We live in a society that has figured out how to insert new breasts through your bellybutton. Last year, more than 240,000 people received brand new eyelids. A plastic surgeon wrote a book for kids ages 4 to 7 called “My Beautiful Mommy,” which features a bandaged Barbie doll-type mother who is “even more” beautiful than before (after her nose job, tummy tuck and hinted-at boob job). Celebrities get Botox injections in their armpits so they don’t sweat as much. Plastic surgery has become the popular elective epidemic that has replaced sending your assistant to Walgreens to get some damn deodorant.

Why are we obsessed with cosmetic surgery, and why is it more than 90 percent women who get these surgeries? Bringing up the subject to a group of women in their 20s generally gets a couple of different responses. They immediately say what they would get done if they had the chance. I had other friends say, “I want to get rid of this” and then grab the skin under their neck, pinch their belly fat or slap their butt. Those who don’t want to get rid of anything say, “I want more of this,” followed by pushing their breasts together or puckering their lips. Women I’ve talked to of my mother’s generation tend to respond by tightening the skin on their face, signifying their desire to get rid of wrinkles.

Women also said they just want their clothes to fit.

“Wonder bras just don’t work. I’ll feel better about myself. Everyone always thinks I’m doing it for guys or to make people look at me. It has nothing to do with what other people think, because I’ve never gotten any complaints,” said Erin Dunlap, junior from Overland Park.

This desire to inject, suck out, smooth down and cut off is wrong. Women should not have to feel like their bodies are inadequate or in some way less than those of other women. Have you ever hear the expression “you’re beautiful just the way you are” and thought well that’s a load of crap? Me too. The majority of people at some point in their lives have had self-esteem issues but going through painful and often dangerous procedures to change your appearance is not the healthy solution.

According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2007. Of this incredible number botox was the most popular non-surgical procedure at 2,775,176. The highest numbers in surgical procedures were liposuction and breast augmentation. A total of 8,395,851,754 dollars was spent just last year on cosmetic surgeries. Possibly one of the scariest statistics is that 205,119 of these surgeries were performed on children under the age of 18.

I’m not talking about people who are opting for surgeries because of medical reasons, cancer, fire, disfiguration, or another extenuating circumstance. If you do not need new breasts it is not worth the risk. A list of possible risks just looking at breast augmentation states it is not “exhaustive” which means there are more they chose not to list.

The ones listed do include deflation, permanent numbness, nipple numbness, heavy scarring, hematoma, bleeding, asymmetry (which means your boobs are lopsided), implant leak, interference with mammography (so if you do have breast cancer it’s harder to tell), rippling (think waterbed), rupture of the implant (so no more dodge ball), sloshing (yes it really says that) and symmastia, which means your breasts merge into one mass (think how much harder it would be to go bra shopping). The list continues.

You can have your bellybutton removed, your vagina reconstructed, and you can get a medical loan of up to 25,000 dollars to do this. I applaud technology and science for giving us a way to treat and help victims of trauma, but in the case of elective cosmetic surgery science has gone too far. No matter what magazines and music videos are saying I think your eyelids, butt, breasts, armpits, smile lines, ears, stomach, nose, lips and calves look fine the way they are.

— Thornbrugh is a Lenexa senior in journalism