11/12/2005

The disturbing math behind cosmetic surgery

Thought of this while reading a random WebMD article.

If 9.2 million people have cosmetic surgery in the U.S. every year (and if you work that out as a percentage, that's a couple people out of every 100),

People who get repeated surgeries on the same feature possibly suffer from a psychological condition called body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), also known as "imagined ugliness syndrome." Body dysmorphic disorder, which affects 7%-12% of cosmetic-surgery patients (men and women equally), is characterized by an obsession with an imagined physical flaw to the point that it can interfere with normal functioning.


So of 9,200,000 people, 7-12% of them get surgery that won't help them (and may make things worse). That's 644,000 to 1,104,000 people getting cosmetic surgery needlessly when what they should be getting is help in the form of therapy or

Maybe that 9.2 million includes minor stuff like botox injections, or chemical peels and so on. But any way you slice it (sorry) this is disturbing.

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