Plastic Surgery
Every year millions of people experience a need in plastic surgery, but only a small percent of them undergo surgical procedures. Although people with inborn or acquired defects are just the same as people with no deformities or disabilities, unfortunately they are not perceived by society and are often disregarded, laughed at, and cast out. In First World countries people usually have financial opportunities to treat facial or other physical defects, but those who live in Third World or developing countries lack financial opportunities to afford costly operations.
People in Africa do understand that some families are so poor that they cannot buy even essential items like proper nutrition, medications, and clothes but still those who have deformities or disabilities are some kind of distracted from the rest of society. In the movie ‘Smile Pinki’ it was shown that children with cleft lip did not attend school because they were likely to be humiliated among the peers (Mylan). Unfortunately, the same happens here, in Africa. As a rule, adults are aware that some physical defects have nothing to do with the personality, but children and teens do not percept peers with physical abnormalities as the equal members of community. Childhood is the time when a person undergoes mental and sociocultural development, and distraction from society has a negative impact. Although family is supportive to its members with physical defects, it is not a rare case when such people are considered to be a burden for a family. The movie ‘Smile Pinki’ shows mothers who were complaining of having children with a cleft lip not only because of aesthetic reasons but also owing to the fact that it is difficult for people with defects to find a life partner and get married, and thus they often live with parents for the whole life (Mylan).
From my own experience healthy-looking face with good teeth is a key point in a person’s attractiveness, but here, in Africa people do not pay so much attention to it, like people from the economically developed countries do. Here we have more people with facial defects who need surgery and that it why we are more sensitive to them. In Africa, it is more important to be physically able to earn a living then to have a beautiful face. As for me, those who do have some deformities or disabilities should be treated just like those who do not, but we still need to give them psychological support to make them feel more comfortable about appearance. Plastic surgery is not always affordable and often does not make a person look beautiful but just corrects visible signs of deformations, so we should accept people the way who they are and how they look.
References
Mylan, M. (Director). (2009). Smile Pinki [Motion picture]. Smile …
