Implants question

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We are made in the image and likeness of God. God created us - if he decides to give me small breasts, then who am I to say, “No, sorry, I think I’d look better if my breasts were bigger?”, in otherwords you’re saying you think God made a mistake in making you as He did.

From a human point of view - if say for example a woman was a cup size B , and decided to go one or even two sizes bigger - how is that going to look on her body when her body is 70 or 80 years old perhaps with a bent hunched back or if she is thin etc, but with the appearance of breasts of a 20-30yr old??? Or is she prepared to undergo another surgery so her breasts look more normal as natural breasts do due to age? It’s not just the size that changes, but also the underlying supportive structures that change with age.
 
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I see some good questions being presented. 1ke talks about virtues of getting ahead and that may be an issue but maybe not. For sales positions it is not humility and charity to other sales persons that allows them to get into an office ahead of you to make the sale you could have made and lose customers for you and your company. I know of many places that only meet a few sales people on only certain days. Increasing your chances of sales without compromising chastity is the virtue that is worth striving for is what I am saying.

Cricket13 has a point that the old saline implants can burst.

CRV has an excellent point that what God has given you is what you are. But there remains the problem of wanting to please your husband if that is something he may desire. I know of a woman who is 85 with implants and she is just fine. I worked with a woman who had implants and I too also wondered why she did it to herself and what message she was giving to her two daughters about not being satisfied with yourself.
 
I am unaware of any Church teaching that generally says you can’t get implants.

The question would be why you were getting them and also whether there would be potential negative effects on your budget, health, or family.

Implants for reconstructive purposes after cancer or to fix some deformity (such as one breast being way smaller than the other) would likely be viewed as morally all right, assuming the person could afford them and wasn’t depriving her children of necessities to pay for implants.

Anything beyond that is a matter of individual conscience, same as a nose job, hair implants etc. Is it really necessary, can the person afford it, are they prepared to deal with the consequences if the surgery goes haywire or another surgery is needed later. It’s best to make these decisions with your immediate family (such as spouse) and if necessary get the (name removed by moderator)ut of your priest, and just leave it at that. If you ask on the Internet you are likely going to get a lot of judgments and people telling you that you don’t need whatever it is or even that it’s morally wrong.
 
A procedure like that costs about £2000 over here. I would be wondering if that is too much to spend on something that doesn’t really help others if it isn’t for self esteem or health reasons. There’s taking care of yourself and then there’s the next level and that for me wouldn’t sit well. Also hard agree for those who mentioned the dangers of the surgery . If I remember rightly Kanye Wests mother’s passed away during plastic surgery. What a waste of a life
 
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1ke said:
Getting breast implants to “get ahead” in the sales field as a woman? What part of that IS Catholic? Which virtues is that an example of?
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If you’re talking about intentionally arousing men to get ahead, I would agree 100%.

People in general alter their bodies/appearances to get ahead. Makeup, grooming, nice dressing etc. A lot of it can be done subconsciously too. So the idea of improving your appearance for success isn’t inherently wrong.
 
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CRV said:
We are made in the image and likeness of God. God created us - if he decides to give me small breasts, then who am I to say, “No, sorry, I think I’d look better if my breasts were bigger?”, in otherwords you’re saying you think God made a mistake in making you as He did.
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Is this really a good argument though? Didn’t God make people with deformities? Are they not allowed to change or improve?
 
Lea101 said:
People in general alter their bodies/appearances to get ahead. Makeup, grooming, nice dressing etc. A lot of it can be done subconsciously too. So the idea of improving your appearance for success isn’t inherently wrong.
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This is true. If you wish to work as a model, actress, TV presenter, marketing professional, etc then you are expected to look a certain way. Enhancements also not only might improve your looks by the standards of the profession, so you get better job opportunities, but they can also boost your self-esteem. We can sit here all day and argue about how people should have self-esteem based on their inner beauty/ love of God etc rather than how they look, but if you grew up being made fun of because you had a big nose or a flat chest, then an enhancement might really help you to get past that. Likewise, if an enhancement will help you get a six figure job to better provide for your family, then it might be a good investment for you.

It’s an individual decision and like everything else, we should avoid judging others. And it often seems to be women who are judged. If a man wants his broken nose fixed or decides to have some hair implants, nobody ever puts him down for trying to be more attractive to women. But let a woman do anything and she’s suddenly all immoral. Same old song and dance.
 
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There is a difference there - depending on the deformity which could occur during pregnancy or as a complication after birth e.g. cerebral palsy as the body is ‘deformed’ here depending on severity of the condition, and if these can be corrected so that good function of the limb/health is restored then these are considered good.

Breast implants don’t equate to this IMO.
 
CRV said:
There is a difference there - depending on the deformity which could occur during pregnancy or as a complication after birth e.g. cerebral palsy as the body is ‘deformed’ here depending on severity of the condition, and if these can be corrected so that good function of the limb/health is restored then these are considered good.
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But using your argument earlier…

God made them too in his image, correct? If he decides to give someone a certain disability that they are born with, who are they to say that they want to be different? Are they telling God that he made a mistake since they’re changing something that they’re born with?

Unless you’re saying that God intentionally picks out small breasts, bumpy noses, etc and doing anything that alters them is insulting him…but somehow God doesn’t intentionally pick out congenital disabilities/deformities in others and changing it wouldn’t be wrong because God didn’t make them. This seems very inconsistent.

Anyway, I had ‘cosmetic’ deformities in mind. Things that do not affect function or health, but deformities regardless. It’s still okay to change them.

Btw, I don’t have everything figured out. The church is somewhat neutral on plastic surgery in general, so at least it shows that it’s not some insult to God. I believe God doesn’t sit there and decided how ugly or pretty I was going to look by intentionally choosing the size of my breasts or how my face structure is shaped etc, genetics did.
CRV said:
Breast implants don’t equate to this IMO.
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To be fair, plenty of older moms who got implants did it to restore rather than to significantly alter them. Gravity, breastfeeding and age doesn’t help them.
 
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Done for health reasons to restore a feature or limb to functional use, relieve pain etc is good.

Something for whatever reason went wrong after conception, sometime throughout the pregnancy (using the example previously given by myself), or at time of birth to cause the deformity - not how limb usually is/functions, therefore a procedure to correct this is with the purpose to heal and/or restore function. After all didn’t Jesus, who is God, heal others when on earth? The hemorrhaging women comes to mind here.

To change something that is not injured, not deformed, not limited in usage, but simply for the sake of appearance, again, IMO, I don’t think is right.

One also has to consider the issues of cost if something goes wrong, or later removal for whatever reason.

There was a working document - Outline document for the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Rome 4-7 February 2015 WOMEN’S CULTURES: EQUALITY AND DIFFERENCE which gives a negative view of unnecessary plastic surgery.

I am not aware if this working document has been published in a finalised version in the 4 yrs since this was published.

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There is no more I have to say on the subject. The matter is up for each individual to decide for themselves.

It’s obvious we do not agree, but I respect your opinion in this matter and I would hope you would do me the same courtesy and respect mine.
 
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How about the person who cosmetically treats themselves to a procedure that includes risk of chemicals and foot fungus:

e.g. a mani/pedi for $40/month ($4,800/decade + accumulated interest & dividends if the cash were invested = another $4,000), or
  • color/treat hair for $150 every two months (9,000/decade + 8,000 in lost income) or any other host of things people do to look nice.
Implants are, in my opinion, morally neutral. Like others have said, motive is the place to focus the question.
 
Something else to consider is how often during a lifetime they have to be redone. I don’t know of this is everyone’s experience, but my MIL has them and has to have them redone every ten years or so.

As someone with a lot of weight gain and loss and nursing so many babies, this is an occasional temptation of vanity for me to think of having them fixed up a bit(not bigger, just up!). We are unlikely to have the money for such a thing, so that helps the thoughts not to linger. Seeing my mother in law go through repeated elective surgery helps me not want it. As many csections as I’ve recovered from, no thanks to elective surgery!
 
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