America's
New Quest for Beauty
by Corey Senn |
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"Study
after study demonstrates that pretty people are better liked
and have more power than plain ones. Beauty pleases us; it
makes us feel good. We gravitate to it, and we want to possess
it." --Mary Peacock, msn.com.
Is
this possibly the shallowest statement you've ever heard in
your entire life? Shallow, but true. Since the dawn of time,
mankind has been fixated on beauty (or at least since the
first gal sashayed past a group of guys). But how we, as a
society, go about defining and attaining beauty seems to be
in constant flux.
In
the last five years, Americans, in astronomical numbers, have
flocked to the latest and greatest in image-enhancing procedures.
So more people are having their eyes done, their teeth whitened,
and their tummy's tucked, but that doesn't answer the question
why are we doing this? Unfortunately, the answer doesn't
lie in one magic equation, but instead in a coalescing of
forces that have been bubbling up for at least a decade.
Across
the Generations
The
rise in cosmetic procedures has been fueled in large part
by the huge surge in demand. And for this, we have the baby
boomers to thank. "We're talking about a large group of people
who grew up in an environment and culture where looks were
relatively important," comments Dr. Thomas Orcutt, M.D., a
plastic surgeon from Nashville, Tennessee. And as the baby
boomers ease into their middle years, they're not going to
take the signs of aging without a fight.
Reaching
your 100th birthday is no longer only for Buddhist
monks living on some obscure hilltop. A good set of genes
and a healthy lifestyle definitely give you the house odds
for reaching the century mark. Living longer means working
and being productive for decades longer. And in many fields,
staying in the competitive game often demands that you look
as sharp as someone 15 years your junior.
Finally,
think about this: for younger generations, cosmetic procedures
have been around for nearly as long as they can remember.
For a whole lot of 20 somethings, image-enhancing procedures
aren't some new, foreign idea-it's how the world is.
Tech
Talk
Part
of the increase in demand by Americans of all ages should
certainly be attributed to improving technology. If new advances
weren't making cosmetic procedures faster, more thorough,
and more natural looking, their popularity would have long
since topped off. Dr. Lorin Berland, DDS, a cosmetic dentist
with a practice in Dallas, Texas comments, "Ten years ago,
you couldn't even predictably whiten anybody's teeth. And
now it's just such a standard." A higher bar of excellence
is drawing more and more folks into the halls of cosmetic
doctors.
Over
the last twenty years, the industry has made a gradual shift
from being procedure driven to being technology driven. As
Dr. Orcutt explains, "before, a new procedure meant
another advance. Today, advances are made based on new technology-a
new laser that removes hair, an endoscope that allows you
to see a different part of the body, etc." Better and more
efficient technology, touted by manufacturers, doctors, and
patients themselves, means more and more people are willing
to give it a go.
Doctors
on the Move
None
of this would have been possible if doctors hadn't responded
to patient demand and supported the emerging technology. But
there was something equally as important pushing doctors towards
the cosmetics industry-managed care. The managed care squeeze
of the 90s robbed doctors of two valuable aspects of their
profession: freedom in their jobs and economic reward. "The
change towards managed care dictating what they would pay
the doctors and what we could do was a backwards step as far
as doctors were concerned," comments Dr. Orcutt. The natural
reaction was to try and escape the noose of managed care.
The most attractive and lucrative alternative was cosmetic
procedures. "I think doctors are doing [cosmetic procedures]
because it's more fun and the patients demand it," says Dr.
Berland. More demand, better technology, and more physicians.
A
Bargain in our Economy
Like
it or not (and we all like it), we've been witness to one
of the longest periods of sustained economic growth in our
country's history. That means money. It also means cosmetic
procedures are affordable for a greater range of Americans.
"I think that a lot of appearance-related services are really
a bargain in today's marketplace," comments Dr. Berland. "Because
first of all, they were never available before.and second,
compared to what people are spending their money on, I think
it's kind of cheap," he continues. For those who already have
a house, a car, and a boatload of toys-what's the better deal;
a $40,000 Lexus or a couple grand for a perfect smile?
The
Choice of a New Generation
Simply
put, Americans are weighing the pros and cons of cosmetic
enhancements and choosing to have them done. "If a woman wants
the breasts that she feels she should have had," states Nancy
Federman, a sociologist at San Diego State University, "that
[desire] doesn't make her a non-feminist, it means she has
the choice, the power and the wherewithal to go and make herself
the way she thinks she was supposed to look. The question
is how much of the choice is implanted in women's heads by
the culture. " Obviously, culture and cultural images have
a lot to do with it. Advertisers and media constantly bombard
us with images of perfect bodies, perfect faces, perfect people.
And it's nearly impossible to live up to these images. "Ultimately,
it's up to each and every one of us to choose to change the
way we look," comments Dr. Federman. So if you choose to have
a cosmetic procedure, choose wisely and choose with your health
in mind.
But
isn't there a short, easy answer to why more Americans are
having procedures done to enhance their image? Of course there
is. The shortest, and possibly the best, answer I can come
up with is this-because we can. So we do.
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