Medical Care off the Rails

Despite the growing appetite for cosmetic medical care, there persists a thread of uneasiness in public, media, and medical commentary about it. Some express philosophical concerns: What does it mean for humankind when bodies can be altered beyond recognition, detached to a large degree from their genetic imperatives? Has the value of appearance superseded that of character? Others contemplate the potentially corrosive social effects of the pervasive message encouraging cosmetic physical alteration. Will the cosmetic medical craze pass, or are our future generations doomed to seek out increasing amounts of surgery in order to achieve generic, surgically facilitated familial or cultural norms of appearance? Is cosmetic medical care simply there for the choosing if one has the desire for it, or is there in fact a cultural pressure, heavily reinforced by marketing, that is starting to Read the rest of this entry »