Have you ever wished for Zooey Deschanel’s bright baby blues? Or maybe you have wanted Mario Lopez’s dimples.
Well, wish no longer — modern procedures have made these desires possible.
According to USA Today, Dr. Gregg Homer of Stroma Medical has created a laser treatment that will turn brown eyes blue. The procedure takes about twenty seconds and is estimated to cost $5,000 — that’s $250 a second.
The treatment works by removing melanin (the natural brown pigment found in brown eyes) allowing the iris to turn blue. But where does the melanin go?
Dr. Elmer Tu, a professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of Illinois, warned of probable complications. “A potentially blinding condition called pigmentary glaucoma is associated with chronic seepage of melanin into the fluid within the eye,” the article read.
Is this risk worth the end result? Will people actually utilize this procedure despite the chance of coming out of it not being able to see?
Yes, they will. Take liposuction, for example. One complication of liposuction is nerve-ending damage, but yet over 203,000 people had the procedure done in 2010, according to American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
People will go to great lengths to keep up with society’s “demands.” Being skinny, blonde, having blue eyes and a button nose are feasible without having to work for it — all you need is money for the procedures.
Another peculiar procedure that people divulge in is “dimple-creation surgery.” The procedure is exactly what it sounds like.
According to Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Gal Aharonov’s website, the procedure is done by making a small incision inside the cheek, cutting away a piece of muscle, taking an “absorbable suture” (a fishhook-like tool) and catching “the undersurface of the skin where the dimple is desired.” The procedure takes about 20 minutes.
Are we, as people, really that low on self-esteem and so superficial to the point where something as small as blue eyes or dimples will make us happier?
Chances are you have never met someone and thought, “Oh, this person would really look better with a cute pair of dimples.”
If you have, perhaps you should work on being less judgmental.
Our society, as a whole, needs to focus less on being perfect. Having a flawless appearance should not mean instant happiness or gained respect.
Not having the right jeans, hairstyle, nose or weight doesn’t make a person any less of a person — we’re all equal.
If more were aware of this, there would be no need for these oddly frivolous procedures.
And you never know, maybe we’d all a little bit happier and stress-free if we didn’t worry so much about appearances.
Reach the columnist at olivia.brunacini@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
