BBL, Dangers and Other Issues

For those not in the know BBL is a Brazilian Butt Lift, currently one of the most popular cosmetic procedure and also one of the most dangerous, 33 women have died in the US. It’s a trend that began in 2014 with nude photos of Kim Kardashian and the popularization continued with Jennifer Lopez.  Surgeons in both the UK and the US have issued warnings about the procedure.  What usually happens is that fat is taken from the thighs and injected into the rear end.  It’s expensive, up to$10,000 in the UK and has become a big business. Complications have been increasing, the injected fat is either injected into or can reach big veins, veins which can reach the heart or the brain and cause serious problems including death. There are also severe bacterial infections, particularly since many of these procedures may not be done under sterile conditions, including reported instances of flesh eating disease. Tissue dying can occur, so can wound ruptures, abscesses and scarring.  As the use of cosmetic surgery to improve body image keeps rising, the trends keep changing as to which body part is to be made more prominent. Some psychologists dealing with this problem say it all has to do with body acceptance or lack of it.   From my perspective, however, we are more than our bodies, and while it will be many generations before that truth takes hold into the general consciousness, emphasizing the body at the expense of other parts of ourselves cannot be a good thing. I wonder sometimes if focusing on body image in this way isn’t a failure of feminism. Perhaps like the Me Too movement it’s something that is late in coming. Regardless, for women to be under the spell of cosmetic surgery trends under the guide of body acceptance doesn’t seem healthy. One can look good without plastic surgery. One can look good regardless of the size of one’s breasts, one’s buttocks or of one’s dress size for that matter. The body images created by the media and business interests ought not to determine our view of our bodies—neither should the vanities or priorities of celebrities.  Women’s empowerment has become a cliché, yet here where we need to practice it, we don’t.