We hear so much about celebrities willy-nilly going and getting plastic surgery without so much as a hard 10-second thought about it that I think we forget that surgery is always serious and always carries some risk. No doubt surgery is worlds away from the medieval days when it was painful and extremely dangerous, with people routinely dying on the table. But it's still surgery. It shouldn't ever be undertaken lightly. And plastic surgery often isn't medically necessary -- lots of times it's not even cosmetically necessary. Let's face it, nobody NEEDS bigger boobs or a thinner nose. Still, surgery is generally so safe today that people are shocked when something goes wrong. The family of a mother of two is considering suing the woman's plastic surgeon after her "mommy makeover" went horribly wrong.
The 39-year-old woman, Adriana de Silva, who is the mother to a 14-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, flew to Florida from New York in order to have a "mommy makeover" -- a tummy tuck, liposuction, and breast implants. Her 14-year-old daughter said the surgeries were a gift to herself for her birthday and Mother's Day.
Surgery as a gift? Shudder. But two days after her surgery, de Silva had a stroke. She then slipped into a coma. And then she died.
Two children without a mother. For cosmetic surgery. Is it worth the risk? Let's face it, we all have physical things about ourselves that we don't like. I'm not going to mention mine. I don't like them, so why would I draw attention to them? But there is one particular surgery I've thought about getting for ages. In fact, when I once casually mentioned it to a doctor, he began going on and on about how I would look GREAT with that surgery! By the time I left his office, what had been a fleeting thought in my mind almost became a certainty. I began looking up the procedure online. Comparing costs. Imagining how FABULOUS I would look with that surgery.
And then I came to my senses. Did I really want my insides split open and tools shoved into my body while I was under anesthesia to cause a cosmetic change that probably no one but me would notice anyway? Better to get to like myself. Anyway, the older I get, the more I like my flaws!
That said, I'm not ruling out surgery forever. If it gets to the point that they can do face lifts or breast implants without putting you under, then sign me up. I ain't gonna lie. But until that day, I'll stick with what I have.
I'm not blaming de Silva for her choice. She obviously thought the surgeries would be safe. But I wonder why the doctor chose to do three major surgeries at once? I think people think you go into an office and boom! come out looking fab. But there's a whole lotta pain and healing between surgery and fab.
There is nothing sadder than dying for a surgery that you didn't need to have. My heart goes out to this family.
Would you ever have plastic surgery? Have you?
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Image via WPTV