Whenever many people think about the likely candidates for cosmetic surgery they occasionally think of young glamour women trying to boost their professions or women who were once overweight and can't change the last few folds of skin. These preconceptions may be obvious due to what is promoted by the media. The reality is that many various kinds of people are having surgery for many different reasons.

In this article I will explore some of the more and less visible reasons why individuals possess cosmetic surgery.

We are always told what matters is not elaborate on the outside but on the inside. Then on the other hand we are told to help make the most of what we have because first impressions count. Conflicting information causes us to battle with our appearance and what is and is not important. This can lead to us validating ourselves in what we look like on the outside. This brings me to the first reason that people have surgery, self esteem.

Having self confidence is to have pride and self respect. Another way to explain self esteem is to feel good about yourself. There are many ways to transform your self esteem whether it is learning more, a better career, spirituality or perhaps cosmetic surgery. Many men and women would claim to having some form of plastic cosmetic surgery in order to improve their self esteem. A common saying is when you look great, you feel good. Looks are often intertwined with how we sense.

We are often judged on first appearance, if we experience we look good our confidence increases and our very first judgement can also be improved. Self esteem is quite a key reason that will both men and women have cosmetic procedures.

One of the most popular reasons for getting cosmetic surgery is aiming to turn back the years. In magazines, on tv adverts and radio we are constantly bombarded with announcements about 'slowing down the signs of ageing', 'turning back again the clock', 'renew', 'refresh' and words and phrases associated with returning to a more youthful appearance. This is the same cause that many people choose to have cosmetic procedures. In modern society there exists a fear of ageing and the signs such as wrinkles, sagging pores and skin and unfit bodies and we are told to hide these types of signs. Procedures such as Botox, breast uplifts, arm lifting, face lifts are all geared towards returning to our youthful body. In search of growing old gracefully many people choose to have cosmetic surgery.

One more that people choose to have cosmetic surgery is that they feel that they are not equal in shape with their body. Some women for example feel like their boobies are not in proportion with their bodies either too small or maybe too big. Some men and women feel that their nose is too large, ears stick out too much, lips are too small and other great tales. Feeling that one or more parts of your body is not quite right can be quite uncomfortable and this is why many people have cosmetic surgery in order to feel correct within themselves.

The media is often blamed for motivating individuals in to a thought process and forcing images on to all of them that are not realistic. There have been programmes and magazine articles in which discuss how unreal the images that we see in front of all of us everyday actually are. However although we are told that these pictures are not real we are still influenced by what we see. Lots of men and women have an image of their ideal body based on the individuals they see such as models, actresses and celebrities. Many people bring pictures to cosmetic surgeons asking for 'Angelina Jolie's lips', 'Jennifer Lopez's bottom' or 'a chin like Monique Pitt'. These media ideals can shape how people look at themselves and influence their choice and thought behind having cosmetic surgery.

Quite a major reason for having a medical procedure is before and after changes in someone's life. There has always been the concept women cut their hair after a break up as if making a brand new start and as an end to their previous life. This same reasons is why many people choose to have cosmetic surgery. For many people after a separation and divorce, when they have had a life threatening experience, getting or targeting a new job and so on are reasons why they want to have cosmetic surgery. It can be seen as a sign of marking the occasion as well as declaring that there is going to be a change in their lives. Cosmetic surgery could be a way of showing change in individual's lives and having some thing to remember it by.

A reason that many people choose to have plastic surgery is that they want to make small and subtle changes to themselves. They don't need it to be too obvious that they have had surgery but they make minor enhancements so that they look a bit better, just to renew themselves. The procedures that would typically suit this tend to be non surgical procedures such as Botox, chemical peels, and microdermabrasion.

Overall there are many different reasons why someone might choose to have surgery treatment, whatever their reasoning cosmetic surgery has different meanings in order to people. Some individuals may feel that the reasons behind having cosmetic plastic surgery are solely aesthetic but this is not always the case, you will find often deeper reasons that people choose to have cosmetic surgery and contains a different meaning for different individuals.