Plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures can be sensitive topics, and talking about them isn’t always easy. People’s choices in these areas are deeply personal, involving physical risks, moral considerations, and emotional factors.
But Reddit user Dabbinmeg420 was so thrilled with her own results that she shared before-and-after pics on r/PlasticSurgery—and, judging by the response, she basically united the internet in admiration.
Her year-and-a-half glow-up shows that, while the journey might be different for each of us, we can definitely grow more confident in our skin.
We all have our own relationship with our bodies, and this woman wanted to change the way she looked
Image credits: dabbinmeg420
And she documented the entire process
Image credits: dabbinmeg420
Image credits: dabbinmeg420
Image credits: dabbinmeg420
Image credits: dabbinmeg420
Image credits: dabbinmeg420
Image credits: dabbinmeg420
It’s important to remain respectful when discussing personal choices like these, but seeing someone feel comfortable and confident in their own skin is always worth appreciating
Image credits: Kateryna Hliznitsova / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Research from 2019 has identified 8 main reasons why people decide to get cosmetic procedures: (1) mental and emotional health, (2) appearance, (3) physical health, (4) work and/or school success, (5) social well-being, (6) cost and/or convenience, (7) procedural perceptions, and (8) timing of treatment.
Interestingly, the study found that people’s motivations are usually unrelated to the desire for physical beauty. They primarily want to avoid feeling self-conscious and to enhance confidence, or to reduce the time and expense required to conceal physical imperfections through makeup and other means.
A number of papers have found that cosmetic surgery patients do experience improvements in their body image following a cosmetic procedure.
For example, one study showed that participants who’d had Botox reported feeling they were more attractive, less self-conscious, and more satisfied with their appearance.
Feelings about the specific feature that was altered may also improve. Another study of women who’d undergone breast augmentation found they generally reported greater satisfaction with their breast appearance up to four years post-surgery.
Then there was a study of people who’d had rhinoplasty (often called “a nose job”), and it found they were generally satisfied with the appearance of their nose as well as with their face overall.
However, these outcomes are universal. Other studies suggest that cosmetic surgery doesn’t improve self-esteem in the long run, as some findings suggest that satisfaction can fade after several years.
Researchers have also looked at the connection between cosmetic surgery and symptoms of depression, and the results here can be mixed. For instance, a study of Norwegian adolescents discovered that symptoms of depression and eating problems worsened in those who’d had cosmetic surgery compared to those who hadn’t.
In other words, while cosmetic intervention can help some people, there’s a risk that it won’t solve issues for others, so it really should be taken seriously on a case-by-case basis.
Here are a few more examples that show just how different these journeys can look
Image credits: michellewood165
Image credits: Berbadurr
Returning to the original transformation, the woman’s comment section quickly filled with warm compliments
