Cosmetic Surgery And The Suicide Connection
There was a fascinating New Scientist article about a possible connection between cosmetic surgery and suicide. According to researchers women who get breast implants are 2 to 3 times more likely to commit suicide than woman who don’t. This same connection was found in 5 independent studies suggesting there may actually be
something to it. There was even a suggestion that this value may be higher because women who have breast implants were also more likely to get into fatal car accidents. These would typically be reported as accidents when they could possibly be suicides.
So it leads to the question, why would there be a connection? The following were proposed as possible reasons.
1. Undiagnosed psychological problems
This was said to be the most likely cause. Women who elect to get cosmetic surgery like this are more likely to have some kind of psychological disorder. This includes a condition called body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in which a person obsesses about barely noticeable or non-existent flaws in their appearance.
2. Drugs & Alcohol
Women who get breast implants are also more likely to partake in drugs & alcohol. It could be that these are the real culprit and the breast implants are just coincidence.
3. Implant leaks
While the scientists say this is highly unlikely it hasn’t been ruled out. It is possible that the chemicals in breast implants are leaking out, affecting the brain, and triggering suicide.
Amazingly, 291,000 American women had breast implants last year. This side of the Beauty Brains has to wonder, Is it really worth it?
Thankfully, there are push-up bras and other non-surgical options to make them look bigger. On the other hand, people should just accept each other for how they are. But be sure to keep using make-up and other cosmetics. You wouldn’t want the Beauty Brains to be out of a job right?
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tangal Says:
interesting!
forgetmenot Says:
Well when I was considering getting plastic surgery when I was younger I thought about it a lot and what put me off a lot was worrying about people treating me differently (better) as a result. While I came to the conclusion that I wanted more people to find me attractive and as a result be nicer to me, I also realised if post surgery this actually happened in a way it would make me feel very sad and realise how little difference it made what kind of person I was to the sort of people who treated me better and this would in turn make me dislike these people and resent myself more for caring what such people think enough to have surgery.
My line of thinking probably isn’t a healthy one but it may be similar to some who’ve gone through with the surgery before they came to such conclusions leading to them feeling very negative about themselves and the society we live in.
Also breast implants to me seem to be more in line with the idea of conforming to what is percieved to be (not necessarily is) the male idea of beauty than most cosmetic surgery. I guess this is because breasts are seen to be more sexual and there seems to be more of a thing of wanting to be sexy with breast implants rather than just wanting to look prettier or more “normal” like with say nose jobs for example.
But it’s all very debateable. Interesting studies though