Yes, I admit it. A large number of my blog posts rip on the soaring number of individuals who are going under the knife to receive new breasts, remove excess flab (many of whom are simply too lazy to actually go on a diet and work out), or give the middle finger to Mother Nature with some other operation.
Plastic surgery has, in many ways, become the most popular (albeit unnecessary) gift to give those you love - anniversaries, birthdays, graduations, whatever. "Here you go sweetie, a pair of unnaturally large breasts, just like you've always wanted." Perhaps it takes too much time and energy to convince someone they look good the way they are, especially for parents with a lot of money and no time for their kids. Write a check to the surgeon, and off your children go with big, plastic smiles that will match their set of new twins. Yes, it happens.
But every once in a while, you read a story (like I did today) that makes you thankful that there are plastic surgeons out there who are willing to provide their services to those who genuinely need them. According to an article in the Trinidad & Tobago Express:
On September 12, 2004, Romel [Ravello] had been sleeping at on a bench at the Queens Park Savannah when someone doused him with acid, disfiguring his entire face. The teenager had been living on the streets when he met his misfortune. To this day the person who defaced him remains a mystery and he has given up trying to find the culprit.
Ravello's face is covered with keloid scars. He has not yet undergone the reconstructive surgeries he believes are possible to improve his physical condition. His best chance for successful facial surgeries, he believes, are outside of Trinidad & Tobago and in countries with more advanced plastic surgery techniques. Countries like America. Ravello, 17, is pleading with Health Minister John Rahael to help send him abroad to receive such operations.
This plea follows a recent visit from the doctors of Operation Rainbow, a non-profit organization with a 25-year history of healing severely deformed and crippled children who do not have access to care. According to the website, Operation Rainbow has treated more than 7,000 children in various areas of the United States and in medically underserved countries, world-wide.
During their most recent medical mission to Trinidad & Tobago, specialist teams performed a "full-flesh graft" on Ravello, removing skin from his abdomen and using it to cover the keloids around his neck. While Ravello is appreciative of their efforts, he still left disappointed. No work was done on his face, and he was informed that doctors would have to come back for surgeries at a later time (they were, understandably, a bit busy treating 68 other patients). Ravello does not want to wait, however. He is confident that by seeking out surgical treatment abroad, he will finally be able to return to a more normal appearance.
Granted, volunteers of Operation Rainbow were not able to provide Ravello with the final results he desired, but the fact that such an organization exists is amazing in itself. That a group of plastic surgeons are willing to donate their skills and time to helping those less fortunate washes away some of the stigma of their profession within the medical commmunity and society, as well (at least in my mind). It's nice to know plastic surgery isn't always so superficial.
