Plastic surgery and celebrity behavior change: Hiding and revealing
A cirurgia plástica e a mudança de comportamento de celebridades: Ocultando e desvelando

INTRODUCTION

The change in medical advertising regulations, notably represented by the recent CFM Resolution No. 2,336/23¹, signals a substantial transformation in the panorama of medical practice, particularly in the field of plastic surgery (PS). This review by the Federal Council of Medicine now allows for broader dissemination of medical services, such as the results of surgical interventions, for which cosmetic surgery is increasingly present in the media. Thus, this event sheds light and challenges a deeper understanding of the relationship between the specialty and the press.

In fact, in an article published in the Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Plástica, Coelho et al.² point out that, in addition to recognizing body dissatisfaction and sociocultural influence as the most evident factors that lead women to plastic surgery, the media is also an element present in decisions of this nature. Since the authors’ work evaluates this phenomenon in female patients who are not celebrities, it can be inferred that, in those who are, the influence of the media may be even more active.

Thus, speculations about interventions on famous people and reports of experiences are often topics in magazines, newspapers, and social networks. However, despite such development and scope, apparently, little has been investigated about the conduct of this group in relation to PSs. In a context in which the boundaries between the clinical sphere and public exposure are becoming increasingly permeable, the way in which the popularization of plastic surgery is possibly related to the acceptance of celebrities and the non-confidentiality of procedures highlights the behavior of public figures in shaping social perceptions about the specialty.

Given that women represent 86.3% of all recipients of cosmetic surgical procedures worldwide³, the search for a panel on how female celebrities behave regarding whether or not they make their cosmetic plastic surgeries public seems legitimate.

OBJECTIVE

Therefore, the objective is to contribute to the development of a reference panel consisting of real situations of how female celebrities publicly approach their plastic surgeries in the media.

METHOD

This is a qualitative study with secondary data of the Descriptive-Analytical Essay type. Data collection was carried out online, considering sources in Portuguese and English. Relevant publications from three different nations were found, namely six from Brazil, three from the United Kingdom, and one from the United States of America. In addition, texts written on websites, magazines, and newspapers, as well as long and short videos from social networks, were used.

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

Consistent evidence indicates that in the past, Plastic Surgery was limited to contributing to the recovery of patients’ quality of life through reconstructive procedures, with a change in the specialty’s direction being observed over the years. In this sense, the 2018 Census of the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery¹⁴ shows the predominance of aesthetic interventions in relation to reconstructive ones, given that, in the period from 2009 to 2018, aesthetic surgery exceeded the number of reconstructive procedures in 2018 in Brazil by 359,029.

Furthermore, with regard to the growth of the specialty, an increase of 177.1% was reported in these ten years of analysis, with an initial 629,000 procedures in 2009 and 1,742,861 in 2018¹⁴. Thus, plastic surgery grew as a specialty with the popularization of aesthetic interventions, a process possibly influenced by the change in the behavior of celebrities in revealing their surgeries publicly.

Lima et al.¹⁵, in a study published in this journal, highlight that, in fact, the concept of PS conveyed in the media is directly associated with aesthetic gains. The authors concluded that of the 1,983 news articles that addressed CPs analyzed in the Brazilian press, 68.94% were classified with a focus on aesthetics, while 21.33% were in the restorative area.

Furthermore, from concealment to revelation, it is observed that, nowadays, many celebrities openly expose their procedures. This observed change in behavior can promote the affirmation of plastic surgery since it contributes to demystifying and popularizing the procedures. Likewise, it is possible to infer that, as they began to report their aesthetic procedures, PS gained more presence in the media.

Finally, with regard to the limitations of the work, it seems that contrary to what has been gathered here, a lack of scientific studies can be identified that relate plastic surgery to patients exposed to the media. In databases such as SciELO, PubMed, and LILACS, the only article on this discussion was found, the one already mentioned by Lima et al.¹⁵ Thus, this scarcity points to the need for more studies on the subject to be produced, which would broaden this current exploration.

CONCLUSION

It can, therefore, be stated that three important changes have been recorded that seem to be interconnected. The first concerns the popularization of cosmetic surgery. There has also been a change in the behavior of famous people regarding their plastic surgeries, from concealment to disclosure. It is important to note that the reporting of such a change was associated with the greater presence of plastic surgery in the media, contributing to the promotion of the specialty.