People are funny creatures. One group may pay no attention to image, perhaps out of thinking the body is only superficial, that only beauty within (a.k.a. personality) matters. Another group may go the other extreme, doing everything they can to preserve youth - using "miracle" creams and plastic surgeries. Where can a person draw balance between both? As a person who believes in building and maintaining beauty and health naturally, I'd say unless it is absolutely necessary, such as disfigurement from accidents of sorts, as in this case shown in The Washington Post about the world's first face transplant.
Do your best to accept who you are - while dressing, grooming and communicate appropriately to respect yourself and others. Months ago I've read research articles about raising confidence levels through plastic surgery. Some people who have gone through it indeed experienced an increase in confidence, while others did not. Why is this? Isn't it common belief that beauty is power? The answer lies in how a person perceives his/herself. Some people, no matter how beautiful they look, still feel the imperfection within them and are unable to accept this. Hence, no outer image transformation can help. This is where soul searching is necessary. I don't blame them. I cansee that if our self esteem and confidence are completely based on how we look, we may be in for a big surprise one day - maybe the day of accident, the day when we see someone better looking, the day when we receive criticism about how we look. Is there a solution to this? Some people may resort to build their self esteem through a great career, being a great person, having lots of money - whatever that may not directly be involved with the outer image. However, I find that there is a chink in that thinking also - that a career may go, money may be lost, and just because one side of the globe likes you the other side may hate you. I think the only solution to solve this is to know that everything is impermanent. Enjoy what we have, and when these nice things, whether it's our looks or some other things, leave us, and no matter how we try we cannot get it back or get it through some other means, then it's time to completely let them go. Being able to let go is one of the hardest things to learn in life, yet if mastered, a person will no longer suffer from life's imperfections.
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