Plastic surgeons nowadays often receive very specific requests – Jessica Alba’s nose, Angelina Jolie’s lips, Kim Kardashian’s butt, Madonna’s cheekbones, Jessica Simpsons’ breasts, and more. It is acceptable for a patient to come to a plastic surgery practice and use a certain celebrity’s feature as a reference point, but if a patient’s goal is to achieve that celebrity’s exact look using various procedures, a reason for alarm may exist.
Doctors who are ethical and who care about their patients’ best interest often limit these kinds of requests, because of both psychological and aesthetic reasons. Why is this the case? First, because a patient has to understand that those looks may not be appropriate for their natural face/body type. In addition, it often happens that patients desire not to have a certain celebrity feature, but the complete look of that celebrity – which suggests a psychological instability, such as low self-esteem or even borderline personality disorder, that needs to be treated. Cosmetic surgery requests for idealistic facial and body features are understandable and common, but when such requests make a plastic surgeon question his patients’ mental health, a line needs to be drawn, says Dr. Tehrani.
The desire to look like someone else is not healthy, even though it may be possible with plastic surgery. Patients should utilize cosmetic surgery in order to become the best version of themselves, and not a variation of a famous, well-known look. Everyone aims to look beautiful, but a problem arises when beauty turns into an unhealthy obsession.
Furthermore, these kind of dramatic procedures are not only morally wrong, but they can often be very dangerous for the patients’ physical and psychological health. Physically, various health complications may arise, and mentally, patients who are not pleased with their appearance may not be satisfied with their looks even after surgery.
Plastic surgery procedures are meant to make people comfortable and fully satisfied with their own physical appearance. Individuals aiming to look like someone else, and plastic surgeons supporting such decisions, run against everything that plastic surgery stands for, says Dr. Tehrani.