Friday, July 11, 2008

The Science of Cuts and Stitches

Along with our fluid society comes the human race with unstoppable innovation. They discover, experiment, and dare to achieve more. With array of indelible breakthroughs, could we say that we had lived our lives to the fullest? Science is too vast and discoveries are spontaneous but narrowing it down as we focused on human itself, let's talk about the science which also becomes the current lucrative and risky business here in Asia....Cosmetic Surgery.

A colleague of mine spent a not so frugal expense of P74,000 to have his nose done. He loathed his big flat nose and swear to heaven that one day he'll have that pointed nose he'd been coveting for. After series of medical examination, finally, he undergone 3 hours of operation. During the recovery period of two weeks, there was an abstinence from oily food, he was not allowed to smile or laugh, or any facial movement that will intrude the nose in progress. So I thought at that moment, if you're holding grudges against him and you want to get even, tickling his feet is the best revenge.

The result was good. It was like a pencil turned around the sharpener...pointed. He adored himself like never before and his boyfriend loved it (yeah, you read it right).

It's been a trend that after a certain operation and desired result was achieved, one keeps coming back for more. In the business of cosmetic surgery, people are going across countries within Asia to look for affordable prices. Few months ago, I've read from The Reader's Digest magazine that major spots are Thailand, Korea and Singapore. Seems that we have nations in the pursuit of perfection.

Here, someone who was once a customer of cosmetic surgery is called "retokado" from the word "retoke", meaning "repair". The process itself we called "Thank you Doc". Sounds like you owe someone a huge favor though you just paid for it, tax inclusive. Nowadays, people are very open about it and going to cosmetic surgery ain't a secret. But it's also "ain't a secret" that during surgical operation, there are failures which lead to death. Life...that's too much as a trade for vanity.

I'd like to be a surgeon but I want to do it in a life saving situation. Let's say you're too clumsy walking , you slip on the ground and lay on the railroad, then a train passes your face. If that happens, might as well borrow a face from a dog or just call me, the surgeon to the rescue. But anyways, I'm daydreaming here, it's too late to shift career though.

My body alone can define the word "imperfect" and heaven forgive me for hating it sometimes. I'm fine with changes for it is inevitable but I don't want to do it in a drastic manner especially if health is a huge thing to consider. But this doesn't mean that I'm trying to contempt people who have silicon implanted under their breast or those who are wrapped like mummy after extracting fats from liposuction. I guess people have different interpretation for the adage "love thy body".

Whether it's vanity or anything other than that. For whatever reason one may have, the world revolves in a fast pace and human had found ways to make things easier. Thanks to science and technology, we have gained tremendous advantages. Just beware of the other way around.

Cosmetic surgery...the science where it's just a matter of being ready to go under the knife.
Ooppss....sorry not that one.
There you go...