It is said that real beauty comes from within. And it is certainly true that a person can be thought of as very attractive without being in any way strikingly beautiful, due to inner qualities and the strength of their personality. But nevertheless personality is developed out of a combination of outer features and inner qualities. Even if some say that looks
donVt count, there’s substantial evidence pointing to the
contrary.
People who say they dondt care about their own or anybody else’s appearance usually tend to be good examples of the contrary. Very few people totally disregard their looks. Hair is an obvious example of this. A person may claim that it’s practical to wear their hair a certain way, but that judgement will always include the aspect of appearance. People with wild and long hair are usually also extremely careful about how it’s shaped. To care about one’s hair is perfectly natural and acceptable to most people, but imagine if hair had feeling and was subject to pain. Then anesthetics would be required and a visit to the hairdresser might be as controversial as having cosmetic plastic surgery done.
We can also see the importance of appearance in the way we dress and adorn ourselves. I’ve heard both men and women say “cosmetic plastic surgery isn’t really necessary, it doesn’t make any difference what you look like, people should be happy with the way they look”, and so forth. A woman making such remarks may well be elegantly dressed and impeccably made up. But what would it be like to always have to wear a despised piece of clothing? Let’s say a certain type of dress, or why not a little Tyrolean hat with a feather in it, is the ugliest thing you know. Imagine what it would feel like to be forced to wear this outfit every day through all the stages of life. Most certainly you’d be unhappy with the way you looked and do everything to hide the piece of clothing.
Modern plastic surgery can be looked upon as a tailor’s craft with the ability to change the dress or surgically remove the Tyrolean hat. This is a banal example, but it might just illustrate that one shouldn’t belittle people who are continually plagued by some aspect of their appearance. They should instead be supported. One of the problems for the plastic surgeon is clarifying and affirming to the patient what he or she may expect from the surgery. A surgical procedure isn’t something one can just “try on” like a piece of clothing. Furthermore there are unpredictable factors to consider, such as biological differences in healing.
People often associate a certain look with a certain type of personality.
This is often done quite subconsciously – someone might be perceived as grumpy
and angry simply because
