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Brazil , a country where the beauty industry has been extremely resilient despite the economic crisis, ranks second in the world — after the United States — in the number of aesthetics-focused plastic surgeries performed. In 2014, more than two million procedures were performed here, or 10% of the world's total.
In an ideal world, no one would feel such pressure to change their look that they'd put themselves through something as drastic, expensive, and potentially dangerous as surgery — but according to the women with whom we spoke for this story, plastic surgery was the right way to express themselves and open themselves up to a new, more confident life. After all, unconditional self-love is a beautiful thing, but choices — and the freedom to decide what's right for you — are beautiful, too.
Written by Martina Moraes.
In an ideal world, no one would feel such pressure to change their look that they'd put themselves through something as drastic, expensive, and potentially dangerous as surgery — but according to the women with whom we spoke for this story, plastic surgery was the right way to express themselves and open themselves up to a new, more confident life. After all, unconditional self-love is a beautiful thing, but choices — and the freedom to decide what's right for you — are beautiful, too.
Written by Martina Moraes.
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Michelle Feller, 45, Businesswoman
Five years ago, Michelle started a potent hormone-based treatment and underwent five surgeries to have two implants in her buttocks and breasts. She also had a rhinoplasty and hair implants. "That greatly improved my self-esteem, and I found my identity. The surgery for transsexuals is not a cosmetic issue, for us it is to be seen as we really are," she explains. Michelle now feels complete, but after deciding to become who she really was, she was fired. In the eyes of her colleagues at the multinational company where she had worked for 16 years, she was a man. But, almost overnight, she reappeared as Michelle. Her boss couldn't understand the long hair and the painted nails, so he claimed she had low performance in order to fire her. She filed a complaint against him. Today, she is the condominium manager of her building, also manages a student apartment, and faces the biggest challenge of her life: "Being a woman is like going to college; I had to learn to walk and to sit, and society has a permanent eye on me. But it has given me attitude, something you cannot find in any operating room." |
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Lorraine Barros, 29, Entrepreneur
Lorraine spent her whole childhood obsessed with being an adult and seeing her breasts grow. When she was 17, she had no money but started to think about undergoing surgery. Her father called her crazy. Finally, at age 24, she accompanied her stepmother to a consultation for a rhinoplasty and liposuction. That was when she took off her shirt, showed her breasts, and asked the doctor, "What could they be like?” She had waited for so long and she was so determined, her father finally acquiesced. "I did not get implants because of fashion. When I was a child, in my head, being a woman was associated with having breasts. When I was 15, I looked like a 10-year-old girl. I felt less womanly and did not like it,” she explains. Lorraine's post-op experience included a month of complications due to an infection. She was even hospitalized. The doctor recommended removing the silicone implants, but Lorraine refused. |
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Luciana Vargas De Oliveira, 43, Aesthetician
The arrival of Luciana's second child led to one of the most difficult moments in her life. During her pregnancy, Luciana gained 66 pounds. "I felt as round as a ball; I was stretched out," she recalls three years later. Depressed and unable to take care of herself, she suffered a heart attack. Luciana hired a nutritionist, started to run every day, and decided on breast reduction and liposuction. Surgeons removed more than 6.6 pounds of fat, tissue, and mammary glands. Luciana lost more than 44 pounds in less than one year. Today, she likes what she sees, although she rarely takes a selfie. "My body is not perfect, of course — you go to the beach and see many beautiful male and female bodies, but for my age, I feel that I look great," she says. Her insecurity has evaporated. "The pressure that society exerts in order to be perfect will only fail to take effect when women understand that their beauty is in the experience in the inner self they cultivate." |
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