpersonal relationships between opposite sex, said Chiu.
“Even a lipid surgery（抽脂手術）could be fatal if the wound weren’t treated properly,” said Chiu. No matter what kinds of surgery you take, a successful operation requires the complete discussion between doctor and patient. Chiu also points out the Taiwanese patients’ top three ranking of plastic surgery, lipid surgery, breast augmentation（隆乳）and double eyelids（雙眼皮）. Above all the surgery, taking good care of the wound is the most crucial things to do after the operation, he emphasized.
As the saying goes, “every natural action is graceful.” People could build the confidence in variety of ways. Before taking plastic surgery, you should know that, the real beauty lies in one’s pure heart.
The Incentives in Medical Cosmetic Industry
In recent years, more and more people care about their appearance: they hope to look attractive. There also has been more and more medical cosmetic news on TV. With the increase of medical cosmetic consumers, the increasing chance of medical professionals entering the medical cosmetic market has caused the shortage of medical staffs. What is the incentive for medical professionals entering the medical cosmetic market?
Huang Chun-yuan（黃俊源）, a plastic surgeon （整形外科主治醫師） at Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital （萬芳醫院） said, “It is people’s natural instincts try to be beautiful, people like to be good-looking, so, they may choose to have a plastic surgery, such as nose augmentation（隆鼻）, double-eyelid surgery （割雙眼皮） and liposuction（抽脂）.” The training of physicians for plastic surgery is easier than that of other medical professions, and the effects of plastic surgery can be seen pretty quickly. Many nurses are tired of working in hospitals, and working in the medical cosmetic industry need to contact customers more often. If the medical staffs like this pattern, they will transfer their jobs to medical cosmetic clinics.
In recent years, many medical staffs choose to enter the medical cosmetic industry, Wang Chia-chen（王佳珍）, director of dermatology（皮膚科主任）at Cardinal Tien Hospital（天主教耕莘醫院）said, noting “there are higher profits in the medical cosmetic industry. Compared to other treatments, this industry has less medical disputes than others like cardiothoracic anesthesia（麻醉科）and cardiology（心臟科）.” In general, physicians who entered this industry do not have such a big pressure. Besides, this kind of surgery rarely cause deaths or result in severe complications.
“The medical cosmetic industry is like a service industry,” said Huang Wan-ting（黃琬婷）, deputy general manager of Medical Cosmetic Division at Humanity Medical Cosmetic Clinic（美仁欣醫學美容診所）. The medical staffs in medical cosmetic clinics need to introduce some medical courses to customers, they also need to listen to customers’ needs, and, especially, they need to have not only professional knowledge but also truly love to service people. The medical staffs are like the technical staffs, nowadays, who need to learn how to get along with customers. “We need to smile and be patient with our customers. Plastic surgery industry is kind of service industry indeed,” Huang said.
Although many medical staffs like to enter the medical cosmetic industry, the imperative thing is that government should amend relevant regulations, inspect the medical equipment more seriously and train physicians who aimed at working in the medical cosmetic industry more strictly, so as to prevent uneven qualities of medical service in this industry.
