It is common opinion to think that in Brazil there cosmetic surgery be a practice widespread. The most recent data made available by International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (Isaps) seem to confirm this perception: in 2020 Brazil recorded about 1.3 million aesthetic surgical proceduresbecoming the second country in the world by number of interventions after the United States. This data represents about the 13.9% of the total globaland surgical aesthetic procedures. Brazil, therefore, with a population of about 213 million people in 2020, recorded around 6.1 aesthetic surgical procedures for 1 000 inhabitants. The most common procedures in Brazil include liposuction, increase in breast and abdominoplasty. Other countries where cosmetic surgery is widespread are India, Mexico, Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil and Türkiye (where prices seem to be particularly low).
It is a phenomenon due to the possibility offered by Único de Súde system Brazilian to access free oa reduced costs to aesthetic interventions. By refraining from judging whether such a positive or negative decision, it is important to highlight how the practice of resorting to cosmetic surgery in Brazil goes beyond theindividual aestheticalso involving the collective dimension: on the one hand, the democratization of access to interventions reflects a push towards theIndividual self -determination; on the other, it clearly emerges how the social pressure promotes adhesion to shared and sometimes unattainable aesthetic standards, revealing that the body is not only a personal expression, but also a symbol of cultural belonging.
Cosmetic surgery “offered” by the Brazilian health system
In the book Plastic Surgery and Society in BrazilAlexandre Barbosa and Maria Claudia Santos study how cosmetic surgery in Brazil has become a practice accessible to everyone thanks to Único de Súde system (Sus), which offers Free aesthetic procedures or reduced costs For both functional and psychological reasons. This model (practically unique in the world) has made it possible to appeal to plastic surgery, even among the less wealthy classes.
This approach to aesthetic practice produces a double effect: on the one hand, it offers a practical solution to aesthetic or functional needs; on the other, he responds to a profound need for social inclusion. The authors point out that, in a country characterized by great economic inequalities, access “democratized“(Ie accessible to” all “) to cosmetic surgery becomes a tool for Reduce symbolic disparitiesallowing individuals of each social class to participate in A collective ideal of beauty. Not only that: democratization does not only concern the possibility of economically accessing certain interventions, but also the cultural perception of the same practice: cosmetic surgery it is not seen like a luxury, but like a rightrooted in the conception of psychophysical well -being.
The body as a symbol full of meaning
Denise Bernuzzi de Sant’Anna, in Body and cultureexplores the central role of the body in Brazilian culture as a vehicle of meaning and tool for social distinction and why modifying one’s appearance becomes one strategy To improve your own position in the social hierarchy. According to the author, in fact, cosmetic surgery represents a form of investment on “Body capital”that is, on the ability of the body to generate social value and recognition: a beautiful body, in accordance with dominant aesthetic standards, is synonymous with success, acceptance and social mobility. Sant’Anna highlights how the phenomenon is amplified by a cultural environment that emphasizes the importance of the body, especially in public places such as beaches and parties, symbols of Brazilian conviviality.
