When one loves a person, they typically love them just the way they are: with all the laugh lines around their eyes, the chubby cheeks, and the asymmetrical ears.

That’s why many partners wouldn’t change a thing about their loved ones. But they can’t stop the latter from doing it themselves. This redditor couldn’t stop his wife from undergoing plastic surgery, even though he was against it; and for a reason. After the surgery, the man was no longer attracted to his wife, which led to not only an upset partner but him being judged, too.

Bored Panda has reached out to the OP and he was kind enough to answer a few of our questions. You will find his thoughts in the text below.

Plastic surgery is not equally favored by everyone

Image credits: Olga Guryanova (not the actual photo)

This man didn’t think his wife needed plastic surgery, but she did it anyway and had to face the consequences

Image credits: OkInevitable7692

Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)

Women tend to undergo aesthetic surgery more often than men, with liposuction being the most common one

“I love my wife and I love being intimate with her. I am upset that she did this to herself even though I asked her not to,” the OP told Bored Panda in a recent interview.

He shared that the reason he was set against it was because he believes the results are usually quite terrible. “I find all the celebrities who get it look unrecognizable afterwards. My wife was beautiful. She didn’t need to get anything ‘fixed’.”

Despite being quite costly and often quite difficult to recover from, plastic surgery is arguably not that rare of an occurrence. The annual Global Survey, carried out by The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), found that in 2022 alone there were over 33 million aesthetic/cosmetic procedures performed by plastic surgeons, marking an increase of 11.2% from the year before.

According to ISAPS data, liposuction—also known as lipoplasty or suction lipectomy and referring to suctioning out fat from certain areas of the body—tops the list as the most sought-after procedure. Other popular choices include breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty, and breast lift surgeries respectively.

While body and extremity procedures have reportedly increased by more than 25%, face and head procedures remain the most popular ones. But whether it’s the face or the rest of the body in question, women seem to be more likely to opt for plastic surgery than men, as roughly 86% of the total number of aesthetic procedures are performed in females.

Image credits: Laura Chouette (not the actual photo)

Social media can have a strong negative effect on people’s views on body image

While the reasons for taking such a step likely differ with each person, many might be influenced by unrealistic beauty standards portrayed by the media. As a fellow redditor in the comments pointed out, social media and reality TV tend to glorify “cosmetically modified people”, which can create body-image issues to the people who consume it.

Research on body image distress suggests that the rise of body image-related issues corresponds to the rise of social media. It revealed that by 2015, it was already a highly prevalent issue, affecting roughly 75% of Australians aged 16 to 25, which indicated a noticeable increase from around 44% in 2009. It also pointed out that during the frame of the survey revealing an increase in body image issues, a few social media platforms were launched, including Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.

A recent study published by the American Psychological Association also shed light on the relationship between social media and body image, suggesting that reducing the usage of the former can significantly improve the way the youth views their body. It found that cutting social media use in half for a few weeks improved the way they feel about their weight and overall appearance, compared to their peers who continued with the same level of social media use.

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In the OP’s case, though, it wasn’t social media that had the largest impact on his wife’s decision. After sitting down and talking things out with her, he learned that it was the women in her family who convinced her to do it.

“She said she felt stupid for how she has been acting,” the redditor shared. “She said her mom and sister had convinced her that she had to get this done because she was getting older and I would leave her for a prettier woman.”

The OP replied to some of the netizens’ comments with more details

Quite a few redditors didn’t think the OP was a jerk and believed that the woman brought this upon herself

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Others believed that he was a jerk in the situation

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