Plastic Surgery - How to Tell If it's an Addiction

Plastic surgery can change the way you look and feel about yourself. For some people, that change is a simple one such as breast size, nose size, or that annoying pocket of fat. For others, it becomes an obsession. No matter what they have done it's never enough. Those people are considered addicts, and like an addiction to anything else, it can be detrimental. So how do you identify if you are an addict or just someone who wants to look their best?

If you have been under the knife for more than one or two plastic surgeries then you are probably thinking - does this make me an addict. Break it down. Why are you going back to your physician for a nip here, a tuck there, or a whole new something? Is it because these were all originally on your list of areas you wanted to fix or are these new areas that you've recently discovered. It's important to be honest with yourself on this. Some people who have had multiple procedures had always planned to do it a little at a time. This doesn't make them an addict. It makes them smart; these procedures cost a lot of money.

That being said, if you started off with one plastic surgery and find yourself back in front of the mirror looking for flaws, then you might have a problem. Today's society can be a little skewed on what beauty is. Because of that, there are people out there who obsess about every little flaw that they see. These people tend to become addicted to cosmetic procedures hoping that they will make them beautiful according to society's standards. You shouldn't go by what society thinks is beautiful, you should go by what makes you feel beautiful.

Good physicians can spot a troubled patient a mile away. Those doctors might actually try to talk those patients out of plastic surgery or refuse to do the procedure all together. These patients may have unrealistic expectations, be impossible to please, and obsess about ever minor "flaw" that they see. Some of them may even suffer from a mental illness called body dimorphic disorder (BDD) or other mental illness. These patients may be advised to visit with a counselor prior to going through with any cosmetic procedure.

Sure, there are times when you can have multiple plastic surgery procedures and not be an addict. Sometimes you have a list of things you want to do but don't have the money to do them all at once. Other reasons include having to have a cosmetic surgeon fix a botched job from a previous procedure. But if you, or a loved one, can't seem to stop finding problems with their body you might want to take a second to talk to someone before you decide to have your next nip or tuck.