.
The practice that is known as plastic surgery has been performed throughout known history. Plastic surgery as it is known today gained popularity at the beginning of the Second World War (Erhardt). After the First World War, soldiers around the world who had lost limbs and had been severely damaged physically and emotionally during their time in Europe, began looking for ways to treat their injuries and disabilities. By the time of the Second World War, it became evident that weapons had become sophisticated beyond the ability of modern medicine to treat and heal injuries. New technologies and treatments were researched and investigated by medical scientists around the world in order to provide aid for the new war's casualties. Soon, the practice became advanced enough to the point where the surgeries can be performed at hospitals outside of the jurisdiction of the military. By the middle of the century, plastic surgery had become a specialty and the only people certified would have to show expertise in general surgery. .
As stated, there are some negative sides to the concept of plastic surgery which must first be addressed. In the article "The Empire of Images in our World of Bodies," author Susan Bordo illustrates the ways in which our lives are saturated by the visual iconography of our consumerist society. Specifically, Bordo is concerned with the ways in which perceptions of the human body tend to conform to the saturation of body types in the visual culture. Everything in society is valued by comparing it to some visual ideal which no one can achieve through natural means. "Aging beautifully' used to mean wearing one's years with style, confidence, and vitality. Today, it means not appearing to age at all. And – like breasts that defy gravity – it's becoming a new bodily norm" (Bordo 1). The modern sense of the word beauty is defined by massive amounts of cosmetic plastic surgery which alter an otherwise naturally beautiful woman into a homogenous countenance where those considered beautiful all have to look like they came out of the same mold.
