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| Elena Anaya and Antonio Banderas in The Skin I Live In (2011) directed by Pedro Almodovar |
The plastic surgeon the narrator meets with claims that plastic surgery is a "hands on medicine" (87).
Does that seem right to you?
Is "making people beautiful" a way to heal them?
What are the dangers of this kind of medicine?
In my opinion, I don't agree with the thought that "making people beautiful" is a form of healing the way the doctor is using it. Healing is mainly seen as something to fix when something harmful happens. When someone breaks their arm, when someone is cut, when someone is burned, or when someone is sick, are things that happen to a person that should be treated. A person's attractiveness is subjective and is not something that has a defined, fixable solution like fixing a cut or getting rid of an illness. It could be argued that this form of medication is a way to heal a way someone views themselves or their self esteem, but I do not see this as healing. The operation the narrator is receiving would be a form of healing due to how it impacts her health, but changing how beautiful someone is, is not life threatening. I do believe this form of medicine can be dangerous, especially with people who get multiple alterations to chase what they believe is beauty.
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