The Philosophy of Facial Surgery -- The Two Sides of Beauty

Facial surgery is something that is becoming more and more acceptable in our world; to be able to pay to a professional to design your face to your liking. As we all know, our faces are one of the main components in our body that we can use to identify both ourselves and others.

Unless you're blind or suffer from lack of sight, our faces truly represent us in the world. Thus, it would only be natural, that some would want to alter their facial appearance, if it meant the world would treat them differently.

The world is not fair when it comes to appearance. Usually, it is the good-looking who are more attractive to other people, and it is the ugly who might be less appealing to the world. Even though I never went under facial surgery, I used to be prettier as a man.

I had long hair, and it was before I had an incurable skin disease on my face. It was during these years when girls were attracted to me the most. However, when I turned to greater solitude, I no longer saw the need to look appealing to the world, and indeed, I don't mind being uglier than I was a decade ago.

However, beauty is still something that concerns many men and women, because it is the key to attract and, in times, be accepted into certain social circles. Even after all these years of advancements, we as a whole, are truly superficial when it comes to worth.

It's easy to "judge a book by its cover" and just not look at someone as more than the sum of their visual appearance.

While I understand that appearance is indeed important to a degree, the "inside" of a person should also count, if we wish to resist the increasing of superficiality in our world.

It isn't to say that we should ignore someone's appearance completely, but it shouldn't be the main focus of our lives, because in the end, it's just an organization of visual features, and nothing necessarily more.

Everyone should be entitled to their financial decisions. No one should stop you from getting a facial surgery if you believe it could benefit you in life. Interviews, friends, romance -- all have some dependency on looks, because we humans are easily influenced by our first impression of someone, no matter how incorrect it actually is.

The premise of this article is, that beauty shouldn't become an obsession, something that bothers you so much even if you are technically an attractive person.

The philosophy of facial surgery is this: Sometimes adjustment to the environment's expectations is required in order to be accepted and appreciated. It really is about adjustment, ultimately; to match the desires of potential partners, bosses and friends.

By going to this treatment, you basically compromise your appearance in order to better appeal to the world. In a way it's just like a fashion code; wear something people will like, and you'll likelier to be accepted into their ranks; Wear whatever you want, regardless of circumstance, and some might consider you a clown.

I think it's quite sad that some people require -- or believe they require -- to purposefully change their natural looks just to be approved by society. Those who cannot afford such practices, might be left behind, as the wealthier could not only dress attractively, but look, more appealing to the eye.

I don't actually know how such a thing costs, but I won't be surprised if it's expensive. It just goes to show, how material gain makes the world shallower, all because those who do not wealthy enough, are "doomed" to stay behind, in the corner of the world, allegedly.

Of course, there is also another side to this issue. You can basically use this operation to either conceal or form a new identity. Even if your voice would stay the same, people won't necessarily recognize you anymore, and might consider you a stranger, pretending to be someone they know.

The idea of someone being capable of permanently changing your face, is something that could be deemed as a concept of a horror movie.

Imagine looking at yourself in the mirror, and finding out that you cannot recognize yourself, even though you are aware that the person you're viewing is yourself. That is because our faces are central to our identity, not only in the eyes of others, but in our own mind as well. It gives you the affirmation that here, this is you, and you have a face just like anyone else who is distinctive from you.

I won't be surprised to know that some secret services use facial surgery to conceal their identity. Should we ever be able to alter the texture of our fingers, then we would truly be able to effectively switch between personalities like we could do so, in different accounts online.

In conclusion, facial surgery can be an effective way to alter the world's attitude towards us, but it is, nonetheless, quite sad, when we find out how shallow we humans can be when it comes to appearance.

An "ideal" world would not focus so much on one's beauty, and not be so obsessed with it. In a way I'm glad I was never a model, even though I could've been long ago, simply because beauty is but a way to be desired and appreciated, by having something that isn't necessarily "you".

Your nails, your hair and your face -- all can be altered without your "self" necessarily changing along the way, and people might treat you differently, even though you are still you.

Philosophically, facial surgery teaches us how both relevant and irrelevant beauty is; It's relevant on a social and romantic level, but beyond that, I must ask, what's even the point?

Why should we compromise our own FACE for others? Is it that necessary, just because of how shallow we are as a whole? Why not combat the notion of shallowness, and thrive to live in a more depth-seeking world?

After all, that's the reason I created this site for, to help making the world less shallow.