At the root of it all, it is possible to explain addiction to plastic surgery through semiology, which is the study of signs and symbols. A sign is theoretically composed of two elements - the signifier, which is the actual object, thing, or person, and the signified, which is what that object, thing, or person means to others e.g. the image as opposed to reality. For example what is signified by plastic surgery is wealth, beauty, class, and the condition of being famous. But the signifier of plastic surgery, or what it actually is, is people with poor self image seeking to gain acceptance in a society where they do not feel that they can be themselves or be liked by others unless they change. And this general problem endemic in our society today - that the image is more important than the thing which projects the image - has been well documented by famous semiologists like Umberto Eco and Jean Broulliard. If people really saw plastic surgery and the addiction to it for what it was, which is people with body dysmorphia, poor self image and the like taking the chance of mutilation in order to chase the dream of imaginary perfection, the numbers of people taking that chance would not have gone up drastically every year.