Plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery

Nowadays, the mass media convey messages in which physical attractiveness plays a key role; the looks and shapeliness often strongly influence the possibilities of social interaction and professional success of an individual.
The ideal image is that of a perfect, well-proportioned and elegant body.
Aiming by definition at recreating the perfect shape and proportions according to the universally recognized canons of beauty, plastic and cosmetic surgery is able to significantly improve the appearance and, in more general terms, the well-being of an individual, thus enabling him/her to have better relationships with the outside world.
That is why so many people resort to plastic and cosmetic surgery.
Nevertheless, the scope of these two disciplines is different.
Indeed, plastic surgery consists in reconstructive interventions (such as post-mastectomy breast reconstruction, post-traumatic rhinoseptoplasty, reductive mastoplasty to correct gynaecomastia, post-melanoma and skin tumor reconstruction, etc.) aiming at restoring the pre-existent physical integrity that has been seriously impaired by various events (road accidents, industrial injuries, tumors, etc.).
Cosmetic surgery, on the other hand, consists in corrective interventions (such as cosmetic rhinoplasty, otoplasty, blepharoplasty, face-lift, additive mastoplasty, liposuction and liposculpture, etc.) which are needed to remove or improve those natural physical defects - even the slight ones - which the patient views as strongly harmful to his/her emotional, social and professional life.
Both disciplines fulfil a therapeutic function, since they aim at preserving people's health, i.e. a general state of physical, mental and social well-being.
Indeed, the patient who applies to a plastic and cosmetic surgeon wishes to achieve or restore his/her healthiness anyhow, regardless of the reasons that drove him/her to resort to plastic and cosmetic surgery.
For instance, some need to correct a physical deformity which is objectively pathological, while others resort to plastic and cosmetic surgery to improve slight blemishes.
There are people who, due to their age, to a pregnancy or a traumatic event, do not identify any longer with their bodies and wish to restore their lost appearances, while others, who are not well-proportioned by nature, want to modify their aspect to look more pleasant and to like themselves better.
Some wants their looks to correspond to their innermost being more than to their actual age, while others take their cue from an event that has happened in their domestic and social context to modify or renew their looks too.
In all these situations, plastic and cosmetic surgery allows people to recreate those perfect shapes and that outward appearance which often help them strengthen their balance of mind and their self-esteem, thus restoring a state of physical, mental and social well-being.