As we evolve as a species, it seems that physical appearances have become the most important thing in our social, professional – and psychological development. These days, looks get you the sexiest date, the best job – and determine your social class in society. Basically, our society as a whole has put such an emphasis on outward appearances, that many people feel that if they are not one of “the beautiful people”, they won’t be successful, happy – or even in love.

So in order to ensure that everyone gets “a fair shake” at being what they want to be – an industry has developed that started a few years ago as a luxury only available to the rich and famous – and has since become so commonplace, that almost everyone has had it done in some form or another – and many people even do it on their lunch hour – cosmetic surgery.

From tummy tucks, to breast augmentation to full body lifts – people who are unhappy with their appearance have the ability to become a completely different person if they choose to do so. People as young as twelve and as old as seventy have had cosmetic surgery in some form and claim they are happy with the results. My question to them is – what was wrong with “the old you”?

I personally have a real problem with people altering their appearance. To me, if you were born a certain way – you should thank God for what you were given. Granted, there are some people that are born with deformities or abnormalities that can be corrected or removed via cosmetic surgery, and should be – but those people that just want to look years younger, have a slimmer waist and turn to liposuction as opposed to proper diet and exercise, or want bigger or smaller breasts – are tampering with nature and should leave their bodies the way they are.

Me? I won’t even dye my hair because I find that unnatural much less get cosmetic surgery. But I will admit there are things on my body that I would love to improve. Take my eyes for example. I have very bad bags and deep lines under my eyes that I had since childhood and have been enhanced over the years due to the fact that I hardly ever sleep. To be honest, there were times in school when I was made fun of because of the bags under my eyes. I was called names and kids would ask who gave me the two black eyes – but so what? Should I have resorted to painful and expensive surgery just so more people would hopefully like me and stop making fun of me? My feeling is that if you don’t like me or choose to make fun of me because of the bags under my eyes – then you are not worth knowing. But judging by the millions of dollars that the cosmetic surgery industry makes every year – not everyone is as happy with themselves as I am.

What kills me the most about cosmetic surgery is that ninety-nine percent of insurance companies don’t cover cosmetic surgery because it is categorized as “elective surgery”. So the people that decide to alter themselves not only have to endure the physical pain associated with cosmetic surgery – but the financial pain as well – which can sometimes stretch into the thousands of dollars.

What compelled me to write this column was a program on cosmetic surgery that I saw yesterday on the Discovery Health Channel. The program profiled individuals of all ages and from all walks of life, and followed their progression from perspective candidates for cosmetic surgery, to post-operative cosmetic surgery patients.

My favorite person they profiled was a 13-year-old boy named Jake, who had ears that seemed to project outward rather then fold back. Apparently, he was unable to make friends and avoid ridicule by the other kids because of the way his ears looked. As a result, his grades dropped, he became very depressed – and even told his guidance counselor that he was thinking of hurting himself. So Jake decided that he wanted to have cosmetic surgery to alter his ears so he would no longer be ridiculed, an outcast – or suicidal. This to me is absurd. Here is a kid that, by his profile on the program, appeared to be a well-mannered kind young man who now has to surgically alter his appearance at a cost of four thousand dollars of his parent’s money just so he doesn’t get picked on anymore. When I was in school, I was picked on every day – but I never dreamed of changing my appearance just to suit the people that didn’t like me anyway – but Jake did – and now, he is happy and has friends and even a girlfriend. I never had friends or a girlfriend when I was his age – so instead of living without friends and a girlfriend through Junior High School – would I have gotten both if I changed my ears?

While their may be surgeries that can alter almost every part of the body, the one form of cosmetic surgery that is the most common is the one performed on the breasts. Be it augmentation or reduction, doctors are performing some sort of surgery on breasts almost on a daily basis in this country. Being a man, I can not relate to the issues that woman have concerning their breasts. I can however, comment on behalf of the male race on this topic.

I realize that we live in a “T & A” world – but in my opinion, no woman should surgically enlarge their breasts just to be more “accepted” or “be looked at more”. To be honest, I have been intimate with woman that have had both small and large breasts – and to me – one doesn’t excite me more then the other. I don’t look for woman who only have “big boobs” – I look for woman that make me happy. But unfortunately – there are plenty of other men that think differently – which is why breast augmentation has become such big business – pardon the pun.

Here is a question for the ladies that are reading this column. What would you say to your man if he said, “I love you just the way you are – but would you get implants?” Exactly. So why do so many women get this extremely painful and very expensive surgery for their “boob” happy companions? On the flipside of the coin, there are some women that have very large breasts and are both unhappy with the fact that most of the men they meet talk to their chest, and that they have tremendous back discomfort from the tremendous weight of their breasts, so they have elected to have breast reduction surgery to reduce both the pain and the unwanted stares from men. So let me get this straight – one group of women want to be looked at for their breasts, so they choose enlargements – and one group of women want to stop getting looked at for their breasts, so they choose reduction. Does anyone else see this as ridiculous?

I guess that as a visual society, the “need” for cosmetic surgery will always be there – and so will the doctors that are willing to carve people up and reshape them – for a price.