When did cosmetic surgery become available to the general public?

Question

While cosmetic / reconstructive surgery in general can be traced back to ancient times, I was wondering when did modern cosmetic surgery (as it is today) become accessible to the public? I began to wonder when I was looking at old pictures of celebrities of the 30s and 40s - a lot of them were stunningly beautiful - and then I started to wonder if they were natural beauties or surgically enhanced.

Nowadays, cosmetic surgery is very accessible and you don't even have to have a lot of money to get a cosmetic procedure, but I was wondering what was it like back in the 1930s / 40s? How common are cosmetic surgeries, and how about the affordability of cosmetic surgeries? Thanks for answering!

Anonim · Accepted Answer

You raise a very interesting question. I noticed in wikipedia that reconstructive surgeries date back to 800BC! 

It seems that modern plastic surgery really developed during WWI and WWII (in the US at least) treating wounded soldiers. The American Society of Plastic Surgery was founded in late 1931. Training of doctors and growth of the association happened quickly, but until 1950 or so but was still focussed on reconstructive surgeries (vs cosmetic procedures which plastic surgeons are also qualified to do). 

The silicone breast implant arrived on the scene in 1962 and innovations in plastic and cosmetic surgery continued in a break-neck pace from then.

To answer your question though - purely based on the number of doctors trained in plastic or cosmetic surgery, widespread cosmetic procedures would not have been available to people much before the 60s or 70s. It was still done, but it seems public awareness wouldn't have been great nor would it have been easy to find a doctor. 

John Dillinger famously had plastic surgery in the 1930s. Hollywood had discovered plastic surgery in the 1920s (check out the article from October 1930 talking about rhinoplasty in Hollywood), with stars going under the knife in the name of beauty. So one can assume that stars of the 30s and 40s quite possibly were cosmetically enhanced!

imgeminirising · Answer

Back then, there was a lot of camera trickery. Cosmetic surgery wasn't that possible because the techniques back then were nothing compared to some of the excellent work done today. Also, make-up for black and white was heavy and a lot more flattering than color.
Truthfully, this industry is out of control nowadays, and too many people are relying on these procedures instead of working on their "inner beauty".

When did cosmetic surgery become available to the general public?

2 Jawaban