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People have every right to change their appearance. The question is how freely that wish is formed.

A need tied to aging can never be fully met, because aging never stops.

Comparing ourselves with altered images may shift what we perceive as a normal face.

Freedom includes the right to change our faces and the right to leave them as they are.

Personal freedom and self-determination mean that people have the right to do with their faces and bodies what pleases them. No one has the right to decide for someone else how they should look, whether they should undergo cosmetic surgery, or how they should deal with their appearance. This freedom is fundamental and should never be questioned.

But there is another question, perhaps a more important one: How freely do we make these decisions when an entire industry works tirelessly to convince us that something is wrong with the way we look?

I am not talking about promoting a healthy, active lifestyle and biopsychosocial well-being. I am addressing a 24/7 pressure to dictate how we should look like.

One of the most powerful mechanisms in modern economics is simple: Do not merely produce a product. Produce a need. Better yet, produce a need........

© Psychology Today