Fat Layer Reduction Forum

In a provocative article in the journal Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, three physicians discuss how cosmetic surgery is “passing through an identity crisis as well as an acute ethical dilemma.”

Here’s an excerpt:

“Aesthetic surgery that works only according to market categories runs the risk of losing the view for the real need of patients and will be nothing else than a part of a beauty industry which has the only aim to sell something, not to help people. Such an aesthetic surgery is losing sight of real values and makes profit from the ideology of a society that serves only vanity, youthfulness, and personal success. Unfortunately, some colleagues brag that they chose the plastic surgery specialty just to become rich aesthetic surgeons, using marketing tactics to promote their practice. This is, at present, the image we project. As rightly proposed, going back a little to Hippocrates, to the basics of being a physician, is urgently warranted! Being a physician is all that a ‘cosmetic’ surgeon should be. In the long run, how one skillfully and ethically practices the art of plastic surgery will always speak louder than any words.”

Source: Atiyeh BS, Rubeiz MT, Hayek SN. Aesthetic/cosmetic surgery and ethical challenges. Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2008:32:829-839.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Business and Ethics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.