Abstract
The destigmatization of plastic surgery mixed with stable economic growth over the past decade has led to an increase in the number of racial minority patients in America seeking cosmetic surgery (Wimalawansa et al., 2009). This diversifying patient population is redefining what it means to achieve beauty through plastic surgery. Within the field of plastics, there are medically defined proportions that dictate the structure and appearance of an ideal physique, especially when considering facial procedures. Historically, the consumer base of plastic surgery in America has been wealthy White women, so many medical proportions are, subsequently, based on this single model. As technology advanced, cosmetic changes became subtler, but the basis of these standards is still largely unchanged. In recent decades, as physicians have begun treating an increasing number of non-White patients, the need for a more individualized approach has become apparent. The plastic surgery term for a select range of mostly facial cosmetic procedures on non-White patients is known widely as ‘ethnic plastic surgery’ and non-White patients as ‘ethnic patients’ (Menon, 2017). Ethnic patient proportions were borne out of patient demand to receive care that coincided with their racial and ethnic identity, instead of an identical feature that was applied to many White patients. While the need to preserve a patient’s identity is widely accepted within the medical field, the standards that surround treating non-White patients has become a hot topic of discussion. Outside of plastic surgery, there is a prevalent perception that non-White people use plastic surgery to look White, which is an assumption that oversimplifies beauty into a monolith and disregards the motivations of non-White patients altogether. Non-White plastic surgery patients strongly reject this assertion, as in the case of the unique aesthetics associated with the plastic surgery hub of Seoul, South Korean. In an effort to address the increasing number of ethnic procedures, medical experts have published rhinoplasty classifications to guide treatment and increase satisfaction rates, but ethnicity-based classes may have the opposite effect. Pursuing treatment based on social constructs, instead of structural features, may enforce existing stereotypes and hinder more effective treatment (Menon, 2017). This research will explore how minority patients interact with plastic surgery in order to generate an ideal self-image, and the role that ethnicity plays.
