I am taking a class on morality, using a book called “Catholicsim & Ethics - A Medical/Moral Handbook”. I am also going in for a consultation tomorrow for the aforementioned procefure.
On pg. 163 of this book it says in part “As for psychological considerations, if a feeling of inferiotity, a complex, or neurosis could be remedied by plastic surgery, this would not only be morally allowed but also advisable.”
People seem to be able to easily answer the question regarding implants as it pertains to women who’ve had a mastectomy, but why? She isn’t replacing a vital organ. Do you call it vanity to make a person whole again? Like it or not much of a woman’s identiy is bound up in our breasts. It separates us (visually) from men, it is an ultimate sign of our womanhood for those of us who have had the pleasure of nursing. It is easily understandable for those women for whom this is “stripped” away to feel as though such a large part of who they are has been taken from them. I ask you, is my situation so different simply because the CAUSE of my breast loss is not cancer?
I never had great breasts to begin with, I nursed my 1st two kids and lost all the baby fat and was still happy with my breasts, they weren’t fantastic and I may have joked about plastic surgery but would never have done it. But something changed after my 3rd child, after I was done nursing and after I lost the baby weight all of a sudden my breasts COMPLETELY disappeared. I feel like a freak, I feel deformed, I feel unattractive, I feel sad when I make love to my husband, I feel sad when I see myself naked, I feel something has been taken from me. I am not asking for more than what God gave me, I just want to be who I was before.
It seems too many people here are writing of what they do not know, they are letting their emotions rule instead of analyzing the situation. I’m sorry this is not the original post I searched on, but still the same point came up here as well; people saying (basically) you shouldn’t monkey with the body God gave you. They are not considering the wide array of medical procedures this premise would outlaw. If you want to say, “Well, only monkey with it if it’s to save a life.” Ok, what about the many procedures and medicines that better our health? And if those are ok, then do not mental health issues apply?
Morality is judged by the act, the intention, and the circumstances. An operation in and of itself is not an evil act, it is good or at least indifferent. And further on pg. 163 it specifies that the “general health of the person be protected from notable risks, and that the motives be reasonable and proportionate to the ‘extraordinary means’ to which recourse is taken.”
So I think that intention and circumstance go towards determining whether it falls under vanity and simply wanting to look better does NOT always qualify as that. There is a broad line between wanting to feel whole again, and wanting to appear on “Girls Gone Wild”.
Not every woman who has a mastectomny gets implants, some women get impowered by not having their breasts. But others can not handle this. I think women who are born with small breasts may (or may not) develop coping measures that will avail them better than someone who has a chest and then loses it later in life. These issues go to Temperment, a factor in judging the morality of such a decision for a person. So for people to sit here and pontificate what is a sin and what is not without knowing these factors (or enlightening others to their existence) is to me arrogant.
Short answer - breast implants (and all esthetic surgery) IS permissible. However it also CAN lead to the sin of vanity and/or other sins.
Solution - Develop a well formed conscience to help you decide if you really need the implants. If you get them continue to use your well formed conscience to govern your behavior (as in all people surgery or no) so as to avoid sin. And always keep a proper perspective on where on the scale of values esthetic beauty truly lies (again from pg. 163).
God bless!
Joyce
