You must have a button nose, high cheek bones, full lips, flawless skin; be thin here, thick here, but chin fat is utterly unacceptable, and skin imperfections are intolerable.   

Attainable, right?

With a good surgeon and thousands of dollars, it is. Fillers, implants, and more are being increasingly relied upon to fit the millions of ever demanding beauty standards. It is plastic surgery that allows one to transform their features to resemble increasingly demanding aesthetic requirements. 

Features that were once unchangeable and unique are now capable of being altered by plastic surgery. Forming wrinkles or developing fat in certain places on your body and face are completely natural developments of the human body. Despite this, they are deemed unacceptable by societal norms and require change through cosmetic surgery. Now, it’s even common to see older celebrities with fewer wrinkles than their very own kids. This insanse comparison is a reminder of how unnatural these ideals of beauty are.

Eighty-three percent of South students agree that public beauty standards are influenced by people who may have gotten some form of cosmetic surgery, according to an unscientific survey of 296 students conducted by The Oracle. Additionally, 35 percent of students said that seeing influencers or celebrities with plastic or cosmetic surgery has made them feel insecure about their own apperance. According to the same survey, this data overwhelmingly highlights the unspoken impact that plastic surgery has had on many peoples self-perception. This sentiment is mirrored by the recent growth in the number of procedures done on adolescents, as well as adults from the ages 20-29. Between 2019 and 2022, the number of adolescents receiving neuromodulator injections increased 75 percent according to an article by CNN Health. Neuromodulator injection use also rose 71 percent in adults 20 to 29. These injections consist of neuro toxins that freeze facial muscles. These neuro toxins then have a goal to prevent wrinkles and facial lines, according to CNN Health.

Plastic surgery can be seen as having the possibilty of empowering women, giving them the choice to take control over their appearance, according to Cultura Dermatology and Plastic Surgery. However, the amount of younger people getting plastic surgery suggests many people feel the pressure of beauty standards, which perpetuates their insecurities.

Beauty can look different on every person. The amazing variation found in human faces is a result of evolutionary pressure, according to a 2014 study by University of California Berkeley scientists. This vast variety encompasses millions of different genetic traits and features, but only a few have been deemed “acceptable” to society. If the trend of injecting, augmenting, and reconstructing ourselves continues, our appearances may become homogenous.

This expectation of visual perfection that plastic surgery has enforced is slowly morphing us to have the same features, and I see no beauty in that. 

With this in mind, when I’m watching a new movie or scrolling on my favorite celebrities’ Instagram pages, I’m learning not to compare myself to what I see. So much of it is plumped, frozen, plastic, and ultimately fake.  

I also remind myself that my apperance is a combination of a unique harmony of inheretied traits. I have my mom’s eyes, my grandpa’s nose, and my dad’s face shape. Having all of these traits from my loved ones is something worth being grateful for and preserving.

We are defined by so much more than our  looks. There is no perfect formula or surgery that makes one beautiful.