By Priyanka Sanaa | SHILLONG:
“The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree”, wrote Aristotle in Metaphysics. Those in the art and science of cosmetic surgery take this statement more literally. Beauty can be crafted to suit your idea of perfection; and in times of multiple beauty standards, from Indian to Eurocentric to Korean, women have a very diverse idea of how they would like their face sculpted. Priyanka Sanaa writes about the slowly rising, but still hidden, trend that is making cosmetic surgery a normal day in a person’s life.
In the age of filters, diet culture and unimaginably unrealistic beauty standards, the pressure to look picture-perfect and, in Gen-Z terms, to “look snatch” all the time is at its peak. The pressure is even greater for women, who often find the need to sport a look that is effortless yet, in reality, takes hours to execute.
The global beauty industry has witnessed explosive growth in the past few years. According to Forbes, presently, it is worth US$532 billion. It comes as no surprise that the need to look flawless has penetrated our subconscious existence. Extensive and expensive beauty regimes and treatments have become part of our daily routine, and, increasingly, some even opt to go under the knife to enhance their looks for that je ne sais quoi.
Celebrities often go the lengths of getting extensive work done to evoke a timeless appeal, all the while firmly denying speculations for the same; case in point: Before the launch of Jlo Beauty, Hollywood diva Jennifer Lopez’s skincare line, the musician, actor, singer and actor claimed that the secret to her flawless skin was simply olive oil. Anyone possessing even a bit of rationale can easily sense the farce behind such claims.
The pursuit to elevate one’s looks is not inherently a question of morality, but it may raise a cultural problem when there is a lack of transparency around “looks”, given that every beauty standard is, in essence, a racial standard. When celebrities make tall claims about their “naturally” Eurocentric looks, despite having easy access to expensive procedures and treatments, beauty standards become even more unrealistic, unattainable and toxic. The trends are themselves a response to the pressure “the famous” feel to look forever perfect. We are thus left with an endless cycle.
In keeping with this conversation, I ventured to interview plastic surgeons in Shillong and Garo Hills to share their opinion on beauty and surgery, and if current and viral beauty trends have made a footfall in smaller cities like Shillong. In the city, some of the most common beauty procedures include an eyelid lift (blepharoplasty), facelift (rhytidectomy), lip augmentation, rhinoplasty and breast augmentation. While already popular in metropolitan cities, they have only recently emerged in Shillong.
Less than a dozen patients visit surgeons for botox to smooth out wrinkles and to give their lips a subtle plump. Ethnic nose jobs to make noses “European” are more popular. Both surgeons’ customer base largely and frequently opt for expensive facial treatments, even the infamous vampire facial or the platelet-rich-plasma treatment, where a patient’s blood is used to rejuvenate skin. However, it is also to be noted that some of these cosmetic procedures are not only limited to beautification but can be life-saving at times. For instance, rhinoplasty can help recover from nasal fractures, while botox too can be used for medical reasons.
Our interview with young girls brought different angles to the conversation. While some girls believed that there really is no need to alter the way they look, others are of the opinion that, if one needs a bit of enhancement to feel confident, then no judgements should be passed their way. Furthermore, the lack of popularity in such treatments could also be credited to the fact that those who seek cosmetic surgery might opt to fly to bigger cities to get the job done at the hands of more experienced surgeons. The popularity of aesthetic and cosmetic procedures will be on the rise, they said, just as all other foreign trends that have penetrated the Northeast to date.
