Nowadays, society has always valued beauty. In literature, attractiveness often symbolizes an admirable protagonist, while ugliness indicates the abominable antagonist. As children we are taught, without even realizing it, to prize beauty. People of every race and culture have gone to extremes in the name of beauty from foot-binding in China, to dangerously constricting corsets in Victorian times, to nose jobs in 800 B.C. India. While plastic surgery has been around since ancient times, it has only recently become accepted by the masses. Americans spent $11.5 billion for 11 million cosmetic procedures in 2006 – a 48% increase over the number performed in 2000, according to the National Clearinghouse of Plastic Surgery Statistics. While TV shows like ABC’s Extreme Makeover and NBC’s Bionic Woman paint a rosy picture, plastic and cosmetic surgeries are not without risks. Moreover, the human body makes no distinction when the scalpel hits and the difference with elective cosmetic surgeries is that patients generally start out being healthy.