DIY Plastic Surgery​

Another ethical issue arising from plastic surgery is the fact that some people get so addicted to it, that they start to perform plastic surgery on themselves through various methods.

Addiction to cosmetic surgery, body dysmorphic disorder, other psychological conditions, lack of self-confidence, and the desire to look like celebrities, has made many people want to get cosmetic surgery done on themselves. But since many of them don’t have enough money to do so, they resort to “do-it-yourself” cosmetic procedures, which should not be performed under any circumstances. (Michael, 2009). There have been cases of people using household items, and buying non-medical-grade products off the internet in an attempt to alter their physical appearances. Such procedures quite often lead to lifelong disfigurement and other adverse side effects.

Famous cases of people performing cosmetic surgery on themselves:

A Korean singer, Hang Mioku, had her first plastic surgery when she was 28. She soon became addicted and got a series of procedures performed on her face, which eventually led to it becoming enlarged and disfigured. Later, surgeons refused to perform any more cosmetic procedures on her, and suggested that her addiction could be indicative of a psychological disorder. She eventually found a doctor who was willing to give her silicone injects and even gave her a syringe and silicone to self-inject. When she ran out of silicone, she started injecting cooking oil into her face, which resulted in her face becoming abnormally large, scarred, and disfigured, despite surgical attempts to rectify the defects (The Telegraph, 2008).

Figure 1: Hang Mioku before (left) and after (right) plastic surgery (Reproduced from Drew (2011)).​

Another such case involves a woman who purchased syringes and silicone online, and injected it into her lips and face because she couldn’t afford plastic surgery. The silicone that she purchased online was not medical-grade silicone, but instead personal lubricant. Within 24 hours of injecting herself, her face got inflamed and was covered by blisters and scar tissue, with infected silicone trapped under her skin (Huffington Post, 2011).

Figure 2: Woman after self-injecting herself with silicone (Reproduced from Drew (2011)).​

Figure 3: Tatsuya Ichihashi, who murdered a British teacher named Lindsay Hawker, cut off his lower lip with a pair of scissors, boxcutter-ed out his moles and broke his own nose to hide himself from police (Reproduced from Drew (2011)).