In today's society, people consider beauty to be a tall, thin model or a tanned, muscular man. It has brainwashed the world into believing that to look beautiful, they must resemble the images seen in the media. Even today's celebrities, famous for their appearance, encourage the belief that thin is beautiful. These images are all over the media right now and have been for many years. With all these images seen everywhere, a person feels compelled to look just like the people in Hollywood, so they turn to cosmetic surgery and/or weight loss. While cosmetic surgery can improve your self-image, it can also have many disadvantages that can lead to many risks, even death. Most people believe that undergoing cosmetic and weight loss surgery will help solve all of life's problems. Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen. These surgeries come with more negatives than positives and can cause numerous long-term problems for a patient. The first negative aspect of cosmetic surgery is pain. Most surgeries are aggressive and involve taking several pain medications. Recovery time can vary from a few weeks up to at least 6 months. Depending on the procedure and the patient's ability to tolerate pain. There have been many scenarios where the cosmetic procedure “went wrong.” This can leave the patient with permanent damage. These surgeries can also be extremely expensive. Aside from minor procedures, most cosmetic surgeries start at four thousand dollars and only go up from there. Most insurance does not cover “surgery for cosmetic purposes,” so the patient must bear the entire payment, which usually leaves him or her in debt. There is always the negative effect of having... middle of paper... starting to realize what true beauty is. True beauty is not a skinny model or a muscular, tanned model. No one in the media even looks like the perfect images they portray. Just remember that not all good things come from cosmetic surgery or weight loss. Many risks can occur during and even after the procedure is completed. Before you even consider undergoing one of these surgeries, you need to ask yourself, “Is it worth all the risks and dangers?” Many people wouldn't have done it if they knew all the dangers that can come with it. Although appearance is very important to other people, they would undergo these surgeries and not even worry about the risks. Appearance is not as important as many people think. The media simply makes them think this way. Just think before making a decision, because this could be an important decision in some people's lives.