Is getting plastic surgery a sin?

[hausofferni]

I read that it’s only a sin if you do the surgery and prioritize it over paying bills or supporting family or things in that nature, but is it a sin? I mean let’s say someone has like a giant nose and you know for a fact that a simple nose job would fix it, and make you look better and feel better too, and they get a nose job, is it a sin? I just feel like it doesn’t cause any harm to anyone, especially if you can afford it and don’t become addicted to it. It’s like addressing the elephant in the room. Thoughts and opinions?

 

[Casilda]

I believe if it is a corrective type surgery like you are suggesting there is no harm done. Repairing cleft palates in children is plastic surgery and the doctors who do that are saints. The children can carry on normal lives.

I would ask your priest for his advice, or your spiritual director if you are in doubt. I believe one needs to be a mature adult before confronting issues like a big nose. What we think as children or teens, may not be what we think as adults.

 

[ClearWater]

A friend of mine had a very large nose, and he was teased terribly, called “hose nose”. It was such it affected his friendships. As an adult, he decided to get a nose job. He said that overnight his whole circle of friends changed, all due to this surgery.

When I was in grad school as a social work major, there were classes on disabilities, and one class taught that anything that affects the skin or face, especially, can be considering disabling, due to people’s reaction to it. It determines how, and if, the person will be received, liked, loved, accepted.

No, plastic surgery for a nose job is not sinful. It helps people fit in and assimilate, can help job prospects and interpersonal relationships. It can help with self esteem.

 

[dshix]

I read that it’s only a sin if you do the surgery and prioritize it over paying bills or supporting family or things in that nature, but is it a sin? I mean let’s say someone has like a giant nose and you know for a fact that a simple nose job would fix it, and make you look better and feel better too, and they get a nose job, is it a sin? I just feel like it doesn’t cause any harm to anyone, especially if you can afford it and don’t become addicted to it. It’s like addressing the elephant in the room. Thoughts and opinions?

It is not intrinsically evil to have surgery that changes your body. What can make something like this wrong is the purpose behind the surgery.

If the reason for the surgery is pure vanity or self-destructive, it is a sin, not because of the surgery itself, but because of the intention.

 

[EveningSkye111]

I had to laugh when you mentioned someone with a giant nose and then mentioned the elephant in the room. Nose …elephant.

I’m sorry, I’m feeling giddy and silly today for a change.

I do hope that if you, or someone else needs plastic surgery, that you get it and benefit from the result.

God bless!