While plastic surgery is considered to be mostly a decision made for personal reasons and only affecting the person undergoing the procedure, new research suggests that surgery can also change how others perceive you as well.
“The research used photos of thirty Caucasian women who had plastic surgery between 2009 and 2013. The types of surgery included facial rejuvenation procedures such as facelifts, neck lifts, eyebrow lifts, upper and lower eyelifts, and chin implants. All these procedures have an effect on someone’s neutral, resting expression, which others use to judge someone’s face. The researchers put together groups of photos including before and after pictures of the women, but no one set included more than one photo of the same woman. One hundred and seventy volunteers were then shown a set of photos and asked to use a seven point scale to rate whether each woman was attractive, likable, feminine, extroverted, aggressive, risk-seeking, trustworthy, or sociable.”
The results show that the pictures of women who had undergone plastic surgery did not produce negative responses. On the contrary, all the photos of women after their surgery received higher ratings of people thinking they were more attractive, likeable and sociable. Researchers believe that because plastic surgery usually makes people look more awake as well as happier, people equate those traits to also being more approachable, and therefore likeable.
There are many benefits to undergoing plastic surgery. Talk to your doctor or surgeon today to find out if your goals for surgery are achievable and when you can make the transformation happen.