As time passes, advances in plastic and reconstructive surgery have certainly increased and helped to improve the lives of millions of people who have congenital malformations (like cleft lip and cleft palate), injuries, animal bites, and burn wounds.

Here we are not going to concentrate on these different types of plastic surgery, but instead on cosmetic surgery, or as it’s also know elective procedures to enhance those not charged with such disfiguring conditions.

The 1900’s to the Present

  • Beauty and appearance are always something that have been important in the lives of women, whatever the era, century or decade of yesteryear.
  • Back in time, the ongoing changes were gradual and less outstanding, however,by the time of the 20th century, fashions, trends and styles changed much more rapidly by the decade.
  • Still, the changes in things such as cosmetology, clothing design, accessories and hairstyles down through time, brings to lighta lot more than a skin-deep history.

Women in History

Such changes reveal insight into the social portrayals of women down through history, and just how females viewed and regarded themselves. Cosmetology’s historyrecognises every societal definition of physical beauty such as breast augmentation in Sydney on its own virtue. If you go back in time to India, you will find that as early as 600 BC, a Hindu medical specialist re-establishedsomeone’s nose by utilising a piece of cheek, and voila! The rest is history.

Instigators

External reasons for the use of cosmetic surgery can involve the wish to avoid ethnic prejudice; concerns about age discrimination; and direct or subtle persuasion from a spouse, parent or employer. The internal reasons also include the longing to discard unwanted feelings of:

  • Worry
  • Shame
  • Feeling something of a social outcast
  • The wish to change and fashion a particularly displeasing feature
  • The longing for a more youthful and healthier appearance that emits fertility (especially in women);
  • The desire to display to the world, a robust, powerful presence that will take forward career advancement.

Australia at Number One

The changing face of plastic surgery is easily shown in the large increase of procedures carried out, money spent and a 356% growth in nonsurgical procedures. And, surgery remains at number one also when it comes to expenditure, with over 60% of the more than one 1 billion dollars, spent yearly in Australia.

More Spent per capita than in the United States

And even though the United States, which as you already know, has a much larger population than humble Australia, actually goes on to spend around $10.1bn on surgical and non-surgical procedures, this number requires taking into account the differences in population between both nations.

If you take a look at the dollars spent per 10,000 people, Australians are investing around 40% more per capita than Americans! At $454,500 per ten thousand people, compared to $328,000 per ten thousand in the USA, there’s a lot of people in Australia (and worldwide) who wish to look not only great, but outstanding!