Our Aesthetic Perception

Recently, due to the influence of social media and the prominence of visuality, details on our bodies that we did not care about before have started to become important to us.

Everyone has noticed, as they look back at old photos, how natural people were back then, and how beautiful faces we had back then compared to today. Thin lips, visible gums when smiling, misshapen eyebrows, wrinkles that appear in photos of people approaching middle age, etc.

While being overweight isn't a big deal for most of us men, it's always been a priority for women. That's why, even during my childhood, I'm 41 years old, and advertisements and techniques for this purpose were popular all over the country. For example, nylon tracksuits designed for weight loss—people would sleep in them at night, losing water through sweat until morning. Or the endless commercials for products we had to watch on television because there was no internet connection like today—the most famous example being exercise aids that deliver electric current to the abdominal muscles or emphasize that a 3-minute exercise a day would be sufficient, etc.

From a facial perspective, special creams were widely advertised in the past, and even celebrities would share their creams and nighttime treatments. With today's advancements in cosmetic surgery, medical procedures have become more popular than these products due to their greater accessibility and practicality.

So Has Our Perception Changed?

Of course, it changed, and it took shape very quickly, in the blink of an eye. In fact, social media fueled this trend.

Now, everyone can freely express their desires for Barbie-doll-like skin, a slim waist, or an oversized butt. They can even manipulate their own photos using artificial intelligence programs to create a shop-like effect, creating a completely different fantasy on social media and their WhatsApp profiles. Surgical procedures that were shameful 10 years ago, or even secretly 15 years ago, are now perceived as just another natural process.

Ultimately, all these factors, coupled with the widespread availability and availability of cosmetic surgery, have made these procedures a natural part of life for both men and women, and they're now part of the necessary changes. They're as natural as going to the hairdresser or shopping.

At this point, we, as plastic surgeons who have gone through a certain level of training, must have the ability to recommend the right treatment to the patient and, if necessary, to refuse their request.