Elective surgery – does it boost or destroy self-esteem?
What is elective surgery?
Elective surgery is any surgical procedure that is not a medical emergency and can range from small procedures such as removing a mole, to surgeries such as hernia and gallbladder removal, which are not a matter of life and death, but can improve quality of life dramatically.
Many people opt for elective C-sections when giving birth and some people have elective surgery in order to donate kidneys to others. Even hip and knee replacements are the choice of the patient and as much as they can hugely improve the quality of life for a patient, it is his/ her choice whether to go through with it or not.
Along with medical interventions, surgery for cosmetic reasons to change any part of your body is also classified as elective. Additionally, even botox injections, fillers and dental surgery to improve teeth all fall under this category.
Disadvantages of elective surgery
- It is expensive and often not covered by insurance
- It is sometimes seen as ‘the easy way out’ (in cases of childbirth or weight loss surgery)
- It requires time to recover
- It is painful
- It can be viewed as ‘vain’
Advantages
- It can improve quality of life
- It can improve mental and physical health
- It can be planned at a convenient time
- It can help with confidence and self-esteem
Does it boost or destroy self-esteem?
Surgeries, to me, either are medical or cosmetic, where medical surgeries help in one way or another to improve a patient’s health and cosmetic surgeries are purely aesthetic. Medical surgeries can be skin removal surgery, weight loss surgery, a hip replacement, a hernia removal or even laser surgery for painful varicose veins. Cosmetic surgeries have no medical benefits but are performed to help patients feel better.
If you have suffered with hating a certain part of you for a long time, or if something is causing you pain or medical issues, it makes sense for me to try to change that if you have the funds and the courage to do so. If you have larger breasts and would love a breast reduction to be able to wear clothes you have never been able to wear, or if you have had teeth that you have hated all your life and want surgery to improve them – I say ‘Go for it”.
Imagine how amazing you would feel if the one thing that has caused you angst for such a long period of your life, was no longer an issue. If you had a condition that left you with bald patches, you would feel much more confident with a full head of hair. If you had been worried about your nose since your teenage years and having surgery could take all that anxiety away. If you had loose skin after weight loss that was causing chaffing, pain and not allowing you to show off the body you had lost weight to show off – have the surgery and watch your confidence soar!
There is always the issue that for many people who get elective surgery or cosmetic surgery, the issue is not just the nose or the skin or the breasts. The issue is deeper and low self-esteem cannot always be fixed by changing what is on the outside. For some, it can make a huge difference in confidence levels but for the ones who are generally not happy within themselves, changing a part of their body, or losing weight or having a breast augmentation, will not change how they feel inside, and this is a slippery slope to not knowing when to stop.
Summary – Know yourself
In conclusion, if you know yourself and know that this surgery would boost your self-esteem and you could find the confidence you had never had by changing that one thing, do it. It will be worth the pain, the money and the procedure. However, if you know that deep down you will still feel the same whether you have one or one hundred surgeries, avoid it for now, and work on your self-esteem and confidence before going under the knife.
Surgery is a great option for self-improvement and helping you to live the life you want to (either for medical or cosmetic reasons). Why suffer from something causing you anxiety when it can be fixed with courage and funds? But similarly, if the thing you are fixing is not going to change the anxiety because that is deep-rooted within you and no physical transformation would change the way you value yourself, elective surgery may not be the answer you are looking for, and some work on the mind, the brain and your emotional health would benefit a lot more than surgery.