Plastics: medicine turned business

Even in countries where health care is 'free' plastic surgery is a money-making machine. While a plastic surgeon by definition fixes areas on the outside that are causing issues and hand injuries, the technology developed is also used for cosmetic purposes.
It used to be that if you could not breath properly or you had a mole that caused discomfort, a plastic surgeon was your only means of cure. Today, the plastic surgeon profession goes hand in hand with celebrities, the rich and the fabulous who need some 'touch ups' to match societies definition of the perfect body.

Doctors in this field, even in Canada are paid mega-bucks* to turn people into who they want to be. Over the past few months, the news has been focusing on plastic surgery trends around the world. The most astonishing article I read was about a cliic in South Korea who can literally change your outer appearance beyond recognition. South Korea is infamous for having scales in high school hallways to ensure all students are within a specific weight (typically very low and unhealthy) and very high beauty standards. http://www.buzzfeed.com/kierawrr/31-crazy-before-and-after-photos-of-korean-plastic-4gx1.
In the USA beauty standards are less defined but everywhere. While there are no scales in hallways, magazines, television and even broadway emphasize what a person is supposed to look like. Legally Blond the Musical's verse,

"Yes, the East Coast is foreign

There's no film studios

It's cold and dark, no valet parking

All the girls have different noses

Christ, button, it's like the damn frontier"

According to the verse, different noses are not in vouge. This is only one example from the hundreds.
All of these cosmetics cost a lot of money and for what? Can what you look like really make you happier? I think, to an extent, it can. Otherwise, the entire body modification industry would not exist. In order for cosmetic surgery to make you happier, you need to know who you are on the inside. If your outers do not reflect that, I can see how cosmetics can help change you're confidence. Even in emergency situations, a scar along your face may not be life threatening, but if you don't feel 'scared' or if having it makes you feel like a victim, you should be able to get rid of it.