Reconstructive surgery can be plastic surgery (use of plastics) but is technically not cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgery is purely for cosmetic reasons without any need to reconstruct broken or deformed bodily parts (whether caused by accident, disease, or congenital).
The answer regarding reconstructive surgery is simple: If there is no proportionate danger of making things worse through the surgery, then not only may you go ahead with it, common sense says it should be done. However, in the end, it’s the choice of the patient.
With purely cosmetic surgery (get rid of wrinkles, reshape a nose with nothing wrong or abnormal about it), however, it’s a stickier subject. There is no official teaching on the subject. However, in employing standard principles of when surgical invasion of the body is warranted, cosmetic surgery falls short.
The short answer is that vanity does not justify a luxury that always has a danger of causing harm.
If you get cosmetic surgery, are you going to Hell? Well, it is wasting money on vain pursuits, however, it’s the entirety of a person’s life that gets judged, not just one act of getting their face lifted.
Such a person, however, should make sure they throw Lazarus some crumbs from their table on the way to the plastic surgeon’s office. (Lk 16:19-31)
“However, in employing standard principles of when surgical invasion of the body is warranted, cosmetic surgery falls short.”
Gee! Then permitting your innocent son to be circumcised (in the absence of any medical indication) must be a real no-no. There must me a whole lot of American RCs running around with their milk bottles empty!
Excuse me, but that is not what plastic surgery means. According to the Encyclopaeda Brittanica " The term plastic refers to the molding and reshaping of body tissues–bone, fat, muscle, cartilage, and skin. "
(a) RCC = Roman Catholic Church
(b) No, you won’t be “damned for getting a tan”, the post clearly pointed out that it is the entirety of your life that will be judged. Showing off your buff bod at the beach will be waaaayyy… behind “For I hungered, and you fed me not” … unless that was because you were busy showing off your buff bod.
(c) “Plastic” surgery is that which deals with remaking the shape and appearance of the body – includes cosmetic and reconstructive
(d) The latest edition of the RCC Catechism does not give any space to relatively minor manifestations of the sin of pride (*) such as getting a nose job, capping your teeth or getting hair plugs (though something tells me elective 38DD breast implants would be frowned upon ) – it does seem to ask you to be reasonable, indicating that respect for life commands that you take care of the health of the body, yet rejects the “cult of the body” and the search for physical perfection.
(*)BTW, “capital” sin is NOT the same as “mortal” sin; it means is it’s a sin against one fo the capital virtues, but the act itself can be a minor offense.
The people involved in the Church that I have discussed this with in the past tend to be of the position that you should avoid surgery that will only benefit your vanity; but they’ve tended to be tolerant about cosmetic surgery to boost the self-confidence of someone healthy-but-odd-looking.
JRD
) – it does seem to ask you to be reasonable, indicating that respect for life commands that you take care of the health of the body, yet rejects the “cult of the body” and the search for physical perfection.